http://SmartDrivingCar.com/7.03-AffordableLiving-011819
3rd edition of the 7th year of SmartDrivingCars
K. Weise,
Jan 16, "The
Seattle area,
home to both
Microsoft and
Amazon, is a
potent symbol
of the
affordable
housing crisis
that has
followed the
explosive
growth of tech
hubs. Now
Microsoft,
arguing that
the industry
has an
interest and
responsibility
to help people
left behind in
communities
transformed by
the boom, is
putting up
$500 million
to help
address the
problem.
Microsoft’s
money
represents the
most ambitious
effort by a
tech company
to directly
address the
inequality
that has
spread in
areas where
the industry
is
concentrated,
particularly
on the West
Coast. It will
fund
construction
for homes
affordable not
only to the
company’s own
non-tech
workers, but
also for
teachers,
firefighters
and other
middle- and
low-income
residents.
Microsoft’s
move comes
less than a
year after
Amazon
successfully
pushed to
block a new
tax in Seattle
that would
have made
large
businesses pay
a per-employee
tax to fund
homeless
services and
the
construction
of affordable
housing. The
company said
the tax
created a
disincentive
to create
jobs.
Microsoft,
which is based
in nearby
Redmond,
Wash., and has
few employees
who work in
the city, did
not take a
position on
the tax." "
Read
more Hmmmm.... In New Jersey we have the Mount Laurel
Doctrine
requiring
affordable
housing.
Great;
however, that
housing tend
to end up
being located
on the most
remote parcels
of land which
ends up
maximizing the
need for
affordable and
efficient
mobility.
These efforts
should be
focused on
creating Affordable
Living
opportunities
that combines
quality
affordable
housing with
quality
affordable
mobility
rather than
only one
component,
affordable
housing and
bus service
once every
whenevers.
Alain
A. Roy, Jan
14, "The
rumors are
true. I am
joining Argo
AI. If you're
unfamiliar
with Argo,
that's
understandable.
In a sea of
companies
trying to
"win"
self-driving
via empty
promises and
corner
cutting, Argo
AI is one of
the few
quietly doing
good work.
Real
investors.
Real
customers.
Adults in
charge. No BS.
Real progress.
And on January
15th, 2019, I
will become
Argo AI's
Director of
Special
Operations.
Argo didn't
hire me
despite my
harsh
opinions; they
hired me
because of
them.
For four years
I've publicly
waged war
against
clickbait
press eases,
vague
language,
outright lies,
irresponsible
marketing,
exaggerated
timelines,
hollow safety
promises, and
the specter of
human driving
bans. I've
assaulted the
conceptually
limiting SAE
Level
Definitions,
the irrelevance
of The Trolley
Problem,...
" Read
more Hmmmm.... Well worth reading and Alex,
Congratulations!!
Alain
F. Fishkin, Jan. 18, "Ride Systems and Double Map combine to form Journey ..providing real time transit information. CEO Justin Rees chats with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Also in this episode VayaVision's technology to fuse sensor data for self driving with CEO Ronny Cohen."
M.
McLaughlin,
Jan 15,
"Indianapolis-based
DoubleMap Inc.
and Utah-based
Ride Systems
LLC have
announced a
merger. The
two vehicle
location
software
companies say
they will
continue
operating
semi-independently
under the
newly-formed
Journey
Holding Corp.
"The combining
of our two
companies
presents an
amazing
opportunity to
gain majority
market share
as well as
afford us the
unparalleled
capability of
reaching
transit riders
everywhere,"
Justin Rees,
Chief
Executive
Officer of
Ride Systems
said in a news
release...." Read
more, Listen
to PodCast,
Hmmmm.... Interesting, Congratulations. Alain
Press
release, Jan
7,
"VAYAVISION, a
leading
provider of
raw data
fusion and
perception
software
solutions for
autonomous
vehicles,
today
announced the
release of
VAYADrive 2.0,
an AV
perception
software
engine that
fuses raw
sensor data
together with
AI tools to
create an
accurate 3D
environmental
model of the
area around
the
self-driving
vehicle.
VAYADrive 2.0
breaks new
ground in
several
categories of
AV
environmental
perception –
raw data
fusion, object
detection,
classification,
SLAM, and
movement
tracking –
providing
crucial
information
about dynamic
driving
environments,
enabling safer
and reliable
autonomous
driving, and
optimizing
cost-effective
sensor
technologies...."
Read
more, Listen
to PodCast,
Hmmmm.... Interesting, Congratulations. Alain
F. Fishkin, Jan. 18, "In this episode from CES 2019, Princeton University's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin welcome guests Michael Fleming, CEO of TORC Robotics, Regulus Cyber CEO Yonatan Zur and Arbe VP Bill Latino. Tune in to the Smart Driving Cars podcast and subscribe!"
K. Korosec,
Jan 8,
"Self-driving
technology
company Torc
Robotics is
partnering
with Transdev,
the public
transportation
giant, to
deploy fully
autonomous
electric
shuttles
designed to
provide free
connections to
existing
transit like
trains and
buses.
The companies,
which made the
announcement
Monday at CES
2019 in Las
Vegas, are
integrating
Torc’s
self-driving
software stack
and sensor
suite into an
autonomous
shuttle known
as i-Cristal
that was
unveiled
earlier this
year by
Transdev and
French
manufacturer
Lohr. Torc is
licensing its
Asimov
self-driving
software and
sensor suite
to
Transdev...."
Read
more, Listen
to PodCast,
Hmmmm.... Interesting, Congratulations. Alain
Press
release, Jan
7, " Regulus
Cyber
announced
today that it
is solving the
GNSS spoofing
attacks threat
affecting the
automotive,
aviation,
maritime, and
mobile
industries
with a unique
technology
applicable
both as a
fortified GNSS
Receiver,
capable of
detecting
spoofing
attacks, and
at the chip
level,
allowing
mobile phones,
cars and IoT
devices to
receive GNSS
spoofing
protection for
the first
time. The
company was
able to
miniaturize
its technology
into an
industry
leading form
factor that
provides
customers more
flexibility
with
integration.
