R.
Mitchell, Oct.
4, " Smart
Summon is for
parking lot
use. But
drivers have
other ideas.
Tesla unleashed the latest twist in driverless car technology last week, raising more questions about whether autonomous vehicles are outracing public officials and safety regulators.
...Using
a smartphone,
a person can
now command a
Tesla to turn
itself on,
back out of a
parking space
and drive to
the smartphone
holder's
location - say
at a curb in
front of a
Costco
store.." Read more Hmmmm....
Russ, great
article. A
must read!
Elon,
please stop.
StupidSummon
was a bad
Valley-entitled
idea before
you released
it. Now that
it is out
there it will
ruin all that
is good about
Tesla,
AutoPilot and
Driverless
cars. The
shorters are
going to have
a field day.
While
you are at it
also remove
all of the
DistractTainment
add ons or
limit their
use when
AutoPilot is
NOT on and
drivers are
engaged in
driving. Just
go back to
V09! Along
the way also
get the
Automated
Emergency
Braking (AEB)
system to work
properly (See
NTSB
below).
To do that,
maybe you
should take a
serious look
at Velodyne's
new
Tesla LiDAR.
It may be able
to tell you if
the stationary
object in the
lane ahead is
high enough
above the road
surface before
your AEB
system decides
to disregard
it. Then
Tesla's may
stop decapitating
drivers.
If you don't remove StupidSummon
then at least
be sure to
limit its use
to the Tesla
owner's own
private
property by
responsible
users. (You
know the GPS
coordinates of
where each
owner lives,
so you can
geofence it.
You also know
each
irresponsible
use (You get
the videos).
Irresponsible
use (use in
the violation
of the
conditions
spelled out in
the user's
manual) should
void its
future
availability
in that car
unless proper
amend are
made. If not,
then insurance
companies
should clearly
state that
insuring the
use of this
feature
requires a
substantial
additional
premium; else,
you're not
covered.
Courts should
view that use
of this
feature
implies
premeditated
harm and
demonstrates
an extreme
indifference
to human
life. Parking
Lot owners
should install
signs
forbidding the
use of this
feature on
their property
to protect
themselves
from being
dragged into
the claims
process.
What is most disturbing about this
feature is
that its only
value is to
enhance the
self-perceived
manhood of
Entitled
Silicon Valley
XXs and may
well cause the
public sector
to over react
and ruin to
opportunity of
responsible
driverless
mobility to
substantially
enhance the
quality-of-life
of those who
can't or
choose not to
drive a car,
enhance the
environment,
subdue our
energy use and
reduce
congestion.
Elon, shame on
you. Alain
Staff, Sept 27. "Engage 'Smart ... Stupid... Summon' from the Tesla App by tapping on 'Come to Me' to bring the car top you... " See Video Hmmmm.... StupidSummon. This is Sooooooo Baddddddddddd. Made exclusively for the most Entitled SiliconValley XX. Alain
B. Dodge,
Sept 30,
"Tesla owners
who paid extra
for "enhanced"
self-driving
capabilities
got the
driverless
"Smart Summon"
mode, which
uses GPS
technology to
pick up
passengers, It
was part of a
major software
package
released last
week that also
included
Netflix,
Spotify
Premium and
navigation
features to
help drivers
find good
restaurants
and local
attractions.
The
entertainment
systems appear
to be working
fine so far,
but the new
driving
capabilities
are apparently
not. Tesla
drivers took
to Twitter
over the
weekend to
describe the
damage done to
their Teslas
while using
the
technology,
asking the
internet for
advice on
filing what
could be
complicated
insurance
claims and
warning other
drivers just
to walk the
remaining 20
feet to their
cars...." Read more Hmmmm....
See
above.
Alain
See also: F. Lambert, Sept 30 Tesla owners are already doing dumb things with ‘Smart Summon’
... This kind of behavior is why driverless features can not be made available to consumers and need to be banned from being used on public streets. If you want to have your car drive itself on your private property, then go for it, although the discharge of firearms is illegal throughout many communities.
K. Pyle,
Oct. 3.
"Although the
moniker for
the World
Safety Summit
On Autonomous
Technology
is a great
descriptor of
the conference
held on
October 2nd at
Levi Stadium
in the heart
of Silicon
Valley, the
overarching
theme was
about people.
