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Friday, August 17, 2019

http://SmartDrivingCar.com/7.34-Seniors-081719

[log in to unmask]" alt="" width="107" height="19">Autonomous Vehicles:  A View from Seniors

 Katherine Freund, August 2019, "...By the year 2060, approximately 100 million people, 25 percent of the US population will be 65 years of age and older.  In this age group, people outlive their decision to stop driving by about 10 years, and three out of four live in rural and suburban communities that lack the density for traditional mass transit solutions.  Their unmet transportation needs lead to social isolation, diminished quality of life, limited access to healthcare and a strain on families and caregivers.

It is apparent that our needs change as we age, but how they change, and in particular how our transportation needs change, is only generally understood.  Based on data from the ITNRides database and the ITNAmerica annual customer satisfaction survey, the typical ITN rider is a woman (74%) age 75 or older (71%) living alone in the community (58%).  She probably has a driver’s license (69%) and owns a car (59%), but there is only one chance in three she still drives (34%).  Her most common ride is for healthcare (39.5%), followed by consumer needs (23%) and recreation (10%). ..."  Read more   Hmmmm....  Another must read.  Chock full of fundamental facts.  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">   Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 120

F. Fishkin, Aug 18 , "Solving senior mobility needs with Uber, Lyft and autonomous transportation. Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin weigh in on that...plus Tesla, UPS, the big problem with congestion pricing and more."  Just say "Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!".  Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay ...  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="156" height="24">  Tesla has a huge incentive to deploy self-driving tech. But is the world ready?

R. Mitchell, Aug 9, "Elon Musk frames his company’s aggressive push into driverless car technology as a moral imperative. Along with sustainable electric transportation, he views autonomy as a core element of Tesla Inc.'s “fundamental goodness.”  Humans will be freed of the tedium of driving, he told Wall Street last year. Millions of lives will be saved.

There is another incentive for Musk to put driverless cars on the road, though. The day he does that, hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of stored-up revenue become eligible for a trip straight to Tesla’s perpetually stressed bottom line.

All Tesla cars built since late 2016 are equipped with sensors and other hardware that allow them to function without a human driver at the wheel, according to the company. Since then, buyers of Tesla Models S, X, and 3 have been able to pay $3,000 to $6,000 to eventually get what Musk calls Full Self-Driving technology, or FSD. (The price will soon rise to $7,000.).

Tesla has sold approximately 500,000 cars over that period. The electric-vehicle website Electrek has estimated that 40% of customers choose the FSD option. Owners who haven’t can buy it when available, albeit at a higher price.  ....That is an enormous take-up rate which demonstrates the fundamental market appeal for this "nice-to-have-comfort&convenience feature"...
Tesla cars will just need new lines of computer code beamed into the car to go full robot when the software is ready, the company says. Musk is aiming to make that happen by the end of the year.

But is Tesla anywhere close to ready with fully driverless technology? And what would that even mean?..."  Read more   Hmmmm....  A must read.  My position is that one can NOT discuss "Fully Self-Driving" (FSD), or what I prefer to call "Driverless", without also specifying Where Driverless is being accomplished, technically known as the the Operational Design Domain (ODD).  Today, Elon can claim that Teslas are FSD in your driveway leading to your garage in good weather.  I doubt that any of us, including Elon, will see the day that Teslas are FSD in an ODD that includes' Bryant Walker Smith's “The technical definition of ‘full’ means I can get into this car, fall asleep, and [the car] can take me from downtown Manhattan ... 7th & 26th... to the mountains of Maine ... Bear Pond...  in the wintertime.” In between, it is anybody's guess.  OOD is very wide.  I'll go farther to say that legislation/regulation will forbid the personal ownership/operationalOversight of any vehicle using public streets while a licensed human driver is not alert and within the vehicle. 

Ensuring that these vehicles operate strictly within their certified OOD on pubic streets will require professional oversight that can only be provided by a certified and trusted fleet operator that carries sufficient liability coverage to cover any expected faux pas. 

It is conceivable that a private road operator, say the NJ Turnpike, might grant FSD authority to individual private vehicles using its private roadway; however, it is hard to see the business case that would cause the NJ Turnpike Authority to offer such a "service".  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="50" height="39">  Older People Need Rides. Why Aren’t They Using Uber and Lyft?

P. Span, Aug 16,  "Martin Gerstell treasures his Thursday morning volunteer stint at the National Gallery of Art, where he fields questions at the main information desk. He patiently responds when visitors ask about the current exhibits, whether the paintings are real, where the bathrooms are.

Usually, fellow volunteers give him a ride from his assisted living residence in northwest Washington to the museum downtown, and home again. But when they can’t, Mr. Gerstell, 94, uses the Uber app his granddaughter installed on his iPhone.

“They appear very quickly, and they’re very helpful,” Mr. Gerstell said of his Uber drivers, who fold and stash his walker in the trunk. Summoning a taxi, his previous option, usually took 15 to 20 minutes; Uber arrives in three to five minutes and charges less, under $20, to drive him downtown.  It probably helps that Mr. Gerstell, a retired electrical engineer, handles new technology with aplomb....

Still, “it’s got great potential,” Joseph Coughlin, director of the M.I.T. AgeLab, said of ride-hailing. “There’s been so painfully little innovation in transportation for the aging population that anything we do can only be an improvement.”... "  Read more   Hmmmm.... Read in conjunction with Katherine Freund's article above.  Alain 

[log in to unmask]" alt="" width="122" height="18">  August 2019 WNAC Meeting

From K. Pyle, Aug 15, "...We will soon start to see the fruits of that RFI and the WNAC will get a preview at our Wednesday, August 21st meeting at the Cypress Community Center when representatives from the City of San Jose and the Bosch/Mercedes partnership will provide an update and give a sneak peek of what we will soon see in certain parts of West San Jose..."  Read more  Hmmmm.... What should be a very interesting public "neighborhood" meeting in conjunction with the initial "testing" of SmartDrivingCars through the public streets of that neighborhood.  I portend that such meetings are absolutely necessary in order to achieve "trust" and "welcoming" by the neighborhoods through which these vehicles will be "tested" and eventually deliver a valued service.  These neighbors "own" these public streets.  These vehicles need to earn the "trust" and "welcoming" of those living along those streets. 

