Saturday, September 28, 2019

https://www.princetondiary.com/smartdrivingcar/7.40-PrincetonFuture-092819

Public forum will explore possibility of transit on demand in Princeton

K. Knapp, Sept 22, "What would it take to make Princeton an accessible community for all, even those who cannot or choose not to own or drive a car? Princeton Future will explore the question at a public forum from 9 a.m. to noon on Sept. 28 in the community room at the Princeton Public Library.

Princeton Future is a non-profit community group that studies issues related to planning, development, and affordability. Speakers will discuss the capabilities of a transit-on-demand system where small, driverless shuttles could be summoned by a smart phone app to a location within walking distance of a resident’s home…."  Read more  Hmmmm…. Listen to a summary of the event in Episode 126 of the SmartDrivingcars PodCasts. See below for other info. Alain

   Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 126 – Sturges & Caudill

F. Fishkin, Sept 19 , "From the public library in Princeton, NJ… a special edition of the Smart Driving Cars podcast following a public forum conducted by Princeton Future on the potential for transit on demand for all. Join Princeton professor Alain Kornhauser, co-host Fred Fishkin and special guests for that…plus…the latest on Waymo, Tesla, Hyundai, Aptiv and more. " Pictured from the Princeton Future Public Forum on Driverless  Mobility for AllJust say "Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!".  Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay …  Alain

Could Princeton Offer Transit on Demand For All, Even Those Who Don’t Drive Cars? 

D. Gilpin, Sept 25, "What if an automated vehicle could drop you off with your groceries at your front door, then go pick up someone else? One car could make about 50 “person” trips per day instead of five, so that only one car is needed for every ten that exist now, and at night only one car, not ten, would need to be parked.

Could Princeton families with a few cars cut back to one or two, or none?…"  Read more  Hmmmm…. Part of the buildup to the public forum.  Alain

  A Community-Centered, Affordable and On-Demand Mobility Network for Princeton, NJ

J. He, Sept. 10, "… We proposed a new transit network as a complement to the existing mobility services in Princeton that will bring enhanced mobility to its residents, especially to the currently mobility-marginalized population at the peripheries of the town. The proposed network, which would be implemented in different phases starting with a six-month long test phase (Table 1 of Figure 6), has the following characteristics:… "  Read more  Hmmmm….  The Princeton Future’s public forum on Saturday focuses on this concept.  The response from the residents living along the streets making up this network will be most interesting.    Alain

  Making Princeton an Accessible Community for All; Even those who cannot or choose not to own or drive a car

A. Kornhauser, Sept 28, "The perception is…
    Getting around Princeton is not so easy
        Even if you can and want to drive a car
    If you can’t or don’t want to drive…
        Then it needs to be a Special, Well-planned or Flexible occasion
            Special:  taxis/Uber/Lyft…  aren’t inexpensive
            Well-planned: TRADE, NJ Para-transit, … require advanced reservations, long waits
            Flexible:  FreeB… schedule & fixed route, few times a day
    Compared to a Car… 
         Available at a moment’s notice, 24/7
    Our Cars are arguably Our biggest Polluters
        Transportation is source of 29% of GHG
            Biggest sector could be cut in half!
We can do better!!!!…  Read more  Hmmmm…. See the slides.  Alain

  Experiencing driverless Waymo rides

Waymo, Sept 12, "We’ve been testing our driverless cars — with no one behind the wheel — at a small scale since 2017. As we’ve started providing more driverless rides in the Metro Phoenix area, one of the things we love most is the reactions of riders the first time they experience full autonomy."  Watch video  Hmmmm….  Very impressive that "no one behind the wheel"; but, is this truly driverless (no attendant on-board) or "drivered" driverless (there an attendant on-board.) ???  I can’t see one, but is that just my poor eyesight or clever videography by Waymo.  Since economic viability is impossible with an attendant on-board, and the system must really work all the time (essentially zero disengagements (there’s no attendant on-board to disengage the system!)), then they’d tell us "without an attendant on-board". 

But, since it is none of our business and riders seem to be happy, why even bring it up that the attendant that’s been in the back seat until recently simply isn’t there anymore?  If this is true, then they are really able to roll out and deploy those 82,000 vehicles they have options to buy.  And Adam Jonas may need to raise his valuation back up to $175B.  Alain

  Deciders Will Decide If or When Driverless Arrives

M Sena, October 2019, "In the lead article of the October issue, I address the question of whether we will ever experience ubiquitous driverless cars, and if so, why. The ‘when’ follows from the ‘why’. Invention is the mother of necessity. You’ll need to read it to the end to find the answer. As an added bonus, you will learn why it took us 200,000 years to invent the car.

Musings projects us into a time when we may need to “Get outa Dodge” in a hurry. As I discovered during my personal survey this summer and experiential field research, there are quite a few folks who are ready for it. Maybe it’s time to think about investing in a camper van for yourself and your family.

