10.11 - No Apple

February 09, 2022Newsletter archive →

Friday, March 18, 2022

11th edition of the 10th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter

Apple Car Project Team Has Reportedly Been Dissolved For A While

T. Lee, March 15, "For a while now, we've been hearing rumors that Apple is apparently developing their own electric car tentatively known as the Apple Car. However, according to a tweet by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, he has heard that the team behind the Apple Car has actually been dissolved for some time now.

Kuo also writes that should Apple want to be able to start mass producing their cars by 2025, a reorganization needs to happen within the next 3-6 months. It's actually a little bit weird to hear that the team has been dissolved, especially since it was last year that there were rumors and reports of Apple seeking out manufacturing partners and were talking to companies like Kia. ..." Read more

Hmmmm...Not at all surprising. Apple's focus seemed entirely on making, what I call, a Self-driving car (~ Level 2) leveraging what Apple does best... Comfort & Convenience... rather than a Driverless (~Level 4) Equitable, Affordable, ..., Mobility Machine, which are not really Apple's strength. Apple must have realized that all OEMs and Elon are now well ahead of Apple and Apple can't leapfrog them. Alain

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 2 PodCast 2

F. Fishkin, March 21, "Apple reportedly has dissolved its car team and why is Alain now eating at McDonald's? Episode 260 of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin has that plus GM, Cruise, Tesla, Aurora, Polestar and more."

Technical support provided by: https://www.cartsmobility.com/

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 initiative

'We need them to catch their breath': Pittsburgh's RDC starts running a refugee train in Germany

A. Litvak, March 19, "On March 13, a woman stood on a train platform in Frankfurt and vomited while three members of the German Red Cross watched.

All around her, crowds of Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, waited for the three-hour train to Hanover, which serves as a central processing center for refugees. From there, they would fan out across the country or move on to other destinations.

Henry Posner III, a Pittsburgher whose railroad company, RDC Deutschland, was contracted by the German government a few days earlier to run the daily refugee train, imagined what the emergency medical officials must be thinking: Is the woman contagious? Should she be held back for evaluation? Are they overseeing the spread of some unknown pathogen among the already dire humanitarian disaster that has so far driven 3 million Ukrainians from the war zone?

No. It was motion sickness, the woman's mother told Mr. Posner in Russian. They had likely been traveling for days.

Mr. Posner has often been quoted saying that the foundation of his decadeslong railroad investment firm — based in Downtown but with seven rail businesses on three continents — is a functional passport and the command of four particularly useful languages: English, Spanish, French and Russian...." Read more

Hmmmm... Henry, what a fantastic thing for you to do. We are all so proud of you. Thank you!!! Alain

Over 400 Companies Have Withdrawn from Russia—But Some Remain

J. Sonnenfeld, March 17, ".Since the invasion of Ukraine began, over 400 companies have announced their withdrawal from Russia—but some companies have continued to operate in Russia undeterred.

Originally conceptualized as a simple "withdraw" vs. "remain" list, our new list of companies now consists of four categories:

1) WITHDRAWAL - Clean Break: companies completely halting Russian engagements;

2) SUSPENSION - Keeping Options Open for Return: companies temporarily curtailing operations while keeping return options open;

3) SCALING BACK - Reducing Activities: companies scaling back some but not all operations, or delaying investments;

4) DIGGING IN - Defying Demands for Exit: companies defying demands for exit/reduction of activities

Download the list by clicking here. (make sure to "download" the file from Box as an excel document rather than "previewing" for best file quality) ..." Read more

Hmmmm... Just in case you are looking at something you might do to help... boycott and sell if you own anything in this Hall of Shame (#4 Digging In). Alain

PAVE VIRTUAL PANEL "WHERE, NOT WHEN: WHY DOMAINS MATTER"

Staff, March 17, "One of the most common questions we hear about autonomous vehicles is "when will AVs be here?" … and the honest answer is: "well, it depends on where 'here' is!"

