Saturday, Mar. 14, 2026
6th edition of the 14th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter
NHTSA Announces It Will Reduce Regulations for Autonomous Vehicles
“The regulatory ice surrounding fully autonomous vehicles is officially beginning to thaw.
Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) hosted its inaugural National AV Safety Forum in Washington, D.C., bringing together federal regulators and the top executives from Tesla, as well as other self-driving companies like Waymo, Zoox, and Aurora.
The tone of the summit was overwhelmingly pro-innovation. Rather than focusing on restrictive red tape, the discussions centered on how the federal government can actively modernize outdated automotive laws to pave the way for a new era of America-first transportation technology. Read more Hmmmm… The article is but a brief summary of the day as I experienced it.
The real substance of this outstanding day is contained in the Agenda for the event that includes individual links to videos of each of the sessions. This is the link to the video of the entire event from start to finish.
Especially watch Secretary Duffy emphasize not only the safety but also the affordability opportunity of this technology where he emphasized its opportunity to ”…level the mobility playing field…” and improve the lives of those who today really need a ride, a primary mission of this eLetter. I interpret his comments as expanding NHTSA’s mission from just improving safety to also improving mobility. This was backed up by Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, (15:34 in from the start) with more detailed commitments from the NHTSA Administrator, Jonathan Morrison (20:41 in from the start).
The panels and the breakout sessions that followed were substantive and not riddled with the noise that seems to dominate the news and click-bait media.
I’ve attended and participated in essentially every “AV” Forums in the past 20 years, and this one was dramatically different in its fundamental substance and seriousness of purpose. All of this is really going to happen for the right reasons … safety, affordability, mobility, quality-of-life, jobs and leadership.
It was a really good day. 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 409/ Podcasts 409-National AV Safety Forum and what comes next
Fred Fishkin, March 15, “With all of the major players on hand, the Department of Transportation held a National AV Safety Forum in D.C.. And Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser says the focus on empowering AV innovators is opening doors. Join Alain and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus an AARP podcast on mobility featuring ITN America’s Katherine Freund, reports on impact of AVs on vehicle miles traveled and the hidden costs of Waymo robotaxis on SF streets. And concerns about what the U.S.-Israeli reported disruptions of traffic signals and such in Iran may mean. Tune in and subscribe!”
- 0:00 open
- 1:29 NHTSA holds National AV Safety Forum- Alain was there
- 14:52 Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s opening remarks
- 24:18 Alain on significance of Duffy’s remarks
- 25:33 Where things go from here
- 28:03 Alain and ITN America’s Katherine Freund were guests on AARP Senior Planet Aging Rewired podcast on Alternative Transportation Solutions for Older Adults
- 32:24 Greater Washington report on study saying Avs will super charge vehicle miles traveled37:06Fast Company report on hidden costs of Waymo robotaxis on SF streets
- 41:00 Alain on implications of U.S. and Israel being able to control traffic signals and system in Iran
- 45:30 Doors opened this past week to providing mobility to those who need it
2026 Automated transportation Symposium (ATS)
July 27-30, 2026, San Diego, CA
8thBridging Transportation Researchers (BTR#8)
Online Conference! August 12 & 13, 2026
Staff, March 11, “U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator Jonathan Morrison today announced next steps to spur innovation and enhance safety for automated vehicles at USDOT’s first-ever AV Safety Forum. They were joined by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios.
Key Announcements Included:
- NHTSA is seeking public comment on what would be the nation’s first-ever commercial deployment of a purpose-built robotaxi built by Zoox.
- NHTSA is sharing updated technical guidance for AV developers for the first time since 2017.
- NHTSA announced the next batch of proposed updates to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for manufacturers building AVs.
