Saturday, April 4, 2026
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of the Past-4.04.26 7th edition of the 14th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter
Karl Iagnemma, From DARPA to Robotaxis to Warehouses — The Full Arc of Autonomy # 173
J. Zhao, April 3, “ Karl Iagnemma is one of the few who has lived through the entire arc of autonomy science, technology, and business: MIT PhD in Robotics, DARPA Urban Challenge pioneer, co-founder of NuTonomy, President and CEO of Motional, and today CEO of Vecna Robotics, building autonomy for the world’s warehouses.
MMF #173 features a fireside chat with Karl Iagnemma. …”. Read more Hmmmm… This is likely the best of the 173-episode series. Certainly, the best that I’ve witnessed so I’m comfortable recommending that you’ll find it well worth an hour of your time. I found many of his comments profound and few that I quibbled about to myself. 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 410/ Podcasts 410- MIT Karl Iagnemma Forum, Artemis II, Waymo, Subaru, Tesla & more
An MIT interview on the Full Arc of Autonomy, Artemis II, progress at Waymo, Subaru Outback goes hands free and a warm reception for the Tesla Semi. All that and more on episode 410 of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin.
- 0:00 open
- 0:52 MIT Mobility Forum with Karl Iagnemma
- 2:11 Last PennCentral Dinky remembrance
- 9:11 NASA Artemis II mission stirs memories
- 12:19 From MSN -Waymo has doubled ridership over last year
- 16:50 From Simply Wall Street- V2X Trial in Bordeaux
- 18:20 Financial Times headline- Self Driving Will Not Make Nissan a Commodity Says CEO
- 19:56 2026 Subaru Outback Gains Hands Free Driving
- 23:24 Tesla Semi winning fans include Jay Leno
- 32:27 Book recommendation: Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI by Anil Ananthaswamy
2026 Automated transportation Symposium (ATS)
July 27-30, 2026, San Diego, CA
8thBridging Transportation Researchers (BTR#8)
Online Conference! August 12 & 13, 2026
From the Past:
Last Penn Central Dinky-1st ConRail Dinky
B. Allen, April 1, 1976, “There was standing room only on the 11:45pm Dinky Wednesday night…” Read more Hmmmm… 50 years ago! Seems like just yesterday… Alain
What NASA Just Revealed From Artemis II
M. House, April 3, 2026, “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about the incredible Artemis II mission that we watched all around the world as this courageous team of 4 were sent off toward the moon! Well What NASA Just Revealed From Artemis II since then is staggering.…” Read more Hmmmm… We’re back to where we were almost 60 years ago. At least we’re back. This is another experience that seems just like yesterday but occurred in December 1968. I didn’t see that one live. I was at the launch of Apollo 11 the next July. It has been an interesting ride, but can’t we move on from bombing each other like we were doing in ‘68. Enough already! Alain
More Current:
Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Moern AI
T. Levin, March 12, “Machine learning systems are making life-altering decisions for us: approving mortgage loans, determining whether a tumor is cancerous, or deciding if someone gets bail. They now influence developments and discoveries in chemistry, biology, and physics—the study of genomes, extrasolar planets, even the intricacies of quantum systems. And all this before large language models such as ChatGPT came on the scene.…” Read more Hmmmm… A must read. Alain
Waymo has doubled its weekly ridership in under a year
T. Levin, March 12, “Waymo just keeps growing. Driverless rides started slowly at first in a couple of cities. Now Alphabet’s robotaxi business is scaling up quickly as it heads to more markets.
