Sunday, May 3, 2026
9th edition of the 14th year of SmartDrivingCars eLetter
Beijing Auto Show 2026: A Field Report from China’s Operational-Excellence Era
P. Perspective, April 27, “ We spent yesterday (Sunday the 26th) at the Beijing Auto Show. Sore feet, a dead phone, and the cleanest single-day read on the Chinese auto industry we have had in years. The short version: the wild experimentation phase is winding down, and the operational excellence phase is getting started. The longer version is in this post.
This is the rare free post, since we havent done those in a while. The idea is to do a “what we saw” piece. A separate, behind the paywall post will follow later this week with the “what we heard, saw and learned and what it all means for positioning” side of the trip. This piece is on the house, because we found it interesting and intriguing, plus people like cars, don’t they?…”. Read moreHmmmm… Another excellent session. I made my comments live in the chat. He can own the 1,000-3,000 mile truck long-haul market. Just haul it with your cabs & attendants! 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 412/ Podcasts 412 - w/Camile Kamga
What is it like at the 2026 Auto Show in Beijing? On episode 412 of Smart Driving Cars, we get a look at the show floor, courtesy of CCNY Professor Camille Kamga, Director of the University Transportation Research Center. EVs, automation and more! Plus robotaxis, long haul trucking, Tesla, Waymo and more. Tune in and subscribe.
- 0:00 open
- 0:50 Guest Professor Camille Kamga at the Beijing Auto Show
- 17:35 Tesla still selling well overall in China despite competition
- 19:15 EV market growing in China and parts of Europe
- 20:21 Range not a significant issue any longer
- 22:00 Is driverless mobility going to happen? It’s happening.
- 22:45 Long haul trucking thoughts. Might Tesla haul freight?
2026 Automated transportation Symposium (ATS)
July 27-30, 2026, San Diego, CA
8thBridging Transportation Researchers (BTR#8)
Online Conference! August 12 & 13, 2026
Opinion, April 30, “Linked is an edited transcript of an episode of “Interesting Times.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on the NYTimes app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts…”Read moreHmmmm… I love this Opinion because it has a most provocative title “Why Are We Still Driving?” and will cause many to really begin to question why they are still driving. However, as it is my nature, I’d like to take the thought even further since I’ve used it myself to get folks to think more deeply about AVs and Who the “We’s” are.
One class of “We” is those who are currently driving legally… those who are licensed, not texting, not showing off, not sleeping, not drunk. For these folks who are capable of driving (can themselves execute the steering, braking and turn signal functions of the driving task) I’d like to make the claim that they are also capable of being promoted to the task of supervising/monitoring an “algorithmic driver,” e.g. Supervised FSDv14.3+, or the like, rather than “drive.” If those folks promote themselves to be supervisors rather than drivers, they and everyone else on the road, will be safer.
Today’s “algorithmic drivers” see 360 degrees simultaneously ~30 times a second. They react better and faster than the cognitive cycle times of those who today are permitted to drive. They are consistently as, if not more, courteous and respectful of other road users and pedestrians than most We’s. When their car’s “algorithmic drivers” is within its Operational Design Domain (ODD), they can choose to promote themselves to be Supervisor and stop being a Driver. Should the algorithm begin to misbehave on its own (since they are not perfect), the supervisor is at the ready to revert to be a driver to ensure safe and courteous behavior that they’re accustomed to delivering to themselves. Thus, safety and courtesy have been improved within today’s ODDs.
While these ODDs are fragmented in time and space, the retention of the ability to drive allows the “algorithmic driver” to deliver a safer and more courteous ride while traveling within the ODDs while reverting to driving themselves when transitioning between ODDs. In sum the whole trip is safer and more courteous. Consequently, I’ve promoted myself to being a Supervisor when appropriate, which this year has become way more than 80% of the time because I’m not only convinced that my travels have become safer and more courteous, but my anxiety level has decreased substantially. I’m more relaxed and I now prefer to promote myself to be a supervisor rather than a driver. I’m a much happier camper!
