2016-07-21
July 21, 2016
Master Plan, Part Deux
E. Musk, July 20 "...Integrate Energy
Generation and Storage
Create a smoothly integrated and beautiful
solar-roof-with-battery product that just works,
empowering the individual as their own utility,
and then scale that throughout the world. One
ordering experience, one installation, one service
contact, one phone app....
Expand to Cover the Major Forms of Terrestrial Transport…
With the Model 3, a future compact SUV and a new
kind of pickup truck, we plan to address most of
the consumer market. A lower cost vehicle than the
Model 3 is unlikely to be necessary, because of
the third part of the plan described below.
What really matters to accelerate a sustainable
future is being able to scale up production volume
as quickly as possible. That is why Tesla
engineering has transitioned to focus heavily on
designing the machine that makes the machine --
turning the factory itself into a product....In
addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other
types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty
trucks and high passenger-density urban transport.
Both are in the early stages of development at
Tesla...With the advent of autonomy, it will
probably make sense to shrink the size of buses
and transition the role of bus driver to that of
fleet manager. Traffic congestion would improve
due to increased passenger areal density by
eliminating the center aisle and putting seats
where there are currently entryways, and matching
acceleration and braking to other vehicles, thus
avoiding the inertial impedance to smooth traffic
flow of traditional heavy buses. It would also
take people all the way to their destination.
Fixed summon buttons at existing bus stops would
serve those who don't have a phone. Design
accommodates wheelchairs, strollers and bikes.
Autonomy
As the technology matures, all Tesla vehicles will
have the hardware necessary to be fully
self-driving with fail-operational capability,
meaning that any given system in the car could
break and your car will still drive itself safely.
It is important to emphasize that refinement and
validation of the software will take much longer
than putting in place the cameras, radar, sonar
and computing hardware.
Even once the software is highly refined and far
better than the average human driver, there will
still be a significant time gap, varying widely by
jurisdiction, before true self-driving is approved
by regulators....I should add a note here to
explain why Tesla is deploying partial autonomy
now, rather than waiting until some point in the
future. The most important reason is that, when
used correctly, it is already significantly safer
than a person driving by themselves and it would
therefore be morally reprehensible to delay
release simply for fear of bad press or some
mercantile calculation of legal liability....It is
also important to explain why we refer to
Autopilot as "beta"....
Sharing
When true self-driving is approved by regulators,
it will mean that you will be able to summon your
Tesla from pretty much anywhere. Once it picks you
up, you will be able to sleep, read or do anything
else enroute to your destination. You will also
be able to add your car to the Tesla shared fleet
just by tapping a button on... [Read more](https://www.tesla.com/en_HK/blog/master-plan-part-deux?redirect=no)Hmmm....This
is a chock-full vision that sounds pretty good
me (and doesn't have a mention of DSRC, V2V or
V2x :-) ); except, do I really want to invest
to become a "Tesla (AirBnB) Host" or simply
use the "Mobility-on-Demand Transit System"
(MoDTS) that Tesla or ALK or ????
(unfortunately NJ Transit, the obvious MoDTS
operator, will pass.) Alain
Germany to require ‘black box’ in autonomous cars
July 18, "Germany plans new legislation to require
manufacturers of cars equipped with an autopilot
function to install a black box to help determine
responsibility in the event of an accident,
transport ministry sources told Reuters on
Monday...Under the proposal from Transport
Minister Alexander Dobrindt, drivers will not have
to pay attention to traffic or concentrate on
steering, but must remain seated at the wheel so
they can intervene in the event of an emergency.
Manufacturers will also be required to install a
black box that records when the autopilot system
was active, when the driver drove and when the
system requested that the driver take over,
according to the proposals..." [Read more](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-autos-idUSKCN0ZY1LT)Hmmm....What
is the definition of "an emergency situation"
? Is it just like some other things that "[I know it when I see it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it)"? But here, it is the
automated system that is "seeing it". What
"false alarm" and 'false negative" rates will
be imposed/tolerated? Will there be a driver
training program that will instruct us on how
to react in these emergency situations? How
will the system alert us of this emergency
situation? Will it blare: "Watch out!!"??
or will it gently nudge us back into the
loop. Please, there are more questions than
answers at this time and we need some focused
research and creative thinking before we rush
into "intervening in event of emergency"
legislation.