If you live in the San Jose area, please try to attend and participate in this meeting.  Thank you Ken for bringing this meeting to my attention.  Looking forward to reporting your feedback in the next SDC eLetter.  Alain 

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="78" height="23"> Between Cars And Micromobility Lies 'Minimobility' - A Self-Driving Transportation Revolution

B. Templeton, Aug 12, "... Micromobility has other problems besides scattered scooters, though. It's really only useful in fairly dense areas, and for short trips, typically not much more than 3 miles. That's partly because of speed, and because it's actually cheaper to hail an Uber over certain distances. And they do have their dangers, and they require some physical ability to ride safely, and a helmet is a good idea, but not easy to make happen....

There's a different mode which has been around in some sense for a while, but may soon rule the roost: I call it Minimobility....

There's a reason minimobility cars are not a success today. They don't work very well at all at being your main car, they can only be a 2nd or 3rd car. That's true even though 80% of urban trips are solo. Up to now, they've been made in small quantities, jacking up the price, and are useful only for that specific (though common) subset of urban trips. They are very easy to park, which has made some people buy them.

It's a different story when you can get a mini-car on demand that drives itself and delivers itself to your door. When buying a ride, like you do from companies like Uber, there's no big downside to getting something the size of a Twizzy. Why do you need to ride alone in a 5 seat sedan? If it's cheaper, and if it gets privileges in traffic, it should be quite popular.

So while few people want to buy such a special purpose vehicle, it's probable that if they can be robotic taxis, lots of people will want to use them...."  Read more   Hmmmm.... Very interesting, but the key is the driverless piece and  its Operational Design Domain (ODD).  Within a community, seems perfectly fine; extending beyond a community, it may need to be more substantive???  Alain 

[log in to unmask]" alt="" width="35" height="31"> Carnegie Mellon's prestigious computer science school has a new leader

B. Schackner, Aug 8, "The incoming dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s renowned School of Computer Science is a roboticist and head of CMU’s Robotics Institute who has been a university faculty member for 35 years.  Martial Hebert has served as the institute’s director since 2014 and is known among colleagues as a top researcher in the areas of computer vision, robotics and artificial intelligence.  He becomes dean Aug. 15, university officials announced Thursday.

Tom Mitchell is serving as the interim computer science dean, a post he has held since Andrew Moore returned to Google last year to lead the artificial intelligence effort for the California-based search engine giant’s division, Google Cloud..."  Read more   Hmmmm.... Congratulations to Martial, Tom and Andrew.  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">UPS Ventures Invests in Self-Driving Trucking Startup

M. Varabedian, Aug 15, "United Parcel Service Inc. ’s venture-capital division, UPS Ventures, has acquired a minority stake in self-driving trucking startup TuSimple Inc., signaling the delivery company’s continued push into autonomous driving.

In addition, UPS will expand a partnership it began with TuSimple earlier in March for the startup to carry truckloads of goods between Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., said UPS Ventures Managing Partner Todd Lewis. TuSimple’s trucks operate autonomously with a human operator on aboard to take over if needed.

The two companies are looking to add more routes to run self-driving tests in the Western U.S., said Chuck Price, chief product officer of TuSimple...." Read more   Hmmmm....They must compete/beat with Amazon-Prime.  (see also "Amazon Expands in the Transportation Industry")  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="110" height="23"> Tesla Autopilot applied brakes in Model 3 crash that resulted in explosions

F. Lambert, Aug 12,  "We now have more details on the Tesla Model 3 crash that resulted in explosions in Moscow last weekend. Autopilot was indeed activated during the crash and it did apply the brakes a second before the collision.  Last weekend, we reported on a Tesla Model 3 that caught on fire and exploded after a crash with a tow truck while reportedly driving on Autopilot in Moscow.

Early reports from Russian media stated that the car was a Model S, but it was actually a Model 3 — making it one of the rare Model 3 vehicles to have caught on fire.  ... Tretyakov talked to Russian EV advocate Igor Antarov and said that he suffered a broken leg and the children only had bruises. They were all able to exit the vehicle before it caught on fire.

The driver also confirmed previous reports that the vehicle was on Autopilot. He stated that he wasn’t paying attention at the time of the crash and didn’t see the tow truck before the crash.  A surveillance video actually captured the accident, albeit in poor quality, and it shows that the brakes were applied a fraction of a second before the crash: ."  Read more   Hmmmm... See the surveillance video.  It explicitly demonstrates the severe limitation of Tesla's Automated Emergency Braking System that surely must have "seen" the protruding object many seconds before the impact, but because it was stationary, disregarded it as a false alarm until it was almost "on top on it".  This is likely a fundamental design flaw that must be fixed immediately.  Maybe NHTSA should consider a recall!?!  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" width="130" height="19"> Fair and Efficient Congestion Pricing for Downtown Seattle

M. Kitchen, Prepared for Uber, July 2019, "Uber supports congestion pricing as a solution to urban traffic and so sponsored this white paper to explore the potential impacts of one approach to introducing tolls in Seattle. This analysis uses the best available information on regional travel patterns and the Seattle road network from local planning agencies and Uber’s own operations.  While the results offer considerable insight into how congestion pricing could work in Seattle, additional analysis would help validate and extend these findings..."  Read more   Hmmmm.... A reasonable classic analysis; however, a couple of issues: 

1.  Why is it called "congestion pricing"?  Such a harsh, totalitarian sounding name.  If it was a really good idea, it should be called "value pricing". and

2.  More seriously, this has substantial negative societal implications: 

The capacity of a public roadway is "owned" by the public at large and is, and should be, made available indiscriminately to everyone. Congestion delays are caused by an over-consumption of that capacity by too many at about the same time. In order for congestion to be alleviated, some users must "step aside" and forgo their use of that public asset at that time.  The fundamental question is who should and why.   currently, those that step aside to not have the congestion be even worse are those who have individually have something better to do at that time.  It is as simple as that.   If we are now going to introduce explicit pricing to cause oven more individuals to realize that they have something better to do and thus abdicate their use at that time, then we should understand and be seek to have that pricing mechanism be in-discriminant.  Unfortunately, and cot come as a surprise, the way congestion pricing is promoted it heavily favors the rich at the explicit expense of the poor.

From the perspective of the individual, delay is normalized.  it has the same percentage reduction in individual quality-of-life.  So congestion itself is nondiscriminatory.

From the perspective of the society, the value of time is substantially different across individuals.  Delays are perceived by the rich (those having a high value of time) to have a much higher monetary value than the monetary value perceived by poor (who's time apparently not worth much to them?). Yet congestion pricing is just money to the rich (who have much too much of it anyway) yet means less food on the table for the poor and therefore is very cherished.  So congestion pricing is simply a mechanism for the rich to buy from the poor what they most value at bargain basement prices, without the poor getting any of the revenue.  Seems harsh unless the funds are transferred to those that vacated the roadways that allowed the rich to "ease on down the road".

