Friday, June 26, 2026
Straw-6.26.26
11th edition of the 14th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter
Trump administration proposes axing brake-pedal requirement for AVs in a boost for Tesla Suit
S. O’Kane, June 25, “ The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed new changes to federal vehicle regulations that would allow companies to skip including brake pedals in “vehicles designed to be driven exclusively by automated driving systems.” …” Read moreHmmmm… Sean: Why isn’t your headline “… in a boost to improve the live of millions of people who need a high-quality affordable ride.”? That’s the important boost we’re now getting in New Jersey, Atlanta, North Carolina and the nation and surprise, surprise, it is coming out of The US Department of Transportation and New Jersey! 😊 Note: There aren’t any brake pedals on the floor in front of any of the seats in any of the United Airline planes that have given me a ride recently, nor any elevators that have ever given me a ride. Thank you US DoT for not only ensuring safety but really championing high-quality affordable mobility, especially for those who’s lives can be most improved and have been largely left way behind by today’s conventional forms of mobility. 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 415 / PodCasts 415 Feds proposal to eliminate the requirement for brake pedals
- 0:00 Welcome back to Smart Driving Cars, episode 415. This time out: the Fed proposal to eliminate the requirement for brake pedals in automated vehicles…and how it was reported. Misbehavior in a Waymo vehicle. Tesla’s Texas response and the reporting on the tragedy. And a visit to Big Boy 4014. Join Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for all that and more.open0:28TechCrunch headline… Trump Administration Proposes Axing Brake Pedal Requirement for Avs in a Boost for Tesla Suit05:12The Guardian report on potential benefits of Avs06:35L.A. TV report on teens riding outside a Waymo vehicle20:00Katy, Texas tragedy…NY Times report28:56Alain pays a visit to Big Boy
2026 Automated transportation Symposium (ATS)
July 27-30, 2026, San Diego, CA
8thBridging Transportation Researchers (BTR#8)
Online Conference! August 12 & 13, 2026
AI Debates Ignore One of Its Great Plusses: Worker Mobility
C. Winston, June 24, Will artificial intelligence improve workers’ lives, or hand them the equivalent of a pink slip? It is one of the most pressing questions facing the U.S. economy, and polling shows that Americans are currently more anxious than excited about AI’s effect on work. Even among top economists, there is a sharp divergence of opinion: while there is broad consensus that AI will boost near-term productivity, experts are heavily split on whether the technology will ultimately eliminate more jobs than it adds. The prevailing narrative focuses heavily on cognitive displacement, warning that experienced workers in routine, information-processing roles face genuine risk.
However, this hyper-focus on white-collar tasks entirely overlooks a massive, offsetting effect of AI: its enormous potential to improve tangible labor market benefits to households through advances in mobility. We are already seeing the vanguard of these advances in autonomous vehicles (AVs) via the deployment of robotaxis throughout the world and advanced experiments with autonomous trucking deliveries. By applying artificial intelligence to the physical world, we are on the verge of fundamentally reducing the cost of distance—the ultimate physical friction of geography and human physiology that constrains the performance of key markets in the U.S. economy, above all, the labor market.
….” Read moreHmmmm… and demand responsiveness so that those who have to punch in on time to keep their job at the warehouse or do custodial work at the strip mall can do so without needing to buy a car instead of feeding their family. Thank you Winston. Alain
I was wary of driverless cars and their tech overlords – but they could give me a different future
G. Stewart, June 24, “ The robotaxis are coming! The robotaxis are coming! Well, actually, they’re already here. Until now they’ve been the stuff of science fiction, but this summer London’s streets have seen Silicon Valley-based company Waymo testing out self-driving cars. It hasn’t been the smoothest of introductions – from cars getting stuck in a cul-de-sac and repeatedly waking up the residents of Shoreditch to one driving into a crime scene, after a double stabbing in Harlesden..
