Friday, Jan. 9, 2026
1st edition of the 14th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter
Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill Taps Kris Kolluri to Lead Both NJ TRANSIT and NJ Turnpike Authority
Staff, Jan. 7, “Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill announced today that Kris Kolluri, current President and CEO of NJ TRANSIT, will retain his role at NJ TRANSIT and also be nominated as Executive Director of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA). This dual role will allow Kolluri to oversee day-to-day operations of both agencies to unify strategy, rethink how we move people, and ultimately improve commutes for the residents of New Jersey. Kolluri will take a $1 salary from the Turnpike Authority.
“We need a collaborative and creative approach when it comes to addressing challenges and opportunities affecting our state, which is especially true as we update New Jersey’s approach to transit. That’s why I am excited to announce that Kris Kolluri will not only be continuing in his role as President and CEO of NJ TRANSIT but will also be nominated to be the Executive Director of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. He brings decades of experience with every major transit agency in the region, and his leadership will be key as we rethink the future of transportation in New Jersey to improve commutes, improve coordination, and make sure New Jerseyans spend more time with family and friends, and less time stuck on a train or on the turnpike. Additionally, as we prepare to welcome tens of thousands of people when we host the FIFA World Cup, Kris will ensure safety and efficiency as we move people on our buses, trains, and highways,” said Governor-elect Sherrill.
“I am excited to lead both NJ TRANSIT and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority alongside Governor-elect Sherrill, who shares a desire to innovate and improve New Jersey’s transit systems. …” View more
Hmmmm… This is really good news for New Jersians. Alain
The Real Case for Driverless Mobility
Narrated by Fred Fishkin, Available now
Published in 2024 (but still relevant)!!! Go to Amazon.com…
SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast 405 / PodCast 405 w/ Michael Sena
Pending. To be sent out on separate email. Please look for it.
Deadline 2/7/26
2026 Automated transportation Symposium (ATS)
8th Bridging Transportation Researchers (BTR#8)
August 12 & 13, 2026
Addressing the Opposition to Driverless Riding
M. Sena, Jan 1, “As you read through the beginning of this MII and begin to wonder what a discussion about ethical theories and moral philosophy have to do with deciding whether driverless cars are good or bad (i.e., why there are advocates and why there are adversaries), you might ponder these facts: Amish people don’t drive cars at all; Orthodox Judaism prohibits its practitioners from turning on a light switch during the period of Shabbot, from approximately sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday; it took until 2018 for Saudi Arabia to lift the ban on women driving cars, a prohibition that was based on the conservative interpretation of Islamic law requiring women to avoid mixing with men in public; Tesla Model Ss were not allowed into certain Chinese military zones because they are equipped with cameras, which are there to help the car stop if its driver is not paying adequate attention to his or her driving; Hummer H1s were banned in The Netherlands because they were deemed by the country’s politicians to be too big and thereby dangerous for urban traffic and not suitable for their roads (although they were deemed suitable for roads in most other countries, and even though Dutch men and women are the tallest in the world. Was it maybe because Dutch politicians are short?)..…” Read more
Hmmmm… Tremendously interesting read. Alain
The Robot Cars Have Come for the Kids
C. Knoll, Jan. 5, “A light drizzle had begun in South Los Angeles when the sound of a school bell unleashed a stream of students onto the sidewalk. Clad in gray skirts and purple polo shirts, the uniform at the all-girls public school, students climbed into school buses or scanned the scrum of cars hopefully for a parent arriving on time in the November rain.
Alexis Munoz — a 13-year-old with wavy hair and a smile threaded with braces — ambled away from the scene and up to a busy street. A white Jaguar sport utility vehicle came into view and pulled over, its spinning cameras and sensors hinting at an empty driver’s seat.
The robot car had come to take her home.
“There’s no one in there, so I don’t have to worry about being awkward,” said Alexis, a shy seventh-grader, before climbing in with her backpack.
……” Read more
Hmmmm… Why not?? These kids really need a ride and the opportunities for ride sharing (just a few together abound almost trivially). This a productive societal opportunity that we are experiencing, especially from and to Trenton Housing Authority facilities. Alain
Nvidia unveils self-driving car tech as it seeks to power more products with AI
L. Jamali, Jan 5, “Nvidia has unveiled a new tech platform for self-driving cars as the world’s leading chip-maker seeks more physical products to embed AI into.
Speaking at the annual CES technology conference in Las Vegas, boss Jensen Huang said the system - called Alpamayo - would bring “reasoning” to autonomous vehicles.
That would allow cars to “think through rare scenarios, drive safely in complex environments, and explain their driving decisions,” Huang claimed.