In this panel, we will discuss why a better question may be "Where will AVs be?"..." Read more

Hmmmm... Very interesting panel with Sven Beiker and Cater Stern scheduled for 2:00 pm EDT, March 23. Be sure to tune in. Alain

GM to buy SoftBank's stake in Cruise self-driving unit for $2.1 billion

M. Weyland, March 18, "General Motors is acquiring SoftBank's equity ownership stake in its majority-owned Cruise autonomous vehicle unit for $2.1 billion, the automaker announced Friday afternoon.

SoftBank Vision Fund 1 first acquired a minority ownership in Cruise through a $2.25 billion deal in 2018. Its exit comes as the prominent technology investment firm was set to have to invest a second tranche of $1.35 billion as part of the deal upon Cruise's commercial deployment of vehicles, which GM will now pay. " ... I guess this means that SoftBank is taking a $2.25B - $2.1B = $125M hit after tying up $2.25B for 4 years.

Hmmm... Sounds like the kind of investing I do. No wonder I'm not rich...

It also follows Cruise CEO Dan Ammann's abrupt departure from the company in December. Ammann was reportedly let go from Cruise by GM CEO and Chair Mary Barra, who also chairs Cruise's board, over disagreements in strategy, including when to take the company public." ...

Hmmm... This makes Mary look really good!!! She was able to borrow SoftBank's money for 4 years @ -5% interest rate; that is minus 5%... Not many startups are this fortunate. I must be missing some details....

GM has signaled it plans to keep the company public (... private??...) for the foreseeable future. Ammann's successor, Cruise founder Kyle Vogt, tweeted on Friday that an IPO would be a "major distraction, especially right now" as the company is scaling up its newly-launched driverless ride-hailing service in San Francisco.

The SoftBank announcement was made as GM and Cruise also announced the launch of a "Recurring Liquidity Opportunity Program", in which Cruise employees with vested stock options will be able to sell them to GM.

"Employees can sell as many vested shares as they like at a fair price determined by a third party," Vogt said on Twitter. "Or they can hold onto their shares and hope for appreciation over time."

The program is apparently intended to help retain Cruise employees, who may have been hoping for a windfall from an IPO of the company, something that Wall Street has been hoping for as well. " ...

Hmmm... What??? If you want to leave you can't sell, you must hold. If you want to stay, you can sell. There must be details that prevent: I want to stay, sell, then leave with the money. I must be missing a fundamental detail.

Oh, I get it.. I only had something that might be worth something in some future. I leave, that expectation disappears. Now I'm offered cash, but that cash doesn't become real until some future date, if I survive that long working here. I can take that bird-in-hand or hang on until an IPO, the two birds-in-bush.

Going back to the Mike Tomlin quote..."From a team perspective, it's better to have volunteers as opposed to hostages." Seems like this initiative is focused on retaining those that are in it for the money.. I'll let you decide if that's aimed at volunteers or a hostages" " A GM spokesman said SoftBank's exit was not related to the employee program. He referred questions about Softbank's decision to the company. A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment.

Since SoftBank's initial investment, much of the hype and investor optimism surrounding autonomous vehicles has crashed down to reality, including GM and Cruise missing an initial deployment of self-driving vehicles in San Francisco in 2019.

The dramatic downturn in tech stocks since late 2021 also is problematic for SoftBank, which has been among the biggest investors in pre-IPO companies across the globe in the past half-decade. The new deal with GM frees up capital that SoftBank could deploy elsewhere...." Read more

Hmmmm... Let's all assume that it's not in machines of war. Alain

Full Self Driving – Elon Musk Sheds Light On Tesla's 'Only Path' Forward

J. Crider, March 18, "... In response, Elon Musk said, "They have no idea how hard FSD is. Only path to success imo is hardcore real-world AI software with dedicated NN inference acceleration ASICs in car, multibillion dollar NN training supercluster and 10+ billion miles of vehicle data. Good luck."... "Read more

Hmmmm... I continue to side with Elon on this one. My only wish is that he tone down the name; however, we've all become numb to taking labels or slogans literally instead of figuratively or aspirationally. Alain

Greenville, Clemson among first in US to launch ride-sharing network

M. Hulsey, March 15, "Former County Councilman Fred Payne may have retired from Greenville County's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, but he hasn't put the brakes on his advocacy for affordable transit solutions.