Sure, there
were
autonomous
vehicle
technology
stalwarts,
like Intel,
Nvidia, and
Cruise (GM)
and start-ups
like Voyage,
AutonomouStuff,
and Local
Motors, but
even they
emphasized the
importance of
putting people
first and
delivering an
excellent
mobility
experience.
One of the
fathers of the
industry,
Aurora
Cofounder and
CEO Chris
Urmson,
emphasized the
importance of
safety as a
given when he
stated that
“We must take
the time and
not rush it
[autonomous
vehicles] to
the market,
unreasonably.”
His comments
somewhat
mirror those
of Author and
Mobility
Expert Dr.
Larry Burns
who stated
that the
safety leader
is going to be
the market
winner (see
this interview
with Burns).
...
And a better experience isn’t just for the kids as, at the other end of the age spectrum, Dr. Alain Kornhauser, Transportation Program Director, Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering, moderated a panel with several seniors who have experience with autonomous vehicle services....
Velodyne
Lidar’s Vice
President of
Communications
Sally Frykman,
the organizer
of this
all-day event,
provides
further color
about the
panels and the
exhibitors in
the above
interview."
Read
more Hmmmm.... Really excellent
sessions. See
video.
Alain
K. Pyle,
Oct 4, "An
impromptu
panel in front
of Viodi's
video camera
blossoms at
the World
Safety Summit
on Autonomous
Technology, as
Princeton’s
Dr. Alain
Kornhauser
leads a
discussion
with Diana
Furchgott-Roth,
Deputy
Assistant
Secretary for
Research and
Technology for
the U.S.
Department of
Transportation, and Sue Bai, Chief Engineer, Manager, Feasibility Study
Department of
the Automobile
Technology
Research
Division for
Honda R&D
America’s,
Inc.
Topics covered
include
mobility
automation
levels,
vehicle to
vehicle (and
bike,
pedestrian,
infrastructure,
etc.)
communications,
safety
considerations
and
implications
for the
roadways.
Click below
for more
details and
timecodes to
jump to that
part of the
video...." Read more Hmmmm....
Really
excellent
sessions. See video.
Alain
K. Do, Oct
2, "A
gathering of
autonomous
vehicle
industry
leaders at the
2nd
annual World
Safety Summit
in Santa Clara
offered a
glimpse into
the state of
the industry,
and progress
towards
widespread
rollout and
mass adoption
of
self-driving
cars.
The event,
organized by
Velodyne Lidar
based in San
Jose, convened
various
business,
government and
public safety
entities to
discuss topics
including
industry
practices,
public trust
and consumer
acceptance..."
Read
more Hmmmm.... Really excellent
sessions. See
embedded
video. Alain
F.
Siddiqui, Oct.
3, " Karen
Brenchley is a
computer
scientist with
expertise in
training
artificial
intelligence,
but this
longtime
Silicon Valley
resident has
pangs of
anxiety
whenever she
sees Waymo
self-driving
cars maneuver
the streets
near her home.
The former
product
manager, who
has worked for
Microsoft and
Hewlett-Packard, wonders how engineers could teach the robocars
operating on
her tree-lined
streets to
make snap
decisions,
speed and slow
with the flow
of traffic and
yield to
pedestrians
coming from
the nearby
park. She has
asked her
husband, an
award-winning
science-fiction author who doesn’t drive, to wear a shiny vest while
cycling to
ensure
autonomous
vehicles spot
him in a rush
of activity.
The problem
isn’t that she
doesn’t
understand the
technology.
It’s that she
does, and she
knows how
flawed nascent
technology can
be...
Brad
Templeton, who
lives in
testing
hotspot
Sunnyvale,
frequently
sees the cars
on the road.
He worked on
them, too, as
part of
Google’s
self-driving
car project
roughly a
decade ago.
Most experts
in the field
say real-world
testing is
needed, he
says,
something he
agrees with.
