[log in to unmask]" _mf_state="1" title="null" src="cid:[log in to unmask]" width="44" 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.
D. Shapiro,
Dec. 17, "When
it comes to
future
mobility, you
may not have
to pave as
many paradises
for personal
car parking
lots.
This week,
autonomous
mobility
company Zoox
unveiled its
much-anticipated
purpose-built
robotaxi.
Designed for
everyday urban
mobility, the
vehicle is
powered by
NVIDIA and is
one of the
first level 5
robotaxis
featuring
bi-directional
capabilities,
providing a
concrete view
into the next
generation of
intelligent
transportation...."
Read
more Hmmmm... Watch Zoom-Cast 192.
Alain
K. Pyle,
Dec. 21, "It
could be said
that one of
the godfathers
of the
automated
mobility
revolution is
a professor
from Princeton
who many know
from his
podcast, the
SmartDrivingCar.
Each week, Dr.
Alain
Kornhauser
provides his
wisdom and wit
to make a
serious topic
engaging and
fun. It is his
decades of
experience
that
differentiates
Alain from the
crowd.
With a
transportation
background
dating back to
the Apollo
Space program,
Kornhauser
brings more
than a
rigorous
academic
approach to
advancing
autonomous
mobility...."
Read more Hmmmm... We had a nice
conversation.
Thank you
Ken. Alain
Staff, Dec.
23, "Robotics
company Nuro
on Wednesday
received the
first-ever
permit to
commercially
deploy its
self-driving
vehicles in
California,
allowing the
Silicon Valley
firm to charge
clients for
its driverless
delivery
service.
Relying on a
remote human
operator - who
could control
multiple
autonomous
vehicles from
miles away -
is a step that
allows a path
to
profitability
in the
emerging field
of
self-driving
technology.
Nuro has been
testing
autonomous
vehicles on
California’s
roads with
safety drivers
since 2017,
and it was
authorized by
the state
regulators to
test two
driverless
delivery
vehicles in
nine cities
earlier this
year. .The
company said
it would
launch a
delivery
service with a
fleet of
autonomous
Toyota
Priuses, and
later add its
own low-speed
R2 vehicle,
which has no
pedals or
steering wheel
and only room
for
packages...."
Read more Hmmmm... All good news; however,
it is still
about gonna
and not
didda. So,
still a pipe
dream. Alain
D. Etherington, Dec 30, "SpaceX will try a significantly different approach to landing its future reusable rocket boosters, according to CEO and founder Elon Musk. It will attempt to ‘catch’ the heavy booster, which is currently in development, using the launch tower arm used to stabilize the vehicle during its pre-takeoff preparations. Current Falcon 9 boosters return to Earth and land propulsively on their own built-in legs – but the goal with Super Heavy is for the larger rocket not to have legs at all, says Musk...." Read more Hmmmm... There seems to be no end to the out-of-the-box thinking and innovations with Elon's companies. The bigger the booster, the bigger the legs, the bigger the drone ship. Only downside may be fuel needs for a return to Cape rather than down range to the drone ship. They've, of course, run the numbers and must feel great about controllability and precision. The landing of the last Falcon 9 seemed to have really nailed it.. Alain
J.
Franklin, Dec.
22, "Ouster,
maker of
self-driving
tech, agrees
$1.9 billion
deal to go
public
The deal
values San
Francisco-based
Ouster at
around $1.9
billion and
makes it the
fifth lidar
manufacturer
this year to
agree a SPAC
merger to go
public,
following on
from Velodyne
Lidar Inc,
Luminar,
Innoviz and
Aeva.
Ouster sees
its digital
lidar
technology as
having
practical
applications
beyond
autonomous
vehicles and
extending to
areas such as
drones, smart
cities and
robotics,
according to
company
co-founder and
Chief
Executive
Angus
Pacala....."
Read more Hmmmm... Congratulations. Alain
Bern Grush,
Dec 24, "A
sidewalk
delivery robot
is formally
known as a
Personal
Delivery
Device (PDD)
to a U.S.
state
legislator.
Currently, I
am aware of 19
states that
have prepared
statutes for
this
technology (11
passed, five
pending, and
three failed).
While these
numbers will
soon be out of
date, there
are certainly
going to be 50
of these
passed before
the last of us
gets a meal
delivered this
way.
