13.12 - Starship
12th edition of the 13th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter
SpaceX Starship Flight 10 Reality Check: All Secrets Revealed!
J. Mathews, Aug. 26, “SpaceX’s Starship launched again! Flight 10 is gone! But did it work? How did the cursed Block 2 ship hold up? Will SpaceX be able to continue its development? We have the full breakdown for you with all the unexpected details! . ….” Read more Hmmmm… Fantastic accomplishment. Wonderful that there is at least some good news as the summer of 2025 comes to an end. Congratulations SpaceX! Alain
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The Real Case for Driverless Mobility
Narrated by Fred Fishkin, Available now
Published in 2024 (but still relevant)!!! Go to Amazon.com…
SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 397 / PodCast 397 - Space X, Transportation governance, Waymo, Tesla and more
F. Fishkin, Aug. 28, “SpaceX success with Starship Flight Ten! ASU’s Dr. Steven Polzin reports that As Travel Changes so Must Transportation Governance. Plus the latest developments on Waymo, Tesla and more. Join Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for episode 397 of Smart Driving Cars!
- 0:00 open
- 0:57 Starship Flight Ten amazes
- 8:10 ASU’s Dr. Steven Polzin has report on transportation governance
- 21:28 Local TV covers NYC taxi drivers call to stop Waymo’s driverless cars in the city
- 23:52 Fortune report on Tesla self driving vehicles being tested in Boring Company tunnels
- 28:50 Electrek reports Tesla decision not to settle may cost company extra 183 million dollars
- 29:18 Teslarati report on Tesla doing more to encourage more uptake of FSD
- 30:45 NHTSA reports Tesla had not been submitting incident reports on time
- 33:35 A little update on Handy Rides
September 26-30, 2025
Nashville, Tennessee
As Travel Changes So Must Transportation Governance
S. Polzin , Aug. 27, “We are in the most dynamic period in the history of travel in our lifetimes. ….
Behaviors like failing to properly maintain vehicles, driving under the influence of legal or illegal drugs, or driving in high-risk extreme conditions are other factors. While programs that improve infrastructure and regulate vehicles to improve safety should continue, there’s compelling evidence that driver behaviors or perhaps more appropriately “misbehaviors” are a huge factor….” Read more Hmmmm… Wow! Thank you, Steve, for hitting the nail on the head! In my humble opinion, “misbehaviors’ are THE major root causes of travel safety problems. We’ve been sweeping them under the rug all these many years. Consequently, we have not come close to even having a viable plan as to how to address them, let alone eliminate them. At least now, Steve has clearly stated the source of the safety problem. Let’s now fashion the reauthorization bill to set aside some real money focused or eradicating driver mis-behaviors. Alain
J. Mathews, Aug. 26, “Autonomous testing of Tesla cars has begun in the 3.5-mile tunnel system that Elon Musk’s Boring Company operates below the Las Vegas Convention Center.
“We’ve started to test,” Steve Hill, CEO of city marketing organization the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), told Fortune in an interview at his office earlier this month. Hill specified that the autonomous testing had begun prior to Tesla’s robotaxi launch in June—at the end of 2024—and that no passengers have been in vehicles during the testing.
Thus far, all the initial testing has been done with the standard Full Self-Driving (FSD) software that consumers can get in their personal Tesla vehicles, and with a Boring Company safety operator in the driver’s seat, according to Hill, who awarded the Boring Company its first transportation contract and who has overseen all of Boring’s initial construction and tunneling in the broader county thus far. ….” Read more Hmmmm… Seems like a no-brainer. Almost PRT – like… Exclusive guideway. No possibility of “kids chasing balls, no snow, no fog, no torrential rain, no misbehaving human drivers, … This must be THE safest ODD in the world. Is the attendant in the car only to prevent the riders from misbehaving?
