2015-10-08
October 08, 2015
US urged to establish nationwide Federal guidelines for autonomous driving
Oct 7 “The US risks losing its leading global position in the development of self-driving cars if it allows a patchwork of varying state laws and regulations to develop, according to Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.
In a speech to be delivered Thursday at a high level seminar
on self-driving cars organized by Volvo Cars and the Embassy
of Sweden in Washington DC, Mr Samuelsson will say...
He will urge regulators to work closely with car makers to solve controversial outstanding issues such as questions over legal liability in the event that a self-driving car is involved in a crash or hacked by a criminal third party.
Mr Samuelsson will clearly state Volvo's position on both of
these contentious issues.
He will say Volvo will accept full liability whenever one if its cars is in autonomous mode, making it one of the first car makers in the world to make such a promise.
He will add that Volvo regards the hacking of a car as a
criminal offense. ...."[Read more](https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/pressreleases/167975/us-urged-to-establish-nationwide-federal-guidelines-for-autonomous-driving)
Hmmmm... Fantastic!!! This will really "shake 'em up".
I'll be on a panel at this meeting later this morning.
Can't wait!!! This is FANTASTIC!!! Alain [See also](http://www.popsci.com/volvo-on-self-driven-car-liability-i-volunteer)
Some other thoughts
that deserve your
Man Visiting Brooklyn Apartment Building Dies in Elevator Accident
B. Mueller, Oct 2 “The locksmith, visiting friends at a luxury apartment building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a few hours before dawn on Friday, stepped into an elevator whose unpredictable jerks and wobbles had occasionally unnerved tenants.
The door remained open but the elevator plunged to the
basement, carrying the man, Eran Modan, 37, and four
friends. They were all afraid, one of the friends said
later, but only Mr. Modan decided to try stepping out. The
floor of the basement, now almost level with the cab, was in
sight.
In an instant the small elevator shot back up toward the
lobby, its stainless-steel door still ajar, and Mr. Modan
only halfway out. His body was crushed between the elevator
and the basement ceiling and elevator shaft, and he was
pronounced dead by emergency medical workers. [Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/nyregion/man-killed-in-elevator-accident-in-brooklyn-apartment-building.html?_r=0)Hmmm... Extremely
unfortunate!! Plus, the automated elevator was at
fault. Better inspection and better regulations are
absolutely necessary but not a cry for bring back the
human operator. Unfortunately, we will undoubtedly
encounter similar tragedies with SmartDrivingCars.
Hopefully, these tragedies will be so rare but the
mobility service so compelling that there won't be a cry
to put the human back in the loop. Alain
Recompiled Old News :
Half-baked stuff
that probably doesn't deserve your time:
Driverless robot taxis to be tested in Japanese town
J. McCurry Oct 5 "Dozens of people in Japan will be whisked
to the local shops in driverless taxis from next year in an
experiment with robot technology that could be fully
commercial by the time Tokyo hosts the Olympics in 2020.
From March 2016, the taxis will take about 50 residents of
Fujisawa... from their homes to supermarkets along the
city's main roads in journeys of about 3km.
While Japanese developers have faith in the car's GPS, radar
and stereovision cameras, attendants will sit in the
driver's seat during the journeys in case human intervention
is needed, according to media reports...
Read more Hmmm… I probably should have put this in “Half-baked” because it is half-baked. If the vehicles are not good enough to do empty vehicle repositioning (travel without anyone in them, then they are NOT robo-Taxis or aTaxis. They are at best “Level 3 Ubers”. The benefit of “Level 4 aTaxis” is that they have the opportunity enable public transit to economically serve on-demand low-density “corridors” at any time of the day because labor costs do not have to be incurred. If the system needs an attendant, then the fundamental business case disappears and we are back to where we are today. Plus, mobility challenges of Olympic games are associated with congestion and moving large numbers of people at about the same time. NOT the sort of challenges that automation is geared to address. At those times, one can afford to have humans in the loop. Seems like this is not the time to do human subject testing of autonomous driving systems. Maybe this should be in C’Mon Man! Alain
###
C’mon Man! (These folks
didn't get/read the memo)
###
Calendar of
Upcoming Events:
###
###
November 4-6, 2015http://www.podcarcity.org/siliconvalley
###
http://www.automatedfl.com/our-efforts/florida-automated-vehicles-summit/
###
###
Recent Versions of:
#
###
2015
###
“60 Minutes” test-rides Mercedes-Benz self-driving car
Oct 2 “As Google’s driverless cars have logged more then a million miles in the past six years, the rest of the auto industry is racing to keep up. Computer scientist Ralf Herrtwich hits the road with “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker to demonstrate Mercedes-Benz’s most advanced self-driving prototype. Watch the full story Sunday on “60 Minutes.” Watch video and watch 60 minutes on Sunday Oct 4. This is really becoming mainstream. Congratulations Ralf! Alain 26, 2015
As Volkswagen Pushed to Be No. 1, Ambitions Fueled a Scandal
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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljI2S7rwZ1Y%20)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](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/business/as-vw-pushed-to-be-no-1-ambitions-fueled-a-scandal.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) Hmmm...So
UGLY!!! Alain
2015
###
###
Automakers Will Make Automatic Braking Systems Standard in New Cars
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](http://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-dot-and-iihs-announce-historic-commitment-10-automakers-include-automatic-emergency) 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](http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/nhtsa-iihs-commitment-on-aeb-09112015) (Same
as the DoT Statement.) [Read more](http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/business/automakers-will-make-automatic-braking-systems-standard-in-new-cars.html) Hmmm...