Templeton says
a small number
of crashes are
acceptable
when
considering
the eventual
overall
improved
safety when
human drivers
are off the
roads. He
compares it to
teenagers
learning to
drive.... " Read
more Hmmmm... Thank you Brad. Parks
&
Recreation
Season 1
Episode 2,
Canvassing
Clips
of the worst
town hall
meetings from
NBC’s “Parks
and
Recreation"
Sept. 28, "SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicle is a fully, rapidly reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and anywhere else in the solar system. On Saturday, September 28 at our launch facility in Cameron County, Texas, SpaceX Chief Engineer and CEO Elon Musk provided an update on the design and development of Starship...." Watch Webcast Hmmmm... Fundamentally impressive. Some basic Elon Philosophies: Development timelines: "Long is wrong; Tight is right"; Everyone on the team is the "Chief Engineer" because everyone needs to understand and know the whole process; Framing/asking the right question is much more difficult than getting the answer; Breaking a process into departments and optimizing each department is not as good as optimizing the whole process because the constrains that bind the processes together constrain how well each department could contribute to the whole process. You may also want to watch A conversation with Elon Musk about Starship and The History of Starship Super Heavy | Mini Documentary Alain
Press release, Oct. 2, "In the third quarter, we achieved record production of 96,155 vehicles and record deliveries of approximately 97,000 vehicles. In addition, we achieved record net orders in Q3 and are entering Q4 with an increase in our order backlog. As was also the case in Q2, nearly all of our Model 3 orders were received from customers who did not previously hold a reservation, solidifying the transition to generating strong organic demand. ..." Read more Hmmmm.... Not bad. From Inside EVs, US Sales of Teslas are seen here. So far this year, Tesla are 58.6% of US Plug-in car sales. Not bad. Alain
G.
Topham, Oct 3,
"Work to bring
driverless
cars to
Britain’s
streets has
reached a
milestone with
the first
demonstration
of an
autonomous
fleet driving
in a “complex
urban
environment”
in London.
Ford Mondeos
fitted with
autonomous
technology
from the UK
tech firm
Oxbotica
operated on
public roads
around the
former Olympic
Park in
Stratford this
week.
Directors of
the £13.6m
Driven
programme, a
partially
government-funded
consortium,
said it had
“exceeded
their initial
plan” and was
a significant
step in
confirming
autonomous
vehicles could
operate in
real-life
situations in
a large
European city.
Oxbotica said
first
passenger
trials of a
separate
venture, an
autonomous
ride-sharing
taxi service
planned with
the cab firm
Addison Lee in
the capital,
could now
start in June
2020.." Read
more Hmmmm.... Another article that
uses
Driverless and
Self-driving
interchangeably.
They are
testing
Drivered
Driverless
(vehicles that
may some day
be Driverless
but are being
tested today
with an
attendant
on-board).
Hopefully
they'll report
their
Disengagement
rates during
these tests so
that we can
have some idea
as to how well
these Drivered
Driverless
cars are
doing. If the
Disengagement
rate and/or
At-Fault-Crash
rate is
finite, they
are really
Self-driving
cars that are
sold to
individuals.
Or, is the Disengagement rate and
the At-Fault
-Crash rate
infinitesimal
so they can
become
Driverless
Mobility
Machines that
can actually
deliver
societal
benefits in
this well
defined
Operational
Design
Domain. Alain
E. Niedermeyer, Sept. 30, "resident Donald Trump took a break from his duties today to tweet about an unlikely topic: Hyundai's new $4 billion joint venture with Aptiv, aimed at developing "scalable autonomous driving solutions. In his tweet, Trump called the joint venture "BIG NEWS" and celebrated the fact that the partnership would mean "great jobs coming back to America." It turns out that jobs impact is already being felt, as the job search website Indeed recently reviewed its autonomous drive technology listings and Aptiv was the number one hiring company in the space.
ne of the things you learn talking to people at autonomous drive technology development companies is that they are constantly looking for talent, a fact reflected in the mind-blowing 844% increase in AD tech jobs listings on Indeed since 2015. The entire valuation of smaller startups can sometimes be based purely on the talent and experience of its engineers, and big players will occasionally "acquihire" those smaller firms for their talent alone, as Apple did with Drive.AI and Waymo did with Anki earlier this year. Outside of these deals, which we've been hearing more rumors about since venture capital for autonomous drive companies has started to dry up, recruiting is a "ground game" that takes up a surprising amount of resources for these firms...." Read more Hmmmm.... Tesla just did it with DeepScale: Tesla (TSLA) Buys DeepScale to Develop Fully Autonomous Cars Alain
A. Wigglesworth, Oct. 4, "...Starting on or about Oct. 29, travelers looking to catch a ride from the airport in a taxi or with Uber or Lyft will have to take a shuttle or walk to a parking lot next to Terminal 1, where they can then book their rides.... The decision is in response to worsening congestion at the airport, ..." Read more Hmmmm.... Or because they are trying to pile onto Uber/Lyft and get people back to using their parking lots? So bad!! Alain
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."