As the race to
develop
autonomous
vehicles
increases so
does the need
for safety and
security. Any
vehicle guided
by a GNSS
system can be
spoofed using
open source
software and a
software
defined radio
(SDR) legally
purchased from
Amazon for
under $300. A
spoofer can
generate and
transmit fake
GNSS signals
that can be
used by the
vehicle's
navigation
system to
calculate a
false
destination,
directing the
vehicle to an
entirely
different
location, a
potentially
life-threatening
hazard...." Read
more, Listen
to PodCast,
Hmmmm.... Interesting, Congratulations. Alain
Press release, Jan 3, " Arbe is excited to announce the launch of Phoenix, its automotive 4D imaging radar beta product. This new front-end system, powered by Arbe's proprietary chipset technology, enables evaluation and development towards production and full commercialization of 4D imaging radar for all levels of vehicle autonomy. Phoenix provides an image 100 times more detailed than other top industry radars, offering superior separation of stationary and moving objects in real time – an industry first...." Read more, Listen to PodCast, Hmmmm.... Interesting, Congratulations. Alain
F. Fishkin,
Jan.
18, "From
CES 2019,
joining
co-hosts Alain
Kornhauser of
Princeton
University and
Fred Fishkin
are Here
Technologies
Dir. of
Product
Marketing Alex
Mangan, BMW VP
Mike Peyton,
showing the
CES crowd a
self riding
motorcycle and
VP Ilkka
Varjos of
Canatu, maker
of flexible
sensors.
B. Howard, Jan 9, "BMW engineer Stefan Hans steps off the R1200 motorcycle he’s been riding, gives it a gentle shove … and this specially outfitted BMW bike motors off on its own, looping the perimeter of the parking lot, and then making lazy circles with the bike leaning smartly into the turn. After several minutes driving itself, the R1200 coasts to a stop in front of its engineer, and human intervention takes over for one last action: setting the kickstand...." Read more, Watch Video, Listen to PodCast, Hmmmm.... Interesting, Congratulations. Alain
Citi GPS,
Jan 2019, "So
how close are
we to ditching
our personal
cars in the
future? While
we may not be
up to personal
flying taxis
yet, it does
seem that
reality may
finally be
catching up
with the hype.
A handful of
companies are
pursuing
various
level-4
RoboTaxi
services
(where the car
is totally in
control and
humans are
just
passengers) to
build urban
rideshare
networks in
the coming one
to three
years. These
are being
planned for
cities and
surrounding
suburbs and
the race to
launch and
commercialize
these
RoboTaxi’s is
all about
building a
powerful
network
effect. This
network effect
is determined
by who can
introduce and
scale safe,
reliable,
fast, and
low-cost urban
RoboTaxi
fleets. ..."
Read
more Hmmmm.... There is a lot in this report and it seems
to be well
worth your
time. I
appreciate
their focus on
autonomousTaxis (aka aTaxis or roboTaxis (although "roboTaxis" seems to
carry too much
of a negative
connotation of
an invading
army, ???).
The fact that
it includes
suburbs (and
should
continue to
small
communities
and the
mobility
(economically)
disadvantaged)
is good, and
that it
addresses
shared-ride as
opposed to
private
ownership of
driverless
car/aTaxis.
I'm beginning
to really
believe that
there is
essentially no
market for
personally-owned
driverless
vehicles, not
only because
they will
necessarily be
at least a
little more
expensive than
self-driving
vehicles that
have a
steering wheel
and require
your oversight
when the
computer is
driving. More
importantly,
driverless
cars will have
associated
with them
"drive
anywhere
anxiety"
and "I
sometimes want
to
drive/be-in-control
anxiety"
that
substantially
tarnishes
their
desirability
to be owned in
the same way
that "range
anxiety"
and "where to
fill-er up
anxiety"
tarnishes the
desirability
of electric
cars. Since
there are no
true
proponents for
individuals to
own a
driverless
cars,
certainly none
like the
proponents for
electric cars,
the OEMs won't
be motivated
to make or
sell them.
(Self-driving
is, of course,
a whole
different
animal. Here
the driving by
computer is
seen as "21st
century chrome
& fins"
and if
anything
happens, it's
the driver's
fault because
the driver was
supported to
be providing
adult
supervision.)
Consequently,
the "car of
the future
4.0" disrupter
will need to
be someone
other that the
traditional
OEM with his
long-standing
fantasies of
driving
Alain
A. Kharpal,
Jan 14, "Pony.ai,
one of China's
most valuable
driverless car
start-ups, has
launched an
app that
allows users
to hail an
autonomous
taxi, making
it one of the
first
companies to
do so. The
app, which was
quietly
launched in
late December,
allows a user
to hail a
self-driving
taxi from a
pre-set
location in
Nansha, which
is part of
Guangzhou in
southern
China. The car
can travel to
specific areas
that have been
set by the
company such
as its offices
or residential
areas.
Currently,
only employees
and a few VIP
users are
using the app,
which is a
mini-program
built within
WeChat,
China's most
popular
messaging
service. Rides
are free for
now..." Read
more Hmmmm.... Probably not a "Waymo rival". Maybe it is
just China's
Uber rival,
which is no
small
accomplishment.
All this and
the pony.ai
website talk
about is a
ride-hailing
app in a
self-driving
car with
attendant(s),
so let's not
get too
excited here.
Alain
S. O'Kane,
Jan. 11, "Elon
Musk told the
world in late
2017 that
Tesla was
taking its
automotive
know-how and
applying it to
a totally new
challenge:
self-driving
big rigs.
But one year
later, he
placed the
Tesla Semi fourth
on a list of
priorities for
the company,
behind the
upcoming Model
Y compact SUV
and an
electric
pickup truck.
This week,
Daimler
executed a
move many
years in the
making by
announcing its
own big rig
(albeit
diesel-powered)
outfitted with
semi-autonomous technology. And others are following suit.
The German
automaker also
committed to
manufacturing
the truck this
summer, with
deliveries
scheduled for
later this
year. It
pledged 500
million euros
over the next
few years to
the continued
development of
an autonomous
big rig, and
said it has
hired hundreds
of employees
to move the
tech
forward....
