Friday, Nov. 18, 2023

11.45 - Starship 2 launch

November 18, 2023Newsletter archive →

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast from StarShip Watch Site

https://youtu.be/jZWXLfV7THs?si=qD6LJTOJnMIhbjob

With a group of his students on hand from the South Padre Island vantage point, Princeton's Alain Kornhauser joins Fred Fishkin to witness the second launch of Starship by SpaceX. Tune in and subscribe!

Staff, Nov. 17, "The second flight test of a fully integrated Starship is set to launch Saturday, November 18. A twenty-minute launch window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT.

A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 35 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our X account for updates. …" Read More

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SmartDrivingCars / w/ Cyrus Farivar Forbes senior staff writer

D. Shepardson, Nov 9, " More than two dozen unions urged U.S. auto safety regulators on Thursday to open an industry-wide probe into driverless vehicles including Alphabet's Waymo and Amazon.com's Zoox.

istserv

Conference

San Jose, CA

6th SmartDrivingCar

Summit

May 29 (evening) -> May 31, 2024

Princeton, NJ

Previous SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast/PodCasts

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 342 / PodCast 342 w/Michael Sena, Editor of The Dispatcher

F. Fishkin, Nov. 3, "With "The Dispatcher" publisher Michael Sena looking at The Business of Transport Systems and whether Tesla or Toyota will be first to twenty million, episode 342 of Smart Driving Cars offers in depth insights. Michael joins Alain and Fred for that plus Geely, Waymo, Uber and more.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 341 / PodCast 341 w/Russ Mitchell, Correspondent LA Times

Phoenix

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 340 / PodCast 340 w/ Michael Sena, Dispatch Central – November 2023.. Critical Materials as Competitive Weapons

F. Fishkin, Oct. 19, "What has China done to Swedish EV battery maker Northvolt AB? "The Dispatcher" publisher Michael Sena joins Alain and Fred for episode 340 of Smart Driving Cars. Plus...robotaxi travails in San Francisco, Honda plans robotaxis in Tokyo with GM and Cruise, Amazon delivering drugs by drone, Xpeng, Tesla and more.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 339 / PodCast 339 driverless communication, Gates invests, Tesla battery production

F. Fishkin, Oct. 15, "Driverless car communication with pedestrians? On episode 339 of Smart Driving Cars, Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin chat about a report in The Verge on how Waymo is doing it. Plus Bill Gates invests in Glydways, Tesla battery production breakthrough, Model Y ridesharing in Tampa & more. Tune in and subscribe!

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 338 / PodCast 338 Waymo, Costs of Car Ownership, Tesla, Lyft and more

F. Fishkin, Oct. 10, "What was Waymo thinking with a post about Waymo One and first dates? Princeton's Alain Kornhauser on that plus the costs of car ownership, Tesla, Lyft, Zeeker and more. Join Alain and co-host Fred Fishkin for episode 338 of Smart Driving Cars.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 337 / PodCast 337 Driveless Cars a Tough Sell?

F. Fishkin, Oct. 2, "Driverless cars a tough sell? Not to people who need mobility. That's Alain's response to a piece in The Atlantic. Plus Mercedes Drive Pilot, Uber plays nice with taxi industry, Teamsters oppose Cruise Origin, Tesla, Microsoft and May Mobility. And Alain shares his IATR presentation- Modernizing the Giving of Rides.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 336 / PodCast 336 w Prof. Dan Sperling, UC Davis

F. Fishkin, Sept. 26, "With the swirling controversies surrounding robotaxis in San Francisco and beyond, some words of caution from Daniel Sperling. The University of California, Davis, founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies joins us for episode 336 of Smart Driving Cars. Plus Cruise, Waymo, Governor Newsome's climate lawsuit against oil, Tesla's Optimus robot and more.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 335 / PodCast 335 w Ariel Wolf, Venable Autonomous & Connected Mobility

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 334 / PodCast 334 Waymo autonomous vehicles safer than humans

F. Fishkin, Sept. 12, "Waymo and big re-insurer Swiss Re say Waymo's autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers. Tesla's Dojo supercomputer sends shares higher. Cruise Origin on verge of getting okay. No steering wheels or pedals. Episode 334 of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 333 / PodCast 333 The Dispatcher w/Michael Sena & Tampa-Moves Simulation w/Bryce Rasmussen'25

F. Fishkin, Aug. 30, "The Need for Driverless Vehicle Standards is the lead as The Dispatcher publisher Michael Sena joins us from Sweden for the latest Smart Driving Cars. More highlights from episode 333.. NHTSA, E-Fuels, China, Elon Musk demos the latest FSD and Bryce Rasmussen, Princeton '25, shows the results demo of the Interactive Person Trip Visualization tool from Princeton. Join Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin...and subscribe!

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 332 / PodCast 332 Right Market w/ Bryce Rasmussen'24

F. Fishkin, Aug. 24, "How can communities plan for autonomous mobility systems? There's a new Interactive Person Trip Visualization developed at Princeton University and Bryce Rasmussen, class of '25, shows us how it works. Episode 332 of Smart Driving Cars with Alain Kornhauser and Fred Fishkin. Plus..Cruise, Waymo, San Francisco, Tesla and more.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 331 / PodCast 331 Wrong Market

F. Fishkin, Aug. 21, Following a crash with an emergency vehicle and a request from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, GM Cruise cuts San Francisco robotaxi fleet in half. What Princeton's Alain Kornhauser suggests they should do next, plus Cruise losses, automated vehicle legal issues, Tesla and more. Tune in to Alain and co-host Fred Fishkin for the latest.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 330 / PodCast 3 30 CPUC decision

F. Fishkin, Aug. 12, "Robotaxi service in San Francisco gets the green light from the California PUC. Princeton's Alain Kornhauser outlines his testimony, where services go from here and more on episode 330 of Smart Driving Cars with co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus...the big UPS contract, Tesla and the continuing efforts develop automatic emergency braking that works.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 329 / PodCast 329 w/FL Senator Jeff Brandes & DASH's Shuan Drinkard

F. Fishkin, Aug. 7, "Tampa Downtown Partnership head Shaun Drinkard and Florida Policy Project Founder Jeff Brandes join Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for a look at the new Tampa DASH service that will provide affordable mobility with a Tesla fleet of vehicles. Plus a preview of the Florida AV Summit, the latest headlines on Cruise, Waymo, Tesla, Luminar, NuView and more. Smart Driving Cars 329!

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 328 / PodCast 328 w/ Wm. Cariss, Holman Growth Ventures +

Fishkin, Aug. 3, "On episode 328 of Smart Driving Cars, we're at the Holman Emerge conference in NJ focused on start-ups and the future of driving, dealerships and mobility. Guests include Holman CEO Carl Ortell, President Chris Conroy, Homan Growth Ventures CEO Bill Cariss and Spiffy founder Scott Wingo.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 327 / PodCast 327 Han's the Best!

F. Fishkin, July 29, "A SF Taxi Alliance Board member takes a Waymo ride and says he felt extra safe! That's on top on episode 327 of Smart Driving Cars. That plus the latest from Cruise, Tesla, Uber, SpaceX and more. Join Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for the latest in autonomous mobility.

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 326 / PodCast 326 San Francisco robotaxis gain support from disability advocates

F. Fishkin, July 24, "Some disability advocates are voicing support for expanded robotaxis in San Francisco, a SF paper pits Uber against Waymo in a race, Cruise begins testing in Miami, Tesla begins production of DOJO supercomputer and talks to a major automaker about licensing Full Self Driving. That and more on episode 326 of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin.

Recent Highlights of:

C. Farivar, Nov. 6, "Reeling from a month in which the California DMV yanked Cruise's permits for its self-driving robotaxis and the company paused all operations, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt held an all hands meeting Monday to explain how the company was planning to address concerns that its autonomous vehicles are not yet safe enough to operate. One of the very first announcements: pausing production of a fully autonomous van called the Origin, which Cruise parent company GM was planning to ramp up in the imminent future.

According to audio of the address obtained by Forbes, Vogt remarked on the company's recent decision to halt driverless operations across its entire autonomous vehicle fleet, telling staff that "because a lot of this is in flux, we did make the decision with GM to pause production of the Origin."? …" Read More

Monday, June 26 2023

State regulators track robotaxi collisions, but they don't track data on traffic flow issues, such as street blockages or interference with firetrucks.

PersonTripLength (90%tile): 10 miles

Cost:

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Friday, Nov. 10, 2023

44th edition of the 11th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 343 / PodCast 343 w/ Cyrus Farivar Forbes senior staff writer

F. Fishkin, Nov. 9, "So much Cruise news and not much of it good. Where do robotaxi's go from here? Forbes senior staff writer Cyrus Farivar joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus Waymo, Britain's Automated Vehicles Bill, Geely's Zeekr and more. Tune in and subscribe.

What shouldn't be forgotten from the past….