This is
major because the automakers "had
agreed..." rather than "the regulators had
required..." (although there seems to be
a little push-back in that "...had not set
a timetable..." We do know that many are
now offering these systems at a modest
up-sell. So there may actually be
substance in the announcement.) What is
clear now is that we should all Invest in
insurance companies that are creative in
insuring these new vehicles!!! They are
going to become so profitable! Insurance
gets the cash benefit of the technology
without having to pay for it!!!
Wow!!!Congratulations Warren Buffett. He
must have played a role in this. He
stands to benefit so much. :-) While
trucks are mentioned, (amazing
that buses aren't; DoT is SO BAD!!), they
seem very much the stepchild. SO
unfortunate! :-( Alain
2015
###
Google’s Driverless Cars Run Into Problem: Cars With Drivers
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](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/technology/personaltech/google-says-its-not-the-driverless-cars-fault-its-other-drivers.html?_r=0) Hmmm...
Much of this is good; however, many of the
comments about warning systems being
turned off and gaps being to large are a
result of poor designs and not the real
issue here which is that traffic laws have
been written to control human drivers and
placed in language that will cause human
drivers to achieve the desired behavior
most of the time or at the critical
times. The law addresses the process to
achieve the desired outcome, and not the
outcome itself. For example, one might
argue that the fundamental objective of a
stop sign at an intersection is to ensure
that one proceeds through the intersection
only at a time when there is no chance of
a collision with traffic in the cars
traveling in the thru lanes. Because of
human information processing limitations
coming to a complete stop is the
parsimonious way for a human to achieve
the desired outcome. (The sight-lines on
the approach to the intersection are such
that a human driver needs to come to a
complete rest so as to be able to "look
both ways" and determine that it is safe
to proceed.) If, however, the automated
technology enables the automated vehicle
to determine that it is safe to proceed
prior to coming to a complete stop, why
should that vehicle be required to come to
a complete stop?
Speed limits are also an issue. For many, they have little to do with the maximum “safe” speed and their enforcement is totally whimsical. With automated vehicles we have the opportunity to deliver a safe speed limit which can vary along curves, ramps, time-of-day, school in/out, weather, traffic volume, prevailing conditions, etc.
It would be a shame for the automated driving algorithms to be cloistered by the letters of the existing laws. Each of these traffic laws need to be examined and be re-cast with a view as being implemented explicitly by the automated technology. This may well be the most challenging hurdle facing SmartDrivingCars. Alain 2015
Truck Safety Out of the Box from Autonobox
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](http://www.driverlesstransportation.com/truck-safety-out-of-the-box-from-autonobox-9450) Hmmm...A
viable after-market retro-fit
opportunity. Alain
2015
###
Self-Driving Cars Could Destroy Fine-Based City Government. What’s the Downside?
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 Hmmm… No downside here! These have to be one of the most regressive tax systems, just behind lotteries and gambling. Governments deserve it, but will save because they will need way police police who now waste way too much of their time enforcing traffic laws. Police have much better things to do. Wins all around; No Downside! Alain
###
Lipinski Continues Efforts to Keep Cars and Other Transportation Safe from Cyber Attacksin
Wake of [Fiat Chrysler Recall](http://www.wsj.com/articles/fiat-chrysler-recalls-1-4-million-vehicles-amid-hacking-concerns-1437751526)
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 Hmmm…
Besides protecting we must also
prosecute. There has to be bad
consequences and not notoriety to those
that do the nasty deed. Alain
###
###
###
Center for Automated Road Transportation Safety @ Fort Monmouth is Launched
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
###
###
###
Automatic Cars Or Distracted Drivers: We Need Automation Sooner, Not Later
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](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/automatic-cars-distracted-drivers-we-need-automation-sooner-norman)
Hmmm….
Yup!! Plus more comments from Don... "You might also want to
add your traditional sarcasm saying "He
saw the light!" or something because up
to now, I have been arguing for caution
(including my keynote at last years
automated Vehicles conference (where I
met you) -- it's about to be published
in the proceedings. And I have a tech
review article about to come out arguing
the same caution (except I was just able
to add a paragraph saying that all my
words of caution are correct, but we
still should switch to automation
quickly).