Shared rides are on the rise. Upstate Forever installed rental bike stations across downtown Greenville in 2013. Bird e-scooters flock along sidewalk corners on Anderson's Main Street.

And now, as board chairman of nonprofit Carolinas Alliance 4 Innovation, Payne expects Greenville to be on the cusp of the Upstate's latest micro-mobility development: a low-speed electric vehicle fleet deployed for hourly rental this summer...." Read more

Hmmmm... Way to make a difference, Fred. Congratulations. Alain

The Transferable Hardware Behind Aurora Driver-Powered Cars and Trucks

Post, March 15, "Hardware design plays a critical role in our path to market. With our world-class product team and platform (OEM) partners, we've developed a hardware kit that's transferable between vehicles. Our hardware enables the Aurora Driver to power both trucks and cars, which we expect to unlock the successive launches of Aurora Horizon and Aurora Connect.

Here's a closer look at how we invested in common components, a modular design, and rigorous testing of real-world conditions to allow us to seamlessly integrate one hardware kit into an array of vehicles. ... " Read more

Hmmmm... A nice informative post. Alain

Polestar O2 Autonomous Drone Experience

YouTube, March 2022, "In a world increasingly driven by social media, the Polestar O2 features an autonomous cinematic drone integrated behind the rear seats. Developed in collaboration with Aerofugia's consumer electronics brand Hoco Flow, the concept drone can be deployed while the car is moving, to record the perfect driving sequence...." Read more

Hmmmm... See video. This is so enormously depressing to me. Sure, this can be done, but just because it can be done in one-off situations, doesn't mean that it is anything but click-bait. Can you see me driving down US 1 deploying my drone. It would wack the 1st traffic light I passed. Oh but it has Elon's FSD! C'mon Polestar! Alain

Our Future on the Go, with AI Behind the Wheel

A. Marshall, Jan 2021, "Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox, and Chris Urmson, CEO and cofounder of Aurora, discuss the expanding future of the self-driving car industry...."

Hmmmm... This is an excellent interview that I somehow just tripped on. It is especially relevant today, especially in the light of what we're trying to do here in New Jersey with Trenton MOVES, the Mobility Festival aspects of the 5th Summit and a realization of "equity". While I put a slightly different spin on a couple of issues (New Jersey weather is just fine for this technology during about 350 days of the year. Come here and deploy for 350 days a year and you can take 2 weeks plus 1.25 days vacation. That would make us very This is an excellent interview. Alain

Tesla still dominates US electric car market, and it's not even close

F. Lambert, March 17, "New registration data show that Tesla is still dominating the US electric car market, and it's not even close. Something is going to have to break for EV adoption to accelerate in the country.

For years now, Tesla has been dominating the electric auto market in its home country. It is expected that Tesla's hold on the market will erode as more EV options hit and help grow the US market, but for now, the US EV market is still extremely dependent on Tesla.

For the entire year of 2020, Tesla vehicles accounted for 79% of new electric vehicles registered in the US..." Read more

Hmmmm... That's impressive! Alain

Tesla named 'most-trusted' brand developing fully-autonomous vehicles

J. Klender, March 18, "Tesla was recently named the "most-trusted" brand in the pursuit of fully-autonomous vehicles, according to a new study. The study surveyed consumer perception regarding fully-autonomous vehicle technology.

Fifty-six total automotive brands were options for consumers to pick in the study, a release from AutoPacific, who performed the study, said. Tesla topped the list, earning 32 percent of the votes and beat out Toyota with 19 percent and BMW with 18 percent...." Read more

Hmmmm... I'm not sure how much any of these opinion surveys are any good, but, this is at least good click-bait. Alain

China's driverless delivery startup Whale Dynamic targets US market with $2.5M fund

R. Liao, March 19, "A nascent Nuro challenger from China has its sight set on the delivery market in the US and has just raised some seed funding to advance its ambitions.

