http://SmartDrivingCar.com/7.17-Via-041919
17th
edition of the 7th year of SmartDrivingCars
M. Linblom, Aptil 16, "At a time public-transit
across America is losing customers to private
ride-hailing rivals, Seattle-area governments are
paying the Via transportation network company to
shuttle more people toward Sound Transit trains.
Starting Tuesday, travelers can now download the Via
to Transit app, or call 206-258-7739, to order rides
to or from five light-rail stations in South Seattle
and Tukwila. A black van ought to arrive in 10 to 15
minutes. Trips must begin or end at a transit
station.
Pay the usual King County Metro adult fare of $2.75,
or the student/low-income rate of $1.50 using an
ORCA card, and then get a free transfer by tapping
your card before boarding the train. Cash and paper
transfers aren’t accepted, just ORCA fare cards or a
Transit Go smartphone-based bus ticket....
Metro’s performance standards aim for at least
1,000 Via customers a week, which computes to about
$6 operating cost per user..." Read
more Hmmmm... Very
interesting and shared ride-focused. Certainly
a precursor to autonomousTaxi service if Waymo,
or someone else, if there exist somebody better,
can finally get Driverless over the hump. By
that time we'll have plenty of experience with
human drivers so that we'll know how the
service, vehicle routing and management
algorithms will need to work and we can scale
the systems beyond the limits of the meager
public subsidies. Alain
April 5, F. Fishkin, "The success of on demand transit company Via is proving that ride sharing systems can work. Public Policy head Andrei Greenawalt joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for a wide ranging discussion. Also: Uber, Tesla, Audi, Apple and Nuro are making headlines. Tune in and subscribe!" Just say "Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!" . Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay ... Alain
B. Kenwell, April 19, "...Bears have raised the
argument that regulators shouldn't allow this
controversial system to be on the streets, given that
accidents and fatalities have resulted while using it.
Supporters of Tesla's autonomous driving program say
it's necessary to accelerate the technology's
potential, while others use autonomous driving vs.
human driving data points to argue that those using
Autopilot are actually safer than those not using it.
Many also argue that Autopilot still requires drivers
to stay attentive and alert.
In either case, Tesla's Autopilot lives on and on
Monday we'll get an idea what the automaker thinks of
its autonomous future. Aside from the presentation,
look for more details on a potential ride-hailing and
ride-sharing network that others have mentioned in the
past, and don't be surprised if that draws plenty of
skepticism." Read
more Hmmmm... I'll be
very interested in listening live if they stream
it. Might be better than the Falcon
Heavy launch. Very unlikely! Alain
J Muller, April 19, "...Reality check: Adding a powerful computer chip does not mean the cars are ready to drive themselves. Musk says Tesla still has to develop software that extends current highway driving capabilities to city streets, including traffic light recognition, complex intersections and remote parking....
"With the current Autopilot, everybody knows they
need to pay attention. But if all of a sudden, they
put in somebody's brain that these cars can drive
themselves, I think that is irresponsible," says Alain
Kornhauser, chair of the AV engineering program at
Princeton University...." Read more Hmmmm... Yup! More below.
Alain
F. Lambert, April 18, "Tesla has been spotted
evidently filming a self-driving demo in a Model 3
ahead of its planned ‘Investor Autonomy Event’ next
week during which the automaker is expected to release
more details about ‘Tesla Network’, its autonomous
ride-hailing network..." Read more Hmmmm... If Tesla releases any
videos showing anything that looks like what Tesla
sells to the public, driving on anything that
looks like a public road without an alert adult
supervisor in the drivers seat, I'm going to
scream. That would be so totally irresponsible.
As I have previously written, consumers are simply
not prepared
to assume the responsibility of owning and
managing a driverless car. They may never be. For
now, congress should forbid consumers/individuals
from owning these things. In the wrong hands they
are more dangerous that guns and they don't have
the protection of a 2nd amendment.
Moreover, the fantasy that
"my Tesla's autoPilot can do this" should not be
even hinted by anyone at Tesla; else... Tesla
should be held liable for ALL losses resulting
from any and all crashes involving any autoPilot
system. ALL loses includes any financial loss
incurred by any entity involved in the
SmartDrivingCar industry resulting from the
negative public perception and confidence in
SmartDrivingCars that such crashes would
induce.
