Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022

June 24, 2022

23rd edition of the 10th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter

Princeton Fifth Annual SmartDrivingCars Summit

June 24, M. Sena “THE DISPATCHER, July 2022

IN THIS ISSUE

Princeton Fifth Annual SmartDrivingCars Summit ………..

Safe, Equitable, Affordable, Sustainable, High-quality Mobility for Everyone ……………………………………………….2

Dispatch Central……………………………………………………….9

Someone lit a fire under NHTSA …………………………………9

The Economist: Right analysis, wrong solution …………..12

Musings of a Dispatcher: Eyes on the Back Story………..15

The evolution of digital maps and ADAS ……………………15

Digital Maps for the Vehicle – 1970-2022 ………………….24 …

Read more Hmmmm… Another great edition and very well written summary of the 5th Summit. Alain

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 273 / PodCast 273 Michael Sena, Editor The Dispatcher

F. Fishkin, June 23, “Smart Driving Cars episode 273: Getting Moves moving. The June Princeton Smart Driving Cars Summit brought the players together. Now the real game begins. “The Dispatcher” publisher and consultant Michael Sena joins us for that plus…Einride’s autonomous electric transports, Cruise takes paying passengers and a critical checkpoint for Zoox.”

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

New Type of Vehicle Developed by Einride Gets NHTSA Approval to Operate on U.S. Public Road

Press release, June 23, “Freight technology company Einride announced today that it has received approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to operate its Autonomous Electric Transport (AET) vehicles on U.S. public roads. With this approval, Einride will conduct a public road pilot to support operational flows for customer GE Appliances, a Haier company, showcasing the Einride Pod’s purpose-built functionality for future commercialization. The autonomous and electric Einride Pod’s design does not leave room for a driver on board and is instead remotely monitored by a Remote Pod Operator, marking this pilot as an industry first for this new type of vehicle….” Read more Hmmmm… How have I become so clueless that I can’t believe what I am reading. I searched for the fine print at NHTSA and could not find anything (That shouldn’t surprise anyone. I can’t find my glasses when they are on my nose.🙁 ). Alain

Amazon’s Zoox completes ‘critical checkpoint’ in robotaxi testing and rollout

T. Bishop, June 22, “…Jesse Levinson, the Zoox co-founder and CTO, told the audience at Amazon’s re:MARS event here Tuesday night that Zoox “recently completed a critical checkpoint that we haven’t talked about publicly yet.”

Specifically, he said, the Zoox vehicle operated “with no one inside, no chase vehicle, and no emergency stop, all on open, private roads with non-Zoox agents, including pedestrians, cyclists, cars and trucks.”…

Zoox expanded its testing to Seattle last year, using specially equipped L3 Toyota Highlanders with a safety driver on board. Amazon’s acquisition of Zoox was part of a larger push by the company into robotics, automation and electric vehicles.” Read more Hmmmm… That is a good check point, … maybe. A better one would be to report a description of each of the justifiable disengagements that have occurred in their Toyotas that Zoox has been testing in Seattle. If the justifiable disengagement rate is getting to be really small, then that is real progress!

To be clear:

  • Testing without an attendant impresses no one (who matters) and the incremental cost of having an attendant is minuscule; therefore it should NEVER be done on public or private roads; with or without and police escort; …

  • The click-bait isn’t worth anywhere near the financial/social risk.

  • Zoox… no need to ever do that stunt again.

  • The benefits of removing a driver only begin to accrue once one begins revenue service. Being able to offer a high-quality mobility service at a substantially cheaper price and remain profitable is THE dominant, and only substantive reason, for removing a driver/attendant.

Alain

Ford CEO Jim Farley Says ADAS Revenue Stream Will Be Massive

June 10, B. Foote, “Ford has big plans for connected vehicle services, a part of its business that it expects will net the company $20 billion in annual revenue by 2030, with another $45 billion coming from the new Ford Pro commercial business by 2025. Much of that revenue will come directly from Ford Pro services and ADAS – otherwise known as advanced driver-assist technologies – such as BlueCruise and ActiveGlide, which will be available for additional hardware and software costs plus a subscription. While speaking at the recent 2022 Alliance Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, Ford CEO Jim Farley reiterated that he believes these services will be a massive source of revenue for the automaker moving forward….” Read more Hmmmm… From the beginning, ADAS, what I termed as the Self-driving car segment of SmartDrivingCars (Safe Driving was automation Safety focused automation (Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) that actually works in the background while you continue to do all of the driving) and Driverless focused on giving anyone a safe ride, no human driving allowed (Like taking a ride in a bus or airplane or … Driving is done by someone/something else. Not you.), was, and remains. all about “Comfort & Convenience” of the driver. I’ve always called it “the Chrome & Fins” of the vehicle automation age. It sells cars just like “Chrome & Fins” sold cars in the 50s and 60s.