On Thursday, America’s autonomous-car leader said it had cracked a new milestone: 500,000 paid rides per week. That weekly throughput has doubled in less than a year, with Waymo first crossing 250,000 rides per week last April. …” Read more Hmmmm… This is good ridership. That is 100,000 per day. How much has it increased its Fleet Size? If each vehicle gives 25 rides per day, that means their fleet is 4,000 strong. Managing that many things running around on their own delivering that much good to very entitled customers is no small feat even with 20 big ones in your shoe. Congratulations! Alain
V2X Trial In Bordeaux Puts Connected Mobility Story In Focus
B. Pemberton, Mar. 27, “The successful V2X trial and move into commercial talks could influence how the market views Renault’s role in connected vehicle ecosystems and urban safety solutions. Readers may want to watch how any future agreements are structured and whether they meaningfully shift sentiment around ENXTPA:RNO’s position in smart mobility……” Read more Hmmmm… V2X is still a thing in Europe? Oh, they are still in the “talking stage” as they “move into commercial talks…” Luckily we’ve taken the C out of CAV. We can now begin to deliver substantial value out of AVs as Waymo is beginning to demonstrate. Alain
Self-driving will not make Nissan a commodity, says CEO
H. Dempsy, Mar. 25, “Nissan’s new boss Ivan Espinosa is betting heavily on self-driving vehicles as he seeks a new future for the beleaguered Japanese carmaker. In an interview with the Financial Times, the 47-year-old chief executive said the company’s engineering prowess would protect it from a low-margin future as a contract manufacturer to the tech firms that were leading the charge for full self-driving….” Read more Hmmmm… The image of the car with all the space invader crap on its roof certainly liberates it from being perceived as a commodity. Is Nissan’s objective to also make these things look totally hideous? Wasn’t that the downfall of the Edsel? Alain
2026 Subaru Outback Gains Hands-Free Driving For The First Time
K. Furlong, Mar. 4, “Subaru has announced its first foray into the hands-free driving era. The first model to benefit is the Outback, which recently entered a new generation. The automaker’s EyeSight driver-assistance suite has already been available across Subaru’s lineup, but the Outback’s new Hands-Free Assist Driving system is far more advanced. As with other hands-free systems like Ford’s BlueCruise, Subaru’s system supports hands-free driving on most interstate highways. It can be used at speeds of up to 85 mph (5 mph higher than BlueCruise), which exceeds the speed limit in most states across the country…
The new Highway Hands-Free Assist system is available as a no-cost update on the Touring and Touring XT trims for the 2026 Outback. Any models sold after January 19, 2026, will already have the update installed…“ Read more Hmmmm… Excellent Subaru. I love them because their NA HQ is in New Jersey! 🙂Alain
Jay Leno Drives the 500-Mile Tesla Semi: The Death of Diesel?
J. Leno, March 20, “Jay Leno goes “outside the garage” for a vehicle too massive to fit inside: the all-electric Tesla Semi. Joined by Tesla’s Director of Styling, Franz von Holzhausen, and Semi Program Director, Dan Priestley, Jay puts the 500-mile long-range model to the test.
From the “bullet-shaped” aerodynamic cab to the game-changing 1.2 megawatt charging capability, we go under the hood of the most advanced Class 8 truck ever built. Watch as Jay hauls a 70,000 lb load and explores the “office of the future” for truckers. We also tackle the tough questions: Can it handle an Alaskan winter? Is the battery really designed to last a million miles? And why did Tesla put the driver in the middle? . …” Read moreHmmmm… Most interesting would be to automate this or any other Class 8 as Aurora is doing to basically double the productivity of long-haul trucks and their cargo.
Today, unless class 8 trucks have tandem drivers, their productivity and that of whatever they are hauling is limited by hours-of-service regulations to 11 hours of driving per day. Those regulations ensure, as best they can, that the truck stays between two white lines and doesn’t crash into anything. Aurora Technologies and others are approaching, if not already there, the development of driverless technologies that drive as safe, or even more safely, than professional drivers. Thus the hours of service regulations are becoming moot since a machine can do a better job and a driver can become much more productive as an “on-call, in-cab attendant” as the machine and its cargo become twice as productive by moving 22 hours a day instead of just 11.
The entity providing the mobility service, the carrier, will then have twice as much money to pay for the driver and the tech. They can use that money to continue to pay the trucker; include better living accommodations in the truck as Tesla seems to have done; pay the trucker a little more as long as she is available to put out those reflecting triangles should the truck need to pullover and contribute in other less physically and psychologically demanding ways to improve productivity even more; have plenty of money to pay for the technology; be able to give the shipper a little better deal and have money left over to put more in the entity’s pocket. Talk about a win (trucker), win (shipper), win (carrier), win (technology provider), win (society). 5-way win! Total no-brainer. Alain
HandyRides Update
Alain Kornhauser, April 4, “My Cousin Vinny” is coming to Atlanta and an Old Guy giving ride to an Old Guy who needed a ride.” Hmmmm… . Our mission:
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