My experience (20/20 hindsight) to date technically is that my interventions (disengagements) are very rare, almost always for personal convenience quirks overwhelmingly associated with routing choices. I’ve not had even one for safety critical reasons, while having a few in which I was wrong, the algorithm would have been right and had the complementary automated collision avoidance system not over-ridden my intervention, a severe crash would have occurred. I have not experienced a crash. I have not experienced a hallucination. I, Anil Ananthaswamy (Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind AI) and most everyone else in AI can’t understand why hallucinations are so rare given the “over fitting” that is involved in the training of these “algorithmic drivers”. To me, this remains to be one of the most important open research questions in today’s AI.
Now let’s deal with another class of “We’s”: professional long-haul drivers. During the time that they can be promoted to Supervisors rather than Drivers, they should not be subject to current FMCA hours of service regulations. Thus, their productivity in delivering logistics services will improve, not only improving their working conditions, making them happier campers but also allowing them to be earn more because they enable higher logistics productivity. Nothing but wins all around.
Let’s next address the We’s who are licensed, nonprofessional drivers AND misbehavers – texters, speeders, under the influence, etc. If they can’t stop misbehaving, then they should be closely supervised, and the system improves over what exists today. If you are a sleeper or under the influence, the “algorithmic driver should pull over and not let these We’s move until they are awake, thus substantially improving safety and courtesy. If misbehaving We’s override the system with “code from the web” or “clip wires,” they should be arrested and prosecuted as they should be if these systems never existed. Today, these systems are NOT good enough to let any sleepers or those under the influence go anywhere.
Last, let’s consider the We’s who today don’t drive, but instead need to get a ride, walk or stay home/don’t go. For them, having the opportunity to have the “algorithmic driver” give them a ride improves the safety and courtesy of that ride ONLY if a supervisor is on board. But we are approaching the day when the “algorithmic driver” becomes so good as to not need a supervisor on board, but that supervisory function can be provided remotely. Waymo’s driver currently delivers such mobility in some places at some time. Others are on the near horizon. It is envisioned that some of these will have such scale opportunities that their costs may enable to be provided for some travel at some times to be extremely affordable to some of these We’s. It is this opportunity that will deliver the most value to our society by so improving their quality-of-life over what is available to them today because today, they don’t have the opportunity to “Still be Driving”. Elizabeth and I are working feverishly to address this enormously large latent opportunity to provide affordable high-quality mobility to those who need it most. Alain
Tesla Semi: first truck rolls off high-volume production line
F. Lambert, April 30, “Tesla has produced the first Semi truck off its new high-volume production line at Gigafactory Nevada, marking a critical milestone for the long-delayed electric truck program.
From prototype to production
The Tesla Semi has had one of the longest gestation periods in Tesla’s history. First unveiled in 2017, the truck was originally promised for production in 2019. That target slipped repeatedly — to 2020, then 2021, then 2022 — before Tesla finally delivered a handful of units to PepsiCo in late 2022.
Those early trucks were essentially hand-built on a pilot line. Tesla spent the next three years refining the design, cutting roughly 1,000 lbs from the truck, and building out a dedicated factory adjacent to Gigafactory Nevada in Sparks. The company revealed the final production specs in February, confirming two trims: a Standard Range with 325 miles at full 82,000-lb gross combination weight, and a Long Range with 500 miles of range. Read moreHmmmm… Congratulations! This will be very interesting, especially as FSD is introduced that will allow professional drivers to become supervisors of the logistics function, thus substantially improving their productivity, quality of life and safety. OSHA, DoT and the nation in general should be so supportive. 😊 Alain
Staff, April 28, “The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) today announced the adoption of new autonomous vehicle (AV) regulations. These rules, the most comprehensive AV regulations in the nation, are the result of an extensive public comment and review process. Under the updated regulations, AV manufacturers may now apply for permits to test and deploy heavy-duty autonomous vehicle technology on California roadways.