…” Read more Hmmmm… This is the link that deserves your time. It includes summaries of what happened and a link to the session (that I also linked above) This is substantive! Alain
Guest: Katherine Freund, Cheryl Stewart, and Alain Kornhauser, March 12, “On average, Americans outlive their decision to stop driving by ten years. With limited access to public transportation, what tech and community-based solutions are there to ensure that older adults have access to affordable and reliable transportation? We hear three different perspectives in this season premiere. Guests include Katherine Freund, President & CEO of ITNAmerica; Cheryl Stewart, a founding member of the all-women’s Sirens Motorcycle Club; and Alain Kornhauser, a professor at Princeton.…” Read more Hmmmm… Katherine was fantastic!! Alain
Inside the plan to kill Ali Khamenei
Staff, Mar. 2, “Israel spent years hacking Tehran’s traffic cameras and monitoring bodyguards ahead of the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader…..” Read more Hmmmm… While being interesting as a technological achievement, the compromising of ITS capabilities for this objective is chilling. If “we” can do it, so can “they” do it to us. Consequently, all our ITS infrastructure and the vehicles that operate in that infrastructure… Level 1, 2, … 5 are susceptible to being compromised. At a minimum it means that SmartDrivingCars will necessarily need to be 100% manufactured in the US with 100% US made content. No way we’re going to let Chinese; Russian or even European content be in any of these cars. Wow! Alain
Alain
Study: AVs will super-charge vehicle miles traveled
K. Wilson, Mar. 12, “..That could result not just in increased congestion, but also in bankrupt transit agencies, empty city coffers as fuel taxes and other driving-related revenues dip, and sprawling development patterns that leave us even more isolated from opportunity and each other than we are now.
And if those trips are taken in shared autonomous taxis, that would mean a lot of “deadhead” miles while empty AVs drive themselves to pick up new passengers — a phenomenon the study authors calls “eVMT,” and which they warn could as much as double the number of miles an average city population drives in a day….” Read more Hmmmm… Assume the claim of increased congestion is true. My question is: Why disparage and blame the new riders via “roboTaxis” for the increased VMT and congestion, and not the base rides that exist today? Those new rides unleashed happiness and improved quality-of-life to those new riders who today are forced to choose to stay home and not capture for themselves the happiness that affordable high-quality mobility would provide to them. All those traveling today are fortunate enough to have a driver’s license, be rich enough to own a car, have such good friends who will give them a ride, etc. What about those who don’t? Shouldn’t they have equal access to the capacity of public roadways? Also, public transit is already bankrupt everywhere in the USA. And, the thought that there is no “empty vehicle repositioning” going on throughout the nation’s roadways is absurd. Know anyone who drives their kids to school, or who picks them up from after school activity? Has an Uber driver ever picked you up at the same spot they had just dropped off their previous rider? In the morning, I claim that the Average vehicle occupancy in Princeton, NJ is 0.85 and throughout the day throughout New Jersey is 0.98. What one sees as a driver is often just a machine, not a rider seeking mobility.
So happy these researchers are not from UT Austin. Couldn’t have happened there, because I can’t imagine that Kara would have put up with such nonsense. Alain
Uncovered records reveal the hidden costs of Waymo robotaxis on San Francisco streets
R. Heilweil, Mar. 9, “In the past few years, while navigating the streets of San Francisco, bus and trolley operators have documented a growing presence on the city’s streets: Waymo robotaxis, often devoid of any front-seat human driver, causing problems…..” Read more Hmmmm… As if bus & trolley operators never cause problems. How well did they do during the power outage? Not well! Best thing Muni did was the press’ diversion to Waymo, who appropriately became more cautious and caused no crashes (else, there would have been hell to pay. That would have been an “in your face cost”. The reason Waymo’s costs to the city “are hidden”, is because they are so miniscule you need a magnifying glass to find them.
Just think, if Waymo focused on providing rides for San Franciscans who really need a ride, this kind of reporting wouldn’t be tolerated nor get any clicks.
Apparently, Rebecca had no interest in writing a good article about opportunities to improve the quality-of-life for San Franciscans. She instead went for the clicks that come from bashings. This is a terrible article. Don’t read it. I won’t waste your time by pointing you to any of the multitude of click-bait articles that proliferate today’s media. (The links are to C’mon Man) Alain
HandyRides Update
Alain Kornhauser, March 10, “Quintessential Katherine Freund: an Old Guy giving ride to Old Guy who needed a ride.” Hmmmm… and Our mission:
Elizabeth & Alain. 🙂
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