Those that step aside to deliver that value to the rich should be compensated for stepping aside.  That would require that a market mechanism be established that would allow "the poor" to sell their capacity rights to "the rich".  Such a value pricing scheme would allow the rich to become more productive and the poor could better feed their families.    Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">  AI ALGORITHMS NEED FDA-STYLE DRUG TRIALS

Wired Opinion, Aug 15, "IMAGINE A COUPLE of caffeine-addled biochemistry majors late at night in their dorm kitchen cooking up a new medicine that proves remarkably effective at soothing colds but inadvertently causes permanent behavioral changes. Those who ingest it become radically politicized and shout uncontrollably in casual conversation. Still, the concoction sells to billions of people. This sounds preposterous, because the FDA would never let such a drug reach the market.

Yet this madness is happening everywhere online. Every day, we view streams of content custom-selected by simple software algorithms, some created in dorms, based on a technique called adaptive reinforcement learning. ... and in SmartDrivingCars...

....To protect the cognitive autonomy of individuals and the political health of society at large, we need to make the function and application of algorithms transparent, and the FDA provides a useful model...."  Read more   Hmmmm....Interesting... not the worst approach to building and maintaining "public trust" in the safety of automated driving systems.  Currently its the "wild wild west",  "buyer beware" and/or "trust me" with something that can readily cause not only self harm, but harm to innocent by-standers because it operates in the public right-of-way.  This is serious business which needs serious oversight.  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt=""> Uber CEO: NYC ride-hailing regulations 'malarkey'

C. Teale, Aug 9, "New York City's ride-hailing regulations, the first to be passed in the United States, have been under fire from Uber and Lyft from the start, with the companies accusing the TLC and New York City Council of undermining transportation equity and driving up prices. Business continues to grow in New York City thanks to higher-income areas where people can afford price increases, but East New York, Wakefield, the Bronx and Central Harlem are seeing declines in usage, Khosrowshahi said on the call.

Khosrowshahi also criticized the decision to set a minimum wage for ride-hailing companies, another part of the regulations approved by the city council and then set at $17.22 an hour by the TLC at the end of 2018.  He said that Uber is an "open labor system," and the rules make it difficult for drivers to fan out across the city and make money everywhere..."  Read more   Hmmmm.... Khosrowshahi is right on this one; however, he should be more forceful to encourage ride-sharing, especially in NYC.  One way is to price it better and to let the driver keep more of the total so that it is a real incentive for the driver to serve ride-sharers.  Unfortunately, this isn't the case today.  No wonder there is essentially no ride-sharing in the ride-haiiling business that is inappropriately called " ride-sharing" by many.  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" width="113" height="18">  How Pennsylvania's Transportation Secretary Is Shifting the Infrastructure Conversation in Her State and Across the Country

D. Vock, Aug 13, "In just 4 1/2 years as the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Leslie Richards has seen a lot of changes in the transportation industry.

When she started her job, she was the only woman in a high-ranking position at PennDOT, and one of only four women who led a state DOT nationwide. Now she has numerous female colleagues within her agency and across the country....

Everybody wants the greatest amount of options in front of them when they make a major decision. The way to make that happen is to make sure that you don’t have all engineers who were in school 40 years ago who think the same way and who have the same life experiences. You need all different experiences to get those decisions. It’s just good business...."  Read more   Hmmmm.... You mean that DoTs need to continue their long term evolution from Depts. of Highways through Depts. of Transportation to Depts. of Mobility that actually focus on the people being moved rather than the vehicles moving around?  This can begin by having Person Miles Traveled (PMT) being the bottom line metric rather than Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). ... Hmmmm... indeed.  Alain

Half-baked stuff that probably doesn't deserve your time 

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">  6 carmakers that are betting electric scooters and bikes — not cars — are the future of city transportation

B.  Chang, Aug 11, "...It's no surprise carmakers are looking towards the booming e-mobility market. E-scooter company Bird reached a $2 billion valuation in under a year of operation in 2018, according to Inc. Similarly, one of Bird's largest competitors, Lime, has a $2.4 billion valuation, the company announced in February..."  Read more   Hmmmm...  If scooters and bikes are the future of city transportation and cities are the future of where people live, then traditional "carmakers" are in deep trouble because there wont be enough business to allow even one of them to maintain their current valuation. Time to Sell, Sell, Sell.  Alain 

[log in to unmask]" alt="" width="25" height="26">   Bogus Satellite Nav Signals Send Autonomous Cars Off the Road

M. Eddy, Aug 8, "Driverless cars are great and all, but they're not much good if they don't know where they're going. That simple concept was driven home here at the Black Hat security conference where Victor Murray, an Engineering Group Leader at SwRI, showed how he caused driverless cars to stop, change lanes, and even drive off the road at his command...." Read more   Hmmmm...  Is the next great research break-through going to be a demonstration by Victor Murray and SwRI at the next Black Hat conference that a rock can be thrown through Tiffany's window on 5th Avenue allowing you to actually grab in your hand the necklace that is being displayed.  Wow, thank you SwR.  I didn't know that I could do that!!!  Alain 

[log in to unmask]" alt="" width="171" height="21"> INSIGHT: Blockchain Can Address Privacy Worries With Self-Driving Cars

P. Vogel, Aug 5, "As we adapt to intelligent devices and prepare ourselves for the world of self-driving cars, a myriad of technology and legal issues should be considered. For example, have you ever given any thought about how V2V (Vehicle to Vehicle) communications may impact your privacy? Can using blockchain help alleviate some of that concern?... "  Read more   Hmmmm...  Whew!!   Now I feel safe.  Will Blockchain also help me counter Victor Murray and other SwRI Black-hatters?? Alain


 C'mon Man!  (These folks didn't get/read the memo)

Simply ClickBait

 Calendar of Upcoming Events:

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evening May 19 through May 21, 2020

On the More Technical Side

http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Papers/

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Recent PodCasts

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 119

F. Fishkin, Aug 8 , "Uber and Lyft need driverless to have their businesses make sense. So says Princeton's Alain Kornhauser in the latest edition of Smart Driving Cars with co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus..the latest from Tesla, Waymo and more."