With respect to capturing of "all" sensor
data: of course!. Plus these data need to be
shared and placed in the public domain so that
everyone can benefit and avoid making the same
mistake AND most importantly, we need "hold
harmless" legislation that forbids the data to
be used against the data owner (the owner of
the vehicle), and only allows for determining
liability in the event of a crash. (For
example, the data can't be used to give the
car owner a ticket for a broken tail light,
because the data stream indicated a broken
tail light.) Alain
Pokémon Go-playing driver after hitting police car: ‘That’s what I get for playing’
R. Premack, July 20 "Not surprisingly, playing
Pokémon Go while driving is a poor idea. That was
demonstrated early Monday in Southeast
Baltimore. Three police officers were standing
outside their patrol car, parked nearby Patterson
Park. About 3:30 a.m., according to body-camera
footage, a Toyota RAV4 moving down the street
side-swiped the parked police car..." [Read more](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/20/pokemon-go-playing-driver-after-hitting-police-car-thats-what-i-get-for-playing-this-dumb-a-game/)Hmmm....And
now another reason why we need Automated
Emergency Braking (AEB) and Self-driving that
actually work. Alain
State to buy former Willow Run Powertrain site for connected vehicle research
M. Durr, July 18, "The Michigan Strategic Fund is
closing in on a deal to buy the former Willow Run
Powertrain site to convert it into a connected and
autonomous vehicle (CAV) research facility in
Ypsilanti Township.
RACER Trust has agreed to sell the 311-acre site
to the fund for a purchase price of $1.2 million
and has committed to making other contributions
toward making the center a reality. In turn, the
MSF would allow the American Center for Mobility
to develop and operate a facility where testing
and research for CAV technology will be
conducted..." [Read more](http://fortune.com/2016/07/20/regulator-on-tesla-autopilot-death-says-one-incident-wont-derail-tech/) Hmmm...Land
is really inexpensive in Michigan. Alain
Regulator on Tesla Autopilot Death Says One Incident Won’t Derail Tech
K. Fehrenbacher, July 20, "Mark Rosekind, the
administrator of auto safety regulator the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
...Most importantly, he forcefully said, "No one
incident will derail the Department of
Transportation and NHTSA from its mission to
improve safety on the roads by pursuing
life-saving technologies." [Read more](http://fortune.com/2016/07/20/regulator-on-tesla-autopilot-death-says-one-incident-wont-derail-tech/) Hmmm..."derail
its mission???.. It's been focused on crash
mitigation and "connected" stuff instead of
making sure that Automated Emergency Braking
(AEB) systems actually work. When are they
deaths went up last year! Alain
Autonomous Vehicles: A Case Study of Liability and Insurance
D. Cusack, July 19, “…We have run across only one policy so far that bills itself as a “Driverless Car” policy. Written by Trinity Lane Insurance Company (a Malta-based insurer) for the British market, it expressly agrees to cover the driver if the autonomous systems fail, or if the owner failed to install updates to the system software in a timely manner….Read more Hmmm…This is somewhat informative, but very light. Alain
What NASA Could Teach Tesla about Autopilot’s Limits
J. Pavlus, July 18, "...Stephen Casner, a research
psychologist in NASA's Human Systems Integration
Division, puts it more bluntly: "News flash: Cars
in 2017 equal airplanes in 1983."...Here are three
things about how humans and automated vehicles
behave together that NASA has known for
years...THE LIMITS OF BEING "ON THE LOOP"... THE
LIMITS OF ATTENTION...AUTOMATION AND AUTONOMY: NOT
THE SAME THING..." [Read more](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-nasa-could-teach-tesla-about-autopilot-s-limits/) Hmmmm...Well
worth reading. Alain
Some other
thoughts that deserve your attention
Uber Just Completed Its Two Billionth Ride
B. Solomon, July 18, "...The milestone comes less
than six months after Uber hit one billion
cumulative rides at the end of 2015–a feat that
took Uber more than five years to
accomplish....Comparing Uber's numbers to those of
its competitors is tricky. U.S.-only competitor
Lyft told FORBES that in April it did 11 million
rides, suggesting an annual trip run rate likely
under 200 million, only 10% of Uber's probable
yearly goal. To be fair, many of Uber's rides came
outside the U.S. where Lyft doesn't operate....
This time, Uber declined to single out one ride as
the one that pushed the company over two billion.
Instead, Kalanick says 147 rides in 16 different
countries began on the moment of 4:16:48 AM GMT on
June 18. 54 of those trips were in China, 46 in
the U.S., 13 in Mexico, and seven each in Brazil
and India...." [Read more](http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2016/07/18/uber-just-completed-its-two-billionth-ride/#46315f792a50) Hmmm...That's
good progress, but, there are about 1B
non-walking person-trips on a typical day in
the US. This means that Lyft served about
0.04% of the non-walking person trips in the
US in April. Still a long way to go to be
significant. Uber, if it is 10 x Lyft, would
be doing about 0.4% . Again a good start, but
still a long way to go. Alain
Controversy over Tesla ‘autopilot’ name keeps growing
R. Mitchell, July 21, "...Some of the most
enthusiastic proponents of autonomous vehicles and
features are worried that autopilot — not the
technology itself, but the very name, which some
find misleading — might slow down the evolution of
the driverless car. They say that would be a
shame, as autonomous technologies are designed to
make driving safer by preventing minor
fender-benders as well as reducing the number of
traffic fatalities. ..." [Read more](http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-autopilot-controversy-20160721-snap-story.html) Hmmm...I
pointed out in SDC that this was a bad product
name when it was first announced by Tesla.