There are some other items in this month’s issue that I could not resist including, like more thoughts on e-scooters. The topic is a hot one in Stockholm, where the politicians are trying to make up for the fact that they were caught flat-footed by the critters’ sudden influx. You can close the barn doors after the horses have run out, but it doesn’t bring the horses back…."   Read more  Hmmmm….Another wonderful issue.  Enjoy!  Alain

  Alphabet’s Waymo valuation cut 40% by Morgan Stanley to $105 billion amid challenges in self-driving car market

J. Elias, Sept. 27, "Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car division, is taking longer than expected to develop a commercialized product, leading analysts at Morgan Stanley to lower their valuation of the company by 40%.

In a report on Thursday, Morgan Stanley cut its valuation on Waymo to $105 billion from $175 billion, based a discounted cash flow analysis.

“Over the past year, there have been a series of hurdles relating to the commercialization and advancement of autonomous driving technology,” the analysts wrote. “Most notably, we underestimated how long safety drivers are likely to be present within cars and the timing of the rollout of autonomous rides-sharing services.”  Read more  Hmmm….  The Elaine Herzber  crash has cost Uber $60B and now Waymo $75B in valuation.  Has there ever been a more expensive crash??  $105B is still not bad for an entity that has yet to generate its first dollar of revenue. 

  Hyundai Motor Group, Aptiv to set up $4 billion self-driving car venture

H. Jin, Sept 23, "Hyundai Motor Group will invest $1.6 billion in a joint venture to develop self-driving vehicle technologies with Aptiv (APTV.N), the biggest overseas investment by the South Korean carmaker to catch up to rivals in the autonomous car market….

Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), Kia Motors (000270.KS) and Hyundai Mobis (012330.KS) will collectively contribute $1.6 billion in cash and $400 million in research and development resources and others, valuing the joint venture $4 billion, Hyundai Group and Aptiv said in a joint statement.

Dublin-headquarterd Aptiv, which will own 50% of the joint venture, will contribute its autonomous driving technology, intellectual property, and about 700 employees focused on the development of scalable autonomous driving solutions…." Read more  Hmmm….  Doubtful that this ends up with aTaxis Mobility-as-a-Service and not just Self-driving cars owned by individuals.  Alain

  Tesla ‘has a shot’ at record 100,000 cars this quarter – Elon Musk in email leak

F. Lambert, Sept 26, "…Last quarter, Tesla smashed its global delivery record, with over 95,000 electric cars delivered during the quarter.  Over the last few weeks, we have been speculating that Tesla could be aiming to beat the record with 100,000 deliveries this quarter.  It turns out that it’s exactly what Tesla is trying to do."  Read more   Hmmmm…  That would be impressive.  Now if they only could earn a profit.  Alain

 


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

  Audi study finds high interest in self-driving cars, but far from a blanket statement

S. Szymkowski, Sept 24, "…A new study from German luxury brand Audi (specifically its &Audi Initiative) painted two distinct portraits of individuals around the world. The company surveyed and studied 21,000 respondents globally from nine countries. Citizens from China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Germany, the UK, France, Japan and the US each provided responses.

The study broke findings out into three overall categories: the emotional landscape, the Human Readiness Index (HRI) and several user typology templates. The most important of these is the second point, the HRI.

The HRI spans age groups, gender, living environment, income, education and the distance a respondent drives each day. By and large, younger generations hold the idea of autonomous driving in a more positive light. Even across each of the nine countries, those belonging to Generation Z (under the age of 24) showed a "high readiness" for self-driving technology, and 73% said they were curious about the technology. Millennials came in second, though far less ready as Gen Z, while Baby Boomers displayed the least readiness. Overall, almost half of those surveyed still viewed autonomous vehicles with optimism, however at 49%…." Read more  Hmmmm….  While this is a very extensive study (21,000 respondents from across the globe), the responses relate to the perception of what??? ?   I think it is to personally owned and operated "self-driving" cars NOT driverless cars that are part of a fleet managed by an operator that delivers Mobility-as-a-Service.  Plus nothing has "98%  enthusiastic", not even elections in Russia, China or even North Korea.  Something is very wrong here. Alain

   Ford launching autonomous car testing in Austin

C. Gastelu, Sept 24, "Ford has announced plans to begin testing autonomous cars in the Texas capital, which has become a hot spot for self-driving tech.  The automaker and its autonomous vehicle subsidiary Argo AI will first spend several months developing detailed maps of the area, which it sees as a key component to safe self-driving vehicles. Engineers will also note any local traffic quirks that the car’s brains need to be particularly aware of and will address the issue of scooters, which are a prevalent obstacle in the city…. "  Read more  Hmmmm….  "Plans to begin"… damn Scooters!! Alain


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


Simply ClickBait


 Calendar of Upcoming Events:

4th Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit

evening May 19 through May 21, 2020


On the More Technical Side

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