Whale Dynamic, a Shenzhen-based autonomous delivery startup founded by Baidu veteran David Chang, says it has closed a seed round of about $2.5 million. Qianchuang Capital, a Beijing-based investment firm managed by veterans from China's leading financial institutions, led the round, with participation from Shangbang Huizhong, a Chinese fund backed by real estate developers...." Read more

Hmmmm... Just what we don't need, a Chinese copycat to Nuro. They couldn't even add headlights. Alain

Making it Happen: Trenton MOVES... a Framework for the Deployment of Safe, Equitable, Affordable, Sustainable, High-quality Mobility A. Kornhauser, Jan 11, 2022 TRB, " A slide deck describing the framework for a phased deployment of high-quality mobility in Trenton New Jersey that is envisioned to have wherewithal to naturally scale beyond Trenton in a fashion that can be replicated the more than 100 communities across the US that have similar demographic and travel demand characteristics." Read more

Hmmmm... Go through the slides in presentation mode to take advantage of the animations. Alain

4th Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit It is over!!! Now time to actually do something in the Trentons of this world.

Making Driverless Happen: The Road Forward (Updated)

K. Pyle, April 18, 2021, "It's time to hit the start button," is Fred Fishkin's succinct way of summarizing the next steps in the Smart Driving Car journey. Fiskin, along with the LA Times' Russ Mitchell co-produced the final session of the 2021 Smart Driving Car Summit, Making It Happen: Part 2. This 16th and final session in this multi-month online conference not only provided a summary of the thought-provoking speakers, but also provided food for thought on a way forward to bring mobility to "the Trentons of the World."

Setting the stage for this final session, Michael Sena provided highlights of the Smart Driving Car journey that started in late December 2020. Safety, high-quality, and affordable mobility, particularly for those who do not have many options, was a common theme to the 2021 Smart Driving Car Summit. As Princeton Professor Kornhauser, the conference organizer put it....." Read more

Hmmmm.... We had another excellent Session. Thank you for the summary, Ken! Alain

Ken Pyle's Session Summaries of 4th Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit:

15th Session Making it Happen - Part One: Elected Officials' Role in Creating a Welcoming Environment in the Trentons of this World

14th Session What Will Power Safely-driven Cars

13th Session Improving the Moving of Goods

12th Session 3/18/21 Human-centered Design of Safe and Affordable Driverless Mobility

11th Session 3/11/21 Incentivizing Through Regulation

10th Session 3/04/21 Incentivizing Through Insurance

9th Session 2/25/21 Can Level 3 be Delivered?

8th Session 2/18/21 Who Will Build, Sell and Maintain Driverless Cars?

Michael Sena's Slides, Glenn Mercer Slides

7th Session 2/11/21 Finally Doing It

6th Session 2/4/21 Safe Enough in the Operational Design Domain

5th Session 1/28/21 At the Tipping Point

4th Session 1/21/21 Why Customers are Buying Them

3rd Session 1/14/21 The SmartDrivingCars We Can Buy Today

2nd Session 1/7/21 A Look into the Future 1st Session: 12/17/20 Setting the Stage Kornhauser & He, April 2021 "Making it Happen: A Proposal for Providing Affordable, High-quality, On-demand Mobility for All in the "Trentons" of this World"

Analyzing Ride-Share Potential and Empty Repositioning Requirements of a Nationwide aTaxi System Kornhauser & He, March 2021 "AV 101 + Trenton Affordable HQ Mobility Initiative"

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST: Trenton MOVES Staff, Dec 6, "The New Jersey Department of Transportation ("NJDOT"), an instrumentality of the State of New Jersey, has issued a Request for Expressions of Interest ("RFEI") to identify experienced firms capable of introducing a safe, equitable, affordable, sustainable, and efficient on-demand automated vehicle mobility systems in and beyond Trenton, NJ.