:-) Alain
On the More Technical Side
http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Papers/
Half-baked stuff that
probably doesn't deserve your time:
The Mercedes-Benz Future Bus Will Change the Way We Commute to School and Work
K. Estiler, July 18, “Mercedes-Benz struck the fairway with a lavish concept golf cart last week and just recently, the German automobile manufacturer introduced its Future Bus that is seemingly a game-changer in the burgeoning world of public transportation. The kernel of this latest concept is Mercedes’s CityPilot — an operating system for autonomous driving. The mechanization involves a network of various cameras that are placed all around the bus, GPS as well as two distinctive radar systems. The Future Bus works exactly how a normal bus would except it doesn’t require a driver to help it traverse through city streets—touting streetlight recognition and the ability to stop and unload passengers by itself. However, there is a driver seat and wheel just in case human intervention is needed.(emphasis added) …” Read moreHmmm….This bus is simply same-old, same-old except “over-the-top lip-stick’ that greatly increases the cost of mobility without dding much utility. The relief in driver work-load and improvement in driver workplace provided by the Self-driving technology is substantial, but not even mentioned in the announcement which focuses only only on the lavish lip-stick. In the end big buses will remain just an infrequent scheduled service that it is way too often running around essentially empty (at which time it is a financial train wreck) or it is stopping so often to let people on and off that it is excruciatingly slow. In either case, it is only the transit captives are using it. Unfortunately, the true future bus can’t afford to pay a driver a living wage nor the cost of the lip-stick. (Thegolf cartis the epitome self indulgence. Golf should be exclusively Walk&Carry, Walk&Pull or Walk&Caddie. The course is not a freeway! You could use the exercise. :-) ) Alain
Transit Columbus starts petition urging city not to ‘leap-frog’ light rail
T. Knox, July 18, “An advocate for integrated public transportation has started a petition urging Columbus to include light rail and other mass transit in its transportation plans.
Transit Columbus wants local leaders to not
overly rely on driverless cars and other
technologies proposed in its Smart City
Challenge bid..." [Read more](http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/07/18/transit-columbus-starts-petition-urging-city-not.html)Hmmm....
And Columbus won the SmartCities grant??
(I do understand that a $1B LightRail
system brings more $$$ to Columbus than a
$40M SmartCities grant.) Alain
###
C’mon Man!
(These folks didn't get/read the memo)
Tesla Working On Autopilot Radar Changes After Crash
July 16. "...CEO Elon Musk, in a Twitter post
Thursday night, said Tesla is working on
improvements to the radar system....Experts say
this means that the radar likely overlooked the
tractor-trailer in the Florida crash...." [Read more](http://miami.cbslocal.com/2016/07/16/tesla-working-on-autopilot-radar-changes-after-crash/)Hmmm....But
the tractor preceded the trailer across
Tesla's path and the Tesla reportedly didn't
try to slow down for that. And, what if it
was a flat-bed with no load? And... C'mon man,
we need a much better explanation of what the
Tesla's sensors (and the truck driver) "saw',
didn't see and why. Alain
Calendar
of Upcoming Events:
Sept 15 & 16, 2016 Arlington, VA
Sept 19-21, 2016 Antwerp, Belgium
Recent Highlights of:
#
###
July 14, 2016
Another Tesla crash blamed on car’s Autopilot system
S. Musil, July 12, “The most recent crash involved a Model X near the small town of Whitehall, Montana, on Sunday morning, according to the Detroit Free Press. Neither the driver nor the passenger was injured in the single-vehicle crash, the Montana Highway Patrol told the newspaper….The car failed to detect an obstacle in the road, according to a thread posted on the Tesla Motors Club forum by someone who said they’re a friend of the driver. The thread included photos showing the damage to the vehicle.
Tesla said Tuesday that it appears the driver in
the crash was using the system improperly.
"The data suggests that the driver's hands were
not on the steering wheel, as no force was
detected on the steering wheel for over 2 minutes
after autosteer was engaged (even a very small
amount of force, such as one hand resting on the
wheel, will be detected)," a Tesla spokesman said
in a statement. "This is contrary to the terms of
use that are agreed to when enabling the feature
and the notification presented in the instrument
cluster each time it is activated.
"As road conditions became increasingly uncertain,
the vehicle again alerted the driver to put his
hands on the wheel. He did not do so and shortly
thereafter the vehicle collided with a post on the
edge of the roadway," the spokesman said. He added
that the Autopilot feature was being used on an
undivided mountain road despite being designed for
use on a divided highway in slow-moving
traffic....[Read more](http://www.cnet.com/au/news/another-tesla-crash-blamed-on-cars-autopilot-system/) Hmmm....Interesting
that Tesla didn't say that the car began to
slow down (as it is supposed to if the driver
does not put his/her hand back on the
wheel!!!!???? (The "lane-centering" should NOT
turn off if the driver does not respond (I
believe the Mercedes "997 package" turns off
lane-centering if you don't respond to the
buzzer :-( (However, since the lane centering
on my 2014 S-550 only
works if the lane is essentially perfectly
straight, and Mercedes has never made an
effort to fix/update my software, I rarely
take my hands off the wheel. The system is so
poor that I can't tell if lane-centering is
just not working or the buzzer turned it off.
