Saturday, September 26, 2026
been a while
15h edition of the 14th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter
AV Weekly - Setting The Course
J Talbot, Sept. 22, “AV Weekly kicks off with an inside look at the rapidly evolving world of autonomous vehicles.** From robotaxis operating on public streets to the technology making driverless transportation possible, the premiere explores where autonomy stands today, where it’s headed next, and the companies and innovators helping shape its future.
Hosted by Selika Josiah Talbott, AV Weekly takes viewers beyond the headlines and into the autonomous revolution already underway…“ Read more Hmmmm… I’m thrilled to be a part of all of it. Enjoy!
Note: Jonathan Sills’97, as a sophomore, inspired by the existing Weather Channel, did a final class paper envisioning a Transportation Channel for my then sophomore course. 😎 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 418 / PodCasts 418 - Waymo, Tesla, SpaceX, The Transportation Channel & more
Sept. 26, “Safety reports from Waymo and Tesla, NHTSA looks at Cybercab self certification, and AV Weekly launches on the Transportation Channel. Tune into episode 418 of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus Aurora, Tesla Semi factory, Space X and more.
- 0:00 open0:42The Transportation Channel launches AV Weekly program08:28Safety reports from Waymo and Tesla- tech is here to make roads safer13:00Society not ready for widespread removal of steering wheel and pedals?19:43NHTSA looking at Tesla Cybercab self certification35:07Tesla officials opens Semi factory and newsletter link to Aurora ride along42:12SpaceX readies launch of Starship 14 and newsletter link to Holy Grail of Rocketry video47:01NY Times headline- It’s Raining Boxes. Amazon Drones Overwhelm a Texas Suburb48:35Grayson Brulte podcast on solving the last fifty feet of package delivery with robots51:06Brulte report on May Mobility SPAC52:40A brief update on HandyRides while Waymo plans international expansion57:14Good luck to SpaceX
Waymo Safety Report, September 2026
Waymo.com, Sept 26, “Across Waymo’s 270 million autonomous miles, the data is unequivocal: at least 841 people* avoided injuries they otherwise would have sustained in a traffic crash. Over 300 human lifetimes of driving, the Waymo Driver continues to meaningfully improve road safety..” …” Read moreHmmmm… This is really impressive. While we all need to continue to improve safety, we also need to aggressively move onto the deployment and management of these mobility assets. They have the opportunity to deliver unprecedented societal value, especially to those who have been left behind by conventional mobility systems. Time is now to create Federal and State legislation focused on maximizing the capture of that societal value while addressing the challenges of insurance fraud, rider misbehavior and limiting liability. Alain
Full Self-Driving (Supervised) Vehicle Safety Report
Tesla.com, Sept. 26 “Full Self-Driving (Supervised) enables your vehicle to drive you almost anywhere with your active supervision, requiring minimal intervention…“ Read more Hmmmm… Almost 15 billion miles driven. Check out the accumulating stats. My personal stats… I use it simply when I believe it will drive more safely than I expect to be able to drive the road ahead. I’ve not been disappointed, intervened a little more than 10 times because of expected safety challenges ahead. In all instances I was wrong, and the intervention was not needed, and in several of the instances, I suspect that the automated collision avoidance system intervened my intervention and saved me from causing a collision. I continue to be amazed at how well and courteously FSD (Supervised) drives. Alain
Tesla’s NEW Feature Is Finally HERE | This Is So Much Better
Ryan Shaw, Sept. 22, “… Latest FSD (Supervised) data from Autralia…“ Read more Hmmmm… Good results from the first “right-handed” driving direction country. Alain s
NHTSA Opens Investigation into Tesla Cybercab Self-Certification Following Austin Deployment
