2015-09-27

September 27, 2015Newsletter archive →

2015

D. Wakabayashi, Sept 21 "... Besides having a radical design, and innovations in comfort and infotainment system, the new Apple Car will have NO SHOWROOM to see and buy the car. Instead, you will download an App from the Apple iTunes App Store. You will hit one button, a new Apple Car with an Apple Car salesperson will drive to your home or office and give you a 30 minute test drive. The large 3D iPad screens in the car will provide you with all the information about the car, and e-mail you customized PDF product sheets. You can then pick and choose the car features you want via your Apple Car App, and even order it at anytime right from the App. The car will show up in your driveway within two weeks, customized down to the playlist in its embedded Apple car radio. Financing will be provided by Apple Finance (no banks needed. Why not, by 2020, Apple will have something like $300 BILLION DOLLARS in the bank. More money than any finance company has access to). One last point, as we are in a sharing economy, if you agree to go through training, and use your Apple Car to sell other customers on it, your financing on the car you bought will be lowered by 2% points. Now you know why Detroit, Japan and Germany are a little worried. ..." Read more

J. Greenblat, July 6 "...AVs are potentially disruptive both technologically and socially, with claimed benefits including increased safety, road utilization, driver productivity and energy savings. Here we estimate 2014 and 2030 greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions and costs of autonomous taxis (ATs), a class of fully autonomous shared AVs likely to gain rapid early market share, through three synergistic effects: (1) future decreases in electricity GHG emissions intensity, (2) smaller vehicle sizes resulting from trip-specific AT deployment, and (3) higher annual vehicle-miles traveled (VMT), increasing high-efficiency (especially battery-electric) vehicle cost-effectiveness. Combined, these factors could result in decreased US per-mile GHG emissions in 2030 per AT deployed of 87–94% below current conventionally driven vehicles (CDVs), and 63–82% below projected 2030 hybrid vehicles, without including other energy-saving benefits of AVs. With these substantial GHG savings, ATs could enable GHG reductions even if total VMT, average speed and vehicle size increased substantially. Oil consumption would also be reduced by nearly 100%...." Read more See also the supporting paper

D. Gelles, Sept. 26 "... New high-end cars are among the most sophisticated machines on the planet, containing 100 million or more lines of code. Compare that with about 60 million lines of code in all of Facebook or 50 million in the Large Hadron Collider. ..." Read more

Sept 2, "...On August 29, China's leading bus maker, Yutong rolled out the world's first driverless bus, which successfully completed its trial operation on the intercity road from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng. With a distance of 32.6 km, the intercity road from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng has 26 traffic lights in total. Despite this and busy traffic, Yutong driverless bus successfully completed a series of highly complex driving acts, such as automatic lane change, overtake, and responding traffic lights. Without any human assistance, the bus arrived at its destination with its highest speed reaching 68 km/h. ..." Read more

Sept 14, "...German carmaker Mercedes-Benz sees business potential in offering on-demand limousine services using driverless cars, Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said, in what amounts to a direct challenge to Uber. Germany's oldest carmaker is considering setting up large fleets of autonomous cars to cater to a new customer base which is less attracted to vehicle ownership but still interested in using premium transportation services like limousines. "This is a concrete development goal of ours," Zetsche told Reuters on the sidelines of a Mercedes-Benz event on the eve of the Frankfurt auto show. ..." Read more

J Ewing, Sept. 22 "The scope of Volkswagen's diesel scandal broadened on Tuesday, when the company said that 11 million of its diesel cars worldwide were equipped with the same software that was used to cheat on emissions tests in the United States....Volkswagen said it would set aside 6.5 billion euros, or about $7.3 billion, to cover the cost of servicing the affected vehicles "and other efforts to win back the trust ..." Read more

"...Ferdinand Piech, chairman of the board of Volkswagen AG and a major figure in the German auto industry, has stepped down after clashing with other board members over his criticism of the company's CEO. Volkswagen said in a statement Saturday that Piech, 78, was resigning with immediate effect. ..." Read more

