[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="86"
height="22">
U.S.
Transportation
Secretary Elaine
L. Chao
Announces First
Participants in
New Automated
Vehicle
Initiative to
Improve Safety,
Testing, and
Public
Engagement
Press release, June
15,
"The U.S. Department
of Transportation
today announced nine
companies and eight
States that have
signed on as the
first participants
in a new Department
initiative to
improve the safety
and testing
transparency of
automated driving
systems, the
Automated Vehicle
Transparency and
Engagement for Safe
Testing (AV TEST)
Initiative. The
participating
companies are Beep,
Cruise, Fiat
Chrysler
Automobiles, Local
Motors, Navya, Nuro,
Toyota, Uber, and
Waymo. The States
are California,
Florida, Maryland,
Michigan, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Texas,
and Utah.
“Through this
initiative, the
Department is
creating a formal
platform for
Federal, State, and
local government to
coordinate and share
information in a
standard way,” said
U.S. Transportation
Secretary Elaine L.
Chao. ...
This initiative
aligns with the
Department’s
leadership on
automated driving
system vehicles,
including AV
4.0: Ensuring
American
Leadership in
Automated Vehicle
Technologies."
Read
more Hmmm...
Excellent.
This is really
good because
it is promotes
and organizes
the open
sharing of
safety
information
assoiated with
automated
driving.
This is
extremely
important
because safety
of these
systems is a
necessary
condition for
their
adoption.
Unfortunately, a few things seem to be missing from the
announcement.
- a budget (Washington may not have any money left after COVID-19),
- any mention of mobility for people or for
goods. The
testing of
safety is
conducted
without doing
any useful
mobility, but
the value of
testing is
derived from
the delivery
of that
mobility.
Safety in that
context
requires the
active
engagement the
entities that
are being
transported.
It is very
important that
this
initiative
include
potential
customers and
neighborhoods
whose streets
such
automation
might use, and
- the whole Northeast including New Jersey seems to have not "signed on", nor is Ford/Argo, Zooks, Aurore, Voyage Amazon, Apple.... :-( Alain
[log in to unmask]"
class="">
SmartDrivingCars
Pod-Cast Episode 161
- Alberto Stochino
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""> SmartDrivingCars
Zoom-Cast Episode
161 - Alberto
Stochino
Video version of SmartDrivingCars
PodCast 161
....
Alain
[log in to unmask]"
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height="44"
border="0">
The
SmartDrivingCars
eLetter,
Pod-Casts,
Zoom-Casts and
Zoom-inars are
made possible in
part by support
from the Smart
Transportation and
Technology ETF,
symbol MOTO. For
more information:
www.motoetf.com.
Most funding is
supplied by
Princeton
University's
Department of
Operations
Research &
Financial
Engineering and
Princeton
Autonomous Vehicle
Engineering (PAVE)
research
laboratory as
part of its
research
dissemination
initiatives.
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SmartDrivingCar
Zoom-inar 004 Insurance:
For or Against
SmartDrivingCars?
[log in to unmask]"
alt="" class=""
width="124"
height="17"> Michigan,
Fiat Chrysler
join federal
self-driving car
initiative
K. Laing, June 15,
"... But safety
advocates sharply
criticized the
transportation
department for
sticking with an
voluntary approach
to self-driving
regulation that
critics have
described as
toothless, citing
fatal accidents
involving partially
autonomous cars that
have been operated
in recent years by
companies such as
Tesla and Uber. " Read
more Hmmm... How
much more
"teeth" could
regulations
and US DoT
contribute
that make a
dent in the
"teeth" that
the economy
sink into
Uber's bottom
for its
pathetic
system design
and
implementation
that
disregarded
stationary
objects in the
lane ahead.
That caused
$60B in
valuation to
evaporate.
Tesla has somewhat of an excuse to disregard stationary objects in the lane ahead. It explicitly puts that responsibility on the human driver. If bad things happen, it is the driver's misbehavior that's the root cause. AutoPilots have always required driver supervision whether they be in Boeings or Teslas. Alain
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="133"
height="21"> The
Plan to Merge
Geely Auto and
Volvo Cars, plus
more
M. Sena, July, 2020
issue, "The July
issue of The
Dispatcher continues
the theme of the
impact of China on
the global
automotive industry
by looking at the
proposal of Volvo
Car’s parent
company, Geely, to
merge Volvo Cars and
Geely Auto and take
the combined company
public. In Musings I
discuss the issue of
vehicle connectivity
again, and in
Dispatch Central I
review current
attempts to promote
electrification
through incentives
that are also aimed
at helping the
automobile industry
get through the
COVID-19
pandemic...." Read
more Hmmm... Another
excellent
issue. See
especially the
whole section:
Musings
of a
Dispatcher:
Vehicle
Connectivity
We’re all
speaking
different
languages.
... a follow-up
to the most
interesting Zoom-tank Zoom-inar 003 on
Connectivity in
which Michael
was the
provacteur.
Alain
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""> Renault
Rattled by Threat
From Chinese
Electric Cars
Imports
T. Patel, June 12,
"A flood of Chinese
electric cars coming
ashore in Norway --
one of the biggest
markets for
battery-powered
vehicles in Europe
-- is a sign of the
“ferocious
competition”
awaiting the
region’s automakers.