As the project
leader of an
international
standardization project (ISO/4448) that includes describing data and
procedures for
operating
these and
other
automated
machines at
our curbside
and on our
sidewalks and
crosswalks, I
have read
through these
legislative
examples in
search of
insight.
I have several
concerns
around weight,
speed,
momentum,
registration,
device IDs,
insurance,
enforcement,
monetization,
and the
definition of
pedestrian and
vehicle...."
Read more Hmmmm... Interesting and not
simple.
Sidewalk use
is largely a
"live and let
live"
competitive/cooperative
undertaking
among the
users of that
space. While
the walk mode
operates at
substantially
lower speeds
than roadways
it may involve
much more
subtle
communications
and is subject
to
localizations
in the form of
customs,
behaviors and
tacit
acceptance by
current
users. While
all of us
might
accommodate a
child
erratically
riding a bike
on a sidewalk
it may be a
different
story when
encountering
even a
well-behaved
sidewalk
robot. As
with
autonomousTaxis,
the biggest
challenge is
sociological
between humans
really
clumbsy, at
best,
technologies.
Alain
S. Nellis, "Apple Inc is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters...." Read more Hmmmm... Very interesting. As with Amazon, at this point, they have no reason to share what they are doing with anyone since they don't need anyone else's help or permission. Plus their stock holders are doing just fine, than you. Alain
R.
Mitchell, Dec.
22, "Apple and
Tesla could
soon be
competitors in
the driverless
car business,
but they could
have ended up
on the same
team.
Responding to
a Reuters
report that
Apple is
developing an
autonomous
passenger
vehicle for
sale as soon
as 2024, Tesla
Chief
Executive Elon
Musk tweeted
Tuesday that
he “reached
out” to Apple
Chief
Executive Tim
Cook during
Tesla’s
“darkest days”
in 2017 to
propose that
Apple buy the
electric
carmaker.
“He refused to
take the
meeting,” Musk
wrote, before
twisting the
knife. The
price would
have been
“1/10 our
current
value.”..." Read
more Hmmmm... I guess that I'm not
the only one
that missed
out, big time,
on Tesla.
Alain
F. Lambert,
Dec 31, "...S3
Partners, who
track short
selling
interest, told
Bloomberg that
Tesla short
sellers lost
$38 billion
betting
against Tesla
in 2020.
That’s $31
billion more
than the
second biggest
short selling
loss of the
year:..." Read
more Hmmmm... Ouch!! Alain
F. Lambert,
Dec. 29, "A
new survey
shows that
once you go
electric, you
don’t go back
as less than
1% of EV
owners want to
go back to
gasoline-powered
vehicles.
The poll was
conducted
amongst UK
electric
vehicle (EV)
drivers using
Zap-Map.
2,000 electric
car drivers
responded to
the survey,
which showed
that the vast
majority won’t
be going back
to gasoline or
diesel-powered
vehicles::..." Read
more Hmmmm... Even though this is a
UK finding it
is profound.
Alain
F. Lambert,
Dec. 28, "A
Tesla driver’s
case over
sleeping while
using
Autopilot on
the highway is
going to trial
for dangerous
driving in
what legal
experts are
calling a
legal first.
Earlier this
year, we
reported on
the Alberta
RCMP (Canada
federal
police)
issuing a
report on a
strange
incident
involving a
Tesla vehicle
on
Autopilot:..."
Read
more Hmmmm... Luckily he is going to
trial and not
dead. Also
means that
AutoPilot/FullSelfDriving
is NOT
FullSelfDriving,
else it would
not be
dangerous
driving! Plus
Elon is
nowhere around
claiming that
it was not
dangerously
driven;
backing that
claim with
Tesla money to
defend Cai.
Alain
K. Korosec,
Dec. 21, "he
COVID-19
pandemic might
have upended
the global
economy, but
according to
Meagan
Crawford at
Spacefund and
Chris Moran
with Lockheed
Martin
Ventures, it
didn’t dampen
investment in
space
startups.
The space
industry has
enjoyed a
honeymoon
period with
hundreds of
startups
popping up in
the past five
to seven years
following
SpaceX’s
success.
Spacefund
research
conducted
earlier this
year found
that there is
almost no
correlation
between the
global economy
and the space
industry, said
Crawford, a
managing
partner at the
VC firm, last
Thursday at TC
Sessions:
Space 2020.