No OEM has even begun preaching “the Ultimate Riding Machine”. They all preach and continue to sell “the Ultimate Driving Machine”. Alain

Cruise is now charging for rides in its driverless vehicles in San Francisco

A. Hawkins, June 23, Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company backed by General Motors, is now officially a commercial service. The company began charging for rides in its self-driving taxis in San Francisco this week, marking an important milestone for the company’s plans to expand its service.

The company said that fared driverless rides are currently taking place with “most riders” in the Northwest section of San Francisco. Cruise will continue “expanding our paid service in alignment with the smoothest customer experience possible,” a spokesperson said.

Cruise currently offers a range of services, from daytime rides in its autonomous vehicles with safety drivers behind the wheel to nighttime trips in its fully driverless cars. (The company is currently prohibited from offering rides in its driverless vehicles during daytime hours.) Cruise has been testing free driverless rides for the public in San Francisco since February.”…” Read more Hmmmm… A most important step!! Without revenue from customers in return for services delivered none of this makes any sense and has no hope of capturing any return-on-investment. Alain

Cars by subscription? #Finn readies U.S. expansion: CEO Max Meier

F. Fishkin, June 23, “Cars by subscription? Finn readies U.S. expansion. Founder and CEO Max-Josef Meier chats with Techstination’s Fred Fishkin about the benefits to consumers and overcoming challenges.” Read more Hmmmm… Interesting. Alain

Study Finds That Majority Of Drivers Distrust Hands-Free Driving Systems

S. Bell, June 24, “Automakers are jumping into the field of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) with both feet, trying to stuff as many features into their new cars as they can. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, though, wanted to find out what consumers actually want.

The survey shows that the majority of consumers are pretty conservative when it comes to ADAS systems. After surveying 1,000 drivers on three partially automated driving systems (lane centering, automated lane changing, and driver monitoring), the IIHS found that consumers prefer systems where they are more in control that have more safeguards….” Read more Hmmmm… Not surprising.. I also suspect that “Feet-free” is more trusted than “Hands-free”. Alain

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Garden Grove, CA July 18-21, 2022

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 272 / PodCast 272 Ed Niedermeyer

F. Fishkin, June 16, “With NHTSA releasing the data on 392 crashes involving driver assistance systems, we dive into the significance and take-aways with guest Ed Niedermeyer, author, journalist and co-host of the Autonocast. Join Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser & co-host Fred Fishkin for episode 272 of Smart Driving Cars.”

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 271 / PodCast 271 Summary of 5th Summit, Alain Kornhauser & Jerry He

F. Fishkin, June 8, “From the people living in Trenton’s Donnelly Homes, to Trenton Central High, to Princeton University, there were lessons to be learned at the 5th annual Smart Driving Cars Summit. CARTS Mobility executive director Jerry He joins Alain Kornhauser and Fred Fishkin to discuss the progress. (video by www.DanielProductions.tv).” Watch Video Hmmmm…Outstanding

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode 2 / PodCast Episode 26

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 55 / 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 5 4 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 5 3 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 5 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 51 /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:

###

June 18, 2022

NHTSA Releases Initial Data on Safety Performance of Advanced Vehicle Technologies June 15, Press release, “Today, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s efforts to increase roadway safety and encourage innovation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published the initial round of data it has collected through its Standing General Order issued last year and initial accompanying reports summarizing this data.

The SAE Level 2 advanced driver assistance systems summary report is available here, while the SAE Levels 3-5 automated driving systems summary report is available here. Going forward, NHTSA will release data updates monthly…”

Read more Hmmmm… This is a good start; however, as NHTSA repeats many times, this is just a start and there are many “data limitations”. The most severe may well be the possibility of substantial “sampling bias”, the most severe of which is that each OEM sourced the reported data very differently. That makes the data between OEMs incomparable.

Also unreported is any measure that would enable a “crash rate” for an OEM to be determined. One only has a numerator value but no denominator value.