The rules also expand safety and oversight requirements for all classes of AVs, enabling law enforcement agencies to cite AV companies for moving violations committed by their vehicles, requiring AV companies to respond to first responder calls within 30 seconds and authorizing local emergency officials to issue electronic geofencing directives to clear AVs from active emergency zones. Under the regulations and implementation of AB 1777, local government emergency officials may issue a temporary “do not enter” or “restricted area” zone to manufacturers in response to a public safety issue. AVs are not permitted to enter this area for the duration of the incident. Any AV already inside the zone must exit and no additional AVs may enter. AVs that violate this restriction may be subject to permit restrictions or suspension, depending on the circumstances of the incident. The regulations establish enhanced safety readiness criteria in the permitting process, new standards for remote operations personnel and broader data reporting and enforcement tools….
Highlights:… Permitting Criteria, …AV Moving Violations, …First Responder Interaction, …Emergency Response, …Remote Operation, …Data Reporting, …Enforcement Tools, …Testing and Deployment of Heavy-Duty Autonomous Vehicles: Removes the prohibition on operating AVs with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 10,001 pounds or more, opening the California market to AV freight operations. Heavy-duty AVs must still stop at CHP weigh stations and comply with all applicable state and federal commercial motor vehicle requirements…” Read moreHmmmm… I comment in the following on AV Moving violations. What is really nice about the new Heavy-duty AV regulation is that it provides a pathway for substantial productivity, quality of workplace and safety improvements in California’s roadway logistics system. These regulations should form excellent starting points for national regulations. 😊 Alain
Driverless cars can now get citations; autonomous trucks get testing green light in new CA DMV rules
K. Choi, April 29, “New DMV rules allow officers to ticket driverless vehicles…”Read moreHmmmm… Why not?! However, is this the real way to conduct enforcement whose objective is to improve future behavior? Algorithms that can be improved to behave better in the future are the source of the past enforcement action for which data has been captured that likely describes is excruciating detail essentially all of the past bad behavior being cited. All that needs to be noted is time & place and Waymo can get to wok improving its future behavior. Sounds like a win-win. Officers get to help identify bad behavior and Waymo gets to improve its algorithms and oversight processes to improve future behavior. Q.E.D. 😊 Alain
Tesla to Wait for FSD V15 Before Launching Robotaxi at Scale, Lists Next Cities
K. Singh, April 28, “ During the Q1 2026 earnings call, Tesla provided an anticipated update on its unsupervised Robotaxi program. While the company is actively testing uncrewed vehicles on public roads, executives confirmed that a significant, wide-scale expansion of the commercial Robotaxi fleet will not occur until the release of Full Self-Driving v15.
To understand why Tesla is pausing a nationwide rollout, one must look at what v15 actually represents. Elon Musk described v15 as a “major architectural improvement” that would “improve the probability of safety significantly.” Ashok Elluswamy added that FSD v15 will be a major upgrade over the current v14.3 variance that’s running on Robotaxis today.” Read more Hmmmm… Keeps improving. Alain
Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind AI
Anil Ananthaswamy , 2024, “ At end of chapter 7, page 271… “John Hopfield, a physicist, was looking to work on something big. He could not have imagined the changes he would inspire! …” Read more Hmmmm… This is a MUST read!!!!!
What a tribute (written before John won his 2024 Physics Nobel and all of the others that have gotten us to this point in the development of “algorithmic drivers” and other AI systems. You can’t believe how great it makes me feel since John is such a good friend. While giving him an attended-driverless ride down Nassau Street in Princeton last year, one of the changes that he inspired, he said to me…” Alain, I never thought that what I’ve focused on during my life would end up helping me!” John has health challenges that preclude him from driving himself around. He really needs a ride. By virtue of his inspiration, he can now get effortlessly, safely and soon, affordably. How so very nice! Alain
Human drivers keep crashing into Waymos
K. Williams & T. Lee, April 22, “Last October, Waymo had begun testing its freeway capability, but the company had not yet rolled it out to all vehicles. On a rainy Saturday morning, a routing error caused a Waymo vehicle not qualified for freeway operation to drive onto US 101 just south of the Golden Gate Bridge. Unable to continue, the vehicle stopped in the right lane about 30 meters past the entrance ramp (there was no shoulder).…” Read more Hmmmm… Time to go beyond safety and start using these technologies to give Safe Affordable High-quality rides to people who really need a ride, and everyone else too. Alain
A Way to Slow Down ‘Super-Speeders’ Who Keep Breaking the Law
A driver must be caught on camera speeding 16 or more times in a single year — or more than once a month — to qualify as a super-speeder. In New York City, that designation currently includes about 14,600 vehicles…”Read moreHmmmm… OK, why not? Why only for super speeders? Hope it works. This has been available technologically forcars since 1901. It’s about time. Alain
China Suspends Autonomous Driving Permits After Baidu Outage
Bloomberg, April 29, “China has suspended issuing new licenses for autonomous vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter, after dozens of Baidu Inc.’s Apollo Go robotaxis suddenly stopped in Wuhan last month, stranding passengers and disrupting traffic.