Crawford and
Moran both
agreed that
interest and
investment in
space will
increase as
more startups
have
successful
exits. ..." Read
more Hmmmm... After "70" years, viable business
propositions
are beginning
to emerg.
Alain
Dec. 28,
"As the
founder of
AutonomouStuff
and the Chief
Autonomous
Officer of
Hexagon's
Autonomy and
Positioning
division, I am
honored to
take part in
one of the
most
invigorating
challenges
undertaken by
mankind. It's
also
incredibly
humbling to
witness
firsthand the
scale of the
task and the
ingenuity
unleashed to
solve it.
..." Read
more Hmmmm... Bobby, congratulations
on faring well
in 2020. All
the best for
2021! Alain
N. Chokshi,
Dec. 29,
"Boeing’s
troubled 737
Max plane
returned to
American skies
on Tuesday,
carrying
paying
passengers in
the United
States for the
first time in
almost two
years.
Those
passengers
were aboard
American
Airlines
Flight 718,
which left
Miami around
10:30 a.m. and
landed after 1
p.m. in New
York, well
ahead of
schedule. The
plane made the
return trip on
Tuesday
afternoon,
ending a long
and difficult
chapter for
Boeing...."
Read
more Hmmmm... That's surviving one
nightmare.
Will air
passengers
return (Still
down +60% from
2019)?? September
2020 U.S.
Airline
Traffic Data
Cargo is
doing great!!
U.S.
Airlines
Carried 13%
More Cargo in
October 2020
than in
October 2019 Alain
N. Kulish, Dec. 20. "Through a streamlined operation, Ms. Scott has given away $6 billion this year, much of it to small charities and nonprofits...." Read more Hmmmm.... What a wonderful way to do so many wonderful things for so many good causes by someone with the wherewithal to do it. This post is most inspiring worth savoring. Congratulations and thank you MacKensie. Happy New Year, and all the Best for 2021!! Alain
These
editions are
sponsored by
the SmartETFs
Smart
Transportation
and Technology
ETF, symbol
MOTO. For more
information
head to www.motoetf.com
F. Fishkin,
Nov 25, "What
you should
know about
electric cars,
climate change
and more. The
Dispatcher
publisher
Michael Sena
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin in an
eye opening
edition of
Smart Driving
Cars.."
F. Fishkin, Nov 24, "When it comes to active driver assistance systems, what works and what needs improvement? Some answers from Kelly Funkhouser… program manager for vehicle interface, head of connected and automated vehicles at Consumer Reports. She joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for episode 186 of Smart Driving Cars."
F. Fishkin,
Aug 20, "Tesla
grows while
other
automakers
flounder. And
creating
standards in
an era of
mistrust. The
Dispatcher
publisher
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin in a
thought
provoking
episode.
Plus...transportation
planning
during and
after the
pandemic...NVIDIA...and
more."
F. Fishkin Aug 13, "Ghost Road.. Beyond the Driverless Car author Anthony Townsend brings a unique viewpoint to the debate on the future of mobility...and the impact of the pandemic on ride sharing. Townsend joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that and the latest developments from Uber, Lyft, Tesla and more."
F. Fishkin
Aug 8, "Is
Tesla a tech
stock? Or a
fashion
product? Maniv
Mobility's
Olaf Sakkers
authored a
piece on
Medium with
that title and
he joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser
& co-host
Fred Fishkin
for that
plus... GM's
would be Tesla
challenger
Cadillac
Lyriq,
TuSimple,
Uber, Ford and
more."
F. Fishkin
July 29, "In
the midst of a
pandemic, what
is the future
of ride
sharing and
mobility?
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin are
joined by
Robin Chase
and Carlos
Pardo of the
New Urban
Mobility
Alliance and
the director
of the
Institute for
Transportation
Studies at U C
Davis, Daniel
Sperling to
dig into the
challenges
ahead."
F. Fishkin, July 20, "Is Driverless home delivery the fastest route to Affordable Mobility for the Mobility Disadvantaged? ... "
F. Fishkin, July 2, "Transportation, racial injustices and changing the thinking around the future of mobility. NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy & Research fellow Henry Greenidge joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin in an eye and mind opening episode of Smart Driving Cars. Plus Amazon, Zoox, Waymo, Tesla & more. ." ... Alain
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 ..."