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 118 - Michael Sena

F. Fishkin, Aug 1, "Congress seeks help with self driving legislation, an acquisition by Ford, a breakthrough in vehicle data sharing in Europe and more! The Dispatcher publisher, Michael Sena joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin in a new edition of Smart Driving Cars."  Just say "Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!".  Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay ...  Alain

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 117

F. Fishkin, July 27, "GM's Cruise taps brakes on plans for autonomous taxi service. So what's next? Princeton's Alain Kornhauser digs in along with co-host Fred Fishkin in the latest edition of Smart Driving Cars. Also: Daimler and Bosch partnering for autonomous parking, Navya, Uber, Lyft and State Farm says drivers defeating the benefits new safety tech. Tune in and subscribe!"

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 116 - Jerome Lutin

F. Fishkin, July 20, "Can technology dramatically improve the safety of bus transportation for pedestrians, riders and drivers? The lead investigator in a national study, Jerry Lutin,  joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin on episode 116 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast. Plus...Tesla's new safety report, the latest from Lyft, Aptiv and a NY Times report on why driverless cars are taking longer than expected. Tune in and subscribe!."

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 113

F. Fishkin, June 21, "With new European and Japanese car maker alliances, is Waymo throwing in the towel on driverless transportation? Princeton's Alain Kornhauser wonders out loud. That and more on Lexus, Local Motors and others with co-host Fred Fishkin on the Smart Driving Cars podcast. "

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 112 - J. Hardiman NJM

F. Fishkin, June 9, "Should the insurance industry be pushing more safety and autonomous tech in cars? It's a win, win says Princeton's Alain Kornhauser. Joining him in the discussion along with co-host Fred Fishkin is NJM's John Hardiman, a board member of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Also...Fiat Chrysler, Ford and more."

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 110 - Lance Elliot

F. Fishkin, May 25, " The untold secrets of driverless car videos. Dr. Lance Eliot joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for a liveley discussion. Plus...Waymo brings back self driving trucks, so will Daimler and is the future driverless for Uber and Lyft. Tune in and subscribe!"

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 108 3rd Summit Wrapup

F. Fishkin, May 18, "Wrapping up the 3rd annual Princeton Smart Driving Car Summit, Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin zero in on mobility for all and more. It's just getting started. Plus the headlines from Nissan, Tesla, Uber and Lyft. Tune in and subscribe!"

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 107 3rd Summit Leilei Shinohara & Staff Sergeant Terence McDonnell

F. Fishkin, May 18, "In this special edition from the 3rd Annual Princeton Smart Driving Cars Summit, Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin are joined by RoboSense VP Leilei Shinohara on the LiDAR's benefits. And view of autonomous technology from law enforcement with New York State Police
Staff Sergeant Terence McDonnell." 

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 106 3rd Summit David Kidd & Cecillia Feeley

F. Fishkin, May 18, "From the 3rd Annual Princeton Smart Driving Car Summit, David Kidd from the Highway Loss Data Institute joins Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin and then on site preliminary research results on mobility for all with Cecilia Feeley and Andrea Lubin from Rutgers." 

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 104 3rd Summit Anil Lewis & Katherine Freund

F. Fishkin, May 18,, "From the 3rd Annual Princeton Smart Driving Car Summit, join Professor Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. In this special edition, the summit's focus on mobility for all with guests Anil Lewis, Executive Director of Blindness Initiatives at the National Federation of the Blind and ITN America Founder Katherine Freund." 

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 100 - Andrei Greenawalt'99/Via

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"

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 98- Matt Daus

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."

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 97 - Michael Sena'69

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."

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 82 - Intel, Sciarappo & Jitsik, Loeb

F. Fishkin,  Jan. 9,  "One of the top chip makers in the world and a start up. Intel's strategic marketing director for autonomous driving Jill Sciarappo and the founder of Jitsik, Dr. Helen Loeb join co-hosts Alain Kornhauser of Princeton University and Fred Fishkin for Episode 82 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast from CES."

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 81 - nVIDIA, Shapiro & Local  Motors / Olli, Hodge

F. Fishkin,  Jan. 9,  "How NVIDIA is paving the way for self driving cars and a new OLLI automated transport from Local Motors. NVIDIA's Senior Director for Automotive, Danny Shapiro and Kurtis Hodge of Local Motors join co-hosts Alain Kornhauser of Princeton University and Fred Fishkin for another edition of Smart Driving Cars from CES 2019.."

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 75 - PAVE; Nantel, Erlich, Riccobono   

F. Fishkin,  Jan. 9,  "From CES in Las Vegas, a new industry organization, PAVE, is formed. Partners for Automated Vehicle Education. And some founding members join co-hosts Alain Kornhauser of Princeton University and Fred Fishkin for an on site discussion. Guests include National Safety Council VP Kelly Nantel, Voyage VP Justin Erlich and National Federation of the Blind President Mark Riccobono."

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 71-Nader'55

F. Fishkin,  Dec. 13,  "When it comes to self driving cars, Ralph Nader says "Not so fast."  The renowned political activist and author takes the government and the industry to task in a super sized Episode 71 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast. Join Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that and more!"

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 69 - Chunka Mui

F. Fishkin, Nov 29,  "What will it take for driverless vehicles to become a leading form of transportation? Futurist and author Chunka Mui joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for Episode 69 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast. Plus...Waymo, GM, Amazon and more. Tune in and subscribe! "

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 68 - Dick Mudge

F. Fishkin, Nov 22,  "The insurance industry hears about the outlook for automated vehicles. Co-author Dick Mudge joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for Episode 68 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast. Plus...Uber, GM Cruise, Waymo, VW and more. Tune in and subscribe!"

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 66 - Bishop & Zimmerman

F. Fishkin, Nov 8,  "Daimler is partnering with Bosch to bring an autonomous ride hailing service to San Jose next year. In this edition, the Director of Engineering at Bosch joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin to outline how it will work. Plus Richard Bishop joins us fresh from an International Task Force on Vehicle Highway Automation in Denmark. And more!"

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 65 - Bernard Soriano, CA DMV

F. Fishkin, Nov 1,  "California gives Waymo the green light for fully driverless vehicle testing on public roads and the state's deputy director of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Bernard Soriano, joins the Smart Driving Cars podcast with the no nonsense details. Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin explore that and more. Tune in and subscribe!"

Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 58-Keith Code, Motorcycles

F. Fishkin, Sept 22  "In this edition of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast, Alain Kornhauser of Princeton University and co-host Fred Fishkin are joined by the founder of the Superbike School, Keith Code. Keith is an instructor, coach, author and researcher into motorcycle safety...and a champion racer. Beyond that....he's an old high school friend of Alain's! And there's more on BMW, Apple, VW and more! . Tune in and subscribe!"

 Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 55-Larry Burns, Autonomy

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"

Recent Highlights of:

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Friday, August 9, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="50" height="39">  Uber Posts $5.2 Billion Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

K. conger, Aug 7,  "Uber set two dubious quarterly records on Thursday as it reported its results: its largest-ever loss, exceeding $5 billion, and its slowest-ever revenue growth.  The double whammy immediately renewed questions about the prospects for the company, the world’s biggest ride-hailing business. Uber has been dogged by concerns about sluggish sales and whether it can make money, worries that were compounded by a disappointing initial public offering in May.

For the second quarter, Uber said it lost $5.2 billion, the largest loss since it began disclosing limited financial data in 2017. A majority of that — about $3.9 billion — was caused by stock-based compensation that Uber paid its employees after its I.P.O.  Excluding that one-time expense, Uber lost $1.3 billion, or nearly twice the $878 million that it lost a year earlier. On that sariesme basis and excluding other costs, the company said it expected to lose $3 billion to $3.2 billion this year...Lyft has also reported a series of deep losses. This week, it said it lost $644.2 million in the second quarter, though it added that it expected that amount to abate. Several months earlier, Lyft had also posted a particularly steep loss related to stock-based compensation payouts to its employees..."  Read more   Hmmmm....  No wonder Uber looked so good prior to its IPO, it hadn't "paid" its employees.  So is this really a "one time" expense?? Anyway, Driverless is their only potential savior as a $40 stock. They can't afford to pay their employee, their gig workers can't feed families, new customers can't afford their prices and food delivery generates only chump change.  Uber Stock price, See also...Uber and Lyft keep losing money while driving up the number of cars on our overcrowded streets. Alain

Friday, August 9, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="">  Toyota invests $600m in Didi and signs smart fleet management joint venture

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">  Cruise postpones plan to launch driverless taxi service in 2019

A. Hawkins, July 24, "Cruise will miss its goal of launching a large-scale self-driving taxi service in 2019, the GM subsidiary’s CEO Dan Ammann said in an interview Tuesday. The company plans to dramatically increase the number of its autonomous test vehicles on the road in San Francisco, but will not be offering rides to regular people this year.

Previously, GM executives told investors that its autonomous ride-hailing service would be open to the public by the end of this year. Now it seems as if Cruise is moving away from deadlines and launch dates altogether. Ammann, GM’s former president who now leads its autonomous vehicle unit in San Francisco, wouldn’t even commit to launching the service next year, in 2020....

Cruise is still waiting for the federal government to accept or reject its request to deploy a fleet of fully driverless Chevy Bolt vehicles without steering wheels or pedals. The request was in limbo until this past March, when the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it would solicit public comments and conduct a review. That process concluded in May, and now Cruise is waiting for a final verdict. “We’re in dialogue with them,” Ammann said of NHTSA. “And nothing further to comment on at this point.”...

It will also host community events to answer questions from residents of San Francisco who, in some respects, are the company’s unwitting test subjects in its public self-driving experiments...."  Read more   Hmmmm.... Starting in the Blue Chip cities trying to serve those that already have lots of mobility options is turning out to be a fundamentally flawed approach. 

Wouldn't it be better to start providing mobility to those in areas that aren't currently well served by existing mobility options... cars and transit.  Find such places like Central Jersey, Chandler AZ, South Carolina, The Villages and Peoria be precursors to the MountainViews, Washington DCs, Miamis, SFs and LAs.  Start there where the need exists and real benefits can be delivered.  See also Timothy Lee's take on this. Alain

Sunday, July 21, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="113" height="21">  Tesla Vehicle Safety Report

Tesla, July 16, "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 notion 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.

Model S, X and 3 have achieved the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by the U.S. government’s New Car Assessment Program.

... In the 2nd quarter, we registered one accident for every 3.27 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. For those driving without Autopilot but with our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 2.19 million miles driven. For those driving without Autopilot and without our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 1.41 million miles driven. By comparison, NHTSA’s most recent data shows that in the United States there is an automobile crash every 498,000 miles.... "  Read more   Hmmmm.... This summary uses "accident" for Teslas and "crash" for NHTSA.  This may suggest that the Tesla and NHTSA are not comp[arable... Tesla is reporting about apples and NHTSA is referring to "oranges".  That notes; however, it does seem that for Teslas with and without AutoPilot and the other active safety features, there is consistency in the measure.  A more detailed question arises about the equivalence of the driving domain for each category as well as who is at fault in each of these situations.  Even in light of these issues and details, the large variation in the rates: 3.27 v 2.18 v 1.41 is very significant among Teslas. Seems as if AutoPilot and Tesla's other active collision avoidance safety features are improving safety of Teslas. The spread from the 0.5 value for NHTSA is really astonishing making Teslas much safer than the average of all other cars. Unfortunately these numbers only scratch the surface and beg for more details. In the past I have called for an independent evaluation of the Tesla crash statistics and I do that again there today.   I'll offer to do it.  Tesla should encourage someone to do it. As it stands today, not enough people believe or trust Tesla (see below) Tesla. That's unfortunate because improved safety is THE major objective of SmartDrivingCar technology.  Alain

Sunday, July 14, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">  Ford-VW alliance expands to include autonomous and electric vehicles

A. Hawkins, July 12, "In a widely anticipated move, Ford and Volkswagen announced Friday their plan to expand their seven-month-old alliance to include autonomous and electric vehicles.

As part of the deal, VW will invest a whopping $2.6 billion in Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle startup based in Pittsburgh that practically no one had heard of until Ford’s own eye-popping $1 billion investment in 2017. VW will invest $1 billion in cash, as well as $1.6 billion in assets that include the auto giant’s Munich-based Autonomous Intelligent Driving team, which will be absorbed by Argo. After the deal goes through, Argo’s post-money valuation will be over $7 billion....

The deal also gives Argo a global reach. The company, which was founded by former Uber engineers with ties to Carnegie Melon University’s famed robotics lab, has been testing its cars with Ford’s backing in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Miami, and Washington, DC. Now it can also deploy its vehicles on European roads under VW’s guidance....

A month ago VW severed a partnership with Aurora Innovation, the autonomy startup founded by former Google self-driving head Chris Urmson. Argo was co-founded by Bryan Salesky, another former member of the Google self-driving team. He was also on the same team as Urmson in the 2007 DARPA autonomous vehicle challenge, which is seen as a watershed moment in the pursuit for self-driving cars. Ford dumped $1 billion into Argo in 2017 and has worked closely with the startup ever since....