Daimler says it’s the first Class 8 commercial truck with Level 2 autonomy (referring to the Society of Automotive Engineers’ scale for self-driving definitions ...which are so bad! What Daimler should say... it's the 1st truck focused on truly enhancing the Health of the driver & Safety of everyone anywhere near the truck. Technology that delivers this value should earn the highest "Level" of any organization's labeling... , meaning the driver is in control, but is supported heavily by the truck’s technology in certain situations. In that sense, the new Cascadia essentially has the same basic driver assistance technology many modern cars offer, including automatic lane centering, adaptive cruise control, and emergency braking.... There’s a forward-facing camera, a forward-facing radar, a second radar sensor on the right side of the truck.......Perfect!...
A sensor in
the steering
column
measures
resistance
applied to the
steering
wheel. If the
driver takes
their hands
off the wheel
while using
the lane
centering
feature, the
instrument
cluster will,
after about 15
seconds,
surface a
warning that
tells them to
place their
hands back on
the wheel. If
the driver
doesn’t do
that, the
warning
changes from
yellow to red.
After another
60 seconds, if
the driver
still hasn’t
put their
hands back on
the wheel, the
truck will
come to a stop
on the side of
the road.....Perfect!...
The new
truck,
meanwhile,
felt locked to
the center of
the lane
during this
week’s ride,
... while lane
centering is
on, the driver
can even
choose where
the system
places them in
the lane. (For
example, if a
driver is on a
tight one-lane
highway and
wants to avoid
clipping
oncoming
traffic, they
could tell the
truck to hug
the right lane
line.)......Perfect!..." Read
more Hmmmm.... This sounds really good. See
video...
the AEB may
actually work
on stationary
object.
(although no
data has been
divulged as to
the range of
approaching
speeds does
the
Intelligent
cruise control
bring the
truck to a
complete stop
and completely
avoiding a
crash with a
stationary
object.
Moreover, does
Daimler's the
cruise-control
continues to
turn off the
braking-assist
function if
the driver
taps the
brakes,
disregarding
any future
data that
suggests that
a greater
brake force
should begin
to be applied;
else, "all
heck breaks
loose". I've
been told that
this is an SAE
"standard".
You wonder why
I have little
regard for the
SAE. ... I
digress,
sorry.)
Anyway, this
sounds really
good and is
properly aimed
at improving
the Safety
& Health
of truck
drivers.
Congratulations
Daimler. You
should really
sell it as
Safety &
Health
technology..
Alain
Jan 8, "At Tesla, we believe that technology can help improve safety. That’s why Tesla vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world. We believe the unique combination of passive safety, active safety, and automated driver assistance is crucial for keeping not just Tesla drivers and passengers safe, but all drivers on the road. It’s this belief that grounds every decision we make, from the design of our cars, to the software we introduce, to the features we offer every Tesla owner.... And because every Tesla is connected, we’re able to use the more than 10 billion miles of real-world data collected by our global fleet – of which more than 1 billion have been driven with Autopilot engaged – to constantly improve our products....
In the 4th
quarter, we
registered one
accident for
every 2.91
million miles
driven in
which drivers
had Autopilot
engaged. For
those driving
without
Autopilot, we
registered one
accident for
every 1.58
million miles
driven. By
comparison,
NHTSA’s most
recent data
shows that in
the United
States there
is an
automobile
crash every
436,000 miles..." Read
more Hmmmm....
I question if
Tesla and
NHTSA are
reporting the
same
statistic.
(1.58 v 0.44),
why such a
high
difference?
Wrt the 2.91 v
1.58, we can
assume that
Tesla is not
cheating and
reporting the
same
statistic. If
so, that
difference can
be credited in
(a large) part
to AutoPilot,
but it may
also be
attributed to
a more
challenging
driving
environment.
I suspect that
when driving
is tougher
(poor road
markings,
lighting,
etc.) either
AutoPilot
turns itself
off or the
driver turns
it off. So
this may not
be a perfect
apples2apples
comparison
(the large
number
attributed to
tougher
driving
condition
(when driving
is tough,
AutoPilot is
turned off;
when easy, it
is turned
on.); but it
is probably
close. Alain
R.
Mitchell, Jan
17. "Tesla
needs more
cash. To help
keep what it’s
got from
flying out the
door, Chief
Executive Elon
Musk on
Wednesday
announced the
end of a
customer
referral
program that
offers free
Supercharging
to new buyers.
“It’s adding
too much cost
to the cars,
especially the
Model 3,” Musk
said in a
tweet late
Wednesday. The
referral
program,
originally
scheduled to
end March 11,
will cease on
Feb. 1.
In the
program’s
latest
iteration, a
Tesla owner
sends a
referral code
to a potential
buyer. When
the car is
sold, the
buyer gets six
months of free
charging at
Tesla-branded
stations,
while the
owner earns a
prize. Earlier
programs
offered free
charging for
life to
original car
owners; Tesla
will honor
existing
arrangements...."
Read more Hmmmm.... Reality. Just think at what is going to
happen to Lyft
& Uber
fares after
the IPOs.
Alain
T. Lee,
Jan. 10, "Elon
Musk's dream
of customers
driving their
Teslas around
parking lots
"like a big RC
car" has hit a
snag, the
mogul said on
Twitter
Thursday. The
software for
Tesla's summon
and remote
control
features was
weeks away
from
completion, he
said. However,
Musk said that
the remote
control
feature was
"getting some
regulatory
pushback"—at
least in some
parts of the
world. He
didn't specify
which parts of
the world he
was talking
about.
At the moment,
Tesla vehicles
only have a
basic summon
capability.
Drivers can
order a car to
inch forward
or backward
using a
smartphone—which
is useful when
squeezing into
tight parking
spaces. But
this requires
the driver to
be close by
and actively
monitoring the
vehicle...."
Read
more Hmmmm.... This seems like a crazy feature that should
not be put
into the hands
of consumers.