That warning by
Jean-Dominique
Senard, chairman of
struggling French
carmaker Renault SA,
comes as European
manufacturers roll
out more electric
cars in the midst of
a deep slump brought
on by the
coronavirus.
Tighter emissions
rules across the
European Union have
prodded automakers
to lean into the
transition to
electric powertrains
or face big fines
this year. To
further spur
electric-car sales,
the governments of
France and Germany
have included extra
incentives for the
purchase of electric
vehicles in economic
stimulus packages.
As a result, the
Chinese models are
arriving in a market
that’s becoming
increasingly crowded
with new EVs,
including Renault’s
updated and
best-selling Zoe
subcompact and
Volkswagen AG’s
coming ID.3...." Read
more Hmmm... Will
this look like
the Electric
Scooter
invassion
Re-read
Michael Sena's
Dispatchers
from March,
May
and June
for more
background.
Alain
[log in to unmask]"
alt=""> FORD
CO-PILOT360™
TECHNOLOGY ADDS
HANDS-FREE
DRIVING,
OVER-THE-AIR
UPDATES AND MORE
TO HELP FORD
CUSTOMERS FEEL
MORE RELAXED AND
CONFIDENT
Press release, June
18, "Ford
Co-Pilot360™
Technology – a
comprehensive
collection of
available
driver-assist
features – adds new
offerings including
Active Drive Assist,
allowing for
hands-free driving
on more than 100,000
miles of divided
highways in all 50
states and Canada.
“The stress of long
highway drives
remains a huge issue
for drivers around
the world,” said Hau
Thai-Tang, Ford’s
chief product
development and
purchasing officer.
“By introducing
driver-assist
technologies like
Active Drive Assist,
Ford’s version of
hands-free driving,
we’re allowing our
customers to feel
more confident
whenever they’re
behind the wheel.”
Active Drive Assist
is the next
evolution of
Intelligent Adaptive
Cruise Control with
Lane Centering from
Ford, adding a
first-for-Ford
Hands-Free Mode with
the potential for
more enhancements in
the future.1..." Read
more Hmmmm.... Excellent... Active Drive Assist sounds very
much like GM's
Super Cruise
and their TM
Co-Pilot360
may well
infringe on
ALK's CoPilot
wich was
trademarked
last century.
Alain
[log in to unmask]" alt=""> Cadillac
Super Cruise vs.
Tesla Autopilot
R. Glon, June 10,
"Tesla’s Autopilot
technology is one of
the most-hyped and
best-known suites of
electronic driving
aids, but it’s not
the only (or the
best) system of its
kind on the market.
Cadillac’s Super
Cruise isn’t as well
known, yet it’s
outstandingly safe
and, in some ways,
smarter than
Autopilot. Join us
for a look at how
these rivaling
systems work, the
ways they’re
similar, and the
areas where they
differ...." Read more
Hmmmm....
Informative.
Alain
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""> We’re
never going to get
meaningful data on
self-driving car
testing
A. Hawkins, June
15, "The US
Department of
Transportation
launched a new
voluntary program to
collect and share
data from autonomous
vehicle operators.
Companies testing
AVs on public roads
are invited to
submit information
to the government,
which will then
publicize it online.
But given the
voluntary nature of
the program, safety
advocates say the
effort is likely to
fall short of
providing useful
data to the public.
There is currently
no federal rule
requiring AV
companies to submit
information about
their testing
activities to the
government. Instead,
a patchwork of
state-by-state
regulations govern
what is and isn’t
disclosed.
California has the
most stringent
rules, requiring
companies to obtain
a license for
different types of
testing, disclose
vehicle crashes,
list the number of
miles driven, and
the frequency at
which human safety
drivers were forced
to take control of
their autonomous
vehicles (also known
as a
“disengagement”).
Unsurprisingly,
AV companies hate
California’s
requirements....
". Read
more Hmmmm....Testing with "safety drivers" behind the wheel
is really just
like driving a
Tesla with
autoPilot. No
need for the
Feds or States
to require
anything.
More importnt is the understanding of the decision process and the evidence that a company will use to offer mobility services without a driver or attendant on-board. Those data and evidence should be captured in a certification process, not a testing process. What process will convince a community, a State, a Federal government, a ... to welcome such driverless mobility services in its prescribed Operational Design Domain (ODD). Alain
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="110"
height="23"> Tesla
admits its
approach to
self-driving is
harder but might
be only way to
scale
F. Lambert, June 18,
"Tesla’s head of AI
admitted that the
automaker’s approach
to self-driving is
harder than what
most companies in
the industry are
doing, but he says
it’s the only way to
scale.There are dozens of high-profile companies working on solving self-driving and virtually as many different approaches, but there are two main differences: those who rely mainly if not entirely on computer vision and those who rely on HD mapping. Tesla falls in the former category of relying on computer vision.
Andrej Karpathy, Tesla’s head of AI and computer vision, is leading this effort. Earlier this week, he participated in a CVPR’20 workshop on “Scalability in Autonomous Driving” during which he gave an update on the status of Tesla’s program and talked about the scalability challenges:... " Read more Hmmmm... Must Watch video! At 2:30 in, does AutoPlot actually know the clearance in the lane ahead under the 2nd overpass? I sure hope so.