Companies have been pairing up to work on self-driving cars for years now, but only recently has that relentless coupling taken on more serious overtones. Over the last few months:
Apple acquired the startup Drive.ai (buying the beleaguered company literally as it was shutting down);
Honda has partnered with General Motors’ Cruise unit;
Volvo and Uber just unveiled their first jointly-developed autonomous SUV after three years of working together;
Waymo is teaming up with Renault-Nissan to bring the Alphabet unit’s self-driving minivans and trucks to Japan and France;
Fiat-Chrysler and Hyundai, along with Amazon, are both partners with self-driving startup Aurora." 
Read more  Hmmmm...  That pretty much rounds up the serious deep pocket alliances: Waymo+, GM/Cruise+, Ford/Argo+, Uber/Volvo,  Lyft/Active, Hyundai/Yandex and Aurora+ with  SoftBank  influencing in the wings. That leaves  Zoox, Toyota, Daimler, BMW looking for dance partners????  Tesla doesn't seem to need one.  (Would Elon sell to Toyota??).  Alain

Friday, June 28, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="72" height="21"> Apple acquires self-driving startup Drive.ai

Friday, June 21, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">  Lexus Moves One Step Closer to a World Without Crashes (Lexus may have pulled the press release???)

Press Release, June 19, "...Collisions that result in injury can often be caused by a delay in a driver’s recognition of the situation and his or her ability to react accordingly.
 
In a move to help prevent such accidents before they happen, the Lexus Safety System+ will be a standard feature in all US Lexus vehicles starting with the 2020 model year. “We are working toward preventing crashes before they happen,” said David Christ, group vice president and general manager, Lexus Division.“ That's why we have developed some of the most advanced safety features on the road today, and now those systems will be standard equipment on every model we sell.  ..Nice!...

Designed to help protect drivers, passengers and pedestrians, the Lexus Safety System+ is an integrated suite of four advanced active safety packages anchored by automated pre-collision warning and braking. They include:

  • Pre-Collison System with Pedestrian Detection

This system is engineered to help detect a preceding vehicle or a pedestrian ... why not also a stationary fire truck, or a car stopped at a controlled intersection, or a brick wall, or...???  NotGoodEnough!...  Below see Advanced Driver Assistance Systems: The ADAS Road to AV Reality - #SmartDrivingCar... in front of the Lexus under certain conditions . Should the system detect a pedestrian or a potential frontal collision, it’s designed to activate an audible and visual alert while automatically preparing Brake Assist for increased braking response... why not also begin immediately to brake and slow down ? (Hint..."not sure" is not the right answer.)  If the situation is sufficient for you to alert the driver why isn't it good enough to immediately start to reduce the speed of the car.  Worse case is that you added a couple of seconds to the trip.  The driver can always override the brakes by pushing harder on the gas pedal if the driver insists on tailgating or is committing suicide or ???.  NotGoodEnough!.... If the driver does not brake in time,... are you kidding??  You knew a crash was impending, and you waited until it was too late???  NotGoodEnough!... the system is designed to automatically begin braking before impact... and then you'll slam on the brakes???  NotGoodEnough!... and, in some cases... Not most/many cases; just some cases???  NotGoodEnough!..., can even bring the vehicle to a stop

  • Lane Departure Alert ...OK, but not Lane Centering...
  • Intelligent High Beams ... Great...
  • Dynamic Radar Cruise Control

This system uses radar and camera technology to help maintain a preset speed and following distance from the vehicle ahead. If driving at highway speeds and the road ahead clears, the vehicle returns to its preset speed. .... Great, but a couple of questions... 1.  If the system is on and I tap the brakes, does the system turn off just the acceleration function because it understands that I tapped the brakes because I felt that I was going too fast so the system should not override my explicit signal.  Nice!! However, does it also assume that I really know what I'm doing?  Consequently, it also turns off the brake function even in situations in which I am not applying enough brake forces and a crash is imminent?  Does it again wait until it is too late and and refuse to help me in those critical moments?  Then you'll slam on the NotGoodEnough!  (Note... my S Anti-lock Braking ystem explicitly overrides the way that I'm applying the brakes and keeps me from doing the wrong thing.  Thank you ABS!  What makes the AEB situation different when the system knows better and could really help me in an as critical situation?

2.  What happens if the system is on and I'm following a car at my preset distance going 10 mph under my desired speed.  The car ahead changes lanes because she sees that a parked fire truck is in our lane ahead.  Once her car clears my lane ahead, does the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control system take into account the existence of the parked firetruck ahead and brings me to a smooth stop before hitting the Firetruck?   Or, does the system begin to accelerate to my desired speed and simply leave it to the Pre-Collison System with Pedestrian Detection system to try to "save the day" after it is too late?........"  

Read more  Hmmmm... Again, very nice that these features will be standard.  It is really unfortunate that they are not better.  Hopefully, since the limitations that I expressed above are all software related, Lexus will be able to do over-the-air (or otherwise) updates of the software as soon as Lexus has put more effort into the "intelligence" that uses the data streams generated by their cameras and radars   Alain

Friday, June 14, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">  Hyundai self-driving deal points to industry-wide pattern

T. Lee, June 13, "It has been a busy week for Aurora, the self-driving startup founded by veterans of the Google, Tesla, and Uber self-driving programs. On Monday, Aurora announced it had forged a partnership with Fiat Chrysler. On Tuesday, Aurora said it was ending its partnership with Volkswagen. Now Hyundai is deepening its partnership with Aurora with an equity investment.

It's the latest example of an industry-wide pattern: one after another, car companies have made big investments in self-driving startups. And these deals mean that carmakers are effectively entering into self-driving alliances with one another....

All of the recent deals between car companies and self-driving companies could put Waymo in a difficult position. Waymo has been working on self-driving technology much longer than any of its rivals, and the company aimed to introduce a driverless taxi service long before others came to market. In that scenario, Waymo would have its choice of automotive partners, so Waymo has been keeping its options open.

But the reality is that Waymo will need help from automakers to scale up rapidly. As more and more automakers commit to Waymo's rivals, Waymo risks becoming stranded—with industry-leading sensors and software but limited capacity to integrate the technology into a large number of vehicles...."  Read more  Hmmmm... Good summary of "self-driving car" partnerships but, by including Waymo in the mix, it is conflating what I continue to contend are two VERY different markets...  Self-driving and Driverless.  What makes them like oil & vinegar is that self-driving vehicles are for the Consumer market and are little different from conventional cars.  Driverless cars are for the Fleet/Business market.