D. Hakim, Sept 26 "...It is not Volkswagen's first run-in with regulators over emissions. When the United States began regulating tailpipe pollutants in the 1970s, Volkswagen was one of the first companies caught cheating. It was fined $120,000 in 1973 for installing what became known as a "defeat device," technology to shut down a vehicle's pollution control systems. This time, it equipped its vehicles with software that was programmed to fake test results, an action the E.P.A. rebuked in 1998, when it reached a $1 billion settlement with truck-engine manufacturers for doing the same thing.....

Cheating on emissions tests solved several issues at once. Not only were drivers rewarded with better mileage and performance, but the automaker also avoided more expensive and cumbersome pollution-control systems. While Volkswagen cheated behind the scenes, it publicly espoused virtue. This, after all, is the company that used one of the largest advertising arenas in the world, the Super Bowl, to run a commercial showing its engineers sprouting angel's wings.

...Confronted again, Volkswagen continued to maintain that there was a problem with the testers, not the vehicles...Government officials then increased the pressure on the company, threatening to withhold approval for its 2016 Volkswagen and Audi diesel models. According to the E.P.A., that is what forced Volkswagen's hand. On Sept. 3, a group of senior engineers admitted what the regulators had suspected: .... " Read more

Starting on Page 35.... T Gage & R. Bishop "... Clarifying Driver Assistance and Automation Vehicle technology is at a dramatic inflection point. Much of the recent press has been about vehicle automation—specifically full automation, where you sit back and watch a movie in the front seat. A vehicle that does the driving for you seems so far from today's experience that many believe a leap to such technology must certainly be in the very distant future. While it's true that broadly available, consumer-ready, fully automated vehicles are at least a decade away, an increasing number of vehicles on the market and on the streets already employ advanced collision avoidance (ACA) systems, also known as active safety systems. These are the vehicles that are reducing crashes, reducing risk, and soon will be reducing premiums. In other words, the advent of crash reductions due to vehicle intelligence occurred yesterday.... there is little doubt that sensors, processors, and software will work together to save drivers from many common crash situations. While these changes are an unalloyed positive development for society, the insurance industry will nevertheless have to cope with significant disruptions to its traditional business model as premiums decline. A proactive understanding of ACA technology, the timing of its impact on the fleet, and how these changes will reverberate through the insurance and adjacent industries will separate companies that adapt to vehicle innovation from companies that will be left behind...." Read more

D. Victor, Sept 23,"...The Federal Aviation Administration said it is stepping up its enforcement of commercial drone regulations after a growing number of dangerous incidents, including a crash earlier this month that injured an infant. ..." Read more

J. Karsten, Sept 15, "As the 2016 suite of new car models makes evident, electric vehicles are finally gaining real traction in the market. At the turn of the 20th century, more than one quarter of all cars in the United States were electric, yet the electric car had all but vanished by the 1920s. This disappearance was largely due to the insufficient range and power of electric car batteries compared to gasoline engines. Furthermore, electric cars were significantly more expensive than their gasoline counterparts. These same complaints are still heard today, even though battery technology has certainly improved over the last century. Much research and development is being done on battery technology to improve performance while ensuring that batteries are lightweight, compact, and affordable...." Read more

C. Myhrvold, Apr 15, 2015 "...Our carpooling service, uberPOOL, is helping to make that vision of fewer cars a reality. With uberPOOL you share the ride – and the cost – with another person who happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route. Riders can save up to 50% while adding only a few minutes of time per trip. With the lower prices, people can move past car ownership, as taking Uber becomes less expensive than using and maintaining a personal vehicle. And that impact on congestion can be powerful. ..." Read more

C. Osborne, Sept 15, "... Big Blue says the service can transform data into "actionable insights" for vehicle maintenance, real-time diagnostics on engine trouble and guiding drivers to the most efficient traffic routes. ..." Read more