K. Pyle, June 7, 3019, "Could the robotaxi model that Tesla's Elon Musk has been touting be a successful approach for a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) model? After some recent first-hand experience with the Tesla driving experience, MaaS champion, Princeton's Dr. font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" title="Original URL: trust this link.">2019 SmartDrivingCar Summit, the importance of community acceptance of autonomous vehicles and, at approximately 03:55, the discussion of Tesla as a MaaS provider…." Read more

J. Eskenazi, Nov 6, "… Most people won't either, which explains why private transit to and from SFO is such a potential gold mine. When app-based ride-hail companies like Uber won the right to pick up and drop off San Francisco airport passengers it was a big, big deal. If and when autonomous vehicles can do the same — as they already can with Waymo in Phoenix, Arizona — that, too, would be huge.

Via public records requests, Mission Local obtained months of back-and-forths between SFO officials and Waymo employees hoping to get In California, driverless cars are regulated by both the state Public Utilities Commission and Department of Motor Vehicles, and it will require a number of steps on the statewide level to even get things to the point where SFO can give Waymo, Cruise, et al. the ability to do what Waymo is already doing in Phoenix. But, in the end, SFO is operated by the city — and this will loom large.

While SFO officials noted within the email exchanges that they were not yet on-board with the "phases" and timelines proposed by Waymo, they were okay with the company "mapping" the airport. This would entail a Waymo vehicle, operated by a human being, scanning the airport's roadways in advance of driverless vehicles rolling through autonomously in the future. …" Read more

A. L. Kolodny, Nov 6, "Cruise CEO and founder Kyle Vogt posted comments on Hacker News on Sunday responding to allegations that his company's robotaxis aren't really self-driving, but instead require frequent help from humans working in a remote operations center.

B. First, Vogt confirmed that the General Motors-owned company does have a remote assistance team, in response to a discussion under the header, "GM's Cruise alleged to rely on human operators to achieve 'autonomous' driving."

C. The CEO wrote, "Cruise AVs are being remotely assisted (RA) 2-4% of the time on average, in complex urban environments. This is low enough already that there isn't a huge cost benefit to optimizing much further, especially given how useful it is to have humans review things in certain situations." …" Read more

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D. The Waymo Team, Nov 6, "Experience is the best teacher, no matter if you're learning to drive a car or getting to know a new city. The Waymo Driver — our core set of technology comprised of hardware and software that enables autonomous driving — has multiple lifetimes of experience navigating the real world and helping people and things get where they're going safely. To bring the benefits of our technology to more people in more places and deliver on our mission to improve road safety, we take the Waymo Driver on road trips to regions where the driving culture and conditions differ from the areas we regularly operate.. …" Read more

F. N. Nishant, Nov 9, " China's Zeekr Intelligent revealed wider losses for the first half of the year on Thursday, as the electric car brand made its paperwork public for a stock market listing in New York and said it hoped to use funds raised to expand its product line.

G. Zeekr, owned by Chinese automaker Geely Auto (0175.HK), had confidentially filed for its initial public offering (IPO) in December last year.

H. The filing confirms a report from Reuters on Thursday, which said Zeekr was looking to make its IPO prospectus public this week. Shares in Geely (0175.HK), Zeekr's parent, fell by more than 2.5% in morning trading on the news of the listing… ". Read more

J. Fujita, Nov 9, "A top executive for Alphabet-owned (GOOG,GOOGL) Waymo doubled down on the safety of self-driving cars, even as rival Cruise, the autonomous vehicle venture owned by General Motors (GM), faces increased scrutiny over its technology in the face of recent incidents.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, chief product officer Saswat Panigrahi pointed to Waymo's track record, saying that its first million miles of rides have shown no injuries and no contact with pedestrians and cyclists, proving autonomous driving's value.

"The safety case alone is sufficient because I don't think we should be accepting something that kills 40,000 people a year in a developed market," said Panigrahi, pointing to the number of car accidents caused by human drivers. "I think that alone is a sufficient case to be going all in [on autonomous vehicles]."…

Panigrahi explained that the company has virtually simulated driving billions of miles using software prior to launch and continues to have the equivalent of 25,000 Waymo cars testing a myriad of scenarios to ensure safety. …" Read more

Alex Baker, Nov 6, " he American Red Cross will be partnering with Waymo to conduct a blood drive in the Bay Area next week, the organization announced Monday. The week-long blood drive will be held in response to a national blood shortage, the Red Cross said…

Waymo will be offering free rides to and from the Red Cross 1663 Market Street donation center in San Francisco for registered users, the Red Cross said. The initiative is part of a new partnership between the Red Cross and Waymo."…" Read more

D. Friedman, Nov 7, "If you got in a taxi in New York City between 1997 and 2003, you were greeted with the recorded voice of a celebrity reminding you to buckle up. When you left, the same celebrity reminded you to make sure you don't forget anything, and get a receipt.

I wanted to hear these again recently, just out of nostalgia. But I couldn't find them archived anywhere online. So I did a little digging in old articles to find someone who worked on the project back then at Taxi and Limousine Commission and might still have them. I found a name and managed to contact him, but he didn't have the recordings. He was thrilled to be remembered for this old project, though, and said, "You know who you should really talk to?"…" Read more

Ali Smout, Nov. 7, "- Britain will make the makers rather than the owners of self-driving cars legally liable for any crashes under a framework for developing autonomous vehicles (AV), the government said on Tuesday, in a move welcomed by insurers and AV startups.

King Charles said the government would bring forward an Automated Vehicles Bill as he set out the government's legislative agenda for the forthcoming parliamentary session, after one promised last year did not materialise.… ". Read more

The unions, including the Transportation Trades Department, Transport Workers Union of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and United Auto Workers, cited the recent investigation into General Motors' (GM.N) self-driving Cruise unit and California's decision to suspend Cruise testing.

Driverless vehicles "are unsafe and untenable in their current form. This industry is in dire need of federal regulation and leadership to restore a modicum of safety and establish a realistic path for these vehicles to operate without threatening other road users," they said in a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Ann Carlson, acting administrator at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The letter also said workers are facing safety issues from robotaxis."…" Read more

Website post:, Nov 7, "The second flight test of a fully integrated Starship could launch as soon as mid-November, pending regulatory approval.

A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our X account for updates…." ."…" Read more

M. Wall, Nov 7. " The impressive flight cadence of Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity space plane won't last much longer.

Unity flew for the sixth time in as many months last week, carrying two research scientists and another private passenger to and from suborbital space on a mission called Galactic 05.

Unity will now get a bit of a break, staying out of the skies until January 2024, Virgin Galactic representatives have said. The spacecraft will then make an even bigger transition, flying just once or twice more before being grounded in mid-2024, according to SpaceNews, which cited an earnings call the company held on Wednesday (Nov. 8)….

As a result, every Delta space plane will be able to generate 12 times more revenue per month than Unity can, Colglazier said, according to SpaceNews. (Virgin Galactic is currently charging $450,000 for each seat on its suborbital missions.) So speeding the transition to the new line of vehicles makes financial sense…." Read more

R. Mauer, Nov. 9, " ➤ TSLA stock falls after analyst initiates coverage ➤ President Biden supports efforts to unionize Tesla ➤ Highland Model 3 production for October ➤ Tesla reportedly establishes entity in Chile ➤ Elon Musk interviewed by Lex Fridman: https://youtu.be/JN3KPFbWCy8 ➤ Tesla recalls some Model S/X vehicles ➤ Tesla reportedly plans Chicago service center ➤ Polestar updates 2025 guidance ➤ VW pauses EV production again ➤ SpaceX appears to begin equipping Starship FTS; Read more

istserv

Conference

San Jose, CA

6th SmartDrivingCar

Summit

May 29 (evening) -> May 31, 2024

Princeton, NJ

Previous SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast/PodCasts

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 342 / PodCast 342 w/Michael Sena, Editor of The Dispatcher

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 341 / PodCast 341 w/Russ Mitchell, Correspondent LA Times

Phoenix

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 340 / PodCast 340 w/ Michael Sena, Dispatch Central – November 2023.. Critical Materials as Competitive Weapons

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 339 / PodCast 339 driverless communication, Gates invests, Tesla battery production

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 338 / PodCast 338 Waymo, Costs of Car Ownership, Tesla, Lyft and more

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 337 / PodCast 337 Driveless Cars a Tough Sell?

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 336 / PodCast 336 w Prof. Dan Sperling, UC Davis

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 335 / PodCast 335 w Ariel Wolf, Venable Autonomous & Connected Mobility

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 334 / PodCast 334 Waymo autonomous vehicles safer than humans

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 333 / PodCast 333 The Dispatcher w/Michael Sena & Tampa-Moves Simulation w/Bryce Rasmussen'25

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 332 / PodCast 332 Right Market w/ Bryce Rasmussen'24

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 331 / PodCast 331 Wrong Market

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 330 / PodCast 3 30 CPUC decision

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 329 / PodCast 329 w/FL Senator Jeff Brandes & DASH's Shuan Drinkard

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 328 / PodCast 328 w/ Wm. Cariss, Holman Growth Ventures +

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 327 / PodCast 327 Han's the Best!

SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 326 / PodCast 326 San Francisco robotaxis gain support from disability advocates

Recent Highlights of:

Friday, Nov. 3, 2023

M. Sena, Oct 28, ", Oct. 25, "Two-and-a-half months after I came home to Sweden from my May "Searching for America" trip, which took me through New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, I returned for a second tour of duty. This one was during the last two weeks in July, and it took me from Sweden to Boston, up to Canada, and back. I was carried in cars (mostly SUVs and pick-up trucks, all ICEs), buses, planes (including the kind that land on water), boats, all terrain vehicles, and my own two feet (mostly clad in wading boots) to my many destinations. The trains got me to and from Copenhagen, my point of departure from Europe. The main purpose of this trip was to go fishing with my good friend and fishing partner for the past forty-nine years, whom I had not seen in five years. We went to a river in Labrador where we had fished together between 1986 and 1996. We decided to give it one last try. I found that everyone I met on this trip is still making their choice of transport based on their own particular needs and desires, and not being influenced by either climate change activists or climate change deniers. They are asking themselves what is the best transport option that satisfies the combination of lowest cost, most convenience, greatest comfort, and fastest speed of arrival, and which fits with current conditions of time of year, weather, and time of day? I am fully aware that I didn't need to travel to the U.S. and Canada to spend a few days fishing in the wilderness of Labrador. People do a lot of things they do not NEED to do. Do I feel better for having done it? Yes, for more reasons than I can list or explain, even to myself. I am happy to have spent the money for this trip in a way that gives people work, and to have had the experience of seeing in person my dearest friends. What else is life for? …" Read more

Sunday, Oct. 30, 2023

S. Aquino, Oct. 25, " … As someone who has covered both Cruise and Waymo for this column on multiple occasions, and especially as someone who has low vision, I fully admit to feeling frustration over the myopic viewpoint dominating this issue. It should be obvious safety is an important aspect of developing, deploying, and ultimately riding in an autonomous vehicle. Of course people want to be as safe as possible. The problem is nobody accepts safety is but one side of the coin; there is another consideration to take into account that people are predictably—infuriatingly so—missing.

That consideration, as ever, is accessibility.

While members of the disability community have raised safety concerns, the strident opposition by many in City Hall (and, again, residents) to autonomous vehicles overlooks the very real, and very valid, accessibility benefits of using so-called "robotaxis." The reality is, to claim the concerns are paramountly about safety helps obfuscate any general ignorance towards how disabled people get around. The protestors and naysayers yell and scream about how awful companies such as Cruise are because they can—they're able to drive their cars or walk down the street or take the bus or otherwise get here and there about town with resistance. Their lifestyle, and more pointedly, their privilege, is such they believe there are other, friendlier, more feasible modes of transportation that ostensibly "everyone" can access in equal favor…" Read more

Friday, Oct. 20, 2023

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N. Boudette, Oct. 18, "As a 25-year-old junior executive at the car company that bears his last name, William Clay Ford Jr '79. had a bracing introduction to labor negotiations when a union official demanded that he stand up and vouch that he was made of the same stuff as his great-grandfather Henry Ford.

Mr. Ford, now the company's executive chair, harked back to the moment in an interview this week about how he and his company are navigating one of their most difficult labor negotiations in decades.

In a speech this week, Mr. Ford said the strikes were helping nonunion automakers like Tesla, Toyota and Honda. Mr. Fain responded that workers at those companies were future U.A.W. members.

In an interview after his speech, Mr. Ford said he had been counseling his executives not to let Mr. Fain's words get to them and focus on getting a deal done. Mr. Ford also recalled his first difficult conversation with a union official.

In 1982, Mr. Ford said, his father invited him to sit in the room for talks with the U.A.W. As a newcomer, he was not allotted a seat at a table where about 50 union negotiators sat on one side and an equal number of Ford executives on the other.

Sitting against the wall, he was approached by an older union representative. "You, stand up," the man said. "What are you made of? I knew your great-grandfather and your grandfather. I knew what they were made of. What the hell are you made of?"

Mr. Ford said he had replied sheepishly that he had never known his great-grandfather and grandfather but that he shared their values. Similar confrontations followed daily — "I lived in terror of going to work," Mr. Ford said.

Then about a week later, the union officials invited him to a local bar. "Come with us," Mr. Ford said they had told him. "You passed the test."…

Have you been involved in any talks that are comparable to the current negotiations?

No, but every negotiation is different, and every leader is different. What I keep saying to our executives is: 'Don't take this personally. A lot of it is theater. The most important thing is get the deal done. The rhetoric doesn't matter.' Every negotiation is a roller coaster. Some are not pleasant, and some sting. Don't overreact. And when it's all over, we are still one team again, and have to go forward.

Are you going to be on the same team at the end of these talks?

I believe we will. I know many on their negotiating team personally, and some of them, I play hockey with them and consider them very close friends.

You've said the real competition is not U.A.W. vs. Ford but the U.A.W. and Ford against Toyota, Honda, Tesla and the Chinese automakers. Do you think the union's leadership agrees with that?

I hope so, because if they don't, it will be catastrophic. They can have disagreements with us and bargain hard, but we are not the enemy. I will never consider our employees the enemy. I think the employees know who the real competition is, and they will come together with us when this is over. We made a conscious decision to add jobs here in America when our competitors were moving production to Mexico...." Read more

Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023

Staff, Oct. 7, "…" Read more

Staff, Oct 7, "…" Read more

Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

C. Friedersdif, Sept. 27, "Last week, I asked for your thoughts on self-driving cars.

Replies have been edited for length and clarity….

"Our century-long love affair with all things automotive dooms the driverless concept to a niche market," one reader argues…." Read more

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023

D. Sperling, Sept. 17, "Skepticism, frustration, and even hostility met the California Public Utilities Commission's decision last month to grant Waymo and Cruise permission to operate automated vehicles in San Francisco. The panic over AVs threatens to drown out the voices of those celebrating this technological advancement.

As transportation researchers, we aim to present pathways that embrace technological progress and improve public transportation while being mindful of the cynicism. AVs are not the panacea to all transportation troubles, but let's not discard this valuable innovation just yet. …

….AV companies have invested tens of billions of dollars testing this technology with the goal of improving safety and accessibility. Now it is time for better policies that will enable scaling of this technology in a way that is in the public interest — that will improve safety for occupants and pedestrians, enable sharing, and provide greater accessibility to all riders. " Read more

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023

F. Fishkin, Sept. 17, "….NHTSA says nearly half of all car seats to protect child safety are incorrectly installed. Acting Administrator Ann Carlson says the agency is offering help during Child Passenger Safety Week. How? Carlson chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin...

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023

Company News, Sept 6, "Waymo and Swiss Re, one of the world's leading reinsurers, partnered in 2022 to advance risk assessment methodologies and approaches to evaluating safety of autonomous vehicles.

Today, we're sharing new research led by Swiss Re which shows Waymo's autonomous vehicles are significantly safer than those driven by humans. In the over 3.8 million miles that Waymo drove without a human behind the steering wheel across San Francisco, CA and Phoenix, AZ, there were zero bodily injury claims and a significant reduction in the property damage claims frequency.

While the research community and general public have long asked whether an autonomous driver is safer than human drivers, the industry has faced challenges in developing a robust and well-calibrated human performance benchmark for comparison. This study addresses these challenges by establishing a comparison baseline based on liability insurance claims data.

The study compares Waymo's liability claims data with mileage- and zip-code-calibrated private passenger vehicle (human driver) baselines established by Swiss Re. Based on Swiss Re's data from over 600,000 claims and over 125 billion miles of exposure, these baselines are extremely robust and highly significant.

The findings indicate that in comparison to the Swiss Re human driver baseline, the Waymo Driver — Waymo's fully autonomous driving technology — significantly reduced the frequency of property damage claims by 76% (a decrease from 3.26 to 0.78 claims per million miles) when compared to human drivers. Furthermore, it completely eliminated bodily injury claims, a drastic contrast to the Swiss Re human driver baseline of 1.11 claims per million miles…." Read more

Wednesday, August 31, 2023

Tesla FSD v12: Breakthrough We've Been Waiting For?

Rob Mauer, Aug. 28, "➤ Elon Musk livestreams Tesla's FSD Beta v12 ➤ Tesla compute capacity updates ➤ Hardware 4 information ➤ Highland / Cybertruck updates ➤ Tesla lithium refinery progress ➤ Megapack price reduction ➤ Piper Sandler issues note on TSLA ➤ Calendar." Read more

Brighter w/Herbert, Aug. 25, ""Elon Musk just livestreamed his Full Self Driving of V12 around Palo Alto Ashok Elluswamy Director of AI was with him". Read more

GM-backed Cruise is "just days away" from regulatory approval to begin mass production of its fully autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals, the company's CEO, Kyle Vogt, said at an investor conference Thursday.