C. Metz
& K.
Conger, Dec 7,
"Uber, which
spent hundreds
of millions of
dollars on a
self-driving
car project
that
executives
once believed
was a key to
becoming
profitable, is
handing the
autonomous
vehicle effort
over to a
Silicon Valley
start-up, the
companies said
on Monday.
Uber will also
invest $400
million in the
start-up,
called Aurora,
so it is
essentially
paying the
company to
take over the
autonomous car
operation,
which had
become a
financial and
legal
headache. Uber
is likely to
license
whatever
technology
Aurora manages
to create.
The deal
amounts to a
fire-sale end
to a
high-profile
but
star-crossed
effort to
replace Uber’s
human drivers
with machines
that could
drive on their
own. It is
also
indicative of
the challenges
facing other
autonomous
vehicle
projects,
which have
received
billions in
investments
from Silicon
Valley and
automakers but
have not
produced the
fleets of
robotic
vehicles some
thought would
be on the
streets by
now...." Read
more Hmmmm... Actually a good
article.
Alain
S. Wilmot,
Nov 30,
"Nikola Corp.
NKLA 0.76%
isn't turning
out to be the
next Tesla
that investors
and were
hoping for.
The
electric-vehicle
startup put
its
eye-catching
“Badgerâ€
pickup-truck
project on ice
Monday as part
of a radically
shrunken
version of its
deal with GM.
All that is
left of the
original
agreement
signed in
September is a
plan for GM to
supply Nikola
with fuel-cell
technology for
U.S. big rigs.
Detroit's
biggest auto
maker had
planned to
take an equity
stake in
Nikola in
exchange for
building the
Badger under
contract. But
the deal has
been in doubt
almost from
the start
after a
hedge-fund
report
detailed the
limitations of
Nikola's
technology,
leading to the
resignation of
founder Trevor
Milton.
GM won't sell
Nikola fuel
cells soon.
For all its
fanfare about
hydrogen, the
startup is
currently
focused on
battery-powered
versions of
its first
electric
truck, theTre,
It hopes to
start
full-scale
production in
the fourth
quarter of
next year in
Germany and in
early 2022 in
Coolidge,
Ariz. Hydrogen
trucks won't
come before
2023, and in
Europe Nikola
is using Bosch
as its
fuel-cell
supplier.
..." Read
more Hmmmm... Lessons for many in this
endeavor. See
also Andrew
Hawkin's take
as well as David
Morris'.
Alain
Support the creation of government policies and company practices to ensure that innovation and safety go hand-in-handIn October 2020, Consumer Reports published ratings of Active Driving Assistance Systems, defined as systems that allow the driver to use Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keeping Assistance (LKA) to simultaneously control both the speed and steering of the vehicle. An industry webinar was also held...." Read more Hmmmm.... A MUST read along with "Cadillac's Super Cruise Outperforms Other Driving Assistance Systems". Most unfortunately, CR has not picked up on my main complaint about ACC: Tapping of the brakes by the driver turns off the ACC! This is BAD!!! Even the hardest, let alone the slightest, engagement of the brakes should NOTturn off the ACC. It should ONLYdisengage the acceleration/throttle function of the ACC!
Use consumer data to inform the industry of best-practices to aid in development
Advocate for transparency and clarity in marketing and consumer education of systems
K. Pyle,
Nov 12, "A key
recommendation
from the 2017
pilot was to
explore
whether paying
at the pump
could work for
a road charge
just like it
does for the
gas tax. How
could the user
experience be
as easy as
possible? With
support from a
federal
Surface
Transportation
Funding
Alternative
grant,
California
will test how
road charge
can work with
four
technologies:
usage-based
insurance,
ridesharing,
electric
vehicle
charging
stations/pay-at-the-pump
systems, and
autonomous
vehicles.
Interested in
participating?
The
demonstration
will begin in
January 2021
and run for
six months.
Complete the Contact Us data
form to
express your
interest in
volunteering
for one or
more
demonstration
phases.... " Read
moreHmmmm... New Jersey is seeking
volunteers for
its version of
this. Participation is easy. You will
enroll via a
quick, online
enrollment
process, plug
a mileage
reporting
device into
your vehicle
and drive.