To me, putting such videos/fantasies out there is tantamount to a terrorist attach on the SmartDrivingCar industry. Look at the damage Uber did in Arizona. This would be overtly irresponsible by Tesla. Alain
R. Mitchell, April 19, "...At the invitation-only event — called Investor Autonomy Day and set for 11 a.m. Monday at the company’s Palo Alto headquarters — Musk is likely to detail currently sketchy plans to make Tesla the first company to offer widespread deployment of driverless cars on highways and city streets. Within months, Musk said, owners of most Teslas can have their cars refitted with a new computer board to enable full self-driving...." Read more Hmmmm... Hopefully he'll be responsible. Alain
D. Bosa, April 18, "Uber has announced a deal for a
$1 billion investment in its self-driving vehicle
unit, just weeks before its initial public offering.
Toyota and Japanese auto-parts supplier Denso will
together invest $667 million, while Softbank’s Vision
Fund will invest $333 million. SoftBank is already
Uber’s largest shareholder and Toyota invested $500
million last year.
The investment values the division, known as the
Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), at $7.25 billion
and creates a newly formed corporate entity with its
own board..." Read
more Hmmmm... Am I
missing something? Has the S1 been updated?? Who
got what for what? In the past, Uber seems to
have made more from selling "Assets" than giving
rides. Is this more of that?? Has ATG been
skimed? Too complicated for me. I can't follow
this shell
game. Alain
A. Hawkins, April 12, "California would allow for the
testing of light-duty autonomous trucks on public
roads under a proposed rule announced
Friday. The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles
announced the proposal today, which outlines a
permitting process for companies wishing to test or
deploy driverless trucks for testing.
The rule would only apply to autonomous vehicles
weighing less than 10,001 pounds. That means only
Class 1 and 2 trucks — which include minivans, pickup
trucks, utility vans, and step vans — could receive
permits for testing under the proposed rule. " Read
more Hmmmm... Look at
the actual CA
DMV Announcement. Only Class 1&2, but
it is a start and a good start. Alain
K. Korosec, April 17, "Audi’s self-driving unit has
tapped a startup with a unique approach to lidar as it
ramps up testing in Munich using a fleet of autonomous
electric e-tron crossover vehicles.
Audi subsidiary Autonomous Intelligent Driving, or AID,
said Wednesday it’s using lidar sensors developed by
Aeva, a startup founded just two years ago by veterans
of Apple and Nikon.
Aeva, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company started by
Soroush Salehian and Mina Rezk, has developed what it
describes as “4D lidar” that can measure distance as
well as instant velocity without losing range, all while
preventing interference from the sun or other sensors.
Move past the 4D branding-speak, and the tech is
compelling...." Read
more Hmmmm... Getting
velocity is good, but how good is the velocity that
is gotten? Alain
K. Korosec, April 17 "Aptiv, the U.S. auto supplier
and self-driving software company, is opening an
autonomous mobility center in Shanghai to focus on the
development and eventual deployment of its technology on
public roads...." Read
more Hmmmm... Aptiv is
already testing on public roads in the US. Is this
move focused on testing Driverlessly without an
attendant on Chinese public roads??
S. Nellis, April 17, "Apple Inc has held talks with at
least four companies as possible suppliers for
next-generation lidar sensors in self-driving cars,
evaluating the companies’ technology while also still
working on its own lidar unit, three people familiar
with the discussions said.... ...Was
Waymo included??...
In addition to evaluating potential outside suppliers,
Apple is believed to have its own internal lidar sensor
under development, two of the people said." Read
more Hmmmm... Key is
getting a good v in addition to d at each pixel
r,g,b. Alain
F. Lambert, April 19, "Tesla has fallen
behind in autonomous driving, according to Navigant’s
leaderboard, but it’s still the most trusted by
consumers for self-driving. Navigant Research has
created a leaderboard based on each company’s vision
and execution in the autonomous driving world in order
to get an idea of which ones might have a lead. They
based the rankings on 10 criteria:..." Read
more Hmmmm... I've
never appreciated this chart. There are so many
coefficients that are drawn completely
out of thin air that you can generate
any Jackson
Pollock you might want. At least the Farmers'
Almanac has some history behind it. Alain
3rd Annual
Princeton SmartDrivingCar
Summit
evening May 14 through May 16, 2019
Apply to Participate; 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">
April 5, F. Fishkin, "SpaceX amazes,
Uber ready for lift off, Tesla's Autopilot and
Ford's CEO assesses the self driving landscape.