Finally, 392 crashes of “Level 2” cars were reported during the “10” month period of July 2021 and May 15, 2022. About 12 million vehicles are involved in traffic crashes every year among the 283 million vehicles that operate in the US. Assuming any one vehicle is unlikely to be involved in more than one crash per year, it means that each vehicle, on average is involved in 12M/283M = 0.0424 crashes per year. Thus, if these ADAS cars were involved in crashes at the average rate, and had their ADAS on all the time, the 500 vehicle crashes per year contained in these data would expect to be generated from a fleet of only about 11,800 vehicles (or 0.0042% of the vehicles (“everything being equal”, ADAS on all the time.).

Consequently, either, …

  • These systems outrageously reduce crash probabilities, and/or

  • maybe some, but we’re probably not much luckier.

  • very few of the cars in use during that “10” month period had Level 2 capabilities, and/or

  • unfortunately, the VIN number doesn’t identify these cars and only Tesla announces how many sold (I may have missed the reportings)

  • very few of the drivers of those cars rarely engaged the Level 2 features, and/or

  • likely. Only Tesla releases data on the utilization of its level 2 features but does so only in aggregate terms that don’t allow for correction of sampling bias associated with engagement in “easy” driving conditions versus “challenging” driving conditions.

  • enormous undercounting

  • likely, only Tesla has the opportunity to either “know all” or sample effectively because of their OtA monitoring of its vehicles. Everyone else has conveniently kept their heads in the sand. Mercedes didn’t report any; however, during that period I think my Intelligent Cruise Control and Lane Centering were engaged when I hit a deer. Mercedes must not have been watching me, I didn’t report it and I didn’t get the memo that informed me to do anything.

Anyway. It is a start and at least to me the numbers are not startling.

What needs improvement is sourcing of the incidents. Maybe OtA should be mandated. At minimum, the VIN should specify the existence of these capabilities. Then normal police reportings can begin to “automatically” access the “black box event recorders” (see also Accident data recorder and NHTSA that are in most cars today. Unfortunately, privacy concerns makes this not-easy. So here we are. It won’t be easy to do much better, but we should continue to try.

What the data do point out is that a substantial number of the crashes involved the rear ending of a stationary object. I have pointed out repeatedly that the source code of these systems explicitly disregard stationary objects in the lane ahead. Justifying this explicit process is that current sensors incur unacceptable false positives when trying to determine if sufficient headroom exists under detected stationary objects in the lane ahead. Thus, to avoid braking in response to these rare false positives, stationary objects in the lane ahead are all assumed to be “pass under-able”.

As one drives, one encounters many stationary objects in the lane ahead. These are readily sensed and precisely located ahead. Readily sensed are overpasses, signs, tree canopies, traffic lights, … all of which can usually be readily passed under. (As can vehicles ahead that come to rest in vehicle-follower mode. These are not disregarded because one is in vehicle-follower mode.)

But when one is in vehicle-leader mode and one encounters a stationary object ahead, I believe, most, if not all “Level 2” systems disregard that object and assume the car can pass underneath. So if you are in vehicle leader mode and come over the crest of a hill to be confronted with a stopped object ahead, your system will disregard that object. Similarly, if the vehicle that you are following changes lanes forcing you to become a leader, any stationary object ahead will be disregarded. Alain

June 11, 2022

3 minute Promo

The 5th Summit: https://www.cartsmobility.com/summit

Summit Preview Tour

Dr. Steve Still’s Tribute to Heywood Patterson

S. Still, June 3, “… Heywood Patterson, 67, He often drove members of his church to Tops, helping them load their groceries into his car and then taking them home. “That’s what he did all the time,” Deborah Patterson said. “That’s what he loved to do”. … Watch Video Hmmmm… A principal reason for “Trenton MOVES”-like deployments is to do what Heywood Patterson “loved to do” for the many. Alain

May 28, 2022

The Evolving Business of Powering Our Vehicles

M. Sena, May 24, “New Car Assessment Programs (NCAPs) all around the world have created a separate and unequal set of standards for vehicle safety operating in parallel with the Type Approval processes in most countries and the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and their equivalents in other countries. One standard is enough. In this month’s the lead article, I look at why this has happened, why it is not a good idea, and what should be done to correct the situation.

There is no Musings in this month’s issue. Instead, I have put my musings energies to work in Dispatch Central. You can see the topics below. The section ends with a notable quote from the CEO of Stellantis on the topic of battery electric vehicles.