Given how cars
are sold to us
today (as
fantasies that
can drive up the Great
Wall or down
river beds
or race through snow)
and the
irresponsible
way we drive
them when we
are in them
and directly
in harm's way,
no telling
what we would
do with them
if we could
just send them
out there
while sitting
in our
parent's
basement
controlling
them with a
joy stick.
UGLY!!! At
least if we
would send our
driverless car
to the store o
pick up a
quart of milk,
the AI driving
system would
know how to do
it safely.
Having a real
car be part of
your Angry Birds video
game is
just crazy.
This is beyond
C'mon
Man!!
Alain
G. Lee, Jan
18,
"Self-driving
cars will not
magically end
traffic jams,
end the need
for mass
transit, or
usher in a
panacea of
walkable,
healthy and
vibrant
American
cities. The
self-driving —
autonomous —
vehicles will
still be cars,
and cars have
enormous,
inextricable
limitations.
Here in
Seattle, with
our
transportation
issues and
high
expectations
of technology,
it is crucial
we understand
this...." Read more Hmmmm.... Indeed, Self-driving cars are
"still cars"
and even worse
for VMT &
the
environment,
so Seattle
should
beware.
However, Driverless
cars are
public
transit. They
are programed
to deliver
mobility to
the public.
They serve
"anyone" and
take customers
anywhere at
any time
within their
operational
domain and, if
properly
managed, will
allow/encourage/accommodate the sharing of rides by customers going
between the
same places at
about the time
that otherwise
would have
congested the
roadways had
they traveled
by themselves,
as they do
now, in their
own cars.
That's not
hype, that's
an operational
and a
behavioral
choice that
Seattle's
citizenry can
choose; else
they can be
stuck in
traffic
playing with
themselves.
This emerging
choice is not
a hype. Alain
E. Hannon,
Jan 2019, "...
A future of
seamless
mobility could
create new
possibilities
for many
industries. By
2030, 40
percent of
today’s
transportation-revenue
pool—the money
that residents
in dense,
developed
cities like
New York,
Paris, and
Tokyo spend on
transit—could
be served by
modes of
transport that
don’t even
exist now. For
established
companies,
succeeding in
seamless
mobility will
likely require
going beyond
their existing
boundaries to
offer new
products.
Among
carmakers, for
example, that
might mean
moving from
just selling
cars to
selling
mobility more
broadly. For
public-roads
agencies and
the
engineering
and
construction
companies that
support them,
it could be
about
equipping the
roads they
build with
sensors for
traffic
management,
predictive
maintenance,
and
autonomous-vehicle
(AV)
communication.
Seamless
mobility has
real benefits
for cities,
travelers, and
the private
sector. In
this report,
we describe
how urban
leaders and
private
companies can
forge a
strategy to
make seamless
mobility
happen. ..."
Read more Hmmmm.... I may be unfair in putting this report in
Half-baked,
but given that
this a
McKinsey
report, it has
to held to a
higher
standard which
this report
doesn't seem
to live up
to. It is
focused on
large cities
(New York,
London, Paris,
...) and
seemingly only
the dense core
of these
cities whose
growth has
been at the
expense of the
gentrification
of poor
neighborhoods.
Nothing is
said about the
mobility needs
of those that
gentrification
has displaced,
or even the
growth of the
suburbs
surrounding
the core which
is where most
of the people
live, learn,
shop, recreate
and work.
Center cities
have become
very
expensive.
One wonders
why companies
continue to
co-locate
large groups
of white
collar workers
that rarely
interact on a
personal level
in central
office towers.
Hopefully
you'll find
this report
informative,
insightful. I
found it to be
narrow and
superficial.
Alain
3rd
Annual
Princeton SmartDrivingCar
Summit
evening May
14 through May
16, 2019
Save the Date; Reserve your Sponsorship
Catalog
of Videos of
Presentations
@ 2nd Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
Summit
Photos
from 2nd
Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
Summit
Program
& Links to
slides from
2nd Annual
Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
Summit
F. Fishkin, Sept 6, "The coming new world of driverless cars! In Episode 55 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast former GM VP and adviser to Waymo Larry Burns chats with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and Fred Fishkin about his new book "Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car and How it Will Reshape Our World"
A.
Chottani, Dec.
2018, "...What
is happening
is fairly well
understood, if
initially
underestimated.
Digitization
and other
technological
advances are
exposing the
vulnerabilities
in every
industry,
particularly
retail. And
now, logistics
companies are
starting to
feel the heat.
Our new
research has
turned up five
trends that
offer
startling
indicators of
impending
change for the
trucking,
rail,
warehousing,
and logistics
companies that
move America’s
merchandise.
Start with
autonomous
trucks (ATs),
which will
change the
cost structure
and
utilization of
trucking—and
with that, the
cost of
consumer
goods.
Sixty-five
percent of the
nation’s
consumable
goods are
trucked to
market. With
full autonomy,
operating
costs would
decline by
about 40
percent,
saving the US
for-hire
trucking
industry
between $85
billion and
$125 billion.
The big
question is
how this
savings will
be
distributed.
How will
shippers and
carriers
divide the
lower costs of
logistics? Or
will most of
the surplus
move to
consumers, in
the form of
lower
prices?..."
Hmmmm.... This is a serious in-depth report on the
Logistics
industry and
the potential
implications
of automation
and
digitization
throughout the
industry for
not only
trucks but
also
railroads.
Although, the
report fails
to consider
that railroads
may themselves
have an
opportunity
with
automation to
effectively
compete with
long-haul
trucking.
Short-fast
"engineerless
trains" with
driverless
drayage could
seriously
impact
long-haul
trucking.
Think about
it. Alain
Oct 16, Establishes
fully
autonomous
vehicle pilot
program A4573
Sponsors:
Zwicker (D16);
Benson (D14)
Oct 16, Establishes New
Jersey
Advanced
Autonomous
Vehicle Task
Force AJR164
Sponsors:
Benson (D14);
Zwicker (D16);
Lampitt (D6)
Waymo
team, June 13,
"Ariel rides
after school.
Neha hops to
the grocery
store. Barbara
and Jim zip
around town
while kicking
back.