[log in to unmask]" alt="" width="132"
height="20"> New
method makes more
data available for
training
self-driving cars
CMU, June 17, "...In the past, state-of-the-art methods for training such a system have required the use of labeled datasets—sensor data that has been annotated to track each 3-D point over time. Manually labeling these datasets is laborious and expensive, so, not surprisingly, little labeled data exists. As a result, scene flow training is instead often performed with simulated data, which is less effective, and then fine-tuned with the small amount of labeled real-world data that exists.
Mittal, Held and robotics Ph.D. student Brian Okorn took a different approach, using unlabeled data to perform scene flow training. Because unlabeled data is relatively easy to generate by mounting a lidar on a car and driving around, there's no shortage of it.
The key
to their approach
was to develop a way
for the system to
detect its own
errors in scene
flow. At each
instant, the system
tries to predict
where each 3-D point
is going and how
fast it's moving. In
the next instant, it
measures the
distance between the
point's predicted
location and the
actual location of
the point nearest
that predicted
location. This
distance forms one
type of error to be
minimized... " Read
more Hmmmm.... I don't understand... "the actual location of the point
nearest that
predicted
location" is a label. Something had to classify/label that "actual"
point. LiDAR
doesn't
classify each
point. If it
did, you
wouldn't need
any "method",
new or not.
???? Alain
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="110"
height="23"> Tesla deliveries unsurprisingly crash in US amid
pandemic but
it’s not that
bad
F. Lambert, June 17,
"Tesla deliveries
have fallen ~37% in
California and ~30%
in the US based on
registration data,
but it’s not
surprising amid the
pandemic and
actually not even
that bad of a
drop. Due to the
pandemic, Tesla had
to shut down its
Fremont factory for
just over a month in
March and April.It is where Tesla produces most of its vehicles and therefore, the shutdown is expected to have a major impact on Tesla’s sales and ultimately its financial results during the second quarter.
The Wall Street Journal now reports data registration for Tesla in California, Tesla’s biggest market in the US, and it shows a 37% drop in April and Ma:... " Read more Hmmmm... Impressive. Need to wait for China deliveries in those months. Could be really impressive. Alain
[log in to unmask]"
alt="" width="32"
height="31"> Driver free
but virus free?
Robo cars hit new
speed bump
T. Krisher, June
17, "... An
executive with
self-driving car
company Waymo said
Wednesday that the
coronavirus pandemic
forced it to put its
limited ride service
in the Phoenix area
on hold to make sure
human backup drivers
and passengers were
safe.
The
passenger-carrying
service hasn’t
resumed yet, but
testing restarted on
May 8. Some of the
rides were shifted
toward delivery,
Patrick Cadariu,
Waymo’s head of
supply chain
operations, said on
a webinar...." Read more Hmmmm.... On the positive side, the coders continue to
imprve the
code Making
these
driverless
cars
safe,remains
to be the
"critical
path" to
driverless
mobility
services.
This may not
have hit a
speed bump,
but instead
has
accelerated
because the
coders may
have actually
become more
productive.
Just a
thought.
Alain
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="141"
height="18"> Watch
This Stopped Tesla
Model 3 Get
Violently Rear
Ended By A Chevy
SUV
S. Loveday, June
11, "Watch This
Stopped Tesla Model
3 Get Violently Rear
Ended By A Chevy
SUV...'' Read
more Hmmm... See video. So much for the
automated
emergency
braking system
on the Chevy
SUV.. It
either didn't
have one or
the one it had
didn't work.
Alain
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="78"
height="23"> Toyota
Looks Pretty Smart
Right Now On
Autonomous
Vehicles
T. Davenport, June
10, "...All of which
makes Toyota’s
strategy on smart
cars the smartest
one around. For
years it’s been
pursuing Guardian—a
project at the
Toyota Research
Institute (TRI)
focused on making
human driving
smarter and safer.
..." Read
more Hmmm... What
I've been
calling Safe-driving
cars.
Nice that
Toyota
continue to
work on
these. It
would be nice
if they were
available in
showrooms. It
would be
pretty smart
if they were
in showrooms
now. Alain
C'mon Man! (These folks didn't get/read the memo)
Sunday Supplement
Half-Baked
Click-Bait
Calendar of Upcoming Events:s
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border="0">
On the More Technical Side
http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Papers/[log in to unmask]"
class="">
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 159, Zoom-Cast Episode 159 w/Kara Kockelman
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SmartDrivingCars
Zoom-inar 003
Everyone's for
Connectivity; but...
F. Fishkin, June 2, "But
the debate is not really
about technology nor is it
about who delivers the
best value for the money
or the most privacy. It is
about ..."
- Zoom-inar (Video replay) Everyone's for Connectivity; but...
- PodCast (Audio Only) Everyone's for Connectivity; but...