Join Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host
Fred Fishkin for Episode 99 of Smart Driving
Cars."
April 5, F. Fishkin, "Here comes congestion pricing in New York City...but what will it mean? Former city Taxi and Limousine Commission head and transportation expert Matthew Daus joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Also...Tesla, VW and even Brexit! All on Episode 98 of Smart Driving Cars."
March 28, F. Fishkin, "The Future Networked Car? From Sweden, The Dispatcher publisher, Michael Sena, joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for the latest edition of Smart Driving Cars. Plus ...the Boeing story has much to do with autonomous vehicles and more. Tune in and subscribe."
March 21, F. Fishkin, "NVIDIA unveils Constellation Drive and more at the company's GPU Technology Conference. NVIDIA's Director of Automotive Danny Shapiro joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for a special edition of the Smart Driving Cars podcast!"
March 18, F. Fishkin, "Autonomous vehicles and a new world of mobility for those who need it most. That plus a new poll from AAA, the grounding of Boeing's Max 8 aircraft, Lyft's IPO and more in this edition of the Smart Driving Cars podcast with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. " Just say "Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!" . Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay ... Alain
March 10, F. Fishkin, "What was missing from the Geneva Auto Show? Princeton University's Alain Kornhauser takes aim on that, plus, Volvo, Waymo Tesla and more along with co-host Fred Fishkin. Tune in and subscribe! "
Feb. 22, F. Fishkin, " Should Elon Musk stop promising truly self driving cars next year? That plus more on Waymo, Apple and a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists in this edition of the Smart Driving Cars podcast with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin."
Feb. 15, F. Fishkin, , "What can autonomous vehicle companies learn from the Amazon HQ2 cancellation in NY? Plenty, says Princeton University's Alain Kornhauser. That and more in Episode 91 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast with co-host Fred Fishkin. "
Feb. 10, F. Fishkin, ,
"Special edition with Matthew Daus former
Commissioner of NY Taxi & Limousine commission
to discuss NYC's congestion pricing and efforts to
improve mobility for all in he NY metropolitan
region."
Feb. 1, F. Fishkin, , "The National Transportation Safety Board unveils the 2019-2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements. Put down the mobile device, stop speeding and make new safety technology standard equipment. NTSB Office of High Safety Project Manager Dr. Ensar Ecic joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin to discuss. "Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!" . Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay. Alain
Feb. 1, F. Fishkin, , " New
York begins data collection on Uber and Lyft rides,
AutonomouStuff continues to grow, another arrest in
alleged theft of Apple self driving secrets...and
more in episode 87 of Smart Driving Cars. Join
Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred
Fishkin and subscribe!"
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"
J. Torchinsky, April 11, "For the first time ever, yesterday, SpaceX managed to land and recover all three of the Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket boosters that, when combined, form the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. While the idea of vertically landing a rocket after launch for re-use has been around a while, SpaceX was the first to actually do it, and this triple-landing, part of the Arabsat-6A launch, is the first time three boosters from one launch have been recovered...." Read more Hmmmm... If you weren't watching live, then you must watch the video. 2 side landing @ T+7:30+ (also), center@ T+9:40+ See this aerial picture. See also [log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="59" height="17" border="0"> SpaceX Falcon Heavy Sticks Triple Rocket Landing with 1st Commercial Launch.
In the 70's, after putting a man on the moon, we felt empowered that technologically, everything was possible! However, going 3for3 on bull's eye landings on earth is totally mind boggling. Technologically, I'm fully confident we soon can have aTaxis serving the mobility disadvantaged throughout our communitie. But, do we have the the societal/political will to risk even trying. There simply may be too many gatekeepers of the status quo. Alain
M. Daus, Esq, April 1, "Over the weekend, the New York State legislature agreed to pass congestion pricing legislation as part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget bill for FY 2020. The legislation was finalized in the early hours today, and the Governor is expected to sign the bill into law immediately. The toll is intended to reduce traffic congestion while raising $15 billion between 2020 and 2024 to fix NYC subways and commuter rails. Starting no sooner than December 31, 2020, motorists will be charged a toll to drive into Manhattan south of 60th street, excluding the FDR Drive and the West Side highway....