Enjoy your June 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. …” Read more Hmmmm… Every month, great reading. Enjoy! Alain

May 15, 2022

From pricing carbon to fighting opioid abuse, ORFE showcased top senior projects

A. Nathans, May 11, “When Serena Ren presented her senior thesis on using machine learning for art appraisals last month, she hoped to see her friend, Joyce Luo, present her thesis on fighting opioid addiction. But since all students in the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering present their theses in parallel sessions, this was impossible.

But on May 4, Ren and Luo finally got to see each other’s presentations in a classroom in Sherrerd Hall, thanks to the department’s first-ever event in which selected students present their thesis work to the whole department…. “ Read more Hmmmm… I’m so proud! Hopefully we’ll be able to release the video so you can enjoy. Keep trying the link:

Princeton ORFE Class of 2022 Senior Thesis Symposium “Best 8”

May 7, 2022

PAVE VIRTUAL PANEL “AVS AND PUBLIC GOOD: TRENTON MOVES”

PAVE, May 4, “Autonomous vehicle technologies offer incredible potential: they could make our highways safer, they could offer new mobility options for people who can’t drive, and they could help create a more equitable transportation system for those who are not well-served by our current system.

During the month of May, we are highlighting places where AVs are in use — today — being deployed, tested, and used for public good. We want to look at examples of the technology being used to serve food deserts, to expand access to rural communities, to offer new accessibility options, and more.

We are starting with the Trenton MOVES initiative, which is the first large-scale urban transit system in America based entirely on self-driving shuttles. The shuttles, which carry four to eight passengers, serve traditionally underserved Trenton neighborhoods, where 70% of households have limited access to a single automobile, or no access at all. Our panelists will detail the program, describing how it works, the results it has achieved, and their vision for the future……” Read more Hmmmm… Very nice. Be sure to watch video 😁 and see ZoomCast 267 Alain

April 30, 2022

NJDOT Commissioner Gutierrez-Scaccetti and the Trenton NJ MOVES Program

P. Keller, April 29, “New Jersey recently announced a $5 million grant for the Trenton Mobility & Opportunity: Vehicles Equity System or MOVES Project. The grant to the City of Trenton will support the planned start up and eventual deployment of 100 Autonomous Vehicles that will provide an on-demand automated transit system to serve the 90,000 residents of Trenton…..” Read more Hmmmm… Very nice. 😁

Knight Foundation
April 21, “CARTS Executive Director Jerry He explains to the audience at #CoMotionMiami that:

Hmmmm…
Yup! See ZoomCast265
Alain
April 15, 2022

Musk promises ‘dedicated robotaxi’ with futuristic look from Tesla
H. Jin, April 6, “Electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O) will make a “dedicated” self-driving taxi that will “look futuristic,” Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Thursday, without giving a timeframe.

The 50-year-old billionaire, wearing a black cowboy hat and sunglasses, made the comments at the opening of Tesla’s $1.1 billion factory in Texas, which is home to its new headquarters.

“Massive scale. Full self-driving. There’s going to be a dedicated robotaxi,” Musk told a large crowd at the factory….” Read more

Hmmmm… Wow! It was brilliant for Elon to begin focusing his EVs on rich Californians who already have a stable full of cars to go all the way to grandma’s house and back and were really looking for a neat toy.

Elon followed the graceful rollout of his Supercharger infrastructure which enabled the upper-middle class that doesn’t have a backup fleet and needs to have a toy and reliably go back and forth to grandma’s house. Viola!!! No longer just a toy. Seamless evolution to “Massive Scale” scale and Massive Profitability.

RoboTaxis’ evolution to “Massive Scale” is turning out to be different. Starting with rich WesternStaters doesn’t seem to be working sociologically for Waymo. The rides offered seem to be taken for entertainment and side-show purposes rather than valued enablers of enhanced quality of life. Nice for selfies, but not much more.

Recall fundamental value is to provide a safe, high-quality ride from A to B. “Safe” is “safe”, but “high-quality” is relative to what one now has readily available. For the rich, that’s where they’ve already put a lot of money to create for themselves something really nice. The chances someone is going to offer something better to an individual that has crafted something perfect for themselves is slim-to-none. Consequently, the service is used primarily for taking selfies.

For those that don’t have their own car for whatever reason (can’t drive, don’t want to, too young, too old, and/or too poor) their mobility options are simply dreadful. Absolutely trivial for aTaxi service to be viewed as the quality winner and used to provide customer accessibility, improved quality of life, endearment, respect, love, appreciation, loyalty, and use.