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast
Episode 158,
Zoom-Cast
Episode 158
w/Chunka Mui
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast
Episode 157, Zoom-Cast
Episode 157
w/Grayson Brulte
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SmartDrivingCars
Zoom-inar 002 The
Future of Public
Roadway Transit
- Zoom-inar Video (Video replay) Smart Driving Cars: The Future of Public Roadway Transit
- PodCast (Audio Only) Smart Driving Cars: The Future of Public Roadway Transit
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 156, Cars Zoom-Cast Episode 156 w/Danny Shapiro2
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 155, Zoom-Cast Episode 155 w/Alex Roy2
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 154, Zoom-Cast Episode 154 w/Dan Sperling
SmartDrivingCars
Zoom-inar 001 The
Driverless New Normal
Debate
- Zoom Video
- SmartDrivingCar
PodCast (Audio Only)
Smart Driving
Cars: The
Driverless New
Normal Debate
- Zoom Audience Questions (Only a few were addressed in Zoom-inar)
- Zoom
Audience Comments
- YouTube Video
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 153, Zoom-Cast Episode 153 w/Dick Mudge2
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 152, Zoom-Cast Episode 152 w/Brad Templeton
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 151, Zoom-Cast Episode 151 w/Joe Moye
SmartDrivingCars Podcast Episode 150 - Andrei Greenawalt
Video version... Watch episode 150 with Andrei Greenawalt
SmartDriving
CarsPodcast Episode 149
- Matt Daus
Video version... Watch episode 149 with Matt Daus.... Alain
SmartDrivingCars
Podcast Episode 148 -
Richard Bishop
[log in to unmask]"
alt="" class=""
width="77" height="18">
SmartDrivingCars
Zoom-Cast Episode 148
- Richard Bishop
Video version... Watch our first attempt.... Alain
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 147 - Michael
Sena
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 142 - J. Hughes
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 141- A. Roy
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 140 - C. Mericli
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 139- Randal
O'Toole
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 138-Nick Zart
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 136
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 135 - with Jim
Atkinson
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 130 with Dick
Mudge & Michael Sena
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 126 - Sturges
& Caudill
Smart
Driving Cars Podcast
Episode 121 - Ken Pyle
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 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 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 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 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 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:
![imap:<a href=]()
[log in to unmask]:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E3022058?part=1.2&filename=hejedgabmgkdglfj.png"
src="cid:[log in to unmask]" class="" width="115"
height="69"
border="0">
Friday, June 12, 2020
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""> Society
of Actuaries
Research Brief
Impact of
COVID-19, June
12, 2020
R. Dale Hall, June 12, "...By June 10, 2020, 7.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, and the count continues to climb with general agreement that the number is actually higher due to delays in full testing and reporting in many countries. Approximately 188 countries have reported at least one confirmed case and about 416,000 deaths from COVID-19.6 It is important to recognize that the number of reported confirmed cases for any disease typically lags the number of actual confirmed cases. As a result, the number of reported confirmed cases typically continues to rise after the actual number of new confirmed cases declines...." Read more Hmmm... Excellent! An enormous amount here. See especially FIg 11 and 17. These are trully non-uniform distributions. Also Table 1, Figures 21, 22, 24, 25, Table 3, ... An enormous amount to digest here. Excellent. Alain
Thursday, June 4, 2020
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="134"
height="21">
Two-way
Vehicle
Connectivity
is a
Three-sided
Coin That
Everyone Wants
to Own
M.
Sena, May 26,
"Two-way
vehicle
connectivity
has three
facets. Two of
them are
mainly of
interest to
vehicle OEMs
and their
suppliers.
They are
vehicle-centric
and
customer-centric.
Vehicle-centric connectivity includes functions such emergency
notification,
logistics
tracking and
over-the-air
updating.
Customer
centric
connectivity
includes many
services that
are also
provided by
mobile apps
outside of the
vehicle, such
as music
streaming,
workshop
service
booking,
traffic
notifications
and car
sharing
applications.
Two-way
vehicle
connectivity
today is a
major
competitive
factor for the
OEMs.
The third vehicle connectivity facet is principally of interest to public sector traffic management authorities. It is focused on communicating warnings to vehicles and providing guidance on which roads to use in case of traffic congestion or emergencies. The public authorities view these roadway-centric functions as their domain, and vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication as the tools to accomplish the job. They are grouped together under the term V2X. This third facet is not a competitive factor for the OEMs. If it is legislated, V2X will not distinguish one OEM from another since every OEM will have to include it....
But the debate is not really about technology nor is it about who delivers the best value for the money or the most privacy. It is about..." Read more Hmmmm... The provacateur's lead at the beginning of our 3rd Shark-Tank Zoom-inar (Video, Audio) AlainThursday, May 28, 2020
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""> Amazon
in Advanced
Talks to Buy
Self-Driving-Car
Tech Company
Zoox
C. Lombardo & T. Higgins, , May 26, "Amazon.com Inc. is in advanced talks to buy Zoox Inc. in a move that would expand the e-commerce giant’s reach in autonomous-vehicle technology. The companies are discussing a deal that would value Zoox at less than the $3.2B it achieved in a funding round in 2018..." Read more Hmmmm... This would be a real bargain for Amazon and bring on some real talent to focus on the algorithmic side of driverless delivery while leveraging Rivian on the vehicle side. See also Financial Times Alain
Thursday, May 21, 2020
[log in to unmask]"
alt=""
class=""
width="38"
height="34"> Technology
driving safer
transport
H.