NHTSA, Sept. 3, “The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today announced that it has opened an Audit Query (AQ) to investigate Tesla’s certification that its new Cybercab meets all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). The enforcement action follows Tesla’s commercial deployment of its driverless Cybercab vehicles in Austin, Texas… …” Read more Hmmmm… This is an enormously important process on the road to really updating FMVSS and removing outdated elements from FMVSS that no longer perfectly correlate to safety. At one point, a buggy whip necessarily correlated to an element to a safe horse and wagon ride. Once the motive power of the buggy was changed to a motor, be it Otto cycle, electric or steam, the buggy whip lost its correlation to safety and the “FMVSS of the time had it existed” would have necessarily excluded the requirement of a “buggy whip”. The car has now evolved such that its ability to deliver a safe ride does not need a rear view mirror, a steering wheel, a throttle, or a brake pedal (I guess a while ago FMVSS must have been updated to not require a clutch pedal???I should ask Claude or ChatGPToot if FMVSS ever had a requirement for a sclutch). Anyway… I digress. You get the gist. It is obvious that we are getting to a point in which machines can see better than we can see, have better collision avoidance behaviors than what we have and react faster than most of us. Consequently, it is in our and society’s best interest that we take advantage of these technological advancements and not be constrained by buggy whip mentality and regulations. This investigation is a necessary step in this correct direction. Thank you, NHTSA. Alain
Elon Musk Reveals Self-Driving Tesla Semi: ‘Gonna Be the Funnest Truck to Drive’
Tesla.com, Sept. 25 “… Elon Musk revealed the Tesla semi-truck on X, stating it will be the “funnest truck to drive.” It will also be equipped with Tesla’s self driving feature….” Read more Hmmmm… We saw this coming… The electric semi with (Supervised) FSD. This is going to be the biggest improvement in the workplace of long-haul trucking. This begs the question… How should time supervising FSD be counted in FMCSA’s hours of service regulations? The “Teamster” is supervising, not driving. The dynamic driving task involves driving (every 20 milliseconds or so, applying the correct steering angle and throttle/brake action to the truck + supervision. When (Supervised) FSD is engaged, only the supervision task is being done by the driver.)
So, should “time supervising” be discounted 10%, 25%, 50%, 100% when adding up “hours of service”? These regulations are all about a safety limit, so 0% discount is ridiculously inappropriate. Alain
Starship Eyes Orbit, NASA’s Moon Base Plans Take Shape | This Week in Spacefligh
E. Segal, Sept. 25, “SpaceX completes a full-stack launch rehearsal for Starship Flight 14, which aims to reach orbit and deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Meanwhile, tentative planning dates point toward more Starship flights—including a potential debut from Florida.
This week on This Week in Spaceflight, we break down preparations at Starbase, progress at Launch Complex 39A, and the testing and approvals still needed before launch……“ Read more Hmmmm… Starship Flight 14 No Earlier Than (NET) 8:15am EDT Monday. Alain
Staff, Sept. 22, “The 14th flight of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Monday, September 28, pending regulatory approval. The 75-minute launch window will open at 7:15 a.m. CT.
The upcoming flight is planned to be the first to send Starship into orbit around Earth. Flight tests until this point have intentionally flown passively safe suborbital trajectories to maximize public safety while allowing for maximum learning. By going to orbit, the next phase of developing Starship to be fully and rapidly reusable can begin.t…..” Read more Hmmmm… Can’t wait! Alain
Staff, Sept. 16, “A fully and rapidly reusable rocket will fundamentally change how humanity accesses outer space. “The Holy Grail of Rocketry” continues the ongoing Starship series with a look back at the scrappy days of SpaceX engineers proving reuse was possible and takes you onboard a high-seas race to recover a floating Starship…..” Read more Hmmmm… This is a MUST WATCH! Alain
Exclusive: Ride-Along Inside Aurora’s Self-Driving Semitruck
P. Lebeau, Sept. 22, “While investors focus on Tesla’s Cybercab and Waymo’s robotaxis, autonomous trucking has been quietly gaining traction. Aurora Innovation has begun commercial freight runs in Texas and is expanding its fleet of driverless semitrucks. CNBC’s Phil LeBeau spoke with Aurora CEO Chris Urmson to learn more about why he believes autonomous freight is nearing a turning point…..” Read more Hmmmm… Looks really good. Congratulations, Chris. Although, if FMCSA discounts by at least 50% the time a driver just supervises your truck, that productivity improvement more than pays for your system. Plus you’d be legal in all 50 states. If others don’t buy it from you, you should just start your own trucking company and dominate long haul trucking. Alain
A. Miller, Sept. 22, ,” …Let’s set aside the fact that X is where malcontents go to complain about things. (In that spirit: you can follow me on X here.) And let’s acknowledge that the plural of anecdote is not data. Having made those stipulations, is there anything to learn here?
