http://SmartDrivingCar.com/7.04-Prime-012519
4th edition of the 7th year of SmartDrivingCars
R. Redman,
Jan 23,
"Amazon.com
Inc. has begun
field-testing
a compact,
self-driving
delivery
vehicle dubbed
Amazon Scout.
The e-tailing
giant said
Wednesday that
six of the
autonomous,
all-electric
vehicles —
about the size
of a small
cooler and
emblazoned
with the Prime
logo — are now
making package
deliveries in
a neighborhood
in
Washington’s
Snohomish
County.
In the pilot,
Amazon Scout
will deliver
packages
Monday through
Friday during
daylight
hours. The
six-wheeled,
self-guided
vehicles roll
along their
delivery route
at a walking
pace but
initially will
be accompanied
by an
employee,
according to
Amazon. The
company said
it developed
the device at
its
research-and-development
lab in Seattle
to ensure the
vehicles can
safely
navigate
around
pedestrians,
pets and other
objects in
their
path...." Read more Hmmmm.... See
video
Makes so much
more sense
than drones.
Very
beginning. So
potentially
valuable to
Amazon. Of
course they
are in it to
win it. Alain
F. Fishkin, Jan. 25, "Here come Amazon's autonomous delivery vehicles! Amazon, Waymo, GM, Apple, Aurrigo, Argo, Boeing, Uber and even MacLaren are up for discussion in Episode 86 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin." Hmmmm.... Now you can just say "Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!" . Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay. Alain
3rd
Annual
Princeton SmartDrivingCar
Summit
evening May
14 through May
16, 2019
Save
the Date;
Reserve your
Sponsorship
K. Wiggers, Jan. 22, "Starship Technologies, the Estonia-based robotics startup created in 2014 by Skype cofounders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, is already ferrying food from kitchens to customers through partnerships with Domino’s in Germany, London food-delivery firm Just Eat, and DoorDash in the U.S. But starting today, that group is expanding to include the 40,000 students, faculty, and staff at George Mason University’s Fairfax campus....
As with Starship’s previous delivery pilots like that involving food service company Compass on Intuit’s Mountain View premises, its mobile app for iOS and Android facilitates the ordering process. Users choose which food or beverages they’d like, drop a pin where they want their delivery to be sent, and unlock the robot’s storage compartment once they receive an alert indicating it’s arrived...." Read more Hmmmm.... See video Same as Amazon's, ??? IP battle looming??? All 6-wheeled vehicles (Cajun Bot) look alike??? Alain
L. Kolodny,
Jan 24, "Apple
dismissed just
over 200
employees this
week from
Project Titan,
its stealthy
autonomous
vehicle group,
people
familiar with
the matter
told CNBC.
An Apple
spokesperson
acknowledged
the layoffs
and said the
company still
sees
opportunity in
the space:
"We have an
incredibly
talented team
working on
autonomous
systems and
associated
technologies
at Apple. As
the team
focuses their
work on
several key
areas for
2019, some
groups are
being moved to
projects in
other parts of
the company,
where they
will support
machine
learning and
other
initiatives,
across all of
Apple," the
spokesperson
said.
"We continue
to believe
there is a
huge
opportunity
with
autonomous
systems, that
Apple has
unique
capabilities
to contribute,
and that this
is the most
ambitious
machine
learning
project
ever."..." Read more Hmmmm... A better way to put it... this is
the easiest
machine
learning
project that
may actually
deliver a
substantial
improvement in
the quality of
life of the
billions of
people that
today have to
drive
themselves
and/or
chauffeur
others without
receiving any
compensation.
Also, given
how much there
is to do and
how hard it is
to find people
competent
enough to
help, it s
surprising
that anyone in
this business
would be
getting rid of
anyone. Why
did Apple hire
these
individuals in
the first
place??? Is
there
something else
going on @
Apple???
Sounds like
they've
realized that
Driverless
Car/Truck
customers are
Businesses/Fleets and not consumers. Apple is a B2C entity and not B2B
nor a
Supplier.
Apple must
have thrown in
the towel.
Alain
T Craig, Jan 25, "Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving vehicle unit is to build a plant in southeast Michigan dedicated to transforming vehicles into autonomous cars, the company has announced. The new facility will be dedicated to mass production of level 4 autonomous vehicles, which can pilot themselves without a human driver under certain conditions, and will be the first such factory in the world, according to Waymo.
The
vehicles will
be used for
Waymo’s
ride-hailing
services
business, and
the company is
planning to
work with auto
supplier Magna
International
to install the
Waymo
self-driving
system in
vehicles
manufactured
by
others...." Read more Hmmmm... Makes sense as long as the vehicles
that they are
going to be
customizing
are
manufactured
in Detroit.