:-( )) , What should happen is that the car
should turn on its emergency flashers, slow
down at a rate that is proportional to the
quality of the road conditions and once it
reaches a slow enough speed have the
capability to determine
if a lane change to the right (in US and ...)
is safe or a clear shoulder to the right is
available. If so, make the lane change and
come to a complete stop, all the while
announcing to the driver what the system is
doing because hands have not been put back on
the wheel. After stopping, "AutoPilot" should
then turned off as should "AutoPilot"
privileges until a "Tesla" representative
resets the system. If that doesn't convince
the driver to put "hands-on-wheel", then the
car has just averted a possible catastrophe
associated with a comatose driver. Alain
Lessons From the Tesla Crash
Editorial Board, July 11, "A recent fatal crash in
Florida involving a Tesla Model S is an example of how
a new technology designed to make cars safer could, in
some cases, make them more dangerous. These risks,
however, could be minimized with better testing (Hmmm....Yes!) and
regulations (Still too
early, we don't know enough, yet)...Tesla's
electric cars are not self-driving, but when the
Autopilot system is engaged it can keep the car in a
lane, adjust its speed to keep up with traffic and
brake to avoid collisions. Tesla says audio and visual
alerts warn drivers to keep their hands on the
steering wheel and watch the road. If a driver is
unresponsive to the alerts, the car is programmed to
slow itself to a stop.
Such warnings aren't sufficient, though; some Tesla
drivers, as shown in videos on YouTube, have even
gotten into the back seat while the car was moving.
Such reckless behavior threatens not just the drivers
but everyone else on the road, too. (Absolutely!)... If
that system ([V2V](http://www.safercar.gov/v2v/index.html))
had been in place, Mr. Brown might have
survived. (Sure, but Mr
Brown would have had to wait more than his normal
expected life span before that system would have
been adopted by more than 70% of all vehicles for
it to have better than a "coin flip" chance of
helping him. What would have helped Mr. Brown is
if the Automated Emergency Braking system worked
on his Tesla, or if the truck driver had seen him
coming (not become distracted) and had
not "failed to yield". ) Federal
officials could take lessons from the history of [airbags](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/01/automobiles/autos-on-friday-safety-when-air-bags-help-and-harm.html)
and the lack of strong regulations. (This is a VERY appropriate and
relevant lesson!)... The agency does
not yet have regulations for driverless cars or cars
that have driver assistance systems. But when
officials do put rules in place, they will have to
update them regularly as they learn about how the
technology works in practice. Automation should save
lives. But nobody should expect these vehicles to be
risk-free. (This is very
wise. They should also immediately focus on
Automated Emergency Braking systems which are the
foundation of any Self-driving or Driverless
systems. ) [Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/opinion/lessons-from-the-tesla-crash.html?ribbon-ad-idx=2&rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article)Hmmm....Comments in-line above. Alain
May 7 Crash
Hmmm…What we know now (and don’t know):
1. On May 7, 2016 at about 4:40pm EDT, there was a crash between a Tesla and a Class 8 Tractor-Trailer. The accident is depicted in the Diagram from the Police Report: HSMV Crash Report # 85234095. (1) Google Earth images from the site.
2. The driver of the Tesla was Joshua Brown. “No citations have been issued, but the initial accident report from the FHP indicates the truck driver “failed to yield right-of-way.”” (2) . Hmmm….No Citations??? Did the truck have a data recorder? Was the truck impounded, if so, how is the truck driver making a living since the crash? Why was his truck not equipped with sensors that can warn him of collision risks at intersections? As I’ve written, driving is one of the most dangerous occupations. Why isn’t OSHA concerned about improving the environment of these workers? Why doesn’t ATRI (the American Trucking Association’s research arm recognize the lack availability/adoption of “SmartDrivingTruck technology” as one of its Critical Issues? Why didn’t his insurance agent encourage/convince him to equip his truck with collision risk sensors. If they aren’t commercially available, why hasn’t his insurance company invested/promoted/lobbied for their development? These low-volume rural highway intersections are very dangerous. Technology could help.
“…(the truck driver)…said he saw the Tesla approaching in the left, eastbound lane. Then it crossed to the right lane and struck his trailer. “I don’t know why he went over to the slow lane when he had to have seen me,” he said….” (2) . Hmmm….If the driver saw the Tesla change lanes, why did he “failed to yield right-of-way”???
