2015-03-13

2015-03-13

Video shows SMART bus slam into multiple vehicles in West Bloomfield

Mar 3, 2015
Kimberly Gill,
Police say bus driver told officers he fell asleep right before collision. Video shows a SMART bus slam into several vehicles Oct. 21, 2014 on Maple Road between Middlebelt and Inkster roads in West Bloomfield. Read more

Hmmm… Should have never happened. Bus should not have crashed. It is incumbent on the Transit Industry to install Automated Collision Avoidance Systems in ALL their buses. If they won’t do it voluntarily, the insurance industry and OSHA should force them. Alain

Valeo and Mobileye sign a unique technology cooperation agreement

03.11.2015

“Under the cooperation agreement, Valeo will design and industrialize a range of front-facing camera solutions and sensor fusion products using Mobileye’s EyeQ® family of microprocessors and computer vision algorithms. The product portfolio will include monocular cameras for active safety applications to satisfy regulatory requirements for collision avoidance, fusion with non-scanning LED, fusion with radar and trifocal camera configurations for high-end customer functions. The product offering will be designed for scalability and is expected to run on a single Mobileye EyeQx® system-on-chip. During the term of the agreement, the front-facing camera technology offered by Valeo will be based solely on Mobileye’s EyeQ® family of microprocessors and computer vision algorithms.

In addition, Mobileye and Valeo have joined forces in an exclusive cooperation to develop an innovative joint product proposition for the Automated Driving Market, combining vision and laser scan. The combination of Valeo’s global presence and excellent technology portfolio, including market-leading Laser Scan Technology, with Mobileye’s unique expertise on image processing technology will allow both partners to create unique solutions for future autonomous cars.” Read more Hmmm… Very interesting Alain

Luxoft Develops Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for Rinspeed Budii Autonomous Electric Vehicle Concept

March 10, 2015 NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Luxoft Holding, Inc (NYSE:LXFT), a leading provider of software development services and innovative IT solutions to a global client base, announced at the Geneva Motor Show 2015 development of the Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for a revolutionary electric-powered self-driving vehicle concept, Budii, created by Rinspeed to help redefine the relationship between man and machine. Rinspeed is a Swiss automobile manufacturer and tuning designer Read more Interesting. Alain

BMW: We’re not developing a car with Apple

Thursday, 5 Mar 2015 | 5:59 AM ET
German carmaker BMW said its talks with technology giant Apple did not involve developing or building a car, denying a German magazine report. Read more Obviously! Although ApplePlay’s driver distractions may cause so many accidents that Apple should build replacement cars ;-) Alain

Google is taking a big risk by developing complicated maps for self-driving cars

Alexei Oreskovic, Reuters, Mar. 6, 2015, “…“We think we can handle 90 percent of road cases (without complicated maps),” said Carnegie Mellon’s Rajkumar, “but getting to 100 percent will take longer.”…Read more

Hmmm… 100%??? Is that ever achievable with anything at a finite price? Simply the wrong goal. Alain

Some other thoughts that deserve your time:

Moscow Metro completes deployment of Wi-Fi onboard trains project

The FiberinMotion® train-to-ground wireless solution was chosen by the Moscow Metro to deliver high-speed Wi-Fi to millions of passengers. Moscow Metro is the number one busiest metro in the world by ridership, used by 9.5 million passengers daily. It is made up of 12 lines and 660km/410 miles of tracks. Read more

Uber, Lyft, and the growing problem of temp jobs

By Heather Smith on 4 Mar 2015 “…Behind the tech talk, though, Uber was an old-fashioned company, working off a set of assumptions that dated back to the late ’60s, when the details of a new class of worker — the temp — were being hammered out. In an advertisement, Kelly Services, which would come to dominate the market, described this new worker as the “Never-Never Girl”:

Never takes a vacation or holiday. Never asks for a raise. Never costs you a dime for slack time. Never has a cold, slipped disc or loose tooth. Never costs you for unemployment taxes and Social Security payments.

That “girl” was deliberate — a way of getting around union opposition by portraying the work that temps did as the kind of work that no decent red-blooded union member would want to do, and also of playing off resentments around women in the workforce….” Read more Hmmm… Without driverless cars, the taxi business is a labor-intensive business and not bits&bites-intensive business. Why the “Irrational exuberance”? Alain

Engineering a mass-transit app for a city without mass-transit

“…In Nairobi, private car ownership isn’t the norm: the bulk of its citizens rely on public transit. But when Nairobi’s formal bus system collapsed in the 1990s, the government failed to do anything about it.