November 4-6, 2015

http://www.automatedfl.com/our-efforts/florida-automated-vehicles-summit/

B. Vlasic, Sept 11 " Federal regulators said on Friday that 10 automakers had agreed to install automatic braking systems, which use sensors to detect potential collisions, as standard equipment in new vehicles. But the automakers have not set a timetable for the introduction of the systems, ...Anthony Foxx, the transportation secretary, said in a prepared statement that emergency braking technology could reduce traffic deaths and injuries. "We are entering a new era of vehicle safety, focusing on preventing crashes from ever occurring, rather than just protecting occupants when crashes happen," Mr. Foxx said....

The 10 companies "will work with I.I.H.S. and N.H.T.S.A. in the coming months on the details of implementing their historic commitment," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement (Same as the DoT Statement.) Read more

M. Richtel & C Dougherty, Sept. 1 " Google, ... has run into an odd safety conundrum: humans. Last month, as one of Google's self-driving cars approached a crosswalk, it did what it was supposed to do when it slowed to allow a pedestrian to cross, prompting its "safety driver" to apply the brakes. The pedestrian was fine, but not so much Google's car, which was hit from behind by a human-driven sedan.

Google's fleet of autonomous test cars is programmed to follow the letter of the law... Researchers in the fledgling field of autonomous vehicles say that one of the biggest challenges facing automated cars is blending them into a world in which humans don't behave by the book. "The real problem is that the car is too safe," said Donald Norman, director of the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego, who studies autonomous vehicles. "They have to learn to be aggressive in the right amount, and the right amount depends on the culture."... Read more

B Simpson, July 19, 2015 "The premise is promising. Develop and market a plug-and-play, forward-avoidance braking system for the heavy vehicle market that can be installed quickly, upgraded regularly, and even transferred from vehicle to vehicle if necessary.

The Autonobox System essentially is a second braking system for heavy-duty vehicles that addresses the long-standing problem of brakes that overheat after intense use like a panic-stop or sustained use while going downhill.... Read more

S. Shackford, July 15 "One of the propelling concepts behind self-driving cars isn't just innovation for the sake of innovation, leading us to our sci-fi Jetsons future. If successfully implemented, it will make ground travel safer, ...Local governments have become increasingly dependent on human screw-ups as a way to raise money. Speeding tickets. DUI citations. Parking violations. Those are all big money-makers for municipalities that could very well go away under a regime of self-driving cars....On top of that, if the theory that self-driving cars will lead people to own fewer cars holds up, revenue from registration fees will drop as well.... Read more

July 28 "...These vulnerabilities pose great risks and the federal government must do more to help protect Americans from these risks."

Late last year, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, originally introduced by Congressmen Lipinski, was signed into law. The Act increases the security of federal networks and information systems, improves the transfer of cybersecurity technologies to the marketplace, trains a cybersecurity workforce, and coordinates and prioritizes federal cybersecurity research and development efforts. "Read more

Monday, July 20, 2015 – "After more than three (3) years of planning and several major meetings the substantive launch the Center for Automated Road Transportation Safety @ Fort Monmouth (CARTS@FM) occurred this week with the establishment of the not-for-profit. (501(c) (6)), New Jersey Corporation. The mission of this Center is to substantially improve safety on our existing conventional roadway infrastructure through the use of inexpensive automated collision avoidance systems installed on individual vehicles operating harmoniously with conventional vehicles throughout most, if not all, existing roadways. The scope of CARTS's mission is across all modes that utilize the nation's conventional road system: trucks, buses and cars. .." Read more

D. Norman 6/4/15 "Imperfect automation, continually getting better? Or distracted drivers, continually getting worse? Choose.