The incident alarmed authorities, and three agencies including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology convened a meeting earlier this month with officials from cities that have robotaxis or autonomous-driving pilots, the people said. Regulators called for local governments to conduct a full self-review and enhance safety monitoring to prevent similar incidents, said the people, who declined to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly.…” Read moreHmmmm… All of this is not easy. Hopefully they’ll share with us what happened so that we can try to not let it happen to us. Alain
Tesla Launches Robotaxis in Dallas and Houston
J. Miller, April 15, “ The robotaxi wars are heating up in Dallas. Tesla launched its robotaxi service in Dallas and Houston with a post on X Saturday, showing video of its robotaxis driving along both cities’ streets without any humans inside. As of this writing, the post has had over 25 million views.
The Dallas rollout features Model Y electric vehicles equipped with Tesla’s latest self-driving software. The initial service area is limited to a portion of central Dallas running from downtown northward to Northwest Highway, as seen below:…” Read more Hmmmm… Here we go. Hopefully they’ll leave Brownsville for us. Alai
Elon Musk admits that millions of Tesla vehicles won’t get unsupervised FSD
J. Peters, Apr. 22, “Tesla vehicles with the company’s Hardware 3 (HW3) computer actually won’t receive unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD), CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday’s Q1 2026 earnings call. Approximately 4 million Tesla vehicles operate on the HW3 platform, meaning that a significant chunk of Tesla owners — including customers that paid for the feature when they bought their cars — are now locked out of being able to use unsupervised FSD, which has been something Musk has been hyping for years, unless they upgrade their car or their car’s hardware. … He added that:
For customers that have bought FSD, what we’re offering is essentially a discounted trade-in for cars that have AI4 hardware. We’ll also be offering the ability to upgrade the car to replace the computer. …” Read moreHmmmm… At least they are working on an upgrade path for software/firmware bought on old vehicles. Daimler has never offered to update anything on the various Dystronic lane keeping and collision avoidance systems that haven’t “kept” lanes well nor didn’t avoid deer that I’ve bought since 2014. They haven’t even bothered to ask me to be patient.
See Also Tesla Announces FSD V14 Lite for HW3 Will Expand Internationally. Thank you Tesla for at least making the effort here. Also watch Q1 2026 earnings call. Alain
Geely’s technology ecosystem on full display with debut of ‘China’s first’ purpose-built robotaxi
K. Jost, April 25, “At the 2026 Auto China/Beijing Auto Show earlier this week, Geely Auto Group showcased its full technology ecosystem, aiming to illustrate its entry into the “Full-Domain AI 2.0” era and affirm the group’s leading position as a global automotive enterprise driven by intelligent technologies. Among the key technologies on display were AI-embodied bipedal robots, a 900-V electric architecture, 12C ultra-fast charging technology, solid-state batteries, intelligent cockpits, and future intelligent assisted driving solutions designed for mobility services..…” Read moreHmmmm… Very nice for China; unfortunately, this has zero chance of being permitted to operate is the USA. It is instantly transformable into a Trojan Horse. Alain
HandyRides Update
Alain Kornhauser, May 1, Continue follow-up to “My Cousin Vinny” in Atlanta (and NC) and an Old Guy giving ride to an Old Guy who needed a ride.” Hmmmm… . Also adding dignity to our mission:
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