Zhao, May 1,
"This edition
of ITU News
Magazine
discusses the
latest trends
in connected
cars, new
ITU
initiatives to
improve smart
transportation
— and key
insights from
the annual
Symposium
on the Future
Networked Car
(FNC‑2020), a
gathering of
top experts
hosted by ITU
and UNECE.
Participants
at the 5 March
event
discussed the
technical,
business and
regulatory
actions
required to
build public
trust in
connected,
automated
vehicles.
They
highlighted
the state of
the art in
automotive
cybersecurity.
Together, they
explored the
status
and future of
safety-critical radio‑ communications for the road, and they presented
the latest
developments
in the review
of regulations
governing road
transport.
FNC‑2020
participants
also had the
opportunity to
consider the
crucial role
of the latest
5G
connectivity
technologies
in delivering
safer and more
effective
transport.
Read on to
learn about
the experts’
insightful
discussions at
the event, how
ITU’s work is
supporting the
development of
Intelligent
Transport
Systems —
and what key
industry
players are
doing to
leverage the
power of ICTs
for better
transport." Read
more
Hmmmm...
This topic
will be at the
heart on the
next Zoom-Tank
Zoom-inar on
June 1 (or
June 15??)@
2PM. An
eloquent
summary of
this
topic/symposium
was presented
by Michael
Sena in his April
2020 edition
of The
Dispatcher.
Alain
Thursday, April 30, 2020
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="78"
height="23">
Luminaries
Battle In
Lincoln-Douglas
Style Debate
About The
Future Of
Self-Driving
Cars
Lance
Eliot, April
28, "Several
self-driving
car luminaries
assembled
online via a
Zoom-casted
battleground
this week to
undertake a
Lincoln-Douglas
style debate
about the
future of the
Autonomous
Vehicle (AV)
self-driving
car industry
and the advent
of AI-driven
mobility.
Originally
scheduled for
one hour, the
dialogue and
fielding of
audience
questions
prompted the
superstars to
keep going,
tackling many
of the most
vexing and
unsolved
matters that
underlie the
potential
success of
self-driving
vehicles,
encompassing
both
autonomous
cars and
autonomous
trucks.
The lively
discussion was
civil and
polite,
fortunately so
in these times
of seemingly
stark
polarization
and guttural
attacks during
our
contemporary
public
discourse.
Yet, even in
the realm of
eloquent
argumentation,
at times the
gloves came
off and there
were some
fierce zingers
and moments of
rather
piercing
cut-the-air-with-a-knife
verbal
sparring..."
Read
more Hmmmm... Lance, Thank you for
the kind and
thorough
synopsis of
our 1st
Zoom-inar. We
were all
pleased by the
turnout,
interaction
and substance.
Alain
Friday,
April 24, 2020
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="50"
height="39">
What
Negative Oil
Prices Mean
and How the
Impact Could
Last
V.
Bajaj, April
22,"A main
benchmark for
the price of
oil fell
negative for
the first time
ever this
week. The
decline —
more than 300
percent in
daily trading
— raised fresh
questions
about the
damage the
coronavirus is
having on the
global
economy.
What does it
mean for oil
prices to be
negative?
A benchmark
price for a
barrel of oil
to be
delivered next
month fell to
-$37.63 on
Monday, which
means that
sellers would
have to pay
someone that
much to take
it off their
hands.
But that
historic
plunge was
exacerbated by
a quirk in how
the oil
markets work.
The negative
price
concerned only
contracts for
delivery of
barrels in May
that are
traded on
so-called
futures
markets. At
the same time
trading
happens for
May
deliveries,
people trade
on contracts
ending in
June, in July
and so on." Read
more Hmmmm... What??? I realize that
I'm often "out
of it",
but... In all
my life I have
NEVER...
thought of,
let alone
mentioned, nor
have heard
anyone else
mention the
concept of negative
oil!
Often, talked
about $150/B
oil, $250/B,
S20/B even
$7/B oil.
NEVER $0/B
oil,
negative
Oil...
NEVER,NEVER,
NEVER!!!! and
look where we
are. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Implications:...
no one's
models
extrapolate to
that regime.
(it requires
extrapolation
because no
data exists in
this
unimaginable
region.
Listen to Pod-Cast;
Watch Zoom-Cast
Alain
Friday, April 17, 2020
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="78"
height="23">
Can
Robotaxis
Survive A
Pandemic?
Questions arise about what happens in the robocar world if we need to suffer another pandemic in the future. The Covid-19 crisis took place before the commercial deployment of robocars, but that won’t be true later. I covered some issues in my article on delivery robots, but let’s consider what we’ve learned this year:
- Transit ridership has cratered, and service has been cut
- Delivery demand has vastly increased
- People worry if drivers might be infectious
- People don’t want to touch things, from seats to scooter handlebars, that others are touching
As noted in the delivery article, while delivery robots are always good in a time when there is a massive surge in demand for delivery, it’s pretty easy for a driver in a van with an automatic door to never have to touch the packages, just like a delivery robot. With massive unemployment, human driven vans are probably the best answer to the delivery demand surge...." Read more Hmmmm... Not a pretty picture, but with every challenge, comes opportunities... Listen watch more on Pod-Cast_152/Zoom-Cast_152. Alain
Friday, April 10, 2020
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""
width="33"
height="38"> Autonomous
shuttles help
transport
COVID-19 tests
at Mayo Clinic
in Florida
At a time when health care resources and staff are stretched thin, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) has partnered with Beep and NAVYA to use autonomous vehicles to safely transport COVID-19 tests collected at a drive-thru testing location at Mayo Clinic in Florida.