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](http://www.bainbrdg.demon.co.uk/)Hmmm...it
would not be bad to re-read the [1983 paper](https://www.ise.ncsu.edu/nsf_itr/794B/papers/Bainbridge_1983_Automatica.pdf).). So we have to
skip this stage if at all possible. I
have long argued that we should have
either all or none. it is the mixture
that is dangerous.
Basically, we have not solved the human
element yet. By this I mean the
pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboards,
manually driven cars that will always be
an issue. Moreover they will game the
system: deliberately ignoring the cars
under the assumption that they are
programmed not to hit them, so they can
do anything they want.
This assumption will both stall traffic,
create roadblocks, and also occasionally
prove to be false (automated cars cannot
overcome the laws of physics).
Another complexity is aggression.
Drivers have to be aggressive to get
through traffic, but the amount and form
of aggression is cultural. Pedestrians
behave differently on college campuses
(they think they own the place) versus
the same people just a few miles away in
cities, where they are more lawful.
Korean drivers have to be aggressive to
merge. And in China or Vietnam or India?
Wow.
Milan drivers are the most lawful I have
experienced recently, but even they lose
their patience." Alain
###
Rep. Lipinski Introduces Future Transportation Research and Innovation Act
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](http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/la-grange/community/chi-ugc-article-rep-lipinski-introduces-future-transportatio-2015-06-29-story.html#page=1) Hmmm...
Excellent! Alain
MOSI debuts nation’s first driverless vehicle open to public
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 Hmmm… It is all about starting. Congratulations! Alain
2015
###
NTSB Calls for Immediate Action on Collision Avoidance Systems for Vehicles; Cites Slow Progress as Major Safety Issue
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](http://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/PR20150608b.aspx) Hmmm
Yea!!! Finally some semblance of
sanity in Washington. Alain
###
###
John F. Nash Jr., Math Genius Defined by a ‘Beautiful Mind,’ Dies at 86
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](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/science/john-nash-a-beautiful-mind-subject-and-nobel-winner-dies-at-86.html)
See also: [John, Alicia Nash Remembered After Fatal Crash](http://www.towntopics.com/wordpress/2015/05/27/john-alicia-nash-remembered-after-fatal-crash/)
A Beautiful Mind Mathematician John Nash and His Wife Killed in N.J. Car Crash ;
Hmmm… So tragic!!!
What a crying shame!!! So
preventable!!! We will miss them
:-(
Unfortunately,
the NYT and others tried but missed the
fundamental point by following up with ["Deaths of Math Genius John F. Nash Jr. and Wife Show Need to Use Seatbelts in Back, Experts Say](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/nyregion/deaths-of-math-genius-john-f-nash-jr-and-his-wife-show-need-to-use-seatbelts-in-back-experts-say.html) ". Why do we so
easily put up with crashes in the first
place? It is as if it is OK to go around
crashing, just put on a seat belt.
Technology is available to avoid crashes,
but there isn't sufficient public policy
focus on avoiding crashes to accelerate
its adoption and enhancement.
The fundamental problem
was that the taxi was not equipped
with available automated stability
control, lane keeping and collision
avoidance systems. This was not an
accident, it was a failed public safety
policy that refuses to move beyond crash
mitigation and its challenged "V2x"
initiatives to embrace forthright
automated crash avoidance.
Moreover,
there is a failed Taxi regulatory
structure that doesn't even hint that
taxis should have electronic stability
control, automated lane keeping and
collision avoidance. What is the
purpose of taxi regulation, to keep
"Ubers" out of business?
It is time for the nation’s transportation policy to focus intelligence/automation on the vehicle in support of the driver. Hopefully
Congress will restructure the pending
transportation legislation to focus
automated vehicle technologies that
actively assist drivers when they make
driving mistakes. We are not perfect. We
deserve a public safety policy that is
more mindful of our imperfections. Policy
that isn't aimed at just warning and
scolding us but actively takes over and
does the right thing. We, not
the infrastructure, are the
cause of most of the the highway carnage.
It is the driver who needs help and our
public policy should focus on delivering
that help. Alain
###
The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car
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](https://medium.com/backchannel/the-view-from-the-front-seat-of-the-google-self-driving-car-46fc9f3e6088)
Hmmm…. MUST reading; HOWEVER, we need much more information to be released, not just a few examples. Please make your data public! We don’t need to know who but we desperately need to know what so that not only Google, but the rest of us can… “…work hard on developing…” SmartDrivingCars “….that
can shoulder this burden for us." Alain
Mailto:alaink@princeton.edu This list is maintained by Alain Kornhauser and hosted by the Princeton University LISTSERV.
This list is maintained by Alain Kornhauser and hosted by the Princeton University LISTSERV.