Cruise first unveiled the Origin robotaxi in early 2020 as a bus-like vehicle built for the sole purpose of shuttling people around in a city autonomously. But since then, the company has been mired in a lengthy regulatory process before it can begin mass production.

The vehicle's lack of traditional human controls means that Cruise needs an exemption from the federal government's motor vehicle safety standards, which require vehicles to have a steering wheel and pedals. The Origin has neither.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) only grants 2,500 such exemptions a year. There is legislation to increase that number to 25,000, but it is currently stalled in the Senate.

Friday, August 25, 2023

T. Mickie, Aug 21, " "Hello, Tripp," a disembodied woman's voice said through the speakers of a driverless taxi that was about to pick up a fare near the colorful Victorian houses known as the Painted Ladies.

"This experience may feel futuristic," the voice said. "Please don't touch the steering wheel or pedals during the ride. For any questions, you can find information in the Waymo app, like how we keep our cars safe or clean."

For several years, San Francisco's hilly and congested streets have doubled as a test track for hundreds of driverless cars operated by Waymo, an autonomous vehicle company owned by the Google parent company Alphabet, and General Motors-owned Cruise…. " Read more

Monday, August 21, 2023

B. Wang, Aug. 15, "GM's Cruise robotaxi service has expanded from 70 to 300 robotaxis operating in San Francisco and will soon expand to Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin and Dubai. GM Cruise had increasing losses of $561 million in the first quarter of 2023. This will be over $2 billion in losses in 2023. GM Cruise will having increasing billions in net losses until they reach profitable scale. IF GM Cruise grows revenue by 1000 to 2000 times (100,000% to 200,000%) by 2030 and achieves operational and financial efficiency then it would become very profitable. Robotaxi's must continue to undercut Uber, taxi and public transit pricing to get the market share. This will take perhaps $100 billion or much more cumulative losses to finally reach profitability.

Waymo financials is in Google Other Bets and were a lot of the Other Bet losses of $4.8 billion in 2020 and $5.2 billion in 2021 and $6B in 2022. Morgan Stanley analysts valued Waymo at $175 billion in 2018, $105 billion in Sept 2019 and the Waymo valuation estimate in 2023 is $30 billion…." Read more

Saturday, August 12, 2023

M. Kupfer & I. Mojadad, Aug. 10, "San Francisco will enter a new era of driverless cars—whether residents and city leaders like it or not—after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) gave autonomous vehicle companies Cruise and Waymo the green light for unlimited expansion on Thursday.

In a 3-1 vote, the commission ruled to allow the companies to operate across the city 24/7 and charge passengers for the ride.

Commission President Alice Reynolds and commissioners Darcie Houck and John Reynolds voted in favor of resolutions allowing the companies to expand their operations. Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma opposed the resolution, saying that the CPUC lacked sufficient information to evaluate the safety of autonomous vehicles and their impact on first responders.

Driverless Cruise and Waymo cars have long circulated through San Francisco and even ferried passengers through the city streets. But, until now, their operations have remained limited.

Cruise has been allowed to charge fares for rides between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and offer free rides at all other times. Waymo has only been allowed to charge for rides with a human safety driver in the vehicle.

Now both companies will be able to grow their operations in San Francisco....

A Long Meeting With Passionate Comments:

Thursday's session started at 11 a.m., with the commission hearing hours of public comment and ultimately voting on two resolutions to allow Cruise and Waymo to operate across the city 24/7 and charge passengers for rides.

A long line of supporters and opponents waited on Van Ness Avenue to enter the commission building ahead of the meeting.

.…." Read more

Monday, August 07, 2023

Andrew Harlan, July 31, "The Tampa Downtown Partnership announced the launch of DASH, a new service featuring Tesla SUVs that will carry folks to 20 different spots around Tampa. The trip will cost just a few dollars, and an official route map will be revealed later in August.

DASH is described as an innovative new option to travel around fast-growing Downtown Tampa. This service will zip passengers through the city with low-cost shared rides between more than 20 different hubs located across Downtown…." Read more

Monday, July 31, 2023

H. Li, July 27, "Barry Taranto doesn't feel any immediate threat to his livelihood from the rise of the driverless car. But this long-time San Francisco taxi driver is still angry that they exist.

As a board member of the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance, Taranto has been an outspoken critic of Uber and Lyft. But now, he finds himself again besieged by brand-new technology on the road.

"The city is a mess," Taranto said. "Adding these autonomous vehicles is going to cause more congestion."

As part of The Standard's series on the rising trend of driverless cars in San Francisco, we took Taranto on a ride—his first—to see what he thought about the experience.

As part of The Standard's series on the rising trend of driverless cars in San Francisco, we took Taranto on a ride—his first—to see what he thought about the experience. … here we go again, Han is trying to sabotage Waymo & Cruise again. So sad!...

"I'm interested to see how this particular vehicle handles different situations," he told The Standard, "especially during the daytime." …

Amid busy daytime traffic, the ride was a bit challenging, but the small SUV traveled smoothly and slowly through San Francisco's complex topography.

"I've dealt with [passengers] getting upset that you are driving so cautiously that you're stopping at practically every light," Taranto said, criticizing the Waymo's slow speed— most of the time under 30 mph. In San Francisco's dense area, many streets have a 25 to 30 mph legal speed limit. … What does Taranto do to not stop for red lights, go through them? I'm sure he doesn't! He likely works hard to reassure his customer to relax and that they'll be fine! …

However, Taranto admitted to a feeling of extra safety. … Wow! Bingo!!! "Turing Proof-of-Technology" passed by Taranto with an "extra safe"! Wow!!... (my emphasis). " Read more

Monday, July 24, 2023

M. Dickey, July 21, "San Francisco's LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired is among a group of community organizations urging state regulators to approve Waymo's permit that would enable the self-driving car company to receive payments for its around-the-clock service in San Francisco.

Why it matters: Community organizations that advocate on behalf of people with disabilities argue autonomous vehicles are safer and provide more accessibility and independence than traditional ride-hailing services, and hope the permit will encourage expanded services.

What's happening: In an open letter posted Friday, more than a dozen community advocacy groups urged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to "approve Waymo's permit at the earliest possible opportunity," arguing driverless cars "can ensure this next generation of transportation is more inclusive than ever."

In addition to LightHouse, other groups include the San Francisco LGBT Center, Self-Help for the Elderly and the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California.

Friday, July 14, 2023

Editorial: Cruise and Waymo have passed the "Turing (Kornhauser) Test" for Proof-of-Technology

A. Kornhauser, July 14,"Happy Bastille Day! " What a day for me to write my first editorial. Fane 24 begins its Bastille Day: A brief history of France's July 14 national holiday… "Bastille Day" is known in France simply as "le Quatorze Juillet", a reference to the date on which it is held. July 14 became an official national holiday in 1880 to commemorate key turning points in French history. … Today, July 14, 2023, commemorates for me the turning point in autonomousTaxi (aka aTaxi, roboTaxi) history to commemorate aTaxi's passage of the "Turing (Kornhauser) proof-of-technology" test, as written in Wikipedia… "The Turing test, originally called the imitation game by Alan Turing in 1950,[2] is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Turing proposed that a human evaluator would judge natural language conversations between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like responses. …" …

Kornhauser's "Proof-of-Technology" version of the Turing Test, as it might appear in Wikipedia, would be "… a machine's ability to give a ride equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Kornhauser proposed that a human evaluator would judge rides given in an Operational Design Domain between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like rides given in that Operational Design Domain. …"

After spending three days in San Francisco listening to and engaging in discussions describing the testing of driverless cars by Cruise and Waymo, and getting rides given by humans and by machines designed to give human-like rides, I've come to the conclusion that, if I kept my eyes closed, I could not tell if a human or a machine was giving me the ride. Rides were indistinguishable. Furthermore, since their simulations and data-supported real-world testing experience have more than satisfied the safety equivalence condition by exceeding it, I can declare that both Cruise and Waymo have passed the "Turing (Kornhauser) Proof-of-Technology Test"

That is an enormous accomplishment. I for one/many/most/essentiallyAll New Jerseyians can't wait for Cruise and/or Waymo to assemble sufficient machines, adjust them to address some of the quirks of a Trenton/Mercer County ODD, a Perth Amboy/Middlesex County ODD, a Patterson/Pasaic County ODD, a Newark/Essex County ODD… and offer human-like rides to us. I'm certain Cruise and/or Waymo will find us grateful, thankful, appreciative of the improved quality-of-life that they'll be able to profitably deliver to so many of us in New Jersey. By coming to New Jersey, they'll go beyond the "Turing (Kornhauser) Proof-of-Technology" test to pass the "Kornhauser Proof-of-Market" Test. Alain

Monday, June 26 2023

F. Fishkin, July 4, "Would you want to own a car that would simply stop most accidents from happening? What about having that kind of car for your children? At Princeton University, the faculty chair of autonomous vehicle engineering, Alain Kornhauser, my co-host on the Smart Driving Cars podcast…says many vehicles today are equipped with enough technology or could be equipped with enough technology, to simply not permit excessive speeding, tailgating and other forms of reckless driving and could prevent the vast majority of collisions…along with the associated deaths, injuries and costs. The question to ponder is….is that something we want as a society? The technology is ready and waiting. The many who have suffered injuries or lost loved ones…would likely say yes. What about you? What about regulators and carmakers? …" Read more

Monday, June 26 2023

R. Mitchell, June 26, "Robotaxis keep tangling with firefighters on the streets of San Francisco, and the fire chief is fed up.