They’re all
part of the
Waymo early
rider program
we launched
last April.
Today, over
400 riders
with diverse
backgrounds
use Waymo
every day, at
any time, to
ride all
around the
Phoenix area.
Their feedback
helps us
understand how
fully self
driving cars
fit into their
daily lives.
One year in,
our early
rider program
and our
extensive
on-road
testing is
helping us
build the
world’s most
experienced
driver. In
fact, our
fleet of cars
across the
U.S. is now
driving more
than 24,000
miles daily;
that’s the
equivalent of
an around the
world road
trip! Here’s a
quick report
on how our
riders use
Waymo, what
we’ve learned,
and what’s
next....As
some of the
first people
in the world
to use
self-driving
vehicles for
their everyday
transportation
needs, our
early riders
are helping
shape this
technology.
Thanks to
their
feedback,
we’re refining
the rider
experience to
make sure
that: ...
nobody wants
to carry
grocery bags a
block down the
street... " Read
more Hmmmm....
Yipes!! The
personal car
isn't bad
enough in its
focus on
private
single-occupant
parkingSpot2parkingSpot mobility? Are we now going to have Waymo
providing it
Door2Door with
zero
opportunity to
share rides
and while
delivering
negative
public
benefits of
increased
energy,
pollution and
congestion
with all of
its empty
vehicle
repositioning.
No wonder the
CPUC voted to
forbid
ride-sharing.
Did Waymo made
them do it
since Waymo
hasn't done
ride-sharing
in Phoenix?
Having 2 or
more people in
the car isn't
ride sharing
if they would
have all gone
together in
their own car
had Waymo not
been there. So
Bad!!! Without
ride-sharing,
this is just
expensive,
energy
inefficient
and
environmentally
challenged
private
chauffeuring
for the
entitled
privileged
class:
See
video Just
like watching
Oszzie & Harriet
or Leave
it to Beaver.
For Waymo to
"Win it",
they'll need
to embrace
ride-sharing
because no
"Blue-state"
PUC is going
to be as
impressionable
as as
California's.
Alain
KMay 24,
"About 9:58
p.m., on
Sunday, March
18, 2018, an
Uber
Technologies,
Inc. test
vehicle, based
on a modified
2017 Volvo
XC90 and
operating with
a self-driving
system in
computer
control mode,
struck a
pedestrian on
northbound
Mill Avenue,
in Tempe,
Maricopa
County,
Arizona.
...The
vehicle was
factory
equipped with
several
advanced
driver
assistance
functions by
Volvo Cars,
the original
manufacturer.
The systems
included a
collision
avoidance
function with
automatic
emergency
braking, known
as City
Safety, as
well as
functions for
detecting
driver
alertness and
road sign
information.
All these
Volvo
functions are
disabled when
the test
vehicle is
operated in
computer
control..."
Read more
Hmmmm....
Uber must
believe that
its systems
are better at
avoiding
Collisions and
Automated
Emergency
Braking than
Volvo's. At least this gets Volvo "off the hook".
"...According to data obtained from the
self-driving
system, the
system first
registered
radar and
LIDAR
observations
of the
pedestrian
about 6
seconds before
impact, when
the vehicle
was traveling
at 43 mph..."
(=
63
feet/second)
So the system
started
"seeing an
obstacle when
it was 63 x 6
= 378 feet
away... more
than a
football
field,
including end
zones!
"...As the vehicle and pedestrian paths
converged, the
self-driving
system
software
classified the
pedestrian as
an unknown
object, as a
vehicle, and
then as a
bicycle with
varying
expectations
of future
travel
path..." (NTSB:
Please tell us
precisely when
it classified
this "object'
as a vehicle
and be
explicit about
the expected "future
travel
paths." Forget the path, please just tell us the precise
velocity
vector that
Uber's system
attached to
the "object",
then the
"vehicle".
Why didn't the
the Uber
system
instruct the
Volvo to begin
to slow down
(or speed up)
to avoid a
collision? If
these paths
(or velocity
vectors) were
not accurate,
then why
weren't they
accurate? Why
was the object
classified as
a
"Vehicle" ?? When did it finally classify the object as a "bicycle"?
Why did it
change
classifications?
How often was
the
classification
of this object
done. Please
divulge the
time and the
outcome of
each
classification
of this
object. In the tests that
Uber has done,
how often has
the system
mis-classified
an object as a
"pedestrian"when the object was
actually an
overpass, or
an overhead
sign or
overhead
branches/leaves
that the car
could safely
pass under, or
was nothing at
all??
(Basically,
what are the
false alarm
characteristics
of Uber's
Self-driving
sensor/software
system as a
function of
vehicle speed
and
time-of-day?)
"...At 1.3 seconds before impact, (impact speed was 39mph = 57.2 ft/sec) the self-driving system determined that an emergency braking maneuver was needed to mitigate a collision" (1.3 x 57.2 = 74.4 ft. which is about equal to the braking distance. So it still could have stopped short.
"...According to Uber,
emergency
braking
maneuvers are
not enabled
while the
vehicle is
under computer
control, to
reduce (eradicate??) the potential
for erratic
vehicle
behavior.
..." NTSB: Please
describe/define potential and erratic vehicle
behavior Also
please uncover
and divulge
the design
& decision
process that
Uber went
through to
decide that
this risk
(disabling the
AEB) was worth
the reward of
eradicating "
"erratic vehicle behavior". This
is
fundamentally
BAD design.
If the Uber
system's false
alarm rate is
so large that
the best way
to deal with
false alarms
is to turn off
the AEB, then
the system
should never
have been
permitted on
public
roadways.
"...The vehicle operator
is relied on
to intervene
and take
action. " Wow! If Uber's
system
fundamentally
relies on a
human to
intervene,
then Uber is
nowhere near
creating a
Driverless
vehicle.
Without its
own Driverless
vehicle Uber
is past "Peak
valuation".