He said Nvidia was working with Mercedes to produce a driverless car powered by the tech, which would be released in the US in the coming months before being rolled out in Europe and Asia. .…” Read more
Hmmmm… Does this mean that nVIDIA is now going to compete with the “Waymo Driver”, “MobilEye Driver”, “GM (Cruise) Driver”, “Ford (Argo) Driver, “MayMobility Driver”, and all of the other “ABC Drivers” coming out of China to roboticize every car coming off every car assembly line? This horse race, which already has more horses than the Kentucky Derby, now has a new very substantive front runner that actually has been training for some time for this race. This is all good. The more, the better. Commoditizing “The Driver” naturally leads to more affordability of high-quality mobility. Welcome nVIDIA. Alain
Autonomous-Driving Mode Lighting Gets Closer to Being Blue-Green Lit
S. O’Kane, Dec. 16, “You can use any color lighting on the front of a car, as long as it’s amber or white.” That’s been the understanding for the better part of a century, but by approving SAE J3134_202512: Automated Driving System (ADS) Marker Lamp, the standards folks at the Society of Automotive Engineers have taken the first step toward reversing that commandment and introducing blue-green lighting that allows automated driving systems (ADS) to signal when they’re robo-driving…
This is the point of J3134. Equipping cars that offer autonomous driving modes with blue-green marker lighting will signal to drivers that the person behind the wheel isn’t making the driving decisions at the moment and hence may not be capable of providing the communication an active driver would…” Read more
Hmmmm… This is really important. Humans behave quite differently than machines when driving. For example, people tend to use a “constant depression of the accelerator” mode. Which means, their car slows down when going up hill and speeds up when going down hill. Everyone who drives the Pennsylvania Turnpike is most well aware! Cruise control maintains a constant speed. Very different vehicle behavior.
I’ve always contended that it would help to know which mode is controlling a nearly car.. a human who is going to speed up and slow down or a machine that is going to go at constant speed. Even more important, humans tend to misbehave… roll through stop signs, run red lights, cross double lines when a car is headed their way, seize right-of-way from bicycles and pedestrians. Not so for aTaxis! Nor those that earn the right to use blue-green lighting. Hooray! Alain
Safe, Autonomous, and More Expensive. Why Robotaxis Create a New ‘Pink Tax’
R. Agrawal, Dec. 30, “…The San Francisco Bay Area is Waymo’s biggest market, with 1,000 vehicles covering 260 square miles, up from about 500 vehicles on NYE 2024. I recently priced a trip at night. Uber was $16.92. Lyft priced at $18.33 after a 20% promo discount. Waymo was $50.16, which is nearly $20 a mile. That is not typical, but expect to see high fares across all services on New Year’s Eve, when demand will be up…” View more
Hmmmm… What a shame that a technology that is supposed to make mobility affordable uses pricing to discriminate. I guess that’s how one gets to a $100B valuation. Once again, the rich get richer; that’s what SF and SV are all about. Very depressing. You would think that maybe they’d use ride sharing to stretch their capacity when facing high demand. Alain
Tesla FSD successfully completes full coast-to-coast drive with zero interventions
S. Alvarez, Dec. 31, “:..” View more
Hmmmm… I didn’t quote anything here because one MUST read all of the fine print. “zero interventions” isn’t “zero interventions”, it is “zero safety-critical interventions”, where “safety-critical” is left undefined. Let’s assume a pedestrian definition of “safety-critical” then this becomes somewhat relevant, since “safety” is synonymous with “driver mis-behavior” (an element of “90% of crashes”). Since FSD didn’t mis-behaved and a human driver might have mis-behaved, since drivers have a propensity to do so, one may infer some substantive safety implications associated with this feat. It is well understood, at least by some, including me, that taking driver mis-behavior out of the car’s mobility function is a substantive way of substantially improving car safety.
The remaining unanswered question about driverless mobility: does it “mis-have” in other ways that substantially eliminate the safety advantage that it achieves through the elimination of human misbehavior? We are desperately trying to address that question. This test didn’t uncover any mis-behaviors by the automated driver. So safety didn’t get worse.
However, if the objective is to be able to provide high-quality affordable mobility, this stunt gives us no hint as to the non-safety critical interventions that enabled the trip to be completed. That would require the trip to be made without ANY interventions. Only then can we begin to determine that human intervention wasn’t necessary and therefore the ride could be provided without incurring any valued human services during this long trip. Alain
Tesla Defines FSD Speed Profiles, Changes Default to ‘Sloth’
K. Singh, Jan. 6, “According to the updated Owner’s Manual for update 2025.44, the 2025 Holiday Update, Tesla now sets the default Speed Profile for new vehicles and for those activating FSD for the first time to Sloth Mode.
Previously, vehicles would default to Standard; however, given changes to FSD v14, both Chill and Standard will drive above the speed limit. Sloth, meanwhile, drives below the speed limit. The manual also now explicitly defines Sloth mode as “drives under the speed limit.”…” Read more
Hmmmm… Fantastic. Very nice that Tesla is being more responsible. They should also eliminate the Mad Max mode. Making it easy for mis-behavers to mis-behave even more is simply irresponsible. C’mon Tesla public roadways are not raceways. Let those folks pay for track time at Watkins Glen International!. Alain
Orf 467F25 MOVES-style Mobility Symposium
Orf467F25 students, Dec. 11, “Various student perspectives on MOVES-style mobility around the country. Final project presentations & preliminary reports by students in the class.” Read more
Hmmmm… Students are putting together a compendium of their findings that will be linked by future version of the SDC eletter. Alain
HandyRides Update
Alain Kornhauser, Jan. 8, “Continuing to upgrade our AI inspired Real-time Operations Management Information Systems while giving rides in Mercer County.” Hmmmm… We celebrate our 1st anniversary of operation on January 2, by launching our “Friends & Family” program and beginning to look at opportunities in Atlanta & Brownsville. All the best for 2026 from Elizabeth & Alain. 🙂