2024-06-05

12.22 - 6th summit recap

June 05, 2024Newsletter archive →

Michael Sena, June 1, AFTER THE 4TH PRINCETON SMARTDRIVINGCARS SUMMIT, which was held virtually due to COVID, Alain Kornhauser and I agreed to co-author a book that would explain why driverless cars have an important place in the future of transportation. That was three years ago, and the book was published in January of this year. The chapters of the book provided the organizing structure for much of the 6TH SUMMIT held in the PRINCETON UNIVERSITY School of International Affairs on 30-31 May. The agenda for the two days is shown below.

There were three major differences between this Summit and the previous five. First, most of the participants were invited and were expected to deliver a keynote, give a presentation on one of the three principal topics and three principal themes, and/or participate in a panel. The topics were People Who Drive Themselves; People Who Need a Ride; and Non-People (e.g., freight) that Need a Ride. The themes were: Proof of Concept; Proof of Market; and Proof of Policy.

The second difference was that there were no separate workshops or break-out sessions. All the participants heard everything that everyone else heard. Active engagement and discussion was encouraged.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the 6TH SUMMIT had single focus, which was to discuss the immediate opportunities for implementing our recommended approach to delivering rides to the unserved and underserved members of communities, those who cannot afford to own or operate a car, those who are not able to afford taxis or who do not have friends or families who can provide rides, or who are not able to drive themselves. In past summits, participants presented their views on the current status of advanced driver systems and driverless technologies, and there was no carry-over from summit to summit. It felt like there was no progress being made on the goal of delivering affordable mobility to those who need it. That was the principal reason that Alain and I decided to author our book, to make a compelling case for driverless mobility.

"The novelty of driverless vehicles is that there is no driver, and the only thing that should mean to the rider is that the cost of the trip is significantly lower. The vehicle itself should not be a novelty."

Chapter 6: The Business Proposition of Affordable Mobility

Meeting the unmet need for mobility

In the U.S., 89% of adults over 25, totaling 205 million people, have driver's licenses, but that does not mean they all drive. 79% of those over 75 who have drivers' licenses, representing 7% of the total population, drive once per year. 71% of 16-19-year-olds, which is 9% of the population, drive once per year. Either they do not own their own car, or the family car is used by another family member. Four percent of licensed drivers lose their license each year. That is 8 million drivers. Twenty-five percent of all U.S. adults over 25, which is 57 million people, have a disability that affects their ability to drive. And the big number of unserved or underserved are the 52% of households that have incomes lower than $75,000 and cannot afford a car costing over $29,000.

The diagram below shows the approximate percent of daily trips that are made by people with their own car, by people taking public transport and walking, and by taxi or equivalent. The vast majority of trips are made by car, and many of them have no passengers.

The real case for driverless mobility is meeting the unmet needs of people who cannot afford to own and operate their own car, cannot drive, cannot afford to be chauffeured, and cannot take public transport, either because it does not exist or does not take them to where they need to go when they need to get there. It is not a replacement for the private car, the bus, a taxi, or people's own two feet. Perhaps, in time, sustaining improvements will make it attractive to those who are not underserved because it provides affordable and convenient rides, but we should not wait for a replacement to a private, self-driven car or a chauffeured taxi to use driverless technology within controlled operational design domains.

On the second day of the Summit, we showed a simulation of how driverless cars could be employed within a community to deliver point-to-point rides. Pick-up and drop-off points are positioned within a five-minute walk of all residences, and daily trips from each household are calculated based on census data. Simulated trips to work, school, shopping, recreation, and all other places are estimated based on the demographics of the residences within the census district. A significant amount of time and effort has been put into developing the simulator over the years by Alain and his students, and they are all credited with special mention at the end of our book.

It's time for MOVES to get moving

At this time next year, there should be a real MOVES23 pilot project in a real community, not just a simulation. That is the goal. If there is a 7TH SMARTDRIVINGCARS SUMMIT, it should be a celebration of the achievement of that goal, but the real purpose of having a gathering is for participants to roll up their sleeves and discuss problems that have been identified during the previous year and ways to make improvements. There will be other venues to talk about driverless freight applications, driverless vehicle standards development, safety, and insurance, and we should do all we can to support developments in all areas. However, if the mission of SmartDrivingCars—at least as I understood it—is to be fulfilled, it is with delivering rides to the large number of people who need a ride but who cannot afford one..…"

Just Published!!!

Go to Amazon.com… You can still be first on your block to have one J.

SmartDrivingCars
ZoomCast 374 /
PodCast 374 a launch at 6th Princeton Summit

F. Fishkin, June 4, "So what happened at the 6th Smart Driving Cars Summit in Princeton? A new mobility launch! Michael Sena, co-author of The Real Case for Driverless Mobility joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for the overview...and what comes next.

0:00 open
0:40 recap of Smart Driving Cars Summit
6:30 Focus on moving forward
14:30 At end of Summit- launch button was pushed
22:58 The purpose is in the book- The Real Case for Driverless Mobility
32:00 What can we anticipate will happen now?
50:00 It is intuitively obvious…
50:58 From the latest edition of The Dispatcher Standardization and Regulation making automated driving systems roadworthy
53:30 From The Musings section- Shrinking or Growing- We Need to Learn to Right-Size Our Cities

2024-06-05

Dispatch Central: The 6th Princeton SmartDrivingCars Summit