K. Pyle, May 9, "Safety and, as importantly, the perception of safety could be the pin that pricks the expectations surrounding the autonomous vehicle future. Recognizing the importance of safety to the success of this still nascent industry, autonomous taxi start-up, Voyage, recently placed their testing and reporting procedures in an open source framework. ...Oliver Cameron, Voyage Co-Founder and CEO, is excited to see participation and says, “We can’t wait to have all of these contributions from companies from around the world; contribute to build the actual standard in autonomous safety.” Read more, Hmmmm.... See the video that was played at the Princeton SDC Summit which generated substantial positive discussion at the Summit. See also full length video. Alain
A. Madrigal, Mar 28, "On Tuesday, Waymo announced they’d purchase 20,000 sporty, electric self-driving vehicles from Jaguar for the company’s forthcoming ride-hailing service.... But the company embedded a much more significant milestone inside this supposed announcement about a fancy car. With orders now in for more than 20,000 of these vehicles and thousands of minivans that Chrysler announced earlier this year, Waymo will be capable of doing vast numbers of trips per day. They estimate that the Jaguar fleet alone will be capable of doing a million trips each day in 2020. ..." Read more Hmmmm...Yup!! This is HUGE! It will change the city and the key to making it so it doesn't make thing worse is Ride-sharing. If we ride-share we'll reduce energy, pollution & GHG by more than 50% and provide high-quality, affordable mobility indiscriminately for all. It becomes the new high-quality, low-cost mass transit. If it's kept/operated as another alternative for the 1%ers to be chauffeured alone, then the outcome is UGLY. Ride-sharing is KEY! Alain
R. Mitchell,
Mar 22,
"Police late
Wednesday
released a
video that
shows an Uber
robot car
running
straight into
a woman who
was walking
her bicycle
across a
highway in
Tempe, Ariz.
The woman was
taken to a
hospital,
where she died
Sunday night.
The video,
shot from the
car, is sure
to raise
debate over
who's to blame
for the
accident. In
the video, the
victim, Elaine
Herzberg, 49,
appears to be
illegally
jaywalking
from a median
strip across
two lanes of
traffic on a
dark road. But
she was more
than halfway
across the
street when
the car —
traveling
about 40 mph,
according to
police — hit
her. The car
did not appear
to brake or
take any other
evasive
action....
Bryant Walker
Smith, a law
professor and
driverless
specialist at
the University
of South
Carolina,
said:
"Although this
appalling
video isn't
the full
picture, it
strongly
suggests a
failure by
Uber's
automated
driving system
and a lack of
due care by
Uber's driver
as well as by
the
victim."..."
Read more Hmmmm... "..."What
we now need is
for the
release of the
radar and lidar
data,"
Princeton's
Kornhauser
said in an
email. (Lidar
is a sensing
technology
that uses
light from a
laser.)
"Obviously,
the video of
the driver is
extremely bad
for Uber and
probably
implies that
Uber should
suspend all of
its
'self-driving'
efforts for a
while if not
for a very
long while.
"The
'self-driving'
systems are
supposed to
have
'professional'
overseers who
are really
supposed to be
paying
attention
during these
'tests'.
Apparently
Uber didn't
make it clear
in this case."
Kornhauser
questioned the
police
description of
a situation
that would
have been
difficult to
avoid. He said
Uber should
reveal what
its
collision-avoidance software was doing during the couple of seconds
before impact.
"The
front-facing
video suggests
that this
person was
crossing the
lane at a slow
speed and
should have
been noticed
by the system
in time to at
least apply
the brakes, if
not stop the
vehicle
completely,"
he said.
"While a human
may not have
been able to
avoid this
crash, a
well-designed,
well-working
collision
avoidance
system should
have at least
begun to apply
the
brakes."..."
"
... Again, my sincerest condolences to
Elaine
Herzberg's
family and
friends.
The
simple
arithmetic
is: She
crossed more
than a lane
and a half
before being
struck or more
than 15 feet.
Average
walking speed
is about 4.6 ft/sec
which means
that she was
"visible" on
this stretch
of road for
more than 3
seconds.
Uber's speed
of 38 mph =
55.7 ft/sec
means: Uber
was 150 ft
away when she
began crossing
the left-hand
lane and could
have been
visible by an
alert driver.
The car's lidar
and radar
surely must
have "seen"
her beginning
at about that
time. Car
stopping
distance
including
"thinking time
used in The
Highway Code"
@ 38mph is 110
feet. The
driver should
have been able
to stop 40
feet short.
Any Automated
Emergency
Braking (AEB)
system should
have been able
to stop the
car in little
more than the
stopping
distance of 72
feet, half way
to Elaine.
This simple
arithmetic
suggests that
there may be a
very fundamental
fatal flaw in
Uber's AEB.
And
the driver was
not paying
attention. At
3 seconds
prior to
impact, Elaine
was within a
12 degree
field of view
when she began
to cross the
left lane.
While outside
the fovea,
this is well
within a
normal gaze
had the
operator been
looking out
the window.
The
released video
is from a
"dash
cam&qu ot;
and is
unlikely to be
the video
captured by
Uber's
"Self-driving"
system (or
whatever Uber
calls it).
That video may
well be at a
much higher
resolution and
frame rate.
Uber MUST
release that
video (not
just the
dash-cam
video) as well
as the radar
and
lidar
data that was
being used by
their
"Self-driving"
system. Uber
was testing
its system at
the time of
the crash and
therefore MUST
have been
logging those
data in case
something went
wrong. Uber
needs those
recorded data
in order to
have a chance
to learn what
went wrong and
fix it.
Something did
go wrong, very
wrong. Uber
and everyone
else MUST also
have the
opportunity to
learn from
this tragedy.
So Uber MUST
release all of
the data.
Alain
G.
Kumparak,
Mar 13,
"...." Read more Hmmmm... This is
REALLY big news.This
marks the real
beginning of
on-demand
mobility
provided by
vehicles
without a
driver or an
attendant
on-board, only
the passengers
and the
vehicles used
normal public
roadways that
operated in
normal
everyday
manner and
used by
conventional
cars and
trucks. Ng
Waymo
to their o
police
escorts, no
warning signs,
just normal
everyday
operating
conditions.