So without a formal urban planning strategy, an enterprising group of Kenyans sought to fill the void. The result was a crazy, lawless, and über-popular mode of transportation: the Kenyan Matatu….” Read more

IIHS’s 50th anniversary

Sept. 9, 2009
Watch the Video! Hmmm… A little old, but the video is well worth watching, just to demonstrate how far we have evolved in crash worthiness. In the next 50 years can you imagine how far we’ll evolve in crash avoidance! :-) Alain

NXP gobbles up Freescale in smart car and IoT silicon push

Mar 3, 2015 Eric Brown “…NXP Semiconductor has merged with Freescale Semiconductor, in a $11.8 billion deal that creates a $40 billion firm focused on ADAS automotive and IoT apps….” Read more Hmmm… Interesting…A roll-up in semiconductors aimed at the SmartDrivingCar market. Very interesting!!! Alain

Plan To Open Idaho Roads To Driverless Cars Moves To State House

J.Robinson March 12, 2015 “Idaho’s long stretches of open highway could be testing grounds for driverless cars under a bill the state Senate passed Thursday.

It’s similar to legislation awaiting a hearing in the Oregon legislature. A measure to allow testing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state appears to be dead for the year….” Read more

Hmmm…

Senate Bill 1108 Alain

Half-baked stuff that probably doesn’t deserve your time:

How Driverless Cars Will Impact the Environment

Scott Huntington Feb 27 “…Hybrid cars were not something everybody wanted, and now in 2015, there is a new contender in a service that people have praised in recent times. We’re of course talking about “driverless cars.”.. Hmmm Unfortunately this is simply too shallow of an analysis to be deserving of your time. Alain

Alibaba, SAIC Motor To Invest $160 Million In Connected Cars

Ye Wang 3/12/15 “SAIC and Alibaba will use our advantages to set technology, service and customer experience standards in connected vehicles,.. “ Read more Hmmm…Yes, but they will also manifest driver distraction and resulting crashes. Why don’t they focus on automated crash avoidance before they coerce the attention of drivers? Alain

Mercedes Driverless Car Spotted Cruising Around San Francisco

Harry Bradford, 03/09/2015 “Last week, some San Francisco residents glimpsed the future…”

Photoshopped by North Korea???? Alain

Baidu May Introduce Autonomous Car This Year, CEO Says

Don’t hold your breath. This should be a C’Mon Man! Alain

C’mon Man! (These folks didn’t get/read the memo)

How pathetic is this image???

If these autonoHoles are so into virtual reality, why are they traveling anywhere???? C’Mon Daimler! Alain

Automotive HUDs to Exhibit CAGR of 27.3% by 2024: ABI Research

“Head-up displays or HUDs in private or personal vehicles have long been exclusive to upscale cars, having been adopted from military aircrafts to easily display instrumentation on windshields without interrupting a driver’s focus on road…” Read more Hmmm… I’ve never been a fan of Head’s-up Displays (HuDs).

Fighter plane…sure! There’s nothing for the pilot to see (and why is there even a pilot looking out the cockpit except when the plane is on or near the ground???) Car…where continuous vigilance on the road ahead is “mandated” by NHTAS Levels 0 through 2, HuDs, by their very nature “interrupting a driver’s focus on road”, (else, they are not seen by the driver…then why display then at all????). Moreover… could they design a more obtrusive HuD as in the example shown. One has to work hard to regain focus on the road after the HuD is “in you face”!) So bad!!! C’Mon ABI! Alain

Calendar of Upcoming Events:

Autonomous/Connected Vehicle Summit Concord Hilton, Concord CA March 31, 2015

1st Workshop - Socio-economic impact of road transport automation

March 30, 31, 2015

Call for Papers

Automated Vehicles Symposium 2015

Job Postings

Recent Versions of:

Safety Advocates Call on U.S. DOT to Issue Rule Requiring Crash Avoidance Technology for Large Trucks

Feb 19, 2015 “Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Truck Safety Coalition, the Center for Auto Safety and Road Safe America, filed a petition today with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requesting that the agency initiate rulemaking to require forward collision avoidance and mitigation braking (F-CAM) systems on all new large trucks and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or more. F-CAM technology uses radar and sensors to first alert the driver and then to apply the brakes when a crash is imminent….Petition for Rule Making (PDF); Petition Crash List (PDF); Press Release (PDF)” Read more

The pathway to driverless cars: summary report and action plan

The pathway to driverless cars: a detailed review of regulations for automated vehicle technologies

The above review identifies issues that need to be addressed to enable automated vehicle technology testing on UK roads whilst maintaining high levels of road safety. It covers the best and safest ways to trial vehicles where a qualified individual is present who is capable of taking control of the car. It also looks further ahead, to the implications of potential use of fully autonomous vehicles. Read more Plus read speech Hmmm…

Looks like the UK wants to take the lead. Do we want to watch or help? Plenty for all of us to do. Alain

Germany’s A9 autobahn to become test track for self-driving cars

Tony Borroz, Jan. 27, 2015 “Germany’s Minister of Transport has announced a project that will see a section of the A9 autobahn that connects Berlin and Munich set it up for autonomous vehicle testing.