Self-driving cars require a driver in order to deliver any meaningful mobility or value.  Their automation stack delivers additional comfort, convenience and safety to the auto industry's existing customer base.  As such it is a "consumer play" and requires no regulations or public oversight other than what exists today.  Any safety issues can be handled through standard  "product liability" and standard "NHTSA recall" procedures.  Its market penetration evolution is like going from manual transmission to automatic transmission, as Tesla is demonstrating with AutoPilot. From outside the car, one can't tell if it has it or doesn't.  It is a consumer choice at time of purchase.

Tesla is creating its own "automatic transmission"/"AutoPilot stack".  Other OEMs are hedging their bets by partnering with  technology provider for their self-driving technology stack. They'll continue to produce the rest of the car, as they have done for years, and possibly outsource their "automatic transmission" when the time comes. 

Driverless cars  are "mobility machines" when managed as a fleet delivering mobility to individuals.  They are  a "business play".  It is all about the economic efficiency/profitability in delivering mobility to individuals.  The fundamental value is in the opportunity to provide consistent reliable affordable mobility at scale.  The technology stack has taken the inconsistency, unreliability and monetary cost of a human driver out of the loop.  Since algorithms, rather than people, tailor the service to meet individual needs, such systems scale attractively.  All of this MUST be done safely without a driver/attendant, else the economics/affordability/scalability completely collapses. 

From outside the car one can tell that there isn't a driver in the driver's seat.  Consequently, public oversight at all levels from top to  grass roots will need to be comfortable with this thing with no driver in it going down their street and invading their neighborhood and transporting their kids, grandmas, mobility disadvantaged, ... .  Everyone is going to weigh-in with perceptions and regulations.  Consequently, the deployment of the technology is going to need to be "welcomed" .  "Uber-like swashbuckling bravado isn't going to cut is.

Driverless Mobility-as-a-Service is the market that Waymo (and GM/Cruise and Ford/Argo) have been going after.  Because of its need to be "welcomed" (or at least not disdained) by the residents and businesses that abut the streets over which these vehicles deliver their mobility, the deployment dynamics for Driverless is very different from Self-driving.  All Self-driving needs is for Madison Avenue / "Elon Musk" to convince individuals of the comfort and convenience of being able to have the car drive itself some of the time and they are sold.  Driverless requires substantial public relations/education of communities to achieve "welcoming".  A real "ground war".   That is what Waymo (and GM/Cruise and Ford/Argo) needs to conduct to just get started.  Once started Waymo need to continue it to scale (Value is achieved only with scale). 

Finding OEMs that will sell Waymo cars on which to affix its technology stack will not be the problem.  The car is the commodity. The welcoming of the technology stack by communities is the fundamental differentiator.  Waymo is sitting on an order for at least 82,000 cars from FCA and Jaguar.  The order has been announced, but not executed because insufficient "ground warfare" has even been waged, let alone been successful (except in Arizona).  With welcoming environment these 82,000 mobility machines could be serving 4 million person trips per day in communities throughout the country. (Note... our nation's transit systems today (only) serve an equivalent number of person trips; although they are longer trips taken in much more densely populated areas.  The Waymo-served trips would likely be trips that our conventional transit systems can't effectively serve and thus complement conventional transit.  Some of the trips would replace auto trips.  The others would be new trips by persons who can't or don't want to drive their own car for whatever reason and whose lives have been substantially disadvantaged because their mobility needs aren't effectively served by either the personal car or conventional mass transit.

The other elephants in the room that aren't mentioned in the article are SoftBank and Tesla. Today Tesla "owns" the Self-driving market and SoftBank is "involved" with essentially everyone except Tesla and Waymo.  Alain

Saturday, June 8, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="50" height="39">  What Truck Drivers Think About Autonomous Trucking

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="133" height="21">  June 2019 Issue

M. Sena, May 22," In This Issue:
Third Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit  ... A fantastic 7 page detailed summary of the 3rd Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit.  Thank you!!!...
European Commission is getting it wrong on V2X  ... A most well-written and well-supported critical assessment of the EU Transport Commission's recommendation on Cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems (C-ITS).  Read it carefully, including "There is justice after all"... European Parliament's reply to the Transport Commission's recommendation. ...
Dispatch Central
    Toyota backs off IEEE WAVE in U.S.  ... More details on Toyota's evolving position on V2X communication standards....
    Uber: A Fool’s Gold ... Yup!
    FCA and Tesla: Strange bedfellows .  ... I did not know that!...  
    Tesla’s fifteen minutes of European fame. ... March Model 3 sales in EU  of 15k.  If April is greater than 5k, fame may have legs....
    A Road Trip Down Memory Lane  ... Read with a smile.... 
A Dispatcher’s Musings: Here’s looking at you, kid  ... Everything has a downside.  I like to tell my students that one of the things that the human brain does very well if "forget".  "Optimal Learning" needs some "Optimal  Forgetting" where the objective function is Personal Privacy.  Sure, observe all you want to give me short-term convenience/pleasure, but erase all the data before anyone can use it to hurt me, where both the convenience/pleasure and the hurt are from my perspective, not yours!! 
 
 Read more  Hmmmm... In the aftermath of the Summit, reading and grading the student's final projects in my course and awarding final grades, I misses Michael Sena's early release of the June issue of his Dispatcher.  It is so excellent that I put out this special edition focused just on it.  Enjoy every word!!!   Alain

Saturday, May 25, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="47" height="27">  Speed cameras are coming to Philadelphia's deadliest road

Saturday, May 18, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="126" height="36">  Making Smart Vehicles to Improve the Human Condition

K. Pyle, May 17, "3.5 million and 5+ million deaths per year are a couple of the statistics that stood out from the 2+ day, 3rd annual SmartDrivingCars Summit at Princeton. There are approximately 3.5 million individuals in the United States who never leave their homes and approximately 1.9M of those people have disabilities, according to Robbie Diamond, President & CEO of SAFE. He went on to say that, “Transportation is the biggest predictor of inter-generational upward mobility.”
His comments echoed the conference theme of improving mobility for all people, especially the mobility marginalized, to paraphrase Professor Alain Kornhauser. Kornhauser brought together participants from multiple disciplines and backgrounds to an event that is like no other. This year, he introduced a research element where there were a couple different opportunities to gauge the reactions of everyday people of varying abilities to various levels of autonomous vehicles...."  Read more  Hmmmm... Ken, thank you for such an excellent summary and all of the help.  Alain

Sunday, May 12, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="197" height="16"> Self-driving car company Cruise raises $1.15bn

Sunday, May 5, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="140" height="17">  VW Inclusive Mobility aims to make sure tech takes care of everyone

A. Krok, May 2, "You can't please all the people all the time, but Volkswagen wants to make sure that when it moves into the next era of mobility, it won't leave any groups behind. 