“…Meanwhile, the accident is stoking the debate on whether drivers are being lulled into a false sense of security by such technology. A man who lives on the property where Brown’s car came to rest some 900 feet from the intersection where the crash occurred said when he approached the wreckage 15 minutes after the crash, he could hear the DVD player. An FHP trooper on the scene told the property owner, Robert VanKavelaar, that a “Harry Potter” movie was showing on the DVD player, VanKavelaar told Reuters on Friday.
Another witness, Terence Mulligan, said he
arrived at the scene before the first Florida
state trooper and found "there was no movie
playing." "There was no music. I was at the
car. Right at the car," Mulligan told Reuters on
Friday.
Sergeant Kim Montes of the Florida Highway
Patrol said on Friday that "there was a portable
DVD player in the vehicle," but wouldn't
elaborate further on it. She also said there was
no camera found, mounted on the dash or of any
kind, in the wreckage....
…Mulligan said he was driving in the same westbound direction as the truck before it attempted to make a left turn across the eastbound lanes of U.S. Highway 27 Alternate when he spotted the Tesla traveling east. Mulligan said the Tesla did not appear to be speeding on the road, which has a speed limit of 65 miles per hour, according to the FHP….” (2) .
- “…the vehicle was on a divided highway with Autopilot engaged when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S. Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S. Had the Model S impacted the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents…” (3). Not sure how Tesla knows what Joshua Brown saw or did not see. Events prior to the crash unfolded over many seconds. Tesla must have precise data on the car’s speed and steering angle, video for those many seconds prior to the crash, as well as, what it was “seeing” from MobilEye’s cameras and radar data. At no time prior to the crash did it see anything crossing its intended travel lane? More important, why didn’t the truck driver see the Tesla? WHAT WAS HE DOING? What was the truck doing. How slow was it going? Hopefully there was a data speed recorder on the truck. Was the truck impounded, if so, how is the truck driver making a living since the crash?
One can also ask: Why was the truck not equipped with sensors that can warn the driver of collision risks at intersections? As I’ve written, driving is one of the most dangerous occupations. Why isn’t OSHA concerned about improving this workplace environment? Why doesn’t ATRI (the American Trucking Association’s research arm) recognize the lack availability/adoption of “SmartDrivingTruck technology” as one of its Critical Issues? Why didn’t the driver’s insurance agent encourage/convince him to equip his truck with collision risk sensors. If they aren’t commercially available, why hasn’t his insurance company invested/promoted/lobbied for their development? These low-volume rural highway intersections are very dangerous. Technology could help.
While the discussion is about AutoPilot, the Tesla also has Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) which is supposed to always be on. This seems more like an AEB failure rather than an AutoPilot failure. The Tesla didn’t just drive off the road, The discussion about “hands-on-wheels” is irrelevant. What was missing was “foot-on-brake” by the Tesla driver and “eyes-on-road” by, most importantly, the truck driver, since he initiated an action in violation to “rules of the road” that may have made a crash unavoidable.
-
“Problem Description: A fatal highway crash involving a 2015 Tesla Model S which, according to Tesla, was operating with automated driving systems (“Autopilot”) engaged, calls for an examination
of the design and performance of any driving aids in use at the time of the crash." [(4)](http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM530776/INOA-PE16007-7080.PDF). Not to be picky, but the initiator of the crash was the failure to yield by the truck driver. Why isn't this human failure the most fundamental "Problem Description"? If "driving aids" were supposed to "bail out" the truck driver's failure to yield, why isn't the AEB system's "design and performance" being examined. AutoPilot's responsibility is to keep the Tesla from steering off the road (and, as a last resort, yield to the AEB). The focus should be on AEBs. How many other Tesla drivers have perished that didn't have AutoPilot on, but had AEB? How many drivers have perished of other cars that have AEB? Seems as if this crash was more about an emergency automated systems failing to apply the brakes, rather than a driver not having his hands-on-wheel. Unfortunately, it is likely that we will eventually have a fatality in which an "AutoPilot" will fail to keep a "Tesla" on the road (or in a "correct" lane), but from what is known so far, this does not seem to be the crash. -
“What we learn here is that Mobileye’s system in Tesla’s Autopilot does gather the information from the vehicle’s sensors, primarily the front facing camera and radar, but while it gathers the data, Mobileye’s tech can’t (or not well enough until 2018) recognize the side of vehicles and therefore, itcan’t work in a situation where braking is required to stop a Tesla from hitting the side of another vehicle.