Only two categories of vehicles are specifically exempt from the law: emergency vehicles and qualifying vehicles transporting a person with disabilities. The law does not specify what qualifies as a “vehicle transporting a person with disability,” leaving any such determinations to the TBTA. A recent Bloomberg article discusses exemptions for people with disabilities (click here to review full article)..." Read more Hmmmm... Congratulations NYC!!! I've never understood why this isn't called "Value Pricing". Was it the SAE??? or is it just that I don't seem to ever like the semantics used by others? This has been a long time coming and is a tribute to William Vickery, the Canadian-born Columbia University Professor of Economics and Nobel Laureate who tragically passed away shortly after being announced as the winner of the 1996 award in Economics. AlainE. Niedermeyer, March 18, "he single most important moment in the world of self-driving cars was around 10 PM on a Sunday evening, one year ago today. On that fatal evening, Elaine Herzberg stepped out into Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona and was struck and killed by a Volvo XC90 that was testing Uber's self-driving car technology. Herzberg's death has cast a pall over what had been a white hot race to develop world-changing technology that promised to both save lives and create billions in value for the winners, changing public perceptions of autonomous vehicles and internal practices at the firms developing the technology alike. Though this shameful moment won't stop the march toward autonomous vehicles, it does provide an important opportunity to stop and reflect on how it happened and what lessons must be learned to prevent it from happening again.
Lesson #1: This Is Not A Race... (1)
Lesson #2: Culture Matters. (3)
Lesson #3: Humans Are Bad At Overseeing Imperfect
Automation. (9)
Lesson #4: Vulnerable Road Users Require Extra Care.(5)
Lesson #5: Regulation Beats The Alternative. (7)
Lesson #6: Legal Liability Must Catch Up With
Technology. (10)
Lesson #7: Leaders Need To Listen. (8)
Lesson #8: Infrastructure Matters. (6)
Lesson #9: Autonomy Has Opponents. (2)
Lesson #10: Trust Is The Currency Of Autonomous
Drive Technology. (4)
Lesson #xx: Be totally transparent about what happened leading up to the crash. (3.5)
Lesson #yy: Learn about safety from others and help others learn from you (3.6) Read more Hmmmm... Very worth reading. I've provided my own ranking and added a couple of other lessons. What is being disillusioned is the fairy tale / Sunday supplement aspects of this technology, which no one ever believed anyway. What remains substantive is that Safe-driving car technology is being incorporated into new cars and it is beginning to work. Self-driving technology is being championed by OEM, especially Tesla and Volvo and it is being purchased to the satisfaction of OEMs. And Driverless technology is being tried in goods delivery and, at least at Princeton University, is being focused to serve Mobility Disadvantaged communities whose quality-of-life this technology can most enhance. While this technology is in its infancy with little scale or bandwidth, it is prudent that it focus on delivering mobility to those who can most benefit from the technology, rather than try to convert those that are indifferent or disdain. Alain
Press release, March 19, "To ensure self-driving
cars are safely integrated on New Jersey roads,
legislation sponsored by Assembly Democrats Daniel
Benson, Andrew Zwicker and Pamela Lampitt to
establish a task force to evaluate autonomous
vehicles was signed into law by the Governor
Monday.
“As major auto companies explore developing semi
and fully autonomous cars, we need to prepare for
the day when we’ll see only self-driving vehicles
on our roadways,” said Benson (Mercer, Middlesex).
“The goal of this task force will be to assess how
we can introduce autonomous vehicles to our
roadways while keeping drivers safe.”
The new mandate (formerly bill AJR-164) creates
the New Jersey Advanced Autonomous Vehicle Task
Force, comprised of eight members. The panel will
be responsible for conducting a study of
autonomous vehicles and recommending laws, rules,
and regulations that the state may enact to safely
integrate these vehicles on the roads..." Read
more
Hmmmm....
New Jersey is now
started. Hooray!!
Alain
A. Kornhauser, March 13, "The following testimony was provided to the New Jersey State Assembly’s Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee on Monday, March 11....
What we need, what my ask is, that we create in New Jersey a “welcoming environment” for the research, testing and demonstration of this technology and work to focusing it on improving the mobility of the mobility disadvantaged...
While such a demonstration is not prohibited in
New Jersey, it is not permitted.
Consequently, this provides excuses and hurdles
to bringing such mobility to our communities and
tarnishes any other welcoming efforts aimed at
enabling New Jersey to lead instead of follow in
what may well address the fundamental objective of
this hearing." Read
more
Hmmmm....Seems
so simple. I have
found it so
incredibly hard.