Volkswagen this week unveiled its Inclusive Mobility Initiative, which sees the automaker working directly with outside groups to ensure that its future vehicles are capable of catering to people with disabilities..."  Read more  Hmmmm...This is fantastic and may well be in line with the focus we've taken with the upcoming 3rd Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit 10 days from now.  Our focus is on all people who have been marginalized by the unnecessary/non-inclusive/exclusive designs of our current forms of mobility, .  These designs are especially irresponsible when one no longer needs a person to drive... to keep the car from crashing while on its way from where people are to where the want to go.   What an enormous opportunity to be of service to so many that for what ever reason don't want or can't perform that task.  Yes, there are situations in which a professional is required.  At times, we all need we all need that the help of a professional.  But for all of those situations in which a professional is not needed, we have an enormous opportunity to be so much more inclusive by removing the other unnecessary exclusivities  that have consciously or unconsciously crept into our cars and transit systems.  Our mobility systems no longer need to be big and hold many people to make them affordable, no driver needs to be paid.  They no longer need to be constrained to only go between the few places than many want to go between at only certain times.  They can readily serve where only a few, even one, want to go between at whatever time.  The skill set needed to use and be served diminishes to the skill set needed by the easiest to use elevator. And so on...

Be sure to look VW's Inclusive Mobility Initiative.  Hopefully it encompasses and levels the mobility field  for the people that its cars have marginalized for 100 years.  Alain

Friday, May 3, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">  Congestion Pricing Plan for NYC is Coming!

Friday, March 29, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="155" height="20"> 10 Lessons From Uber's Fatal Self-Driving Car Crash

Hmmmm.... New Jersey is now started.  Hooray!! Alain

Sunday, March 17, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="116" height="32">Automated vehicles could provide mobility to the ‘mobility disadvantaged’

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

Friday, March 1, 2019

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="35" height="38">  FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT Lyft, Inc.

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">Autonomous Vehicles

Feb 25, " This workshop brought together experts in cyber-physical systems, machine learning, transportation engineering, and applied mathematics, both from academia and from industry, to help bridge the technical gaps and to facilitate exchange and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries..."  Read more  Hmmmm.... Slides and videos of the presentations are available here.   In particular, see..:

Friday, February 15, 2019

Thursday, November 22, 2018

 [log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="94" height="29"> Market Framework and Outlook for Automated Vehicle Systems

R. Mudge, A. Kornhauser, M. Hardison, Nov, 2018 "The surface transportation industry is in the early stages of a series of profound changes, stimulated by the development of increasingly sophisticated driving safety and automation technologies.   Considerable uncertainty exists regarding the speed with which these changes will take place and the nature of their impacts on safety, the overall demand for travel, vehicle sales, and vehicle ownership.  This report does not attempt to forecast the pace of these changes, instead advancing a list of “trigger points” that might serve as leading indicators of change....

What might these changes mean for actuaries and the insurance industry? Since Driverless vehicles will most likely be available only to fleet operators and not the general public, their actuarial and insurance implication will differ substantially from the implications of Safe and Self technologies that will be on vehicles purchased by consumers. But, will these vehicles continue to be insured in the same way as personal vehicles are today or will this practice change in some way. For example, if the burden of
liability shifts to the technology rather than the driver, then should actuaries focus on product liability rather than personal liability? To what extent does technology rather than personal behavior or demographics become the important link to liability? " Read more  Hmmmm....  This is a very good report. Listen to SmartDrivingCar Podcast 68 with Dick Mudge. (Of course, I'm biased. )  Alain

Thursday, November 1, 2018

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="">  A Green Light for Waymo’s Driverless Testing in California

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

New Jersey Pending Legislation re: Autonomous Vehicles

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)

Oct 16, Directs MVC to establish driver's license endorsement for autonomous vehicles A4541 Sponsors:  Zwicker (D16); Benson (D14); Lampitt (D6)..."  Read more Hmmmm.... Things are beginning to move in New Jersey.  Alain

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="39" height="43"> Testimony of Alain Kornhauser, Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology - Monday, October 22, 2018 - 10:00:00 AM

[log in to unmask]" alt="" class="" width="42" height="39"> Audio Recording of Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology - Monday, October 22, 2018 - 10:00:00 AM

Friday, June 15,  2018

Tuesday, June 12,  2018

 CPUC AUTHORIZES PASSENGER CARRIERS TO PROVIDE FREE TEST RIDES IN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES WITH VALID CPUC AND DMV PERMITS

Sunday, June 3,  2018

  Waymo’s fleet of self-driving minivans is about to get 100 times bigger

Friday, May 25,  2018

PRELIMINARY REPORT: HIGHWAY: HWY18MH010 (Uber/Herzberg Crash)

May 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".  

"...The system is not designed to alert the operator. " That may be the only good part of Uber's design.  In a Driverless vehicle, there is no one to warn, so don't waste your time.  If it is important enough to warn, then it is important enough for the automated system to start initiating things to do something about it.  Plus, the Driver may not know what to do anyway.  This is pretty much as I stated in PodCast 30 and the March 24 edition of SmartDrivingCar, See below.Thursday, May 10,  2018

Thursday, April 26,  2018

 This startup’s CEO wants to open-source self-driving car safety testing

Saturday, March 24,  2018

Experts say video of Uber's self-driving car killing a pedestrian suggests its technology may have fail

Tuesday, April 17, 2017

  Don't Worry, Driverless Cars Are Learning From Grand Theft Auto

[log in to unmask]" alt="imap:[log in to unmask]:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E3022058?part=1.36&filename=ajafjpkfaclhelpc.png" class="" width="44" height="50" border="0">Extracting Cognition out of Images for the Purpose of Autonomous Driving

announce historic commitment of 20 automakers to make automatic emergency braking standard on new vehicles

Sunday, December 19, 2015

[log in to unmask]" alt="imap:[log in to unmask]:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E3022058?part=1.38&filename=ccalfjfhllohpdpa.png" class="" width="96" height="63" border="0">Adam Jonas' View on Autonomous Cars

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

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