Since Tesla pushed its 7.1 update earlier this year, the automaker's own system used the same data to recognize anything, under adequate conditions, that could obstruct the path of the Tesla and if the radar's reading is consistent with the data from the camera, it will apply the brakes. Now that's something that was put to the test by Model S owners earlier in the week:" [(4)](http://electrek.co/2016/07/02/tesla-autopilot-mobileye-automatic-emergency-braking/). See video, "In the last two tests, the Autopilot appears to detect an obstacle as evidenced by the forward collision warning alerts, but the automatic emergency braking didn't activate, which raised questions – not unlike in the fatal crash. Though as Tesla explained, the trailer was not detected in the fatal crash, the radar confused it for an overhead sign, but in the tests above, the forward collision warning system sent out an alert – though as evidenced by the fact that the test subject wasn't hit, the AEB didn't need to activate and therefore it didn't. Tesla explains: "AEB does not engage when an alternative collision avoidance strategy (e.g., driver steering) remains viable. Instead, when a collision threat is detected, forward collision warning alerts the driver to encourage them to take appropriate evasive action. AEB is a fallback safety feature that operates by design only at high levels of severity and should not be tested with live subjects."..." [Read more](http://electrek.co/2016/07/02/tesla-autopilot-mobileye-automatic-emergency-braking/)(5) With all of the expertise that MobilEye has in image processing, it is surprising that it can't recognize the side of a tractor trailer or gets confused with overhead signs and tunnel openings. If overhead signs (and overpasses and tree canopies) are really the issue, then these can be readily geocoded and included in the digital map database.)
5. It seems that all of the other stuff about DVD player, watching movies, previous postings on YouTube is noise. Automated Collision Avoidance Systems and their Automated Emergency Braking sub-system MUST be more robust a mitigating “failed to yield right-of-way” situations irrespective of the “failure to yield” derived from a human action (as seems to have occurred in this crash) or an “autoPilot” (which doesn’t seem to be the case in this crash). Alain
(1) Self-Driving Tesla Was Involved in Fatal Crash, U.S. Says, June 30 NYT,
(2) DVD player found in Tesla car in fatal May crash, July 1, Reuters
(3)A Tragic Loss, June 30, Tesla Blog
(4) NHTSA ODI Resume PE 16-007 Automatic vehicle control system, June 28, 2016
(5) Tesla elaborates on Autopilot’s automatic emergency braking capacity over Mobileye’s system Electrek, July 2, 2016 See also: Understanding the fatal Tesla accident on Autopilot and the NHTSA probeJuly 2, 2016, Tesla Autopilot partner Mobileye comments on fatal crash, says tech isn’t meant to avoid this type of accident [Updated], July 1,
Who Will Build the Next Great Car Company?
E. Griffith, June 24, “…Also, he’s hit the decoy plenty of times. In 2012 he even did it in front of Ford’s board of directors. Back then the idea of self-driving cars looked, to Ford’s leadership, like a frivolous Silicon Valley moonshot. Four years later things have dramatically changed. Today Ford’s vehicle lineup features more than 30 options for semiautonomous features, including the automatic brakes I tested, and the company is aggressively working on cars that fully drive themselves. By year-end the company expects to have the largest fleet of autonomous test vehicles of any automaker.
Ford is not alone. The entire automotive industry is
in the midst of a radical transformation that is
reshaping the very definition of what it means to be
a car company. There is hype, hope, fear, and
insecurity—and at the center of it all is the
self-driving car. Thanks to cheap sensors, powerful
machine-learning technology, and a kick in the butt
from the likes of Google and Tesla Motors ,
driverless vehicles are becoming a
sooner-than-you-think reality...." [Read more](http://fortune.com/self-driving-cars-silicon-valley-detroit/) Hmmm...A very
good summary of where the industry stands with
respect to Self-driving; however, it really
doesn't address Driverless, (autonomousTaxi
(aTaxi) shared-ride on-demand transit). It
makes no mention of the low-speed [Easy Mile](http://easymile.com/), [2GetThere](http://www.2getthere.eu/),
[CityMobil2](http://www.citymobil2.eu/en/)approaches. Fortune is still seeing a
personal car future and not a Mobility-on-Demand
future. That would be way too disruptive. See
also the [intro video](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjOgvOwqMjNAhWD7D4KHaKBBboQtwIIJTAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffortune.com%2Fself-driving-cars-silicon-valley-detroit%2F&usg=AFQjCNEAKqTgIv3IkKMPgmuTWrldf5Wn0w&sig2=K7e6Mhjn1jDEYqvjwMklZw&bvm=bv.125596728,d.cWw) Alain
Derailment of Amtrak passenger train 188, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2015 NTSB/ DCA15MR010
Public meeting of May 17 “… Executive Summary…This report addresses the following safety issues:
-
Crewmember situational awareness and management of multiple tasks….
-
Positive train control. In the accident area, positive train control had not yet been implemented at the time of the accident, but it has since been implemented. The NTSB found that the accident could have been avoided if positive train control or another control system had been in place to enforce the permanent speed restriction of 50 mph at the Franklin Junction curve.