Alain
Press Release, March 4, "Volvo Cars, as a
worldwide leader in safety, is sending a strong
signal about the dangers of speeding and will
limit the top speed on all its cars to 180 kph
from 2020.
The company’s Vision 2020, which aims for no one to be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo by 2020, is one of the most ambitious safety visions in the automotive industry. But realising that technology alone will not get it all the way to zero, Volvo Cars is now broadening its scope to include a focus on driver behaviour...
Apart from limiting top speeds, the company is
also investigating how a combination of smart
speed control and geofencing technology could
automatically limit speeds around schools and
hospitals in future.... " Read
more
Hmmmm....
Bravo Volvo!!! I
appreciate this
ground-breaking
initiative by an
OEM. Over the
years Volvo has
proven that
"Safety" doesn't
sell, now Volvo is
doubling down
against the German
Speed Fantasy. Is
Volvo crazy?
I applaud you. Hopefully, this is just the first step Why not 135 kph (~90mph). Or "9 over" with ability to "buy a '24 over'" at an exponentially increasing higher price. Alain
March 1, "Improve people's lives with the world's best transportation. ...44% of rides start or end in low income areas.... Just think what that number could be if the rides were even cheaper and you didn't have to deal with driver apprehensions... . 30.7M Riders, 1.9 M Drivers, $8.1B Bookings, $2.2B Revenue, 1+B Rides, 300+ Markets in US & Canada...
We are laser-focused on revolutionizing transportation and continue to lead the market in innovation. We have established a scaled network of drivers and riders, or users, brought together by our robust technology platform that powers millions of rides and connections every day. We leverage our technology platform, the scale and density of our user network and insights from over one billion rides to continuously improve our ridesharing marketplace efficiency and develop new offerings. For example, we pioneered a shared ride offering, or Shared Rides, providing lower-cost rides to riders traveling similar routes while improving the efficiency of our network. More recently, we were the first to launch a publicly-available commercial autonomous offering in the United States..." Read more Hmmmm...."... A commercial autonomous offering" ... Talk about an "offering" that is un-scalable without a non-trivial pivot.. elimination of the attendant. Oh well... Lots to learn in the filing. The very brief and necessarily shallow CliffNotes are at LYFT’S IPO FILING SHOWS RIDERSHIP IS SURGING—SO ARE LOSSES .. Alain
Feb 1, "The Congestion Surcharge (Tax Law Article 29-C) was enacted on April 1, 2018, with collection of the surcharge scheduled to begin on January 1, 2019. The onset of collections was delayed due to a temporary restraining order (Taxifleet Management LLC, et al. v. State of New York) that was lifted by the Court on January 31, 2019. Accordingly, the Congestion Surcharge must be collected beginning at 12:01 am on Saturday, February 2, 2019....
... Recordkeeping
Persons or entities liable for the surcharge must
keep records that are sufficient to determine
whether the surcharge was properly applied, and must
electronically transmit those records to the Tax
Department upon request. This includes, but is not
limited to, the following for all transportation
that is subject to the surcharge:
A. Marshall, Jan 31, "In 2007, New York City’s Taxi
and Limousine Commission, in a belated embrace of
the 21st century, required that every taxi plying
the streets of the five boroughs start taking credit
card payments.... For the TLC, they made work more
interesting, because along with those readers came
GPS trackers that became a cornerstone of the
agency’s growing data operation....axis provided
insight into the city’s transportation ecosystem.
Are cabs speeding along a certain stretch of street?
Time to review the street design. Getting stuck at
the same intersection every rush hour? Maybe rethink
the traffic light timing.
And starting Friday, New York will start clawing in
the same kind of data from the ride-hailing
companies that have stormed its streets in recent
years. ... " Read
more Hmmmm...
It will be very interesting to
observe the real behavior of
Lyft & Uber, especially in
the outer boroughs. To date,
the Lyft & Uber data have
not divulged {O, oTime, D,
dTime} of individual trips to
the level of precision that the
T&LC has been for years
collecting from Yellow (and
Green) cabs . Can't wait to
look at precise individual {O, oTime, D, dTime} data
of Lyft & Uber trips and
compare/contrast with
conventional cabs. It will be
very interesting.
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".
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
"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
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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