Consequently, if Elon is really serious about achieving “Massive Scale” then he should basically flip his Tesla strategy and start by focusing on serving the mobility needs of those that will fully appreciate and gain the most personal value from his market offering;

  • those that don’t already have a stable full of their own personal mobility options.

  • those for which his aTaxi can substantially change their lives for the better.

These are the customers of Trenton MOVES; only about 50,000 of Trenton’s 90,000 population; but 50,000 that will really appreciate you. Start by only serving Trenton’s 8 square mile area with about 100 vehicles and only during the best 350 days out of the year’s 365.25.

They’ll be so appreciative and you will have provided the spark that will allow your aTaxis to go viral! You’ll quickly serve Mercer county, Newark, Camden, Atlantic City, New Brunswick, Toms River, Perth Amboy, all of New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, New York City (except Manhattan), Long Island, …..

That’s the natural road to “Massive Scale” for Mobility for all. Start with those in most need and evolve to convert those that will leave their own cars parked in their driveway.

“Massive Scale” starts with Trenton MOVES. Alain

March 31, 2022

Taking our next step in the City by the Bay
The Waymo Team, March 30, “This morning in San Francisco, a fully autonomous all-electric Jaguar I-PACE, with no human driver behind the wheel, picked up a Waymo engineer to get their morning coffee and go to work. Since sharing that we were ready to take the next step and begin testing fully autonomous operations in the city, we’ve begun fully autonomous rides with our San Francisco employees. They now join the thousands of Waymo One riders we’ve been serving in Arizona, making fully autonomous driving technology part of their daily lives….” Read more

Hmmmm… Congratulations! Enormous accomplishment and fundamental expression of confidence in your technology. Please come to New Jersey where we are certain that you can actually deliver “Safe, Equitable, Affordable, Sustainable, High-quality Mobility” that will substantially improve the quality-of-life of many by transforming affordable housing into affordable living and more.

Let’s look at the back-of-the-envelope numbers…

Trenton:

Population: 90,000.
PersonTrips/Day (non-walking): 300,000
IntraTrenton: 150,000
PersonTripLength (90%tile): 10 miles
intraTrenton (100%tile) 5 miles

Operational Productivity:
VehicleTrips/Day: 50
Average Vehicle Occupancy (AVO): 2
PersonTrips/VehicleDay: 100
PersonTrips/VehicleYear: 35,000

100 vehicle fleet productivity: 10,000 PersonTrips/day (1/15th market penetration)

50% market penetration Fleet requirements: 500 vehicles (AVO =2.5) for 60 PersonTrips/VehicleDay).

Cost:
Depreciation/PersonTrip @ $200k/vehicle, 4 year life = $200,000/(4*35,000) = $10/7 = $1.43/PersonTrip
Electricity + maintenance + management + … = $0.57/PersonTrip
Cost = $2.00/PersonTrip

New Jersey:

Population: 9+ Million

PersonTrips/Day (non-walking): >30 Million

IntraNJ + NJT/Septa to/from NYC & PHL: 30 Million
PersonTripLength (90%tile): 10 miles
Operational Productivity
VehicleTrips/Day: 60
Average Vehicle Occupancy (AVO): 2.5
PersonTrips/VehicleDay: 150
PersonTrips/VehicleYear: 50,000

10% market penetration (3 Million PersonTrips/Day: Fleet requirements: 20,000 vehicles (AVO =2.5) for 60 PersonTrips/VehicleDay).

Cost:
Depreciation/PersonTrip @ $200k/vehicle, 4 year life = 200,000/(4*35,000)= $10/7 = $1.43
Electricity + maintenance + management … = $0.57
Cost per PersonTrip = $2.00
Revenue: (10% market penetration: 3M personTrips/Day)

10% @ cost + 90% market pricing:

10% @ $2.00/PersonTrip (300,000$2.00 = $600,000/day; $200M/year
90% @ $3.70/personTrip (2.7M3.70 = $10M/day; 3.5B/year (value proposition could have the average market price even higher than $3.70/personTrip (+$1.70 over cost)

Profit: $1.70 *2.7M = $4.6M/day = $1.5B/year

Seems to me that Waymo should have responded to the NJ DoT RfEI and shouldn’t be completely ignoring me. I guess I’m missing something. Maybe someone else will call me? 😎 Alain

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. February 4, 2022

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. on 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

###

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)

This list is maintained by Alain Kornhauser and hosted by the Princeton University LISTSERV.