Hmmm… Kudos to NTSB for finding “…the accident could have been avoided if positive train control or another control system had been in place to enforce…”
HOWEVER, given that PCT was [mandated by Congress in 2008](https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/Details/L03588) with a deadline of
December 15, 2015 and that 6 months before
the deadline PTC had NOT been implemented on
Amtrak's highest volume segment (PHL-NYC) is
so unacceptable that this deserved to have
been their #1 bullet. NOT some poor train
engineer that was simply trying to do a job
made enormously more dangerous and stressful
because Amtrak management failed to
implement in a timely manner what had been
mandated by its "sugar daddy"!! So the NTSB
"threw" the engineer "under the bus" and
essentially all of the news reports pointed
to the engineer rather than Amtrak's senior
(mis)management ([The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/02/the-mystery-of-amtrak-188/458967/), [NBC](http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Deadly-Amtrak-Crash-Philadelphia-NTSB-Cause-379762581.html),
[Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/ntsb-prepared-to-release-report-on-last-years-deadly-amtrak-wreck/2016/02/01/3c9f7e46-c837-11e5-88ff-e2d1b4289c2f_story.html), [WSJ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/ntsb-says-engineer-in-2015-philadelphia-amtrak-crash-lost-situational-awareness-1463497474),
[NYT](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/magazine/the-wreck-of-amtrak-188.html?_r=0)
etc. Why didn't the NYT do a long story on
why Amtrak management didn't install PTC in
a timely manner???)
My point here is larger in that this same
issue exists in the rest of the transit
industry where crash-avoidance technology
exists today that can substantially reduce
collisions and do so while printing money
for the transit industry. [Dr. Jerome Lutin and I](http://orfe.princeton.edu/%7Ealaink/SmartDrivingCars/PDFs/LutinKornhauser_2016TRB_BusACAS.pdf) have pointed out to
deaf ears that automated collision avoidance
systems exist today for buses whose costs
are substantially less than the net present
value of the liability that these buses can
be expected to impose on society. This is
about the cash that a hopelessly
bankrupt transit industry has to pay out
because it isn't installing existing crash
avoidance technology that is available
today. On top of that cash are all of the
societal benefits associated with
eliminating collisions. There is no rush
(not even a faint heart-beat) by the
industry to do this. FTA is totally asleep,
yet bus drivers continue to be placed in
some of the most stressful and unsafe
working conditions without the help that
such technologies can deliver. I can't be
more blunt... The major cause of accidents
in the transit industry is the fact that the
management of the transit industry is not
installing in its fleets existing and
available automated collision avoidance
systems. What is even more derelict is that
new bus procurement don't include such
provisions either. When is the finger going
to finally be pointed towards "Management"
and the FTA instead of the poor bus driver
or train engineer? NTSB is getting close by
at least putting it 2nd, but if the public
is to become aware, it will need to rise to
the top bullet. Alain
Extracting Cognition out of Images for the Purpose of Autonomous Driving
Chenyi Chen PhD Dissertation , “…the key part of the thesis, a direct perception approach is proposed to drive a car in a highway environment. In this approach, an input image is mapped to a small number of key perception indicators that directly relate to the affordance of a road/traffic state for driving…..” Read more Hmmm..FPO 10:00am, May 16 , 120 Sherrerd Hall, Establishing a foundation for image-based autonomous driving using DeepLearning Neural Networks trained in virtual environments. Very promising. Alain
###
N.J. superintendent killed while jogging was struck by student late for trip
K. Shea, April 19, “…The Robbinsville High School student who was driving the car that struck and killed the district’s superintendent Tuesday morning was late for a school trip when the crash occurred, according to two sources involved in the investigation….” Read more Hmmm…Most tragic in so many dimensions!!! HOWEVER, it was NOT the student that STRUCK the Superintendent, it was the CAR. AND the CAR needs to start being held responsible for ALLOWING such tragedies to ruin so many lives. It is very likely that this tragedy could have been averted had the car been equipped with an automated collision avoidance system and/or lane-keeping system. Given the availability of these “tragedy avoidance systems”, we should all be asking why this CAR wasn’t equipped with such a system and why all cars aren’t so equipped. Certainly innocent runners and dogs need to be asking such questions. So too, that young lady’s car insurance company; it must be muttering: “shouda bought her that upgrade”. What about the car companies themselves who are largely just sitting on the technology or the dealerships that don’t feel compelled to espouse the benefits of such technology while pushing more “horsepower” and “Corinthian Leather” (and worse yet: “AooleCarXYZ” that distracts drivers). We all know that Washington is broken. Them staying out of the way is probably best (although aggressively applying better human-visible paint/laneMarkings and human-readable signs would go a long way to helping both attentive drivers and automated lane-keeping systems). Everyone else has fundamental self-interest at stake and each needs to stop pointing the finger to the frail human driver. We have the technology and the the self-interest to make mobility substantially safer. Let’s really get on with it. It’s time! Alain
Hearing focus of SF 2569 Autonomous vehicles task force establishment and demonstration project for people with disabilities
March 23 Hmmm… Watch the video of the Committee Meeting. The testimony is Excellent and very compelling! Also see Self-Driving Minnesota Alain
U.S. DOT and IIHS announce historic commitment of 20 automakers to make automatic emergency braking standard on new vehicles
Press Release, Mar 17, NHTSA & IIHS “announced today a historic commitment by 20 automakers representing more than 99 percent of the U.S. auto market to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on virtually all new cars no later than NHTSA’s 2022 reporting year, which begins Sept 1, 2022. Automakers making the commitment are Audi, BMW, FCA US LLC, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Tesla Motors Inc., Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo Car USA. The unprecedented commitment means that this important safety technology will be available to more consumers more quickly than would be possible through the regulatory process…The commitment takes into account the evolution of AEB technology. It requires a level of functionality that is in line with research and crash data demonstrating that such systems are substantially reducing crashes, but does not stand in the way of improved capabilities that are just beginning to emerge. The performance measures are based on real world data showing that vehicles with this level of capability are avoiding crashes..Watch NHTSA video on AEB Download AEB video from IIHSRead more Hmmmm…Fantastic! Automakers leading with regulatory process staying out of the way. Alain 2016
Motor Vehicle Deaths Increase by Largest Percent in 50 Years
Press Release Feb 16 “With continued lower gasoline prices and an improving economy resulting in an estimated 3.5% increase in motor-vehicle mileage, the number of motor-vehicle deaths in 2015 totaled 38,300, up 8% from 2014.