Except for the
one trip given
to Steve Mahan
in November
2015 in Austin
Texas, this is
the First time
that it kind
of mobility
service has
been delivered
anywhere in
the world. Waymo
has achieved 5
million
vehicle miles
of
Self-driving
(automated
driving on
normally
operating
public
roadway;
however, with
a
driver/attendant
in the car
ready to take
over should
the automated
system begin
to fail. Many
others
including
Uber, Lyft/Aptiv,
GM/Cruise, nVIDIA,
Apple, Tesla,
Nissan and
many others
have also done
many miles of
Self-driving
on normal
roads but each
an everyone
had a
driver/attendant
in the vehicle
ready to "save
the day"
should
something go
bad. Nobody
else anywhere
in the world
is doing what
Waymo
is now doing
in Chandler
AZ. Now that
the first one
has been done,
any community
that is
similar to
Chandler AZ
can now think
seriously
about inviting
Waymo
to provide
affordable
on-demand
mobility to
everyone in
their city.
Be
sure to see
the video.
Congratulations
Waymo!!!!!
Alain
D. Etherington, Feb 27, "California’s Department of Motor Vehicles established new rules announced Monday that will allow tech companies and others working on driverless vehicle systems to begin trialling their cars without a safety driver at the wheel. The new rules go into effect starting April 2 ..." Read more Hmmmm... Even though we have been expecting this, it is a major hurdle for it to actually have occurred. How long after April 2 will Waymo take to begin this type of testing. Again this is only testing and deployment, but NOT commercial service, which may happen first in Arizona, but it is a major step in this r-evolution. Commercial services are regulated by other agencies in California, not CA DMV. It is those other agencies that will need to grant/award the licenses for the various commercial operations where these driverless vehicles would be used. This regulation allows properly licensed commercial operations using CA DMV certified driverless vehicles to have those vehicles use California public roadways in delivering the otherwise licensed commercial activity. Note: CA DMV does not license the commercial transport of people or goods. That is the purview of other CA regulatory agencies. Alain
Andrew Hawkins, Jan 30, “Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, has reached a deal with one of Detroit’s Big Three automakers to dramatically expand its fleet of autonomous vehicles. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced today that it would supply “thousands” of additional Chrysler Pacifica minivans to Waymo, with the first deliveries starting at the end of 2018.
Waymo currently
has 600 of
FCA’s minivans
in its fleet,
some of which
are used to
shuttle real
people around
for its Early
Rider program
in Arizona.
The first 100
were delivered
when the
partnership
was announced
in May 2016,
and an
additional 500
were delivered
in 2017. The
minivans are
plug-in hybrid
variants with
Waymo’s
self-driving
hardware and
software built
in. The
companies
co-staff a
facility in
Michigan, near
FCA’s US
headquarters,
to engineer
the vehicles.
The company
also owns a
fleet of
self-driving
Lexus RX SUVs
that is has
been phasing
out in favor
of the new
minivans. (The
cute “Firefly”
prototypes
were also
phased out
last year.)…”
Read
more Hmmmm...
We’ve all been
wondering”
Who’s going to
make the
cars? How
will that evolve?Will
they magically
appear???
Well….Looks
like it is FCA
for now. We've
gone from a
handful 5
years ago, 2
years ago
added 100,
added 500 last
year,
“thousands”
this/next
year, …
Beginning to
look like
exponential
growth! (A Bit
Coin
Bubble??)
What is also
most
interesting:
no parallel
announcement
that Waymo
was hiring
“thousands of
attendants” to
ride around as
"drivers" in
these
“thousands of
minivans”.
Guess what
that means…
The Kornhauser
Scale is
going to start
really going
up!!! J
While
ultimately
they’ll need
about 35
million of
these to
provide
affordable
mobility to
all in the US,
this is a real
start at
making this
into a
business as
opposed to an
NSF-style
study that
collects dust
on a shelf or,
worse yet, a
digital
manuscript
that is never
downloaded by
anyone outside
a "group of
three". This
is a major
announcement!
From Stan Young: It will be interesting to watch. It probably has the OEMs, Uber and Lyft scared out of their wits. Based on any objective comparison of accomplishment with automated vehicles, there is not a close second to Waymo, despite all the claims to the contrary by trade rags – and the competition knows it. Still a huge unknown concerning the ‘social side’ of riding in an un-attended vehicle, but we will likely get over it like we did with elevators. ‘Thousands’ of vehicles if deployed in one city will put it on scale of Uber and Lyft – an interesting study when/if it comes to that.
...An issue is: where will Waymo choose to deploy (and for Waymo, the word "deploy" is the right word... they make the decision where to place these, in some sense take it or leave it... as opposed to waiting for people to show up at a dealership to buy or have it stay on the lot or have some governmental agency thinking that it actually has a role/power/where-with-all to “deploy”) where, when and how many. They could "flood/concentrate" on Chandler/Phoenix/Tuscon area with scale to be really relevant and substantively demonstrate the evolution of mobility, or they could sprinkle them out nationwide and remain irrelevant everywhere. I like the "flood/concentrate" approach in a state (Arizona) where they seem to be truly welcomed and whose climate, topography and road network are "easy". More importantly it would demonstrate the viability/challenges of the at-scale approach. From our simulations we uncovered that at-scale, one might need to be managing as many as 20,000 aTaxis in a 2.5x2.5 mile area (the extreme in Manhattan, which may be the last place that you want to try this) but it can be large. We’ll drill down in our data and take a look at Chandler/Phoenix and report back as to what we think it would take to provide mobility for all. Alain
Jan. 9, T. Papandreou & E. Casson. "... Waymo driverless service..." Read more Hmmmm... Tim and Ellie made presentation at the Transportation Research Board's Vehicle-Highway Automation (AHB30) Committee meeting on Tuesday in which they gave an update on Waymo's progress to launch "Waymo's driverless service" (slide 11), an app-based ride hailing service to the general public in a geo-fenced area of Arizona. To date Waymo has been testing such a service using volunteer riders in their driverless vehicles in various areas around the country (slide 7): however, to date, except for one ride given to Steve Mahan in Austin, TX, rides on normally operating public streets have always had trained Waymo-authorized personnel (an attendant) in the vehicle capable to intervene in the driving of the vehicle should the need arise. Since October, in Arizona, those personnel no longer sit behind the wheel, but are in the back seat so that Waymo can observe the response of the volunteer riders to riding in a vehicle on normal public streets under normal conditions without anyone in the front seats of the vehicle.