"They're not ready for prime time," Chief Jeanine Nicholson said….

State regulators track robotaxi collisions, but they don't track data on traffic flow issues, such as street blockages or interference with firetrucks.

But the Fire Department does. Since Jan. 1, the Fire Department has logged at least 39 robotaxi incident reports…

State regulators track robotaxi collisions, but they don't track data on traffic flow issues, such as street blockages or interference with firetrucks.

The Fire Department incidents include reports of robotaxis:…

Safety data censored

In 2021, the DMV joined with Waymo on a court-approved dealto allow driverless car companies to censor not only trade secrets but basic information on safety performance, including most details of collision reports as well as information on how the company handles driverless car emergencies

The industry is tight with the information it releases to the public about its operations on public roads.

Waymo won't say how many cars it runs in San Francisco. Cruise said it operates 150 to 300 cars but won't be more precise. Neither company will say how large its fleet will grow, or how quickly. Neither Waymo nor Motional will say how many robotaxis they're testing in Santa Monica and L.A…." Read more

Wednesday, June 21 2023

K. Pyle, June 14, "A benefit of travel is the random conversations with strangers that cause one to look at the world in a slightly different way. For instance, standing in the airport security line this week, a lady from Little Rock, AR explained that Uber and Lyft no longer serve the hometown of the Bill Clinton Presidential Library.

[Fact check, according to its website, Lyft and Uber, as well as other local providers serve the Clinton National Airport.]

She said their apps indicated that their respective services were not available. She believes this happened as a result of the pandemic.

She described the taxi service in the Little Rock area as "awful". It takes an hour and a half to get one. She also doesn't feel safe in a taxi especially compared to Uber/Lyft…

If her perception of the limited mobility choices is representative of the population, perhaps Little Rock would be a great use case for a driverless service. I forwarded this question to Princeton Professor Kornhauser and Michele Lee of Cruise for them to ponder and look forward to any feedback they might have (Kornhauser comments about this in the latest SmartDrivingCars podcast).

As background, the three of us serendipitously converged at CES2023 and talked about mobility challenges. In a soundbite from that interview, Lee explains the challenges and opportunities for improving mobility and questions whether she could make the journey to Alain's house. There are glimpses of her entering and securing her wheelchair in the Cruise, driverless Origin vehicle…." Read more

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Axios events, June,7, "On Wednesday, June 7 in Washington, D.C., Axios transportation correspondent Joann Muller and business reporter Nathan Bomey hosted conversations exploring the growth of the American autonomous vehicle industry. Guests included Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), and National Disability Institute director of health equity Elizabeth Layman. A View from the Top sponsored segment featured Cruise chief legal and policy officer Jeff Bleich….

Rep. Bob Latta discussed how driver safety is informing congressional efforts to accelerate autonomous vehicle regulation.

1. On rising deaths from traffic accidents due to driver error:…

Sen. Gary Peters highlighted strong U.S. ambitions to lead in developing the technologies needed to support the growth of a domestic autonomous vehicle industry.

1. On competition to be a leader in the future of mobility:…

Elizabeth Layman explained how autonomous vehicles could expand job prospects for people with disabilities in providing more options for transportation.

1. On a recent National Disability Research report studying the impacts of AVs for people with disabilities:…"

Friday, June 2, 2023

Press release, May 31, "The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would require automatic emergency braking and pedestrian AEB systems on passenger cars and light trucks. The proposed rule is expected to dramatically reduce crashes associated with pedestrians and rear-end crashes.

NHTSA projects that this proposed rule, if finalized, would save at least 360 lives a year and reduce injuries by at least 24,000 annually. In addition, these AEB systems would result in significant reductions in property damage caused by rear-end crashes. Many crashes would be avoided altogether, while others would be less destructive.

"Today, we take an important step forward to save lives and make our roadways safer for all Americans," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. "Just as lifesaving innovations from previous generations like seat belts and air bags have helped improve safety, requiring automatic emergency braking on cars and trucks would keep all of us safer on our roads." …" Read more

Friday, May 19, 2023

Chunka Mui, April 28, "If you're trying to decide how to invest in Generative AI and ChatGPT, take special heed of Amara's Law,

We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.

This caution is especially warranted for technologies that rocket so quickly from research playthings to media headlines, like ChatGPT.

Don't succumb to the hype or the hysteria. Don't be complacent, either. Instead, before making any big decisions or strategic investments, take time to understand the technology and its applications, implications and limitations from your own organizational and personal context. And to really understand it, remember the observation of Marvin Minsky, the cognitive scientist and cofounder of the MIT AI Laboratory:

You don't really understand something if you only understand it one way…." Read more

3. 6 Words to Focus Your AI Innovation Strategy

Hope you enjoy them. Please like, share and comment if you can. That really helps the bots know to spread the word (and would have made my mom smile).

Cheers, and may every day be a Happy Mother's Day for all the moms in your life." I couldn't agree more. Alain

Friday, May 12, 2023

K. Korosec, May 4, "Waymo is doubling its commercial robotaxi service area in the Phoenix metro area, an expansion that will add new suburbs and connect previously isolated sections of the sprawling and car-dependent desert city.… " Read more

Thursday, May 4, 2023

The Road to Autonomy, April 25. "The Road to Autonomy®, a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles and logistics, has selected S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) to be the custom calculation agent for The Road to Autonomy Index (ticker: AUTONOMY) and The Road to Autonomy Total Return Index (ticker: AUTOMYTR). The Road to Autonomy Index, comprised of 38 publicly-traded companies, measures the performance of the autonomous vehicle and logistics ecosystems, including autonomous vehicles, trucks and off-road specialty vehicles, as well as transportation, technology, industrial and services companies that have identified autonomy as a key component of their growth strategies.

"The Road to Autonomy Index provides a comprehensive view into this dynamic sector that is poised to shape the future of how we live and work," said Grayson Brulte, founder and chief executive officer of The Road to Autonomy. "Our unmatched knowledge of the industry and the influences that drive it give us unique perspective into its potential, and our partnership with S&P DJI provides a foundation of integrity and transparency for the Index."… " Read more

Thursday, April 20, 2023

As Appears in the NY Times (& CNN)

April 20, 2023, "...

" Read more

R. Bishop, March 30, "The John Deere Company wowed the crowds at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in January with their high-tech agricultural equipment. At their exhibit, heads craned upward in awe to take in the 120 ft boom of their precision spraying technology, straddled atop a massive tractor. At the CES 2022, Deere & Company introduced a fully autonomous tractor.

In the months since CES, we've seen multi-faceted challenges for companies seeking to transform road-running Automated Driving Systems (ADS) into a profitable business. ADS developer Embark announced a shutdown and Locomation appears to be on the same path. The mood of investors is uncertain, especially given troubles in the banking sector.

Against this backdrop, the off-road world is becoming increasingly interesting for companies developing autonomy. Caterpillar and Komatsu brought the first commercial ADS's to mining operations well over a decade ago. At that time, although the tech was very expensive, a business case could be made for equipping the huge mine-hauling trucks at open pit mines.

Since that time, thanks to the tidal wave of AV development for passenger cars, trucks, robo-shuttles, delivery robots, and more, the tech cost has now come down to reasonable levels for other types of industrial operations. Plus, the tech robustness has progressed by leaps and bounds. The result? Use cases are expanding rapidly in areas such as agriculture and construction. For this article, I'll dig into the Ag space to examine the linkages with on-road autonomy…." Read more

Friday, March 24, 2023

ITU 2023 Future Networked Car Symposium: Automated Driving Systems (ADS) for Consumers and Other Vehicles (Trucks, Delivery, Shuttles, Robotaxis, Etc.)

R. Lanctot, March 12, " Full automation of the driving task appears tantalizingly close. Multiple use cases are emerging simultaneously, revealing potential paths to market adoption and consumer acceptance. The evolution of these use cases will determine the future of ADS. This panel will review the emerging ADS applications – consumer vehicles, commercial vehicles, delivery vehicles, shuttles, robotaxis – to better understand the challenges and opportunities associated with ADS technology and the state of development and market adoption.…." Read more

Sunday, March 19, 2023

ITU 2023 Future Networked Car Symposium: Session 2: Using Automotive Artificial Intelligence to Improve Vehicle Safety, Services and Transport Management

M. Sena, March 11., " …During the next 3 h our panel of experts will discuss the topic of automated automotive artificial intelligence which is artificial intelligence applied to vehicle safety services, and transport management. I guarantee you they will do a much better job than ChatGPT or I'll personally refund your attendance fees.