Hanging digital bells and whistles on the A9 will include infrastructure provisions for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, as well as liberating a chunk of the 700 MHz radio spectrum so the test cars can talk back and forth. The project is expected to get underway later this year….” Read more This is interesting. Alain

January 29, 2015

Jan 25 “…US Department Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced the addition of two automatic emergency braking systems to the recommended list of safety features under the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP)…

Emergency braking systems are slowly becoming the norm in safety evaluations. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety now requires it for a model to earn a Top Safety Pick + rating, and the tech is a must to score five stars in the Euro NCAP crash test.

Be sure to read the included Foxx’s Press Release:

“PRESS RELEASE January 22, 2015, WASHINGTON – Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to add two cutting-edge automatic emergency braking systems to the recommended advanced safety features included under its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) – the latest step in a half-century of safety innovations that have saved more than 600,000 lives, according to new research NHTSA released today….” Read more Hmmm… this is really good. Especially if the “plan” is actually implemented and if it is extended to buses and trucks. Alain

January 22, 2015

State-wide aTaxi Service

Serving New Jersey’s Personal Mobility Needs with the Casual Sharing of autonomousTaxis (aTaxis): Land Use, Personal Travel Demand, Casual Ride-sharing Potential, Fleet Size Requirements and Empty aTaxi Management. Orf 467F14 Student Reports for each of New Jersey’s counties.

Even though these are unedited student reports they contain substantial information and perspectives on the opportunities and challenges for aTaxis to adequately serve the majority of New Jersey’s mobility needs. While there are significant causal ride sharing opportunities during peak hours in peak directions, sufficient to eliminate congestion, and aTaxis can substantially increase the utilization (by a multiple of 5) of NJ Transit’s rail system by providing efficient and high quality “last mile” mobility to/from rail stations, it is unlikely that average vehicle occupancy (AVO = personTripMiles/aTaxiMiles) for all trips, all day could reach a level of 2.0. Moreover, that is before one accounts for empty aTaxi repositioning that enables the sharing of aTaxis. These reports are the first that begin to address the empty aTaxis problem. It is non-trivial especially if one wishes to have multiple sized aTaxis so as to have the size of the serving aTaxi more closely match the number of shared rides that are being served. The spatial-temporal imbalances of the shared-ride demand seem to impose a great deal of empty repositioning.

It may well turn out that having only four passenger aTaxis may be better than having a fleet consisting of 2 and 6 passenger aTaxis. The reduction in empty repositioning of a uniform fleet of aTaxis may well compensate for the extra energy consumed by a larger aTaxi when a smaller two passenger aTaxis could have done the job and the foregoing of some shared riding when two four passenger aTaxis need to be used because a single 6 passenger aTaxis was not available to serve the six travelers. Alain

January 4, 2015

New York Bus Driver Arrested After Fatally Striking Pedestrian

MARC SANTORA DEC. 24, 2014 “A Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus driver was arrested on Wednesday after his bus struck and killed a 78-year-old man on Tuesday night in Brooklyn. The driver, Reginald Prescott, was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian and violation of highway law, the police said.

Mr. Prescott, 57, was driving a B44 bus eastbound on Farragut Road in East Flatbush when he made a turn onto New York Avenue around 6 p.m., according to the police. As he was making the turn, Jean Bonne-Annee was crossing the street and was struck by the bus, the police said…” Read more

Hmmm… Tragic for everyone. Such accidents would be largely avoidable if transit buses were equipped with pedestrian detection and automated collision avoidance systems that are almost at hand. These systems are close to being ready for “prime time”. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA, whose main mission is safety!) could substantially accelerate the effectiveness and adoption of such technology by focusing some of its research budget on this technology. Alain

December 21, 2014

Daimler Chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche to Deliver Keynote Address at 2015 CES

Arlington, VA – 10/06/2014 – “The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® today announced that Dr. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, will deliver a 2015 International CES® keynote address focused on the latest advances in autonomous vehicle technology. Owned and produced by CEA, the 2015 CES, the global gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies, will run January 6-9, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dr. Zetsche will discuss autonomous vehicle technology and its impact on society, mobility and environment, as well as raise ideas and questions for the future. In addition to his insights on the future of Daimler Intelligence Drive, Dr. Zetsche’s 2015 CES keynote will feature the world-debut of a new car concept. His address is slated for 8 PM Monday, January 5 at the Chelsea Theater within the Cosmopolitan.” Read more Daimler will have a Level 4 Research Car at their booth on January 6 ONLY! Alain

December 12, 2014

2014 Florida Automated Vehicle Summit

Florida DOT is blazing the trail for the integration of automated vehicles into existing traffic operations and leading by example with pilot projects, research projects, and open dialogue to ensure that Florida serves as a fertile proving ground for these exciting new technologies. Agenda Register