Alain
A. Roy, Jan
22, "...I —
the founder of
the Human Driving Association, infamous
critic of BS around autonomous cars and "New Mobility",
blistering foe
of those who confuse Tesla Autopilot with self-driving ...Driverless....
, and
merciless
enemy of
"Innovation
Experts",
"Radical
Disruptors"
and anyone
with "Speaker"
in their
LinkedIn
profile — was
about to
announce my
new role as
Director of
Special
Operations at
Argo AI, a deliberately vague position at one
of the world's
leading
self-driving
car companies,
and the only
one with the
courage to
bring my
Brobdingnagian
devil's
advocacy
in-house.
There was only
one problem. I
needed a real
car to use in
Pittsburgh, at
least for a
few weeks. I
just had a
baby. I needed
to lug stuff
around. Argo's
headquarters
is in
Pittsburgh,
373 miles from
my home in
NYC. That's 5
hours in a car
I own, or 6
hours in one I
don't...." Read more Hmmmm... Enjoy! Roy, Congrats on your new
baby!!! Alain
D. Kelley, Jan. 4, "... We sat down with Mandi Damman, GM’s chief engineer of autonomous vehicles, to discuss the journey to autonomous mobility. She shares her perspectives on challenges facing all automakers, GM’s innovations in autonomous vehicles, ...
DELOITTE:
Is the journey
toward fully
autonomous
technology a
stair-step
approach where
people are
slowly
adapting to
individual
safety
features like
automatic
braking or
adaptive
cruise
control, or do
you see a more
immediate,
revolutionary
shift at some
point?
MD: We see two
different,
coexisting
paths. ... Saturn, deja vu all over again .. On
one hand is
the
revolutionary
shift we’re
working on to
develop the technology,
software, and
business model
required for a
fully
autonomous
rideshare
service.
On the other
is more of an
evolutionary
change built
on
increasingly
capable
driver-assist
technologies.
... my emphasis ...
DELOITTE:
Other than the
technology
built into the
car, what are
some of the
other elements
required to
make fully
autonomous
vehicles a
reality?
MD: Ensuring
that we have
adequate fleet
management—including frequent safety checks—and data infrastructure in
place will be
essential.
From there,
it’s on us to
have the
back-office
connections to
make sure the
computing,
perception,
and overall
vehicle
technology is
working as
intended..."
Read more Hmmmm... So good so far, but there may be one
more element:
"community
relations that
create and
sustain a
welcoming
environment "
that allows
this
technology to
safely share
our
neighborhood
streets in
order to
successfully
serve, the
ride-sharing
"communities".
This is
fundamentally
different from
GM's sweet
spot of selling fantasies in glistening showrooms supported by Mad Men. Alain
J. Bloom,
Jan 25, "You
step outside
to the curb
and summon a
ride with an
app on your
phone — but in
the
self-driving
future
envisioned by
Yanfeng
Automotive
Interiors,
that's where
the familiar
part ends..."
Read more Hmmmm... See video (top of article). ?????
What will
these
interiors look
like when the
designers
realize that
Driverless
cars are
mobility
machines that
aren't just
for the 1%ers
or SVDBs but
mostly for
plain folks
trying to get
somewhere.
???? Maybe
they should be
focused on
enhancing the
destination,
since that's
why the
ride-sharers
are in the
vehicle in
first place???
Alain
T. Higgins,
Jan 17, "At a
command center
near the
airport here,
executives
from
automotive
supplier Aptiv
APTV 1.64% PLC
showed why
deploying
robot cars
will be far
more
complicated
than many
envisioned
just a few
years ago.
With people in
town for the
annual CES
tech show,
Aptiv revealed
its new
operations
with more than
300 people,
rows of
computer
monitors and a
30-foot video
screen. It’s
all to track
and keep a
fleet of 75
autonomous
cars
operating.
Thirty of
those vehicles
make up the
20-hours-a-day
operation for
passengers on
Lyft Inc.’s
app, taking
riders across
a
17-square-mile
area around
the Strip.
Those cars
already have
made about
30,000 Lyft
trips.
“What was
underappreciated
by the
industry is
how long and
how difficult
it would be to
industrialize
the
technology,”
said Karl
Iagnemma,
president of
Aptiv’s
autonomous
mobility.
“Industrywide
that
recognition
has dawned.”
The hype that
has consumed
the nascent
driverless-car
industry over
the past few
years has
moved into a
new period of
cautious
optimism
following the
fatal crash of
an Uber
Technologies
Inc. test
autonomous
vehicle last
year and
separate
crashes
involving
Tesla Inc.’s
driver-assistance
system....
Kyle Vogt,
Cruise’s chief
technology
officer,
reiterated in
an interview
in Las Vegas
last week that
the company is
on track to
deploy the
service
without a
human behind
the wheel this
year. But he
also called
for more
reasoned
discussions
about the
technology. He
joined
competitors at
CES to mark
the creation
of an industry
group dubbed
PAVE, or
Partners for
Automated
Vehicle
Education,
that aims to
educate the
public about
the
technology.