The generally accepted definition of artificial intelligence or AI is the application of computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision making capabilities of the human mind…."Read more

Monday, March 13, 2023

LabPadre, March 12, "This week at Starbase Raptor installation begins on Booster 9, construction continues on Ships 28 and 30, Ship 26 is parked at the ring yard and the nosecone test article is set to Massey's test site, while at Cape Canaveral SpaceX maintains a blinding pace of launch and recovery operations, ULA's first Vulcan rocket begins testing, and we review a new batch of flyover photos courtesy of Greg Scott…." Read more

MasaSpaceflight, Live, "Starship is SpaceX's fully reusable launch system which is being developed at Starbase in Cameron County, Texas. Starbase LIVE provides 24/7 coverage of the exciting developments and testing progress…." Read more

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Press release, March 6, "Today, General Motors unveiled Ultra Cruise, an all-new, advanced driver-assistance technology and significant next step in the company's journey to enable its goal of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion. Designed to ultimately enable hands-free driving in 95 percent of all driving scenarios, Ultra Cruise eventually can be used on every paved road in the U.S. and Canada.

Ultra Cruise will cover more than 2 million miles of roads at launch in the United States and Canada, with the capacity to grow up to more than 3.4 million miles. Customers will be able to travel truly hands free with Ultra Cruise across nearly every road including city streets, subdivision streets and paved rural roads, in addition to highways.….

GM's two hands-free advanced driver-assist systems will coexist in the company's lineup with Super Cruise available on more mainstream vehicles and Ultra Cruise reserved for premium entries.

"The combination of Ultra Cruise for premium offerings and Super Cruise for lower-cost products will enable us to offer driver-assist technology across price points and segments," said Parks....

Always pay attention while driving and when using Ultra Cruise and Super Cruise. Do not use a hand-held device. …. " Read more

Friday, March 03, 2023

The Waymo team, Feb 28, "Waymo has achieved many global industry firsts. Each time we delight our riders and deliver on our mission safely, we are proudest. In January, we accomplished another first: we exceeded one million miles on public roads with no human behind the wheel. …

To provide a more in-depth look into the performance of the Waymo Driver and where it stands compared to human driving, we've published a research paper that summarizes the contact events that we experienced during the first one million miles of our rider-only operations….

T. Victor, et al. "Safety Performance of the Waymo Rider-Only Automated Driving System at One Million Miles"

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the safety performance of the Waymo Driver™, Waymo's Automated Driving System (ADS). It analyzes one million miles of driving on public roads in parts of California and Arizona with no human behind the wheel– what we call rider-only (RO) operations. There were no reported injuries, and only two collisions that were comparable to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Crash Investigation Sampling System ("CISS"), a nationally representative collision database of collisions that were police reported and in which at least one vehicle was towed. There were an additional 18 minor-contact events that were too minor to meet the tow-away and police-report criteria for CISS, where nine of these 20 contact events had no damage….

The first event that occurred had the highest severity of the 20 contact events: … In this event, the Waymo vehicle was struck in the rear while slowing for a red light by a car driven by a teenage driver. Rearward facing video recorded by the ADS suggests the driver of the other vehicle was looking at a cell phone held near the steering wheel immediately prior to the collision…. " Read more

Friday, February 17, 2023

C. Metz, Feb. 15, Last fall, Missy Cummings sent a document to her colleagues at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that revealed a surprising trend: When people using advanced driver-assistance systems die or are injured in a car crash, they are more likely to have been speeding than people driving cars on their own.

The two-page analysis of nearly 400 crashes involving systems like Tesla's Autopilot and General Motors' Super Cruise is far from conclusive. But it raises fresh questions about the technologies that have been installed in hundreds of thousands of cars on U.S. roads. Dr. Cummings said the data indicated that drivers were becoming too confident in the systems' abilities and that automakers and regulators should restrict when and how the technology was used.

People "are over-trusting the technology," she said. "They are letting the cars speed. And they are getting into accidents that are seriously injuring them or killing them."…" Read more

K. Truong, Jan 30, "Firefighters were battling a major house fire near the intersection of Hayes and Divisadero streets early in the morning of Jan. 22 when a Cruise vehicle with no safety driver started to creep its way into the emergency scene.

Two firefighters stood in front of the car to prevent the vehicle from driving over hoses used to douse the growing inferno, but that didn't work. As the car continued to inch forward, one firefighter took quick action and smashed the vehicle's front window, finally bringing the car to a stop. First responders contacted Cruise, who sent workers to move the vehicle out of the way. …

That was just one of 92 unique incidents between May 29 and Dec. 31—mainly from Cruise—cited by San Francisco transit officials, who are strongly urging for tighter oversight as "robotaxi" services look to massively expand their operations…

Alain Kornhauser, … pinned the companies' missteps on an effort to grab market share from Lyft and Uber rather than solving for transportation gaps.

"To me, the shame of these companies is that they have a solution, and they are still looking for a problem," Kornhauser said. "The objective of this is not a selfie in a self-driving car; it's to provide mobility to folks who don't have it and ultimately improve their quality of life."… Read more

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

J. Billam, Feb. 11 '22, "I show my wild experience riding Nairobi's Craziest Matatu (local bus) bound for Rongai in Kenya's capital city… " Watch more

" Have you ever found yoursel in town with no idea how to get to a certain destination using Public Transport and you end up calling friends or asking strangers where a certain Matatu stage is? You are not alone!! Thousands of Nairobians go through this daily!

So us cool peeps at MyRide Africa thought to bring this to an end so that you never get lost in Nairobi again! We have the all new Matatu Map on the App that can help you to find any route in Nairobi in 3 easy steps…'' Read more

Friday, January 13, 2023

S. Still, Jan. 10, Project Overview: University at Buffalo is issuing this Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit proposals from qualified firms to provide self-driving shuttle vehicles and operations in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and surrounding neighborhoods. The project is funded by the US Department of Transportation as part of its ITS4US program.

Proposal Date/Time:

February 1, 2023 2:30pm EST. Proposals received after the specified time will not be accepted.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) documents are available now by registering through this link: https://www.nyscr.ny.gov/adsOpen.cfm Questions can be addressed to David Markey, Senior Buyer, at dbmarkey@buffalo.edu. …." Read more

Friday, December 30, 2022

M. Sena, Dec. 28, " AUTOMOTIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AAI) is a term that has different meanings, depending upon who is using it. For some, it means completely removing the human from the driving task and turning over control of the vehicle to software and sensors. For others, the goal of AAI is to supplement and improve the human driver's abilities in order to make driving safer, offer new and better services, and increase the effectiveness of transport management. The latter goal, improving the driving experience, has proven achievable with AI that accomplishes one or a limited set of objectives. The former goal, removing the human from the driving task, has proven to be devilishly difficult because the car needs to drive at least as well as a human.

AI that can approximate a human, that has the ability to understand and learn any intellectual task that a human can, is called Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). It is also called 'Strong AI', with its six major branches: machine learning, neural networks, robotics, expert systems, fuzzy logic and natural language processing. AI that has proven to be excellent at accomplishing one goal at a time, like playing chess, or interpretring spoken commands or answering questions like APPLE's SIRI, is called 'Weak AI'. …." Read more

Sunday, December 25, 2022

R. Bishop, Dec. 22, " Recent reporting/blogging about AV's can be maddeningly confusing, because the days of saying anything meaningful about "AV's" as a singular entity are long past. What's going on depends on what kind of AV you're talking about. Writers and pundits can pontificate about "the trouble in AV City" if they want, but they must first explain what AV sector they're referring to. To make sweeping statements is meaningless; the dynamics of the technical, operational, and business factors are too diverse. Thus this three-part article series, my shot at describing the great breadth of today's AV's and providing color commentary.

A fundamental AV distinction regards what's inside the vehicle: people or freight? This Part Two article focuses on moving people. Part Three will focus on moving goods.

Two Distinct Domains: Private or Commercial? …." Read more

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Guest Opinion: A. Ross & J. Livingston,Dec. 15, " In American consumer lore, the automobile has always been a "freedom machine" and liberty lies on the open road. "Americans are a race of independent people" whose "ancestors came to this country for the sake of freedom and adventure," the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce's soon-to-be-president, Roy Chapin, declared in 1924. "The automobile satisfies these instincts." During the Cold War, vehicles with baroque tail fins and oodles of surplus chrome rolled off the assembly line, with Native American names like Pontiac, Apache, Dakota, Cherokee, Thunderbird and Winnebago — the ultimate expressions of capitalist triumph and Manifest Destiny.

But for many low-income and minority Americans, automobiles have been turbo-boosted engines of inequality, immobilizing their owners with debt, increasing their exposure to hostile law enforcement, and in general accelerating the forces that drive apart haves and have-nots. …." Read more

Sunday, December 11, 2022

T. Dodd, Dec. 8, "t's true! I have been chosen as one of the members of the incredible dearMoon mission around the moon on SpaceX's Starship rocket. To learn more about the mission and to meet the rest of the crew, visit - http://dearmoon.earth & https://dearmoon.earth/share_crew/tim... And hear more about the announcement from Yusaku Maezawa!!! - https://youtu.be/DKNSlL3Inn8... " Watch more

Saturday, November 19, 2022

C. Metz, Nov. 14, "Cade and Ian spent six hours riding in a self-driving car in Jacksonville, Fla., to report this story.