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"
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."
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"
K. Korosec,
Sept 16,
"Waymo
transported
6,299
passengers in
self-driving ...drivered,
not
driverless...Chrysler
Pacifica
minivans in
its first
month
participating
in a robotaxi
pilot program
in California,
according to a
quarterly
report the
company filed
with the
California
Public
Utilities
Commission.
In all, the
company
completed
4,678
passenger
trips in July
— plus another
12 trips for
educational
purposes. It’s
a noteworthy
figure for an
inaugural
effort that
pencils out to
an average of
156 trips
every day that
month. And it
demonstrates
that Waymo has
the resources,
staff and
vehicles to
operate a
self-driving
vehicle pilot
while
continuing to
test its
technology in
multiple
cities and
ramp up its
Waymo One
ride-hailing
service in
Arizona...
The CPUC
authorized in
May 2018 two
pilot programs
for
transporting
passengers in
autonomous
vehicles. The
first one,
called the Drivered
Autonomous
Vehicle
Passenger
Service Pilot
program,
allows
companies to
operate a
ride-hailing
service using
autonomous
vehicles as
long as they
follow
specific
rules.
Companies are
not allowed to
charge for
rides, a human
safety driver
must be behind
the wheel and
certain data
must be
reported
quarterly.
The second
CPUC pilot
would allow
driverless
passenger
service —
although no
company has
yet to obtain
that
permit...."Read more Hmmmm....
Be sure to
look at the Waymo Quarterly Report and that of the other
3 companies: Zoox, AutoX and Pony.ai. Those 4 companies reported
respectively [ 4,678; 103; 9; 0] vehicleTrips; [
6,299; 134;
13; 0]
personTrips;
[59,917; 352; ?; 0] vehicleMiles, and [
55; 10; 1; 0]
number
of unique
vehicles used
throughout the
quarter. Note
Waymo only
began
operating on
July 2, the
last month of
the quarter [May, June, July]. Note: the CPUC does not permit
casual
shared-ride
services
(serving
individuals or
groups of
individuals
who weren't
predisposed to
travel
together). Go
figure??? Alain
Also note: This is Drivered Service,
meaning there
is an
attendant/driver
inside each
vehicle for
each trip; so
this is
actually
conventional
ride-hailing,
a la Lyft/Uber
with fancy
schmancy
vehicles. The
CPUC did NOT
require
"disengagement
reporting" so
one has no
idea as to the
extent of
driver/attendant
involvement is
the provision
of the
Drivered
service. It
will be
interesting to
learn if Waymo
considers this
activity to be
part of its AV
testing
program and
includes the
disengagement
performance of
these vehicles
in its
disengagement
report to the
CA DMV at the
end of the
year. We'll be able to infer if that the
disengagement
performance is
exemplary when
Waymo decides
to begin Driverless
service
(w/o an
attendant, as
opposed to Drivered
service).
1. Figure 4, The speed of the Tesla in the last 221 seconds before the crash showing that the Tesla was traveling rather slowly in the 100 seconds before the crash (under 20 mph), but then accelerated (as discussed above) in the 3 seconds just prior to the crash, beginning as soon as the lead SUV changed lanes,
2. Figure 5, the distance between the Tesla and its lead vehicle, showing that the TACC worked really well until the lead vehicle "disappeared" (changed lanes), and"... Data show that at about 490 msec before the crash, the system detected a stationary object in path of the Tesla. At that time, the forward collision warning was activated; the system presented a visual and auditory warning. Data also shows that the AEB did not engage and that there was no driver-applied braking of steering prior to the crash. According to Tesla, the AEB was active at the time of the crash, and considering that the stopped fire truck was detected about half a second before impact, there likely was not sufficient time to activate the AEB." ...This implies that the AEB and its functioning in collaboration with the TACC needs to be substantially re-evaluated/re-designed. Alain
3. Figure 6 which clearly depicts the movement of the Tesla relative to the lead vehicle and the Firetruck in the 15 seconds before the crash. The Tesla's radar and front facing camera mush have "seen' the firetruck 4 seconds before the crash and every sensing loop (1/10th of a second) during the last 4 seconds yet...