"This development is a historic moment for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority," says Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr., CEO of Jacksonville Transportation Authority. "Along with our partners, Beep, NAVYA and Mayo Clinic, we are leveraging our learnings from three years of testing autonomous vehicles through our Ultimate Urban Circulator program. Our innovative team saw this as an opportunity to use technology to respond to this crisis in Northeast Florida and increase the safety of COVID-19 testing."..." Read more Hmmmm... While not mentioned in the article, they are operating Driverlessly... without attendant or safety driver. Yea!!! (People aren't being moved, just goods and the Operational Design Domain is constrained, but it it is driverless none the less!) Listen watch more on Pod-Cast_151/Zoom-Cast_151. Alain
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
[log in to unmask]" alt="" class=""> Society
of Actuaries
Research Brief
Impact of
COVID-19
https://www.soa.org/resources/research-reports/2020/impact-coronavirus/
Friday, March 27, 2020
[log in to unmask]"
class=""
width="78"
height="23">
Starsky
Robotics
Failed. Does
That Mean
Automated
Trucking Is
Dead?
R. Bishop,
Mar 24, "I met
Stefan
Seltz-Axmacher
for the first
time in
November 2015
at the Florida
Automated
Vehicles
Summit. Not
long after, we
met at the
Blue Danube
coffee shop in
Alameda, CA so
he could tell
me about his
vision for
Starsky
Robotics. When
he
energetically
described his
remote-driving-for-trucks approach, I was skeptical. “Remote driving is
hard,” I said.
“The military
has struggled
with this for
years. Its
harder than it
looks.” On the
technical
side, latency
for secure
communications
is
challenging.
On the
operational
side,
re-creating
enough on-road
reality
(situational
awareness) for
a remote
driver is
difficult when
going for the
high levels of
safety needed.
Seltz-Axmacher
remained
bullish on the
approach and
at that time
went on to
found Starsky
Robotics as
one of the
earliest truck
AV startups,
later closing
a $16.5M
Series A
funding round
in March 2018,
and then
hauling
freight while
developing
both remote
and automated
driving
ability.
Initially,
Starsky’s
concept was
all about
remote driving
for first/last
mile. They
later expanded
their offering
to include
fully
automated
highway
driving on
limited
freight
corridors.
Now, Starsky
has become the
first casualty
within a
crowded truck
automation
space, and
Seltz-Axmacher
has provided
us with an
intriguing
post-mortem in
a recent
Medium post.
Most of the
media coverage
I’ve seen has
acted as echo
chambers for
Seltz-Axmacher’s
perspective.
Here I offer a
counterpoint
based on my
longtime
involvement in
truck
automation
plus
discussions
with many
others in the
truck
Automated
Driving
Systems (ADS)
startup space,
many of them
irate at what
they see as
unfounded
assertions
made in the
original post.
My sources
tell me that
because
Seltz-Axmacher
hasn't
experienced
their
technology nor
been briefed
on their
technical/safety
approach, he
has no basis
to make
sweeping
claims about
the entire
industry...."
Read
more Hmmmm... Listen
to PodCast 148.
or/and Watch
us on YouTube.
Alain
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Waymo suspends robotaxi service except for its truly driverless vehicles
K. Korosec,
Mar. 17,
"Waymo said
Tuesday it is
pausing
operations of
Waymo One, a
service in the
Phoenix area
that allows
the public to
hail rides in
self-driving
vehicles with
trained human
safety
operators
behind the
wheel, in
response to
the COVID-19
pandemic.
Waymo is also
halting
testing on
public roads
in California.
However, Waymo
will keep some
operations up
and running,
notably its
truly
driverless
vehicles,
which don’t
require a
human safety
driver,
according to
an
announcement
on its website
Tuesday. These
driverless
vehicles are
used in the
Phoenix area
as part of
Waymo’s early
rider program
that lets
vetted members
of the public
hail a
ride..." Read
more Yippie!!! Unfortunately, the
latest is not
so good... Waymo has suspended all services, including
the
driverless.
Poopie!!!
Alain
Friday, February 28, 2020
NTSB
slams Tesla,
Apple and
regulators
over a fatal
Autopilot
crash
The National Transportation Safety Board said 38-year-old Walter Huang, an Apple software engineer, had Autopilot engaged in his 2018 Tesla Model X and was playing a video game on his iPhone when the car crashed into a defective safety barrier on U.S. Highway 101.The board also blamed the highway safety arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation for failing to properly regulate rapidly evolving robot-car technology.... The board adopted a long list of measures meant to reduce such accidents as “partially automated driving” technologies become more popular in new vehicles....