“I think 2019
will hopefully
see the first
signs of this
technology
being real,”
he said. “I
hope those
initial
launches
manage to
reset
expectations.”"
Read more Hmmmm... No problem. It is good that
substance is
dominating
hype and the
focus is
shifting to
business
fundamentals
rather than
pigs with
lipstick.
Alain
Press
Release, Oct
'18, "urrigo’s
self-driving
pods have been
undergoing
trials on
pavements in
Milton Keynes:
As part of the
UK Autodrive
project,
Milton Keynes
Council has
been working
with Aurrigo
to test out a
new first/last
mile transport
solution for
local people,
shoppers and
visitors to
Milton
Keynes...." Read more Hmmmm... Watch video. Very interesting. Alain
S. Dent,
Jan. 24,
"Formula One
racing will be
more like a
video game in
30 years,
according a
fanciful
vision of the
future
unleashed by
supercar maker
McLaren.
According to
its
"MCLExtreme"
research
project (don't
try to
pronounce
that), future
formula race
cars will do
everything
short of
flying. The
cars, electric
naturally,
will run on
Hot Wheels
type tracks at
up to 500 km/h
(310 mph),
pulling up to
5 Gs while
taking 90
degree bends
at 250 mph.
The electric
racers would
be powered via
induction
coils on the
track directly
into receiver
coils on the
wheels, built
of a
"self-repairing
composite,"
natch. There
would still be
batteries on
board, that
could charge
to 10-50
percent
capacity in as
little as 10
seconds.
Instead of a
pit stop, you
might do a few
laps in a
charging lane
that adds more
or less power
based on your
speed, putting
some strategy
into play...."
Read more Hmmmm... Interesting, Watch video (beginning is boring, Start 3 minutes
in) Alain
M. Coren, Jan 25, "... While the transition to electric vehicles is virtually certain, the timing is anyone’s guess. Plug-in electric cars still represent just under 2% of the US market, and 2.2% worldwide. Despite exponential growth, with a record 2 million or so EVs sold worldwide last year, only one in 250 cars on the road is electric. Only Norway, which has lavished subsidies and perks on EVs, has seen the EV share of new car sales rise to around 30%....
The consulting firm Deloitte studied the dilemma this presents for the auto industry. How fast can carmakers invest in new electric technology while generating profits to make the transition? The firm expects 21 million battery electric vehicles to roll off assembly lines over the next decade as EV prices fall below comparable gasoline and diesel models by 2024. But the rush to expand EV manufacturing capacity is predicted to produce a glut of EVs, undermining automakers’ bottom lines. “Our projections suggest that supply will vastly outweigh consumer demand by approximately 14 million units over the next decade,..." Read more Hmmmm... Range anxiety and Filler-up anxiety remain major hurdles for EVs even if the price falls below gasoline. Hopefully folks won't realize that these cars are actually using electricity that keeps open coal power plants. EVs are the marginal users of electricity. Coal plants are the marginal producer. (No one is spamming me to convert my gas water heater, dryer and heating systems to electricity; else, more coal. Hopefully the rapid rise in the use of electric aTaxi systems will coincide with the complete transition of electric power generation away from coal. A lot of work needs to be done on both fronts.) Alain
E. Johnson,
Jan 23,
"Boeing Co
<BA.N>
said on
Wednesday its
flying car
prototype
hovered
briefly in the
air during an
inaugural test
flight, a
small but
significant
step as the
world's
largest
planemaker
bids to
revolutionize
urban
transportation
and parcel
delivery
services.
Boeing is
competing with
arch-rival
Airbus SE
<AIR.PA>
and numerous
other firms to
introduce
small
self-flying
vehicles
capable of
vertical
takeoff and
landing.
The
investments,
fueled by
leaps in
autonomous
technology as
much as
frustration
with road
congestion,
could change
the face of
the aerospace
industry
within the
next
decade..." Read more Hmmmm... Worse than Half-baked but not quite
C'mon Man! Maybe to replace your chopper (Real advantage is No Driveshaft to
tail rotor).
Else, use
Skype. Alain
T. Lee, Jan. 21, "Uber is looking to hire people to help it develop autonomous scooter and bike technology, according to Wired-editor-turned-robotics-entrepreneur Chris Anderson. The goal would be to allow bikes and scooters to "drive themselves to charging or better locations." People interested in joining the project can fill out this form...." Read more Hmmmm... I understand what Uber wants... anything that boosts its IPO, but C'mon man!! It is bad enough that ScooterHoles run down pedestrian. Can you imagine an army of them racing by you, all by themselves, to the nearest charging station??? C'mon man! 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
[log in to unmask]"
alt=""
class=""
width="89"
height="52">
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."
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!"
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
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