NJDOT is soliciting written expressions of interest from qualified and experienced vendors to gain valuable insight from the private industry regarding the goals set forth in the Trenton MOVES (Mobility & Opportunity: Vehicles Equity System) potential project and assess its viability. If and when NJDOT elects to proceed with a potential project, NJDOT may issue formal Request(s) for Qualifications or Proposals.

The RFEI is available to be downloaded at https://www.nj.gov/transportation/business/procurement/ems/current.shtm..."

TrentonMOVES-RFEI-replies Staff, March 2, "..." Read more

Hmmmm... Links to the 20 responses to NJ DoT's Trenton MOVES RfEI. Lots of very encouraging and enthusiastic respondents. Thanks to NJ DoT for making the replies available to the public at large on a very timely basis allowing everyone to learn a lot and showing that there is broad and competent interest in deploying Safe, Equitable, Affordable, Sustainable, High-quality Mobility throughout Trenton and beyond. Alain

Calendar of Upcoming Events

5th Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit

Thursday (evening), June 2, Welcome Reception @ Alain's home (Registration required)

Friday, June 3, Equitable Mobility Innovation Forum @ Princeton University (Registration required)

June 4, Equitable Mobility Festival @ Mayor Donnely Homes, Trenton, NJ (Open to All)

Live in Person

On the More Technical Side http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Papers/

K. Lockean's AV Research Group at U of Texas

These editions are sponsored by the SmartETFs Smart Transportation and Technology ETF, symbol MOTO. For more information head to www.motoetf.com

https://www.cartsmobility.com/ provides technical support

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 2 w/ Mo ElShenawy, EVP of Engineering, Cruise

F. Fishkin, March 9, "Cruise, with GM and Honda as operating partners, has gone truly driverless in San Francisco and is seeking permission to eliminate steering wheels in the Cruise Origin. EVP of Engineering Mo ElShenawy joins Alain Kornhauser and Fred Fishkin for a special edition of Smart Driving Cars.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 2 / PodCast 259 w/ Mo ElShenawy, EVP of Engineering, Cruise

F. Fishkin, March 3, "How will electric vehicle charging stations make money? The Dispatcher publisher Michael Sena poses that question and many more on episode 258 of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus Ford creates a distinct EV car business, an update on NJ progress and more. Tune in and subscribe...."

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 2 / PodCast 257 w/ Cliff Winston, Brookings Institute & Marc Scribner, Reason Foundation

F. Fishkin, Feb. 25, "So what about these reports and opinion pieces casting doubt on the future of autonomous mobility? The Brookings Institution's Cliff Winston and Reason Foundation's Marc Scribner join Princeton's Alain Kornhauser & co-host Fred Fishkin to slice and dice. Plus GM Cruise, VW and more.."

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 2 / PodCast 256 w/ Danny Shapiro, VP Automotive, NVIDIA

F. Fishkin, Feb. 18, "With Jaguar Land Rover signing on to partner with NVIDIA for advanced driver assistance and autonomous capabilities in all of their vehicles starting in 2025, what will the collaboration mean? NVIDIA's VP for Automotive Danny Shapiro joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser & co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus the latest on Waymo, VW, Trenton and more."

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 2 / PodCast 255 w/ Brad Templeton

F. Fishkin, Feb. 11, "The engaging debate over disengagements. In episode 255 of Smart Driving Cars, Forbes.com Sr. Transportation Contributor Brad Templeton engages with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser over the path to the future of autonomous mobility. The latest data on disengagements from companies testing self driving vehicles in California, Tesla, Cruise, Waymo and New Jersey begins funding Trenton MOVES...are part of the spirited discussion with co-host Fred Fishkin."

SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 254, Zoom-Cast Episode 2 w/Alex Roy,

F. Fishkin, Feb 4, "Why Self Driving Isn't a Race, It's a Game. That's what Alex Roy, Director of Special Projects at Argo AI writes at www.groundtruthautonomy.com.Alex joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for the latest Smart Driving Cars for a wide ranging discussion on that plus the latest on Trenton Moves, FreightWaves, Tesla, Waymo, Cruise, Toyota and more."

SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 253, Zoom-Cast Episode 2 w/Michael Sena, Editor of The Dispatcher

F. Fishkin, Jan. 27, "The Federal Trade Commission looks to level the tech playing field...but "The Dispatcher" publisher Michael Sena has some words of warning. He joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and Fred Fishkin for that plus Tesla, Waymo and more on Episode 253 of Smart Driving Cars.."

SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 252, Zoom-Cast Episode 2 / Michael Krauss, Prof. of Law Emeritus & Alexandra Mueller, IIHS

F. Fishkin, Jan. 20, "The IIHS has announced it will rate vehicle partial automation systems. Spearheading is research scientist Alexandra Mueller who joins us. And Professor Emeritus Michael Krauss from the George Mason University School of Law on the manslaughter charges leveled in a Tesla autopilot case in California. Episode 252 of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin."

SmartDrivingCars Zoom-Cast Episode 2 / A. Kornhauser: Making it Happen: Trenton MOVES... a Framework for...

F. Fishkin, Jan. 15, "In this special edition of Smart Driving Cars, Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and his presentation: Making it Happen: Trenton Moves-a framework for the deployment of safe, equitable, affordable, sustainable, high quality transportation. The focus is on providing autonomous mobility in a place where there is real need. A first. Join the effort." Link to 250 previous SDC PodCasts & ZoomCasts

Recent Highlights of:

March 9, 2022

GM names Cruise co-founder to once again run the self-driving business after CEO's unexpected departure

M. Wayland, Feb 28, "In naming a new CEO of self-driving company Cruise Monday, majority-owner General Motors is handing the firm back to one of its original founders.

Kyle Vogt, who co-founded Cruise and ran the start-up for years following GM's acquisition in 2016, has once again been named CEO of the company. He announced the appointment Monday via social media, and it was later confirmed by a Cruise spokesman.." Read more

Hmmmm...Congratulations Kyle! Fantastic. Alain March 4, 2022

The Evolving Business of Powering Our Vehicles

M. Sena, March 1, "To all in Ukraine, continue to have courage against the aggressor. Everyone who supports democracy and freedom against tyranny stands with you. At such a time, when a free country has been invaded by a dictatorial power, discussions about automobiles and electricity seem trivial. But, in many ways, the issues of how we obtain our energy and how we use it are central to what is occurring now in the southeastern edge of Europe.

The U.S. federal government, along with many of the States, and the European Union, along with many of its member countries, are throwing money at battery electric cars. They believe the reason everyone isn't rushing out to buy one of these types of cars is because there aren't enough charging stations that drivers who normally charge at their place of residence can use when they are on long trips, or drivers who live in cities and don't have an off-street parking spot can use for their daily charging needs. I disagree. The biggest problem is that those running charging stations have to convince people to pay two-to-four times what they would pay if they plugged their car into their own electric outlet. It's less convenient and more expensive.

There is more in this issue. You can see a brief summary of the contents below. You can read the entire issue in the PDF attached or online by clicking here. Also below is a link to the program for the Symposium on the Future Networked Car 2022 to be held as a virtual event on the 22nd to the 25th of March. Plan on setting aside time to attend.

Enjoy your March issue of The Dispatcher. All comments are welcome, whether you want to take exception to something I have written or you just want to let me know that you got something out of reading it. Horses run on feed; writers run on feedback...." Read more

Hmmmm... I've linked Michael's email. I also need feedback.. Check out the Pod/ZoomCasts below with Michael. Alain February 26, 2022

Motional, Via to start robo-taxi service in Las Vegas J. White, Feb 24, "Autonomous vehicle venture Motional and ride services company Via said they will launch on Thursday a robo-taxi service in Las Vegas, the latest step by Motional toward commercial deployment of its autonomous vehicle systems.

Via will use vehicles outfitted with Motional autonomous driving systems to offer free rides between several locations in downtown Las Vegas. Motional is a joint venture of Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and automotive technology supplier Aptiv PLC (APTV.N)...." Read more

Hmmmm... Reuters, please STOP with this kind of reporting! You are being unfair to Motional, Via. They are not offering the equivalent of amusement park rides in an urban setting. They are in fact trying to develop the technology to provide (eventually) a low-cost way of providing a safe and high-quality mobility service.

