Tuesday, June 2, 2026
11th edition of the 14th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter
5thAutonomus Vehicle Conference, Boca Raton
Staff, May 29, “ Watch the replay of the live strream.”. Read moreHmmmm… Key segments:
Start of Seval Oz: (Asst. Secretary R & D and Chief Scientist, US DoTwatch her video then note the credits @ https://youtu.be/6lym95Et90U?t=335 Note the Exec. Producer… that was 14 years ago!!! We are on the same page that she was 14 years ago …. and… I am convinced she still is (She would have never played this or let it go to the credits if she is not!)
Note also… she starts talking about “…affordable mobility …” if you let it play beyond the 335th second.
My comments start at https://youtu.be/6lym95Et90U?t=10758. They were substantially different than anyone else’s.
Matt Daus’ session starts @ https://youtu.be/6lym95Et90U?t=5841
Enjoy. 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 414/ PodCasts 414 - new laws for driverless mobility?
Driverless mobility needs the right laws for the right reasons. That’s the focus of the latest Mobility Industry Insights. Publisher, author and consultant Michael Sena joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for episode 414 of Smart Driving Cars. Plus, Alain takes part in the fifth annual Autonomous Vehicle Conference in Boca Raton. (• Autonomous Vehicle Conference 2026) And so does Assistant Transportation Secretary for Research and Technology Seval Oz. We bring you her remarks from the conference (• Autonomous Vehicle Conference 2026) and some analysis. Tune in and subscribe!
- 0:00 Open
- 1:21 Mobility Industry Insights Enabling Driverless Mobility to Work for Riders Requires the Right Laws for the Right Reasons
- 25:45 Video from Autonomous Vehicle Conference in Boca Raton- Assistant DOT Secretary for Research and Technology Seval Oz.
- 44:50 How remarks were received … and more on what the focus of driverless mobility should be
- 55:13 What Michael is suggesting in Mobility Industry Insights about what’s needed in new laws and regulations
2026 Automated transportation Symposium (ATS)
July 27-30, 2026, San Diego, CA
8thBridging Transportation Researchers (BTR#8)
Online Conference! August 12 & 13, 2026
Enabling Driverless Mobility to Work for Riders Requires the Right Laws for the Right Reasons
M. Sena, June 2026 “MAKING LAWS IS a complicated matter. What is their purpose; who has the right to make them; who shall enforce them; what are the consequences of not obeying them? The word ‘law’ comes from the Middle English laue, from Old English lagu meaning “ordinance, rule prescribed by authority, regulation; district governed by the same laws;” also sometimes “right, legal privilege,” from Old Norse lagu “law,” collective plural of lag “layer, measure, stroke,” literally “something laid down, that which is fixed or set.” …” Read more Hmmmm… For almost 15 years I’ve been suggesting that what we need is an AutomatedTaxi modal administration that promotes the mobility opportunities of AVs. Alain
Uber Surge-Pricing Tech Targeted in Carnegie Mellon Patent Suit
CMU, May 26, “ …Since its founding in 1900, CMU has been a birthplace of innovation. CMU was the first University to institute a robotics department and the first in the United States to award a degree in drama. CMU faculty and alumni have brought groundbreaking technologies like Java, Kevlar Fiber, and Duolingo to market. For over a hundred years, CMU has been where ideas become innovations and problems find real-world solutions…
Over the past 20 years, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has awarded over 600 patents to CMU, thereby recognizing the innovative technologies generated by CMU researchers. And CMU was also recently recognized by the National Science Foundation for its robust ecosystem for translational research as demonstrated by its selection as a mentor institution for the National Science Foundation’s Accelerating Research Translation Program….
Traditionally, online maps and other location-based services have been useful to help people locate points of interest and navigate from one point to another. The organizational units reflected in these traditional maps and services, such as neighborhoods, are often static and solely based on geographic location. As such, these maps failed to account for the changing dynamics of a city and often portrayed old realities…
In 2012, the Inventors published a paper titled “The Livehoods Project: Utilizing Social Media to Understand the Dynamics of a City” (the “Livehoods Paper”) and presented their research at the International Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (“ICWSM”) in Dublin, Ireland. See Exhibit 1….. Read moreHmmmm… Read on…how Universities can can/should fund its research. Fund the research upfront, Patent the good stuff that comes out. Monetize it both directly and/or via infringement to fund the on-going research. Could be much more scholarly than the post WWII “beltway bandit” process. Think about it. Alain
C. Banados, June 1, “ The robots are on the move, whether you can see them or not. Far from New York City, Waymo — the autonomous-driving-technology venture from Alphabet, the company most of us think of as Google — is racking up miles and experience. …
As Sarah Kaufman, the director of NYU’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management, who studies AV policy, put it, “There is an opportunity for us to be last.”