When we decided it was time for lunch, Chuck Cook tapped the digital display on the dashboard of his Tesla Model Y and told the car to drive us to the Bearded Pig, a barbecue joint on the other side of town.

"I don't know how it's gonna do. But I think it's gonna do pretty good," he said with the folksy, infectious enthusiasm he brought to nearly every moment of our daylong tour of Jacksonville, Fla., in a car that could drive itself. …

As the car approached the shadows beneath this mossy canopy, it suddenly changed course, turned sharply right and headed the wrong way down a one-way street: he moment highlighted the difference between Tesla's self-driving technology and "robotaxi" services being developed by companies like Waymo, owned by the same parent company as Google, and Cruise, backed by General Motors. The robotaxi companies are trying to reduce these unexpected moments by tightly controlling where and how a car can drive. But these services will have strict limitations that make the task easier. The cars will travel only in certain neighborhoods under certain weather conditions at relatively low speeds. And company technicians will provide remote assistance to cars that inevitably find themselves in situations they cannot navigate on their own…. "Read more

Sunday, November 6, 2022

A. Kornhauser, Nov. 1, "So much has been happening lately on the AV scene. With all these recent changes in mind, it seems a good moment for me to reiterate the basic fundamentals of mobility and then to restate the context with which I see the potential value of AV technology. In the following presentation, I will identify some pertinent societal challenges where mobility might have an opportunity to substantially improve quality-of-life. Fundamental to this concept is the deployment of technology that disrupts consumer choice, thus allowing the marketplace to deliver both the economic return on the investment in the technology and to unleash the societal benefits of the improved quality-of-life." Read more

Sunday, October 30, 2022

K. Korosec, Oct 26, "Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle startup that burst on the scene in 2017 stacked with a $1 billion investment, is shutting down — its parts being absorbed into its two main backers: Ford and VW, according to people familiar with the matter.

During an all-hands meeting Wednesday, Argo AI employees were told that some people would receive offers from the two automakers, according to multiple sources who asked to not be named. It was unclear how many would be hired into Ford or VW and which companies will get Argo's technology.

Employees were told they would receive a severance package that includes insurance and two separate bonuses — an annual award plus a transaction bonus upon the deal close with Ford and VW. All Argo employees will receive these. For those who are not retained by Ford or VW, they will additionally receive termination and severance pay, including health insurance. Several people told TechCrunch that it was a generous package and that the founders of the company spoke directly to its more than 2,000 employees..." ... Certainly a "class act" way to shut down.

"...said Farley. "It's mission-critical for Ford to develop great and differentiated L2+ and L3 applications that at the same time make transportation even safer." Farley also insinuated that Ford would be able to buy AV tech down the line, instead of developing it in house. "We're optimistic about a future for L4 ADAS, but profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off and we won't necessarily have to create that technology ourselves," ... Read more

L. Sumagaysay, Oct. 27, "...", Read more

1. Hawkins, Oct. 27, "When Ford announced yesterday that it was pulling its support for Argo AI, the autonomous driving startup it had financed since 2017, it cited as one of its reasons a belief that driver-assist technology will have more near-term payoffs....." Read more

Sunday, October 23, 2022

Russ Mitchell, Oct 19, 2022 "The company, owned by Google parent Alphabet, said Wednesday that it plans to make L.A. its next market. "L.A. is in the top three ride-hailing markets in the United States and globally," said Saswat Panigrahi, the company's chief product officer. "The commercial opportunity is huge."

But Waymo offered scant information about its plans, including when the commercial service will begin and how extensive the service's coverage will be…." Read more

Friday, October 14, 2022

K. Pyle, Oct. 13, "Autonomous vehicles (AV) provide the opportunity to correct government transportation failures is how the Brookings Institution's Clifford Winston characterized the potential opportunity provided by autonomous vehicles. Winston spoke to the possible economic impact of autonomous vehicles in an online media briefing (YouTube video) that also included speakers from Princeton and the Reason Foundation who touched on the technology and the role of public policy and regulation. A lively question and answer period followed the briefing...." Read more

Saturday, October 08, 2022

Tesla AI Day 2022

Tesla Staff, Sept. 30, "Streamed live..." Read more

Monday, August 22, 2022

C. Metz, Aug. 18, "Shortly before 2 p.m. on a clear July day in 2020, as Tracy Forth was driving near Tampa, Fla., her white Tesla Model S was hit from behind by another car in the left lane of Interstate 275.

It was the kind of accident that occurs thousands of times a day on American highways. When the vehicles collided, Ms. Forth's car slid into the median as the other one, a blue Acura sport utility vehicle, spun across the highway and onto the far shoulder.

After the collision, Ms. Forth told police officers that Autopilot — a Tesla driver-assistance system that can steer, brake and accelerate cars — had suddenly activated her brakes for no apparent reason. She was unable to regain control, according to the police report, before the Acura crashed into the back of her car.

But her description is not the only record of the accident. Tesla logged nearly every particular, down to the angle of the steering wheel in the milliseconds before impact. Captured by cameras and other sensors installed on the car, this data provides a startlingly detailed account of what occurred, including video from the front and the rear of Ms. Forth's car.

It shows that 10 seconds before the accident, Autopilot was in control as the Tesla traveled down the highway at 77 miles per hour. Then she prompted Autopilot to change lanes..." Read more

Saturday, August 6, 2022

E. Musk, Aug. 4, ." Read more

Saturday June 11, 2022

3 minute Promo: https://youtu.be/q5Ov_dPuRV4

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

Summit Preview Tour

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 eh did all the time," Deborah Patterson said. "That's what the loved to do". ..." Watch Video

Saturday May 28, 2022

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

Friday, April 30, 2022

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

Saturday, April 23, 2022

Knight Foundation

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

Thursday, April 15, 2022

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

Thursday, March 31, 2022

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

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

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

Friday, 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.

Originallyannounced 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 Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022 in the Trenton Central High School auditorium. Members of the press will be invited to attend. ...." Read more

Alain L. Kornhauser, 69, 71, P03, P27

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

609-980-1427 (c)

This list is maintained by Alain Kornhauser and hosted by the Princeton University LISTSERV. Friday, Nov. 3, 2023

Sunday, Oct. 30, 2023

That consideration, as ever, is accessibility.

Friday, Oct. 20, 2023

<0exJakxVbIzfNGij.png> For Bill Ford, 'Every Negotiation Is a Roller Coaster'

Then about a week later, the union officials invited him to a local bar. "Come with us," Mr. Ford said they had told him. "You passed the test."…

Are you going to be on the same team at the end of these talks?

Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023

Staff, Oct. 7, "…" Read more

Staff, Oct 7, "…" Read more

Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

C. Friedersdif, Sept. 27, "Last week, I asked for your thoughts on self-driving cars.

Replies have been edited for length and clarity….

"Our century-long love affair with all things automotive dooms the driverless concept to a niche market," one reader argues…." Read more

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023

Wednesday, August 31, 2023

Tesla FSD v12: Breakthrough We've Been Waiting For?

Brighter w/Herbert, Aug. 25, ""Elon Musk just livestreamed his Full Self Driving of V12 around Palo Alto Ashok Elluswamy Director of AI was with him". Read more

Friday, August 25, 2023

Monday, August 21, 2023

Saturday, August 12, 2023

In a 3-1 vote, the commission ruled to allow the companies to operate across the city 24/7 and charge passengers for the ride.

Driverless Cruise and Waymo cars have long circulated through San Francisco and even ferried passengers through the city streets. But, until now, their operations have remained limited.

Now both companies will be able to grow their operations in San Francisco....

A Long Meeting With Passionate Comments:

A long line of supporters and opponents waited on Van Ness Avenue to enter the commission building ahead of the meeting.

.…." Read more

Monday, August 07, 2023

Monday, July 31, 2023

H. Li, July 27, "Barry Taranto doesn't feel any immediate threat to his livelihood from the rise of the driverless car. But this long-time San Francisco taxi driver is still angry that they exist.

As a board member of the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance, Taranto has been an outspoken critic of Uber and Lyft. But now, he finds himself again besieged by brand-new technology on the road.

Amid busy daytime traffic, the ride was a bit challenging, but the small SUV traveled smoothly and slowly through San Francisco's complex topography.

However, Taranto admitted to a feeling of extra safety. … Wow! Bingo!!! "Turing Proof-of-Technology" passed by Taranto with an "extra safe"! Wow!!... (my emphasis). " Read more

Monday, July 24, 2023

In addition to LightHouse, other groups include the San Francisco LGBT Center, Self-Help for the Elderly and the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California.

Friday, July 14, 2023

Editorial: Cruise and Waymo have passed the "Turing (Kornhauser) Test" for Proof-of-Technology

Monday, June 26 2023

"They're not ready for prime time," Chief Jeanine Nicholson said….