Isn’t it trivial to fix “odd lighting” or find “interesting lighting” that isn’t odd? My goodness, cover all the windows and put screes with lightshows inside the car. What am I missing here? Why not??? (Oh I see, It’s political). Alain
Taxi drivers call on Gov. Hochul to stop Waymo’s driverless cars in NYC
Staff, Aug. 25, “Taxi drivers in New York City are making it clear that they do not want to share the road with self-driving cabs.
The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers is asking Governor Kathy Hochul to halt a program passed by Mayor Adams.
It’s letting Waymo test eight driverless taxis over the next month.
The cab drivers say the autonomous cars will be a job killer and at the very least, safety testing should be done elsewhere.
“Let them prove it on the West coast, or in mid-America or in places that are secluded, but not New York City,” Fernando Mateo, New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers said.….” Read more Hmmmm… I tried to find a positive article. Couldn’t. Who is Waymo’s PR firm? Do they really think they can “Uber it” into NYC? Why is Waymo in NYC instead of Central Jersey where we’ve been begging them to come? Alain
Tesla kept its promise not to settle. It may cost the company an extra $183 million.
J. Dow, Aug 26, “Tesla rejected a $60 million settlement offer in the Autopilot wrongful death case which resulted in a $243 million verdict against the company, according to new legal documents.
It’s a rare example of Tesla sticking to its promise not to settle cases it thinks are unjust, and it may end up biting the company right in the pocketbook.
.….” Read more Hmmmm… Wow! Electrek really doesn’t like Tesla. They’ve made that obvious by putting this spin on this case. Dow does admit the reason for the verdict is “withholding evidence” and not that AutoPilot had done anything wrong. The driver’s foot pressed the accelerator keeping the at a speed that substantially exceeded the speed limit, dropped his phone on the floor, reached down to pick it up. At least Tesla’s Automated Emergency Braking system tried at the very last second to overcome what can only be interpreted as extreme driver misbehavior. Does Electrek condone such driver misbehavior? What is really Dow’s/Electrek’s beef here. Is this political? Alain
Tesla makes big change to encourage Full Self-Driving purchases
J. Klender, Aug 24, “Tesla has made a big change to its Online Design Studio, hoping to encourage car buyers to purchase Full Self-Driving with their vehicles.
Now, when you look at ordering a car on Tesla’s website, the portion of the page that formerly showed a render of Full Self-Driving capabilities has been replaced by a compilation of the suite’s performance in a variety of challenging scenarios.
Tesla recently released a video of a drive from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, a nearly seven-hour trip, under FSD without a single intervention ever needed: See video. ….” Read more Hmmmm… I included this one to counterbalance the Electrek article above with the caveat that “AI” can generate videos. Please reach your own conclusions. Alain
Staff, Aug. 13, “Summary:
The Office of Defects Investigation (“ODI”) has identified numerous incident reports submitted by Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) in response to Standing General Order 2021-01 (the “SGO”), in which the reported crashes occurred several months or more before the dates of the reports. The majority of these reports involved crashes in which the Standing General Order in place at the time required a report to be submitted within one or five days of Tesla receiving notice of the crash. When the reports were submitted, Tesla submitted them in one of two ways. Many of the reports were submitted as part of a single batch, while others were submitted on a rolling basis.
Preliminary engagement between ODI and Tesla on the issue indicates that the timing of the reports was due to an issue with Tesla’s data collection, which, according to Tesla, has now been fixed. NHTSA is opening this Audit Query,” Read more Hmmmm… at least Tesla collects such data and has stated that its data collection and submission issue “has now been fixed”.
Is NHTSA doing an ODI on all other car manufacturers that don’t even attempt to collect crash reports that are subject to SGO 2021-01. Mercedes never inquired about my crash with a deer when its “Level 2” system completely abandoned me. Is NHTSA ODIing them on that one? Alain
HandyRides Update
A. Kornhauser, Aug. 28, Building our Book of Business (BoB). Soft Launch 9/8/25. Hmmmm… OK! Alain