The 2015 estimate is provisional and may be
revised when more data are available. The total
for 2015 was up 8% from the 2013 figure. The
annual total for 2014 was 35,398, a less than
0.5% increase from 2013. The 2013 figure was 3%
lower than 2012. The estimated annual population
death rate is 11.87 deaths per 100,000
population, an increase of 7% from the 2014
rate. The estimated annual mileage death rate is
1.22 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles
traveled, an increase of 5% from the 2014 rate.
[Read more](http://www.nsc.org/NewsDocuments/2016/mv-fatality-report-1215.pdf)Hmmmm...This
is REALLY BAD news. Come on insurance. This
is costing you money! Accident rates going
up means that your actuarials are behind,
your regulated pricing lags and you are
losing money. To get ahead of your
actuarials, you MUST incentivize the
adoption of automated collision avoidance
systems. You'll then do very well, thank
you AND help society. Alain
2016
###
Obama’s $4 Billion Plan for Self-Driving Cars Will Make Google Very Happy
M. Bergen, Jan 14 “The Obama Administration has seen the self-driving future, and it’s jumping aboard. At the Detroit auto show on Thursday morning, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will unveil a plan to develop a national blueprint for autonomous driving technology within the next six months. He will also announce that President Obama is planning to insert $4 billion into the 2017 budget for a 10-year plan to support and “accelerate” vehicle automation projects.
"We are on the cusp of a new era in automotive
technology with enormous potential to save
lives, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and
transform mobility for the American people,"
Secretary Foxx said in a statement. ...But
here's the part of Foxx's talk that really
matters for Google: These national rules will
allow fully driverless cars..." [Read More](http://recode.net/2016/01/14/obamas-4-billion-plan-for-self-driving-cars-will-make-google-very-happy/) Hmmm...
A [few months ago](http://www.its.dot.gov/press/2015/ngv_tech_announcement.htm) it was $42M for
Connected Vehicles. Today it is 100x for
automated vehicles! Finally Secretary
Foxx.."[YES! YES! JESUS H. TAP-DANCING CHRIST... I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX5tfRdkoY0)" (Blue Brothers)
Yea!!!!! :-)
Alain
Google Pairs With Ford To Build Self-Driving Cars
J. Hyde & S. Carty, Dec. 21 “Google and Ford will create a joint venture to build self-driving vehicles with Google’s technology, a huge step by both companies toward a new business of automated ride sharing, …According to three sources familiar with the plans, the partnership is set to be announced by Ford at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. By pairing with Google, Ford gets a massive boost in self-driving software development; while the automaker has been experimenting with its own systems for years, it only revealed plans this month to begin testing on public streets in California….
Google already has several links to Ford; the
head of the self-driving car project, John
Krafcik, worked for 14 years at Ford, including
a stint as head of truck engineering, and
several other ex-Ford employees work in the unit
as well. Former Ford chief executive Alan
Mulally joined Google's board last year.
And Ford executives have been clear for years
that the company was ready to embrace a future
where cars were sold as on-demand services. Ford
CEO Mark Fields has repeatedly said Ford was
thinking of itself "as a mobility company," and
what that would mean for its business" [Read more](https://www.yahoo.com/autos/google-pairs-with-ford-to-1326344237400118.html) Hmmm...Not
surprising and not exclusive. :-)
Alain
2015
Adam Jonas’ View on Autonomous Cars
Video similar to part of Adam’s Luncheon talk @ 2015 Florida Automated Vehicle Symposium on Dec 1. Hmmm … Watch Video especially at the 13:12 mark. Compelling; especially after the 60 Minutes segment above! Also see his TipRanks. Alain
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