I am fearful of the rapid rush toward full automation and have published numerous articles about the difficulties we will face because of the mismatch of the automation and human behavior. However, I am even more fearful of the rapid rise of distracting devices installed in automobiles, mounted on dashboards, worn on the wrist or body, or carried on seats, pockets, and laps of drivers...Each day seems to bring a new distraction. Heads-up displays (HUDs) that once were aids to minimizing distraction by making it easier for the driver to see navigation aids and speed, are now catching featuritis, that deadly disease which corrupts products...." Read more

The most dangerous part of automated vehicles is when they are partially automated: the better the automation, the less able a person is able to take corrective action. This is a point I have argued for since my early work on aviation safety some 20 years ago but has been part of the human factors literature since long before that (Bainbridge

I. Sancken 03/29/15, "Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) has introduced H.R. 2886, the Future Transportation Research and Innovation for Prosperity (TRIP) Act, to support innovative technologies that have the potential to fundamentally alter mobility in America and beyond.

"Surface transportation used to be rather staid and unimaginative, but today the very concept of 'mobility' is being reinvented through research, innovation, and entrepreneurship," said Rep. Lipinski. "Rapidly advancing automation, connectivity, and information technologies are creating incredible opportunities for transportation innovation. We need to develop innovative ways to improve safety, ease congestion, improve personal mobility, and cut energy use..." Read more

D. Dangerfield, 6/12/15 "Imagine a vehicle that can drive on its own. On Saturday, the public will be invited to take a ride in one. The new driverless Meridian Shuttle is part of an exhibit that opens at MOSI on Saturday. The vehicle allows up to eight people to ride around the first floor of the museum. Read more

6/8/15 "WASHINGTON – In a report released today, the National Transportation Safety Board outlined the life-saving benefits of currently available collision avoidance systems, and recommended that the technology become standard on all new passenger and commercial vehicles.

"You don't pay extra for your seatbelt," said Chairman Christopher A. Hart. "And you shouldn't have to pay extra for technology that can help prevent a collision altogether."... Read more Hmmm Yea!!! Finally some semblance of sanity in Washington. Alain

E. Goodmay, May 24 "...Dr. Nash and his wife, Alicia, 82, were in a taxi on the New Jersey Turnpike in Monroe Township around 4:30 p.m. when the driver lost control while veering from the left lane to the right and hit a guardrail and another car, Sgt. Gregory Williams of the New Jersey State Police said.

The couple were ejected from the cab and pronounced dead at the scene. The State Police said it appeared that they had not been wearing seatbelts.... Read more

Chris Urmson May 11, 2015 "After 1.7 million miles we've learned a lot — not just about our system but how humans drive, too. The most common accidents our cars are likely to experience in typical day to day street driving — light damage, no injuries — aren't well understood because they're not reported to police. Yet according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data, these incidents account for 55% of all crashes. It's hard to know what's really going on out on the streets unless you're doing miles and miles of driving every day. And that's exactly what we've been doing with our fleet of 20+ self-driving vehicles and team of safety drivers, who've driven 1.7 million miles (manually and autonomously combined). The cars have self-driven nearly a million of those miles, and we're now averaging around 10,000 self-driven miles a week (a bit less than a typical American driver logs in a year), mostly on city streets. In the spirit of helping all of us be safer drivers, we wanted to share a few patterns we've seen. A lot of this won't be a surprise, especially if you already know that driver error causes 94% of crashes.

If you spend enough time on the road, accidents will happen whether you're in a car or a self-driving car. Over the 6 years since we started the project, we've been involved in 11 minor accidents (light damage, no injuries) during those 1.7 million miles of autonomous and manual driving with our safety drivers behind the wheel, and not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident. ... We'll continue to drive thousands of miles so we can all better understand the all too common incidents that cause many of us to dislike day to day driving — and we'll continue to work hard on developing a self-driving car that can shoulder this burden for us." Read more

2015-09-27

Some other thoughts that deserve your

Recompiled Old News :

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

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

Calendar of Upcoming Events:

Recent Versions of:

Lipinski Continues Efforts to Keep Cars and Other Transportation Safe from Cyber Attacks in Wake of Fiat Chrysler Recall