Friday, February 7, 2020
Friday, January 31, 2020
2020 Hyundai Sonata stars in Super Bowl ad all about 'Smaht Pahk'
Friday, January 24, 2020
The Disengagement Myth
Kyle
Vogt, Jan 17,
"In a few
weeks the
California DMV
will release
disengagements
data from
Cruise and
other
companies who
test AVs on
public roads.
This data is
really great
for giving the
public a sense
of what’s
happening on
the roads.
Unfortunately,
it has also
been used by
the media and
others to
compare
technology
from different
AV companies
or as a proxy
for commercial
readiness.
Since it’s the
only publicly
available
metric, I
don’t really
blame them for
using it. But
it’s woefully
inadequate for
most uses
beyond those
of the DMV.
The idea that
disengagements
give a
meaningful
signal about
whether an AV
is ready for
commercial
deployment is
a myth. ..."
Read
more Hmmmm... Amen! This is a MUST
read. As with
everything, details
matter. It is
true that
figures don't
lie, but but
it is easy to
game systems
such that
figures,
without the
underlying
details, do
lie. As Kyle
points out,
there are
important
details
associated
with
disengagements.
These need to
be well
understood for
disengagements
to be a proxy
for safety and
market
readiness. The
when, where
and associated
details of
each
disengagement
is critically
important if
the objective
is safety and
market
readiness.
What is also most important here
is the
underlying
objective of
the companies
doing the
tests and
reporting the
data. As has
happened in
our secondary
education
where students
are taught
what is in and
how to take
the SATs
rather than
just learn.
The objective
is not
learning , but
getting 800s
on the SATs so
that they can
get into
'Princeton'.
This is
perpetuated by
the
'Princetons'
of this world
that don't
look into the
details of the
student's
academic
qualities and
capabilities.
In the
academic
world, we know
these students
as 'box
checkers',
gamers of the
college
admission
process. The
gaming is
continued by
the 'banks and
med schools'
that use
simplistic GPA
(Grade Point
Average, aka
'disengagements')
cutoffs. The
'box checkers'
then take
'underwater
basket
weaving'
courses and
become grade
grubbers. It
is lazy and
irresponsible
to use
simplistic
measures as
proxies to
very complex
concepts such
as
intelligence,
creativity,
compatibility,
and all the
other details
that make a
good student,
a good
employee, a
good citizen,
a good
mobility
system.
In our case, testing is assumed to be about safety and market readiness; however, for some, it may be about trying to "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" or "putting lipstick on the pig". It is easy to game the metric 'Disengagements' by simply testing in easy places, under easy conditions, instead of really trying to find the corner/edge cases that you don't know in places and conditions of the Operational Design Domain that you are actually going to serve and make a business out of all of this technology; rather than just trying to get good press, or flipping it to someone else or putting it on an academic self. The details would readily divulge the real objective of the company doing the testing.
I hope that Kyle, in his next post, will divulge what he, GM's lawyers and GM's board are requiring of his system for each of them to sign off and begin to operate an economically viable mobility service to the general public in some ODD. Each will demand that it be safe. The board will also demand that it be profitable. What details are they requesting that will make each comfortable signing on the bottom line? AlainSunday, January 12, 2020
[log in to unmask]"
class=""
width="30"
height="33">
Hmmmm... Reflections
A. Kornhauser, Jan 12, Hmmmm... Self-driving cars are hot and the OEMs are responding. I'm about to buy a new Subaru Outback and EyeSight is standard. It is no longer just AutoPilot or expensive options that car salesmen don't sell. Car companies, as reflected in what is in showrooms and what was promoted at CES, have realized the comfort and convenience of Self-driving technology (cars that have a lot of the Safe-driving car features but also enable you to take your feet off the pedals and hands off the wheel at least for short periods of time. These technologies are really becoming the 'chrome and fins' that sell cars to individuals in the 2020s. The momentum is all behind that happening and there is little Washington or Trenton or Princeton Council can do about it. Hopefully part of that momentum will be to make these systems actually work well, especially the Automated Emergency Braking Systems (MUST quit assuming that all stationary objects in the lane ahead can be passed under and consequently each is disregarded. As Tesla is finding out, sometimes those objects are parked firetrucks.) and begin to put hard limits on over-speeding, tailgating and use while driver is impaired. Self-driving cars are unfortunately going to lead to substantial urban sprawl, increased VMT, increased congestion and do nothing to help the energy and pollution challenges of our addiction to the personal automobile. Only 'Waymo-style Driverless' (autonomousTaxis, (aTaxis)) tuned to entice ride-sharing can potentially stem the tide of ever more personal car ownership and ever expanding urban sprawl. Alain
Monday, January 6, 2020
Hmmmm...I'm Back
A. Kornhauser, Jan. 6, Hmmmm... I'm in rehab and hope to go home on Wednesday morning. Thank you to so many of you for all the good wishes and prayers. They each helped. I'm looking to making a full recovery. Remember, if you don't feel well, get evaluated by a doctor. I was totally clueless about what hit me from out of nowhere. Alain
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Chandler unveils drop-off, pick-up zone for self-driving cars
Read more Hmmmm... The iconic image:
[log in to unmask]"
class=""
width="79"
height="131">
autonomousTaxi (aTaxi) stop facilitating true ride-sharing to any destination within the autonomous transit system's Operational Design Domain. The first of what may well become a half million or so others. Each strategically located to be less that a 5 minute walk from essentially any of the billion or so person trip ends that are made on any typical day in the USA (outside of Manhattan (whose subway stations provide the comparable accessibility). Twenty million or so aTaxi vehicles could readily provide on-demand, share-ride mobility from these ~0.5M aTaxi stops. Provided would be essentially the same 24/7 on-demand level-of-service as we do for ourselves with our own conventional automobiles; however, this mobility would be affordably achieved using half the energy, creating half the pollution, eliminating essentially all the congestion, doubling conventional transit ridership and making such improved mobility available to those who today can't or wish not to drive a conventional automobile. This is a MAJOR 1st. Alain
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Self-driving car capital? One senator thinks it can be Florida
R.