Please use the correct terms. There is an attendant on-board these vehicles! Motional, Via are therefore NOT "starting robo-taxi" service in Las Vegas, as your headline proclaims. Today, this is a high-cost, heavily subsidized (by venture capital) service that's not significantly different than taxi services that have been available around the world for 100+ years.

[At least you didn't use the term autonomousTaxi, aTaxi for short, as the term encompassing Safe, Equitable, Affordable, Sustainable, High-quality Mobility.]

Motional, Via are taking a next step in the development of the technology that has the opportunity to become a low-cost way of providing a high-quality service, but for now what's "to start" is an enormously expensive demonstration that should NOT be called "robo-taxi service" unless Reuter's objective is to distract, confuse, hype or simply participate in fake news.

I'm sure that Motional, Via sincerely aspire to provide what they've been working on for many years in Las Vegas and elsewhere: a true aTaxi service. But there is one enormous step that needs to be achieved as standard, no problem, of course: a mobility service that readily operates every day without a driver or attendant. What's happening in Las Vegas is a great next step towards achieving that goal, which should be the story, not a carnival-esque offer of free rides with technology bells and whistles.

The real goal is not an amusement park attraction but a Safe, Equitable, Affordable, Sustainable, High-quality Mobility service like the one that works extremely well everyday when going up and down... elevators.

Elevators have had it somewhat easy... Competition is the stairwell, so being perceived as High-quality doesn't need many bells and whistles. They've achieved a track record of being Safe-enough (not perfectly safe), nothing is or ever will be. They are largely Equitable to those who can get inside the building, Sustainable because they are inviting to readily share rides whenever demand warrants (door stays open for a little while after I get in), and Affordable because they require only minimal human supervision done collectively not individually, which decreases with increased scale. The accessibility afforded is absolutely required for the floors above to capture any economic value that motivates and justifies free pricing. The key to affordability is minimal human supervision.

Until elevators were able to operate without attendants, and the public became comfortable that they were safe enough, tall buildings had no chance, and "the skyline of Manhattan would resemble that of Paris, if it was lucky!."

To my knowledge, only the Waymo One service in Chandler, AZ comes close to offering horizontal mobility with what is becoming minimal human oversight that some folks perceive as safe-enough. GM/Cruise in parts of SF is close, others, including Motional, Via are still making enormous progress towards that objective and are in the mix. Their hard work and actual achievements should be the story. Reuters would better serve the public by reporting on real milestones rather than potentially mis-represent (at the worst) or distract (at the best).

Rebecca Bellan @ Tech Crunch did a much better job by at least stating "...The autonomous vehicles will have human safety operators behind the wheel...."

What's my point here? These systems have the opportunity to be an incredible asset to our communities, and I implore journalists to spend the time to understand the actual challenges each company is facing as well as the progress they are making in overcoming them. Let's work together to educate and advocate for safe, equitable, affordable, sustainable high-quality mobility systems, not carnival acts. Alain

February 18, 2022

Jaguar Land Rover says all of its cars will come with NVIDIA's Drive computers by 2025 A. Hawkins, Feb. 17, "Jaguar Land Rover is teaming up with Nvidia to install high-powered computers in its vehicles to enable advanced driver assistance and autonomous driving features. Starting in 2025, all JLR vehicles will come with Nvidia's end-to-end Drive Hyperion platform installed, the companies said.

Hyperion is the latest iteration of Nvidia's Drive platform that allows automakers to customize their own driving features. And Orin is the chipmaker's system-on-a-chip, similar to Tesla's Full Self-Driving chip or Intel's Mobileye EyeQ. This new hardware will form the basis for a new suite of driving features, including advanced driver assistance systems, automated parking, and autonomous driving, the companies said.

"Orin is the AI brain of the car, and Drive Hyperion is the central nervous system," said Danny Shapiro, Nvidia's vice president for automotive.