But the Fire Department does. Since Jan. 1, the Fire Department has logged at least 39 robotaxi incident reports…

State regulators track robotaxi collisions, but they don't track data on traffic flow issues, such as street blockages or interference with firetrucks.

The Fire Department incidents include reports of robotaxis:…

Safety data censored

Wednesday, June 21 2023

[Fact check, according to its website, Lyft and Uber, as well as other local providers serve the Clinton National Airport.]

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

1. On rising deaths from traffic accidents due to driver error:…

Sen. Gary Peters highlighted strong U.S. ambitions to lead in developing the technologies needed to support the growth of a domestic autonomous vehicle industry.

1. On competition to be a leader in the future of mobility:…

Elizabeth Layman explained how autonomous vehicles could expand job prospects for people with disabilities in providing more options for transportation.

1. On a recent National Disability Research report studying the impacts of AVs for people with disabilities:…"

Friday, June 2, 2023

If this is done well, the driver may not even be aware that it is happening. Then: No complaints! No taking the car back to the dealer and claiming it is a lemon! No or greatly reduced "false imminent train wrecks" (especially when traveling at high speeds!!!). Doing this well delivers enormous value to the driver and society!

Here is what Neal Boudette of the NY Times and Andrew Hawkins of Verge wrote about this. Alain

Friday, May 19, 2023

Chunka Mui, April 28, "If you're trying to decide how to invest in Generative AI and ChatGPT, take special heed of Amara's Law,

3. 6 Words to Focus Your AI Innovation Strategy

Friday, May 12, 2023

Phoenix has been a great "Proof of Technology/Safety" for Waymo. Safe, driverless mobility has been established in a substantial Operational Design Domain (ODD). The objective of that "Proof of Technology/Safety" was: operate safely throughout the ODD without attendants. The performance metric was essentially no disengagements and essentially no crashes throughout the ODD with an attendant on board. Then pull the attendant and demonstrate essentially no disengagements and essentially no crashes throughout the ODD.

Proof of Market requires the service be attractive enough such that sufficient individuals choose Waymo One as the means by which they go from point A to point B, leaving at or about time t. For Waymo One to be the chosen by an individual means it had to be -perceived by the traveler as being THE best way to go for this trip at this time. Not the 5th best, or the 3rd best or even the 2nd best. It had to be THE best for that individual for that {A,B, t}.

Users of Waymo One come from an addressable market made up of trips that would be taken by conventional means, had Waymo One not existed, plus the inducement of new trips because Waymo One is so much better than all other options so as to make the destination + the travel so desirable that the individual decides to make the trip rather than not go.

To become #1 in the eyes of a potential customer, Waymo One has many positives:

1. It is safe: OK, but not substantially safer than other ways Arizonians have among their choice set as to how to travel. Likely not enough to elevate Waymo One above their current way to go. So safety by itself is not a differentiator. In economic jargon, the demand elasticity of safety is essentially zero at current safety levels.

2. The technology: OK; however, this is a "one and done" greatness that generates a "selfie" on the first use and little perceived benefit thereafter. The cost of customer acquisition is so non-trivial that it needs to be focused on repeat customers and not "one & done"s; where the service is rarely perceived to be better than one's own car or an expense account ride hailing, taxi or limousine trip.

3. Service is inexpensive and can be made affordable with vehicle productivity and scale: Great! This is an attribute that is really important at the current moment to folks who don't have access to their own car and who are paying their own way.

4. Service is high-quality in that its flexibility can allow it to respond to a customer's demand rather than having the customer change their desire in order to correlate to a schedule and a route: Great, especially to those for which affordability is important so there isn't need to trade off price with service. Moreover, the service can be made even better in the future such that even car owners may change their car-buying behavior because Waymo's service has become so good and so affordable that they pivot.

My recommendation would be for Waymo to concentrate their "Proof of Market" on serving customers who currently don't have access to their own car, can't readily get a ride from someone, and will appreciate how inexpensively Waymo One can afford to deliver a safe, high-quality ride. Once focused on serving the mobility desires of this market segment, then Waymo One can pass the "Proof of Market" test by achieving a vehicle productivity of 100 person trips per day per vehicle. That productivity allows them to scale and be relevant and profitable. Is it any surprise that I am suggesting they work with us in Trenton and on other MOVES-style projects? 😊 Alain

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Thursday, April 20, 2023

As Appears in the NY Times (& CNN)

April 20, 2023, "...

" Read more

Friday, March 24, 2023

ITU 2023 Future Networked Car Symposium: Automated Driving Systems (ADS) for Consumers and Other Vehicles (Trucks, Delivery, Shuttles, Robotaxis, Etc.)

Sunday, March 19, 2023

ITU 2023 Future Networked Car Symposium: Session 2: Using Automotive Artificial Intelligence to Improve Vehicle Safety, Services and Transport Management

Monday, March 13, 2023

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

GM's two hands-free advanced driver-assist systems will coexist in the company's lineup with Super Cruise available on more mainstream vehicles and Ultra Cruise reserved for premium entries.

"The combination of Ultra Cruise for premium offerings and Super Cruise for lower-cost products will enable us to offer driver-assist technology across price points and segments," said Parks....

Always pay attention while driving and when using Ultra Cruise and Super Cruise. Do not use a hand-held device. …. " Read more

Friday, March 03, 2023

T. Victor, et al. "Safety Performance of the Waymo Rider-Only Automated Driving System at One Million Miles"

Enormous kudos to Waymo (and Cruise). They have, in my opinion, demonstrated that they can move people safely in an ODD. Hopefully, they'll now look for an ODD where they can safely provide mobility most of the time (NOT necessarily every day, but are confident that they can do it, say, 350 days a year) and certainly NOT everywhere in the ODD (instead find the safest set of streets and intersections that allows them to deliver interconnected on-demand mobility requiring only a short walk (~less than 5 minutes) between most of the locations within that ODD/community). They then can build an affordable, equitable high=quality mobility system for the residents of that/those ODD(s)

There are many such communities throughout the country, many of which are communities where auto ownership is low, transit service is, at best, poor and the mobility offered would substantially improve the quality of life of many.

Waymo's (or Cruise's) provision of safe, affordable, on-demand mobility would be an enormous public service as well as providing a basis from which to scale to meet thire due diligence obligation to deliver substantial return on investment to Alphabet (and GM). Alain

Friday, February 17, 2023

People "are over-trusting the technology," she said. "They are letting the cars speed. And they are getting into accidents that are seriously injuring them or killing them."…" Read more

Alain Kornhauser, … pinned the companies' missteps on an effort to grab market share from Lyft and Uber rather than solving for transportation gaps.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

J. Billam, Feb. 11 '22, "I show my wild experience riding Nairobi's Craziest Matatu (local bus) bound for Rongai in Kenya's capital city… " Watch more

Friday, January 13, 2023

Proposal Date/Time:

February 1, 2023 2:30pm EST. Proposals received after the specified time will not be accepted.

Friday, December 30, 2022

Sunday, December 25, 2022

A fundamental AV distinction regards what's inside the vehicle: people or freight? This Part Two article focuses on moving people. Part Three will focus on moving goods.

Two Distinct Domains: Private or Commercial? …." Read more

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Saturday, November 19, 2022

C. Metz, Nov. 14, "Cade and Ian spent six hours riding in a self-driving car in Jacksonville, Fla., to report this story.

Sunday, November 6, 2022

Sunday, October 30, 2022

L. Sumagaysay, Oct. 27, "...", Read more

Sunday, October 23, 2022

But Waymo offered scant information about its plans, including when the commercial service will begin and how extensive the service's coverage will be…." Read more

Friday, October 14, 2022

Saturday, October 08, 2022

Tesla AI Day 2022

Tesla Staff, Sept. 30, "Streamed live..." Read more

Monday, August 22, 2022

It shows that 10 seconds before the accident, Autopilot was in control as the Tesla traveled down the highway at 77 miles per hour. Then she prompted Autopilot to change lanes..." Read more

Saturday, August 6, 2022

E. Musk, Aug. 4, ." Read more

Saturday June 11, 2022

3 minute Promo: https://youtu.be/q5Ov_dPuRV4

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

Summit Preview Tour

Saturday May 28, 2022

Friday, April 30, 2022

Saturday, April 23, 2022

Knight Foundation

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

Thursday, April 15, 2022

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

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Friday, February 4, 2022

Trenton MOVES

The event will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022 in the Trenton Central High School auditorium. Members of the press will be invited to attend. ...." Read more

609-980-1427 (c)

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

Friday, Nov. 18, 2023

1. Don't Fall for the Hype or Hysteria About ChatGPT. Don't be Complacent, Either.

2. How AI Could Reshape the Future History of Health Care (for the Better and Worse)

1. Don't Fall for the Hype or Hysteria About ChatGPT. Don't be Complacent, Either.

2. How AI Could Reshape the Future History of Health Care (for the Better and Worse)