M. Isaac,
Aug 27,
"Anthony
Levandowski
was once one
of Silicon
Valley’s most
sought after
technologists.
As a pioneer
of
self-driving
car
technology, he
became a
confidant of
Larry Page, a
co-founder of
Google, and
helped develop
the search
giant’s
autonomous
vehicles. Uber
wooed him to
gain an edge
in
self-driving
techniques.
Venture
capitalists
threw their
money at him.
But on
Tuesday, Mr.
Levandowski,
39, fell far
from that
favored
stature.
Federal
prosecutors
charged him
with 33 counts
of theft and
attempted
theft of trade
secrets from
Google. ...
The criminal indictment against Mr. Levandowski
from the
United States
Attorney’s
Office for the
Northern
District of
California
opens a new
chapter in a
legal battle
that has
embroiled
Google, its
self-driving
car spinoff
Waymo and its
rival Uber in
the
high-stakes
contest over
autonomous
vehicles. The
case also
highlights
Silicon
Valley’s
no-holds-barred
culture, where
gaining an
edge in new
technologies
versus
competitors
can be
paramount....
According to the indictment, Mr. Levandowski downloaded more than 14,000 files containing critical information about Google’s autonomous-vehicle research before leaving the company in 2016. He then made an unauthorized transfer of the files to his personal laptop, the indictment said. Mr. Levandowski joined Uber later that year when the ride-hailing firm bought his new self-driving trucking start-up, which was called Otto....
“The Bay
Area has the
best and
brightest
engineers, and
they take big
risks,” John
Bennett, the
F.B.I. special
agent in
charge of the
San Francisco
Division, said
at a news
conference on
Tuesday. “But
Silicon Valley
is not the
Wild West. The
fast-paced and
competitive
environment
does not mean
federal laws
do not
apply.”Mr.
Levandowski’s
next court
date is Sept.
4. If he is
convicted, he
could face a
maximum of 10
years in
prison, a
$250,000 fine
for every
count and
additional
restitution.
“All of us are
free to move
from job to
job,” said
David L.
Anderson,
United States
attorney in
the Northern
District of
California.
“What we
cannot do is
stuff our
pockets on the
way out the
door.”..." Read more Hmmm...
Central to
this
technology is
the perception
of
personal
safety and
trust. Lying,
cheating &
stealing can't
be part of
this industry,
else it will
never emerge
from the
venture
stage. If DeiselGate
and the Uber crash weren't enough, let this be the
next wake-up
call to this
industry to
clean up its
ethical
behavior.
Hopefully the
FBI will also
aggressively
pursue all
cyber
attackers. It
isn't cute,
nor a virtual
reality game.
It is hard
serious work
and creativity
focused on
improving the
quality of
everyday life.
Alain
J.
Browne, Aug
16,
"Autonomous
vehicles are
the future.
Self-driving
cars could
change our
lives,
heralding an
era of greater
convenience,
improved
productivity
and safer
roads...." Read more
Hmmmm....
Actually much
of this
opening
sentence is a
myth... It
doesn't take
Self-driving
or Driverless
to have
automation
technology
yield safer
roads. It
takes
safe-driving
technology
that works,
like Automated
Emergency
Braking (front
and rear)...
And ... are we
really going
to do our
"manufacturing
or service job
" (increase
"productivity")
if we don't
have to do the
work of
driving
anymore??? Of
the few
"riding
shotgun to
work" what
percentage are
doing work
while riding
shotgun?
Certainly less
than 10%.
Less than 1%?
So much for
productivity
improvements
If we get to Driverless, then the myths aren't
myths. There
will be fewer
private cars,
downtown
congestion
will be
reduced, the
environment
will be saved,
the insurance
industry's
gross revenues
will go down substantially (but
their profits
will go up)
and AVs are
already safer
than humans
that text
and/or are
"under the
influence"
while
driving.
If we don't get to Driverless, then we'll remain with "Do-it-yourself private mobility" that will include Self-driving assistance. Armed with that form of personal mobility, then all the myths are myths: More private cars ... and the policy implications are clear. See: J. M. Greenwald, A. L. Kornhauser "It’s up to us: Policies to improve climate outcomes from automated vehicles". Also, to have a proper perspective of the role of transportation and car/"FordF150s" in greenhouse gas emissions see... M. Sivak, Aug 22, "Increased relative contribution of medium and heavy trucks to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions" Alain
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
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
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
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)
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".
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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