Tim said, without providing a specific date, that Waymo will soon launch "Waymo's driverless service" providing mobility to the general public on public roads in a geo-fenced area of Arizona. I asked Tim "Will that service be offered with vehicles that have an attendant in the vehicle?". Tim's answer was "No!". I asked a follow-up question: "Will these vehicle's have telemetry capabilities that enable these vehicles to be closely monitored from a "situation room" or "control center" that would enable remote operation of the vehicle, should the need arise?". Tim's answer was "No!". Another questioner asked if the geo-fenced area included special "connected vehicle" road infrastructure improvement that Waymo's system will be relying on?" Tim's answer was "No!".
While the definition of "soon" was not given, I've taken this as a really big pronouncement that Waymo is actually going to go to launch commercially-viable on-demand mobility to the general public on conventional public roads. This is really big news because this is finally going to enable us to begin to evolve on the "Kornhauser Scale" ( log of (world-wide VMT of Driverless (VMT-D) vehicles without a human attendant/driver on board accumulated while providing mobility to the general public on conventional roadways). So far we are beyond the "undefined value" associated with VMT-D = 0 and are at KS = 1 only by virtue of the one Steve Mahan ride in Austin). :-) Alain
AP,
Nov. 7, 2017 "Waymo,
the
self-driving
car company
created by
Google, is
pulling the
human backup
driver from
behind the
steering wheel
and will test
vehicles on
public roads with only an
employee in
the back seat.
The company’s
move — which
started Oct.
19 with an
automated
Chrysler
Pacifica
minivan in the
Phoenix suburb
of Chandler,
Ariz. — is a major step toward vehicles driving
themselves on
public roads
without human
backup
drivers. ..."
Read
more Hmmmm... Not to be
too critical,
but Waymo
is still just
'Self-driving'
. While they
moved the
'engineer'
with the
ability to
'take over and
drive the
vehicle' from
behind the
wheel to the
back seat,
this is just a
step along the
broad
'Self-driving'
continuum
which is a
vehicle that,
under certain
circumstance,
can drive
itself, but
does that only
if there is a
person ready
and able to
take over if
the unexpected
appears.
The
big-leap/major-step will come when Waymo
removes the
'engineer'
entirely from
the vehicle and
it is
human-less
when it
arrives to
pick up a
passenger and
drives
away
human-less
after the last
passenger(s)
disembark.
That enormous
leap-of-faith
in the
technology
will mark Waymo's
inception of
the Driverless
Era. (or
what Waymo
prefers to
call 'Fully
Self-driving'
era.)
Just
to be clear,
when that time
comes, I'm
sure that
Waymo
will have
telemetry
throughout
that
Driverless
vehicle and
there will be
a room full of
engineers in Waymo's
'Situation
Room'
ready to take
over the
driving should
the need
arise.
However,
until that
time, Waymo
is just like
all the other
wanabes,
they are just
'Self-driving'
without the
'Fully'.
The
reason why
'remote
emergency
driving' is
'Driverless'
is because it
scales. By
that I mean
that it takes
the provision
of horizontal
mobility on
our public
streets from
needing at
least one
human per
vehicle to
needing less
than one human
per vehicle.
Initially the
remote driver
will monitor
one car.
Before you
know it that
person will be
monitoring
two, four,
eight, ...
vehicles and
truly
Driverless
with zero
remote human
oversee-ers
will be
approached
asymptotically.
But just like
the old saw
between the
engineer and
the
mathematician:
engineer and
mathematician
were sitting
on a bench
recalling
their youth...
Engineer said
"Long ago, I
was sitting on
this very
bench with my
girl. We
wanted to kiss
but we were
too far
apart. So we
agreed to move
towards each
other by
halving the
distance
between us on
each move.
The
mathematician
blared "
You're so
stupid! If
you did that,
you never came
together!"
The engineer
just smiled:
"we got close
enough!".
Alain
May 18,
Enormously
successful
inaugural
Summit
starting with
the Adam
Jonas video
and finishing
with
Fred Fishkin's
live interview
with Wm. C
Ford III.
In between, serious engagement among over
150 leaders
from
Communities at
the bleeding
edge of
deployment,
Insurance
struggling
with how to
properly
promote the
adoption of
technology
that may well
force them to
re-invent
themselves and
AI (Artificial
Intelligence)
and the
various
technologies
that are
rapidly
advancing so
that we can
actually
deliver the
safety,
environmental,
mobility and
quality of
life
opportunities
envisioned by
these
“Ultimate
Shared-Riding
Machines”.
Save the Date
for the 2nd
Annual... May
16 & 17,
2018,
Princeton NJ
Read
Inaugural
Program with
links to
Slides. Fishkin Interview of Summit Summary
and
Interview of
Yann LeCun.
Read Inaugural
Program with
links to
Slides. Hmmmm... Enormous thank you to all who
participated.
Well done!
Alain
Video similar to part of Adam's Luncheon talk @ 2015 Florida Automated Vehicle Symposium on Dec 1. Hmmm ... Watch Video especially at the 13:12 mark. Compelling; especially after the 60 Minutes segment above! Also see his TipRanks. Alain
This list is
maintained by
Alain
Kornhauser
and hosted by
the Princeton
University
Leave
|Re-enter
[log in to unmask]" alt="imap:[log in to unmask]:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E3022058?part=1.39&filename=dhbhaandkmfbffia.png" class="" width="106" height="88" border="0"> [log in to unmask]" alt="imap:[log in to unmask]:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E3022058?part=1.40&filename=lglcejopfgfnajaj.png" class="" width="238" height="92" border="0">[log in to unmask]">Mailto:[log in to unmask]