There is value in being, at the very least, late. As progressive and forward-thinking a city as we can be, we are also wisely skeptical about major shifts that might affect many people who are, economically and otherwise, barely hanging on. It takes us decades to legalize things that seem comparatively benign, like in-sink garbage disposals (banned until 1997), pinball machines (banned until 1976), and pet ferrets (still off-limits). We often adopt a “Show me” attitude toward putatively inexorable technological change, especially in this sociopolitical environment, where large tech companies have great power to disrupt. Meera Joshi, who ran the Taxi and Limousine Commission under Bill de Blasio and then served as a deputy mayor under Eric Adams, tells me that the TLC’s attitude when she ran it was to treat the arrival of AVs as a straightforward matter of consumer protection: The stance, back then, was “It’s never too early to start regulating.”…” Read moreHmmmm… In all seriousness, Manhattan should be last. Many things are within walking distance, and it has a really good subway. Plus, why would Waymo or anyone else, want to go where they really aren’t welcomed and are so entitled to think they have the right to “demand more…”Especially in the beginning when these things could be really good to the many in other places who aren’t within walking distance of anything and don’t have a public transit system working 24/7/365.25 let alone rarely, all-out to give them a really inexpensive ride. Get to the back of the line “New York”. Alain
Inside Uber’s AV Strategy with Founding Member Eduardo Rojas
H. Campbell, May 25, “ Has automakers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADASs) improved automobile safety? We address this question with a first- of- its- kind trim- level dataset of the universe of registered automobiles and accidents in Texas over a 9-year period. We find that ADASs reduce the risk of a motorist getting in any type of accident by 11 to 14 percent and reduce the risk of a motorist getting in a single-vehicle fatal accident by roughly one- third. Our finding that ADASs have improved automobile safety is especially important be- cause it provides early evidence of the benefits of vehicle automation in actual travel environments. Hopefully, it will spur greater interest in the development and widespread adoption of fully autonomous vehicles and in the potential benefits of other transportation technologies using AI. …” Read more Hmmmm… Title should be… “A former insider’s view… “. And why does Waymo need Uber unless it owns Uber, then why would it want to? What?
See also… Inside Uber’s strategy to avoid a head-on collision with autonomous cars… “For ride-hailing companies, [autonomy] is an existential risk, and they knew it 10 years ago,” says Laurie Yoler
Uber needs help here. Alain
Tesla FSD v14 is so good it’s making me dangerously complacent
F. Lambert, May 20, “ I was the first journalist to test Tesla’s Autopilot before it launched over a decade ago. I’ve tested every version of Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” since. FSD v14 is by far the most impressive — and that’s exactly what makes it the most dangerous.
The danger isn’t that FSD v14 is bad. The danger is that it’s so good enough that it can make you stop paying attention — and Tesla is not doing enough to discourage complacency.
In fact, I’d argue that it is actively encouraging complacency with its marketing. ….” Read more Hmmmm… Fred, why do you assume that everyone else is so stupid? Relax. It may actually be as good as you think. What has become so abundantly obvious is that it is the other human drivers that are the problem. You can’t relax and become complacent and must watch them; however, FSD v14 may well be better at sidestepping them than my knee jerk reaction. Consequently, I may well be better off relaxing and complacent, than not being trained,, nor capable of having a not so good knee jerk or even well-planned reaction. Certainly, to me, having my foot near the brake seems to be a better prepared option than “hands on the wheel”. Better chance of “reduced Delta-V” and much lower risk of a “roll over that breaks my neck”. Just sayin’! 😊 Alain
Robotaxis Aren’t as Autonomous as They Seem
M. Sena, May 1, “ Calling robotaxis autonomous flatters the technology and hides who is responsible when something goes wrong. The real issue is not just the vehicle. It is the system around it…” Read moreHmmmm… No kidding! They’re just automated with a little discretion; nowhere near autonomous. They are barely Smart. Alain
Tesla Just Got A Big Texas Advantage For Its Driverless Taxi Rollout
P. Salapantan, June 1, “…The new level 4 certification allows Tesla to properly roll out paid taxi rides without drivers or operators in the vehicle. Simply put, these level 4 vehicles can drive themselves, provided that the operational design domain conditions are met, including geofencing, prevailing weather conditions, and other factors….” Read moreHmmmm… The ball is moving. Alain
Why Tesla’s AI trainers don’t trust its self-driving tech – or its safety stats
Chris Kirkham and Rachael Levy, May 28, “… A Reuters examination of Tesla’s statistical methodology and interviews with company insiders show Tesla isn’t close to safely delivering self-driving vehicles at scale – a central promise underpinning the automaker’s $1.6 trillion stock-market value.as the first journalist to test Tesla’s Autopilot before it launched over a decade ago. …” Read more Hmmmm… Just to start, Chris & Rachel’s article should be titled…”Why Tesla’s former …. “,. I’m not sayin’ that they misrepresented, but that failing to include “former” bolstered the impression they were keen on making. (Is using “former” not acceptable anymore, this is the 2nd time this issue.)
Plus quoting a court room expert from only one side also helps make one’s case. Please read the whole thing because this eLetter is biased, since I write it and not ChatGTPoop or Claudette so you can feel comfortable that you know from where these Hmmms are coming. None of this is simple!😊 Alain
Princeton Professor Alain Kornhauser, Always on the Move, Advances Mobility for All
P. Hersh, March 21, “Alain Kornhauser, professor of Operations Research & Financial Engineering at Princeton University, realized early on in his academic career that his dream of going to Mars was unrealistic in his lifetime.
“So, I had to pivot,” says Alain, who has been on Princeton University’s faculty since 1972.
He moved on to far more down-to-earth dreams. He has achieved an academic and business career revolving around the movement of people and cargo from point a to point b on this earth. Alain obsesses about mobility, just not the kind you might expect for an 81, almost 82-year-old. …” Read moreHmmmm… Thank you Pam! Alain
HandyRides Update
Alain Kornhauser, May 29, Nice engagement @ 5th AV Conference in Boca Raton.” Hmmmm… . Continuing on our mission:
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