Wile, Nov 22,
"Sen. Jeff
Brandes (R-St.
Petersburg)
had just
finished
serving in the
Army, and was
looking to
make a name
for himself in
Tallahassee as
a junior
representative.
He came across
a talk given
by the founder
of Google’s
driverless car
project.
He quickly
realized the
potential of
self-driving
cars to
transform many
aspects of
daily life.
Ever since, he
has made it
his mission to
turn Florida
into what he
calls “an
angel
investor” in
automation
policy. “We
want to have
policies in
place for this
technology to
flourish,”
Brandes said
in an
interview at
the 7th Annual
Florida
Automated
Vehicles
conference in
Miami, which
concluded
Friday.
Among the state’s advantages Brandes points to that he believes makes it ideal for AV companies: no snow, which makes lane markings more visible. That also means less road construction in general...." Read more Hmmmm... Congratulations Jeff!!! It was a great AV Summit and congratulations on creating such a Welcoming environment and intelligently shaping the birth of this technology. What you've done is enable Florida to begin to enhance mobility and the quality of life for all in Florida and especially those who can most benefit from these mobility machines. It was most impressive to witness the enthusiasm for nurturing the many aspects of this technology from Florida's Governor, Miami's Mayor, Fl DoT's Commissioner, the heads of the toll road authorities, planning agencies and educational institutions. Most impressive was Ford's comment that their autonomousTaxi efforts are focused on developing driverless technology and intend to operate it to deliver Mobility-as-a-Service in Florida, rather than sell the technology to individual consumers. I applaud that approach and hope that Ford will look to also bringing some of those vehicles to New Jersey so that we can begin to reap the benefits of this technology. What you've accomplished in Florida is THE "best practice" for us to emulate in New Jersey. Congratulations. Alain
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Friday, October 18, 2019
Your Tesla Can Now Pick You Up
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.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
[log in to unmask]"
class=""
width="116"
height="32">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
Friday, September 20, 2019
Waymo’s robotaxi pilot surpassed 6,200 riders in its first month in California
[log in to unmask]"
class="" width="107"
height="19">Autonomous
Vehicles: A View
from Seniors
Friday, March 29, 2019
[log in to unmask]"
class="" width="116"
height="32">Automated
vehicles could provide
mobility to the
‘mobility
disadvantaged’
Friday,
March 1, 2019
[log in to unmask]"
class="" width="35"
height="38"> FORM
S-1 REGISTRATION
STATEMENT Lyft, Inc.
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..:- Andrea Censi: "Liability, Ethics, and Culture-Aware Behavior Specification using Rulebooks" Abstract, Slides, video (via click on Schedule 11:30 Monday;
- Adam Oberman:"Generalization and adversarial robustness of Regularized Deep Neural Networks " Abstract, Slides, video (via click on Schedule 11:30 Tuesday);
- Alain Kornhauser: "Market Forces and Market Potential for SmartDrivingCars (aka Autonomous Vehicles) " Slides, video, (via click on Schedule 11:15 Tuesday);
- Hani Mahmassani: "Shared Autonomous Fleet Services and Multimodal Urban Mobility: Optimization, Prediction and Dynamic Network Modeling " Abstract, video, (via click on Schedule 4:00 Thursday);
Thursday,
November 22, 2018
[log in to unmask]"
class="" width="94"
height="29"> Market
Framework and Outlook
for Automated Vehicle
Systems
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)
[log in to unmask]"
class="" width="39"
height="43"> Testimony
of Alain Kornhauser,
Assembly Science,
Innovation and
Technology - Monday,
October 22, 2018 -
10:00:00 AM
Audio Recording of Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology - Monday, October 22, 2018 - 10:00:00 AM
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".
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
![imap:<a href=]()
[log in to unmask]:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E3022058?part=1.36&filename=ajafjpkfaclhelpc.png"
src="cid:[log in to unmask]" class="" width="44"
height="50"
border="0">Extracting
Cognition out of
Images for the
Purpose of
Autonomous Driving
Sunday, December 19, 2015
![imap:<a href=]()
[log in to unmask]:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E3022058?part=1.38&filename=ccalfjfhllohpdpa.png"
src="cid:[log in to unmask]" class="" width="68"
height="44" 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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