During the
pilot, you
will receive
monthly
simulated
statements
that compare
what you pay
in current
state fuel
taxes to what
you could pay
in an MBUF
system. It is
okay if you
are not
driving as
much as you
typically
would because
of the
COVID-19
Pandemic.
Your driving
data and
feedback
provided
through
anonymous
online surveys
will help us
understand key
issues such as
privacy,
equity and
administrative
costs with an
MBUF
system.
Please contact [log in to unmask] to participate and help n the New Jersey version. Use Subject: Please send, Body:Mileage-Base User Fee (MBUF) Demonstration registration information . We need volunteers. Thank you for helping. Alain
W.
Kaufman, Nov.
4, "Tesla
recently made
headlines with
the beta
launch of its
Full
Self-Driving
system. That
system comes
with a
disclaimer
saying,
“It
may do the
wrong thing at
the worst
time, so you
must always
keep your
hands on the
wheel and pay
extra
attention to
the
road.â€ÂÂ
Tesla's system
has impressive
capabilities,
but it's
definitely not
hands-free
driving. A few
years ago,
news stories
seemed to say
that
autonomous
vehicles were
just a few
years away.
Well, it's
been a few
years and
autonomous
vehicles are,
alas, still in
the future.
Right now,
there is no
car on sale
that can drive
itself without
requiring the
driver to pay
attention to
the road and
be prepared to
take control
of the
vehicle. In
fact, some
automakers
have slowed
down their
timelines.
Here are three
reasons why
you can't buy
a self-driving
car today and
one place
you're likely
to find them
first....
Waymo Team, Oct. 30, "On October 8th, Waymo opened its fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the general public in Phoenix. Right now members of the public are hailing vehicles with no human driver controlling the car – either in the vehicle or remotely – to help them get to where they're going as part of their everyday lives...." Read more Hmmmm...
N, Webb,
Oct. 30, "As
the world's
most
experienced
developer of
automated
driving
systems, Waymo
has extensive
experience in
developing and
applying
state-of-the-art
safety
methodologies.
Waymo's
methodologies
help implement
Waymo's
forward-looking safety philosophy: Waymo will reduce traffic injuries
and fatalities
by driving
safely and
responsibly,
and will
carefully
manage risk as
we scale our
operations.
Waymo's safety
methodologies,
which draw on
well
established
engineering
processes and
address new
safety
challenges
specific to
Automated
Vehicle
technology,
provide a firm
foundation for
safe
deployment of
our Level 4
ADS, which we
also refer to
as the Waymo
Driver.
Waymo's
determination
of its
readiness to
deploy its AVs
safely in
different
settings rests
on that firm
foundation and
on a thorough
analysis of
risks specific
to a
particular
Operational
Design Domain
)...." Read
more Hmmmm... The process. Must
read! Alain
M. Schwall, Oct. 30, "Waymo's mission to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities and improve mobility for all has led us to expand deployment of automated vehicles (AVs) on public roads without a human driver behind the wheel. As part of this process, Waymo is committed to providing the public with informative and relevant data regarding the demonstrated safety of Waymo's automated driving system (ADS), which we call the Waymo Driver...." Read more Hmmmm... The substance. Must read! ...
I had the priveledge of reviewing Waymo's most recent
Safety
Reports 1 , 2 (above)
In the past, safety reports by the AV community have
largely been a
response to
NHTSA'¢s Voluntary
Safety
Self-Assessments and
have, in my
opinion, been
largely public
relations
documents.
While
generally
descriptive
about the
testing
processes they
contain very
little, if
any,
substantive
information
about their safety
related experience
to-date
focused
exclusively on
driverless
operation.
Safe driverless operation is absolutely necessary for
AVs to evolve
from extremely
expensive
chauffeured
rides to
affordable
mobility
available to
essentially
anyone
throughout an
Operational
Design Domain
(ODD).
Affordability
requires that
the mobility
be delivered
without a
driver or
attendant
on-board the
vehicle. Only
passengers.
The decision to remove the driver/attendant rests in
part on the
shoulders of
public safety
regulators who
need to allow
such
operation, but
more
importantly,
on the
shoulders of
the real
decision
makers at the
AV company.