But there is an aspect to this too little considered: for me, and others with accessibility needs, AVs offer a different future, a possibility of independence that feels otherwise unattainable. I will never be able to drive due to my poor vision, a reality that has left me unable to apply for many jobs and made me reliant on others to get around – especially when outside of cities. Many rural areas simply don’t have trains or taxis, causing an accessibility minefield for anyone living there or visiting. Driverless taxis may not solve that but they offer a roadmap towards the wider rollout of self-driving cars that could…” Read moreHmmmm… Wow… there is hope. Gabriel thinks there might be some real quality of life value in this technology for serving the latent demand of those with “accessibility needs,” both physical and economic, faced by more than 10% of those in our communities. Wow!!! Something for them. Thank you Gabriel for your Opinion. Alain
Teens riding outside Waymo vehicle in Santa Monica
L. Pena, June 23, “ Photos from a witness showed teens dangerously hanging out the windows of a Waymo car in Santa Monica. …” Read moreHmmmm… Wait!! A couple of things..
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How did this reckless, extremely dangerous behavior evade Waymo’s notice? Is there that much latency with the Philippines (sorry couldn’t resist).
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The control center can’t remotely control the windows? Up the windows once, and they won’t do that again?
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Can’t the control center automatically reroute the car to the nearest police station?
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This whole industry needs to only give rides to people who will behave. The safety problem on our roads is HUMAN misbehavior. The safety problem in AVs is primarily HUMAN misbehavior. It can’t be tolerated from the very beginning. United Airlines will not let me near any of their planes if they have any hint that I might misbehave. If you want a high-quality affordable ride you MUST behave; else, Walk! Very simple. In this case, Waymo knows who was in their car because they have cameras (LiDAR… not much help here). If a loophole exists in legislation, close that one so that folks who seek selfies in this way are prosecuted and have their parents pay reparations. C’mon ambulance chasers, chase HUMAN misbehavers in Waymos.
Misbehaving HUMAN drivers are ruining our conventional roadways. Misbehaving riders and insurance fraudsters can ruin what could be so darn good for so many people who have been left behind by conventional mobility. Hopefully, NJ, US lobbyists, legislators and regulators will properly thwart this very real threat fueled by the media, influencers and social media. Alain
Tesla Driver Using Autopilot Crashes Into Home, Killing a Woman, Officials Say
J. Diaz, June 21, “ … Doorbell camera footage shows the Tesla crashing into a house in Katy, Texas. ….” Read more Hmmmm… This is a tragic crash. Elizabeth lost a grandmother to a misbehaving driver. Maybe it was the technology, but the scorecards that I read clearly show the misbehavers are winning. Why is it then, that the NYT prints this? Wow… how one sided was this reporting by Johnny, even though he should have known that under normal operation, overriding AutoPilot or FSD by depressing the accelerator leading to excessive speeds initiates a warning that braking is disabled thus allowing the driver to achieve what he is wishing for. It’s his car. He is legally in control and if he thinks he should be in control, his call, the car won’t over-ride his desire. But normally he is warned. Johnny failed to mention this in his reporting. Hopefully someone at the NYT has spoken with him.
Well, someone must have, because NYT chose Lauren McCarthy’s more balanced approach by including “… A Tesla executive, Ashok Elluswamy, who is in charge of the company’s artificial intelligence software, said on X late on Monday that the driver “…manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator.” He added that the car had accelerated to 73 miles per hour…. “ Ouch!!! But she had to rehash the 2018 Huang crash which to some (me) looked like CA DoT was not an innocent bystander in that one for not having proper striping on the road that may have caused a human driver to crash in a similar way a couple of weeks earlier and, of course, a couple weeks is not enough time for CA DoT to repair the damaged crash attenuator that may have saved Mr. Huang’s life. 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! Finished 54; will retire @ 65. Alain
HandyRides Update
Alain Kornhauser, June 23, ”… …” Hmmmm… . Speaker Couglin & Senator Zwicker, thank you for your courage. Elizabeth and I are staying in New Jersey and goin’ to Atlanta, North Carolina & … Elizabeth & Alain. 🙂
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