I think there is. Notice that nobody is complaining that the train is full. They are instead complaining that the train is full and the agency is running the weekend schedule anyway. The two Toronto grievances are about “a normal weekend schedule”, the first one about doing this before the baseball game. The New Yorker concedes that four-minute headways on the L train, a frequency unheard of in most of North America, are not enough on a Saturday. The Chicagoan is angry that the city is chock-a-block with special events, and the CTA meets that demand with maintenance service and diminished capacity…”
Read more Hmmmm… Interesting post pointing out the possible change in demand for transit, and the lack of response from transit operators in changing schedules, highlighting that these systems are actually “supply-responsive” (schedules that fit the meeds of management/labor) rather than “demand responsive” schedules that fit the needs of riders. Alain
It’s Raining Boxes: Amazon Drones Overwhelm a Texas Suburb
J. Macur, Sept. 21, “The sound came out of nowhere.
It began as an unnerving high-pitched hum, like a mosquito flying around a dark room at bedtime, and it grew louder as it drew closer. A family lounging in a backyard pool in Richardson, Texas, just north of Dallas, couldn’t help but notice it.
“There’s another one coming this way!” shouted Eric Anderson from his pool float, pointing to an area above a tall line of trees. His 9-year-old daughter, Isla, removed her swim goggles for a clearer look at what could be a scene from science fiction.. …” Read more Hmmmm… Nothing is easy. Plus, these drones all have cameras. How many bedroom windows do they go by on their way to my front porch? Which annoyance is worse, down my street or past my bedroom window???? 🙁. Alain
May Mobility’s SPAC and the $93 Million Question
G. Brulte, Sept. 25, “This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG, Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss May Mobility filing to go public through a SPAC merger with an estimated $93 million annual cash burn, Mercedes-Benz adding Wayve as its third automated driving software partner, and Figure AI’s Helix 2.5 taking on household chores across 30 homes it had never seen before.
May Mobility is merging with ACP Holdings Acquisition Corp at a $1.4 billion valuation and will trade under the ticker MAY upon completion of the transaction. Of the up to $337 million in proceeds, only the $120 million PIPE is committed.
At the company’s current burn rate, the PIPE covers about 1.3 years of operations against roughly $10 million in 2025 revenue. The remaining $217 million depends on the redemption rate….” Read more Hmmmm… The driverless driver on public roads is turning out to be really tough. Let’s see how they evolve. I wish them all the best. Alain
Solving the Last 50 Feet of Package Delivery With Legged Robots
L. Redden, Sept. 23, “Lee Redden, Founder of LastFeet joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss solving the last 50 feet of package delivery with a custom-built legged robot designed to ride in the jump seat of a delivery van and carry packages from the curb to the doorstep.
After co-founding Blue River Technology and selling it to Deere, Lee returned to building because he believes this is one of the best times ever to build robots. LastFeet’s robot walks on four legs with wheels on its feet, so it can climb the high step out of a box truck and then roll quickly and steadily to the door. It learns to walk entirely in simulation, a big change from the hand-calculated kinematics Lee learned in grad school. …” Read moreHmmmm… Certainly interesting. Alain
Crashes involving comma.ai driving automation products
NHTSA Action Number : PE26007, Sept. 21, “Summary
The Office of Defects Investigation (“ODI”) has identified crashes involving vehicles equipped with devices manufactured by comma.ai(“comma”) occurring under similar circumstances. ODI received notice of five (5) crashes in which vehicles with comma devices installed reportedly struck stopped or slowly moving vehicles within the same travel lane. ODI has confirmed that the systems were powered on or engaged in multiple crashes. Preliminary data reviewed by ODI suggests that the comma system may not have adequately detected or responded to the in-lane vehicles. Two crashes resulted in a total of three (3) fatalities. Four of the five crashes contributed to various non-fatal injuries, including serious injuries, to eleven (11) other individuals. …” Read more Hmmmm… Note: “Hands-free” (Not “Feet-free”) Alain
HandyRides Update
Alain Kornhauser, Sept 26, ”… …” Hmmmm… . In our 2nd month serving Spelman College in Atlanta. All going extremely well. Average departure occupancy > 2.0 Elizabeth & Alain. 🙂
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