In the end, it
is those AV
company
decision
makers who
will be held
fully
responsible
for any lapse
in the safety
of the
driverless
operation.
These decision
makers are
inside the AV
companies and
are, of
course, privy
to all the
details and
substance
about their
own safety
related
driverless
operation,
which, in the
past, has not
been shared in
their
Voluntary
Safety
Self-assessments.
My impression is that these just released Waymo Safety
Reports
contain the
substantive
information
that clearly
depicts
Waymo's
safety-related
driverless
operational
experience.
To me, they
read like
internal
documents
meant to guide
and inform
internal
decision
makers to
objectively
decide if a
sufficiently
safe
operational
experience has
been achieved
in order to
vote to fully
accept the
safety
responsibility
of driverless
operation in
their
Operational
Design
Domain.
Given the information that is contained in these
documents, it
does not
surprise me
that Waymo
decision
makers have
decided to
proceed with
driverless
operation in
the Phoenix
Operational
Design Domain.
Had I had the
responsibility
of being one
of the
decision
makers
reviewing
these
documents, I
would have
also voted
yes.
Alain
J. Davis,
Oct 20,
"Launching a
self-driving
service is
complex. Many
different
pieces need to
come together
to create a
trusted and
scalable
self-driving
service that
provides value
to customers
and the cities
they operate
in. At Ford,
we are taking
a thoughtful
approach to
how we bring
together all
these pieces
to help shape
the future of
self-driving
vehicles. One
important part
of this
service is the
vehicle, which
will allow us
to stand up
our
self-driving
business.
Meet the
Fourth
Generation
Self-Driving
Test Vehicle:
Beginning to
roll out this
month, Ford
and Argo's
fourth-generation self-driving test vehicles are built on the Escape
Hybrid
platform and
feature the
latest
advancements
in sensing and
computing
technology.
The Escape
Hybrid is also
the
architecture
and platform
we have chosen
to use to
bring our
autonomous
vehicle
service
online....." Read more Hmmmm.... See
video.
Imprssive.
Listen/watch
SmartDrivingCars PodCast / ZoomCast with John Rich. CNBC's
take as
well as THe
Detroit News.
Alain
J.
Szczesny, Oct
7, "Ford Motor
Co's push to
broaden its
self-driving
vehicle
technology
portfolio, led
to it taking a
stake in a
Silicon Valley
company
developing
lidar systems
needed to help
guide
autonomous
vehicles.
The automaker
revealed it
owns a 7.6%
stake, or
13.06 million
shares, in
Velodyne
Lidar,
according to a
report filed
with the
Securities
Exchange
Commission.
With the
shares trading
at $17.40 per
share, the
stake is worth
approximately
$227.2
million. Ford
filed the
report to
remain
compliant with
the SEC...." Read more Hmmmm.... Interesting, but even
more
interesting is
the
SmartDrivingCarsPodCast / ZoomCast with John Rich. Alain
Staff,
Oct. 2020 "On
this page you
will find the
gradings of
cars tested by
Euro NCAP on
automated
driving
technologies.
For its 2020
assessment of
Highway Assist
systems, Euro
NCAP has
developed
dedicated test
and assessment
protocols,
divided into
two main
areas:
Assistance
Competence,
based on the
balance
between Driver
Engagement and
Vehicle
Assistance,
and Safety
Backup...." Read
more Hmmmm....Look carefully at each
component of
the rating
system. NCAP
has chosen one
algorithmic
way of "adding
apples and
oranges" to
get their
rating.
Unfortunately
they don't
divulge the
secret
formula. To
me, it doesn't
seem to be
sufficiently
iweighted on
what I
consider to be
the most
important
element...
"Collision
Avoidance".
If the system
doesn't do
that well,
then why
bother being
good at
Consumer
Information
(unless that
information
says clearly
that the
system doesn't
work well".
If NCAP itself did a good job of
Consumer
Information
then it would
divulge its
algorithm and
allow the
consumer to
edit its
weights to
trade-off what
the consumer
believes is
more or less
important.
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
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
Oct 16, Establishes
fully
autonomous
vehicle pilot
program A4573 Sponsors:
Zwicker (D16);
Benson (D14)
Oct 16, Establishes New
Jersey
Advanced
Autonomous
Vehicle Task
Force AJR164Sponsors:
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
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