JLR wouldn't say which models would be receiving which features as a result of this deal. But we can guess some of the broad outlines, based on Nvidia's other automotive deals, including Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, TuSimple, Cruise, Zoox, and a host of Chinese EV startups. Whatever they are, they will be befitting JLR's mission to provide a luxury vehicle experience to its customers, said Francois Dossa, executive director of strategy at JLR....." Read more

Hmmmm... Enormous progress in the coming availability in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Alain

11, 2023

Moving Forward with Trenton MOVES
K. Pyle,
Feb. 9, "Dr. Alain Kornhauser's vision of bringing equitable, sustainable, and affordable mobility to the people of Trenton took another step forward with the February 9th, 2022 announcement (Facebook) of a $5 million NJDOT Local Transportation Planning Fund Grant for the Trenton Mobility & Opportunity: Vehicles Equity System (MOVES) Project (PDF). The significance of this event goes beyond the grant announcement..." Read more

Hmmmm... Ken, thank you for the kind words. Alain

Smart Driving Cars Extra: Trenton MOVES gets moving

Feb. 11, "The New Jersey DOT is providing 5 million dollars to get Trenton MOVES moving. The goal..autonomous, affordable, safe mobility for all. This is a video of the event held on February 9th." Read more

Hmmmm... Fantastic even with challenging audio. Turn on Closed Caption. The substance is in the quality of the words from the Mayor, Commissioner and Superintendent. All from the heart. Very worth absorbing. Alain.

Trenton MOVES
W. Skaggs, Feb. 3,"We are excited to invite you to join Mayor Gusciora, N.J. Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, and Trenton Public Schools Superintendent James Earle to celebrate a $5 million award from the NJDOT Local Transportation Projects Fund for an unprecedented public transportation project right here in the Capital City. The project is called the Trenton Mobility & Opportunity: Vehicular Equity System (MOVES) initiative.

Originally announced by Governor Murphy and Commissioner Gutierrez-Scaccetti in December, TrentonMOVES seeks to provide a safe, equitable, and affordable high-quality on-demand mobility service to Trenton residents. The effort is a collaboration between the Governor's Office, NJDOT, the City of Trenton, and Princeton University.

The $5 million award is a huge milestone for the project. This will be the first large-scale urban transit system in America to be based entirely on self-driving shuttles. Each vehicle will carry four to eight passengers at a time. The AVs will be low-cost to users in underserved neighborhoods. The high school will be one of the central destinations on the first routes.

The event will take place at 11:00 a.m. in the Trenton Central High School auditorium. Members of the press will be invited to attend. ...." Read more

Hmmmm... Another real milestone.

The Trenton MOVES RfEI closed February 25, with 20 submittals. Next comes the 5th Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit June 2 -> 4, 2022 in Princeton & Trenton, NJ. The Summit will be focused on enabling Trentonians to get a first glimpse at technology and mobility systems that can deliver Trenton MOVES' mobility objectives (Safety, Equity, Affordability, Sustainability,..) and, very importantly, enabling technology and mobility companies to learn the market opportunities available to be captured in Trenton, the rest of Mercer County, and throughout New Jersey.

Trenton MOVES is a win-win opportunity for the citizens of New Jersey (The Public) and the shareholders of mobility provider(s) (The Private), who can come together in a Trenton MOVES Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) that will be created through a Request for Proposal (RfP) process commencing shortly after the close of the Summit. 😁 Alain

5th Annual SmartDrivingCars Summit: Towards Deployment of Safe, Equitable Affordable, Sustainable, High Quality Mobility throughout New Jersey

New Date: Thursday evening, June 2, through Saturday June 4, 2022. Live in Princeton & Trenton, NJ.

Alain L. Kornhauser, PhD
Professor, Operations Research & Financial Engineering
Director of Undergraduate Studies, ORFE
Director, Transportation Program
Faculty Chair, Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering
229 Sherrerd Hall
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
alaink@princeton.edu
609-980-1427 (c)
http://www.princeton.edu