2017-01-27

January 27, 2017Newsletter archive →

L. Horsley, Jan 24, "President Donald Trump's team has compiled a list of about 50 infrastructure projects nationwide, totaling at least $137.5 billion, as the new White House tries to determine its investment priorities,... Among the projects could be a new terminal for the Kansas City airport, upgrades to Interstate 95 in North Carolina (

A. Kornhauser, Jan 14, "Orf467F16 Final Project Symposium quantifying implications of such a Nation-wide mobility system on Average Vehicle Occupancy (AVO), energy, environment and congestion, including estimates of fleet size, needed empty vehicle repositioning, and ridership implications on existing rail transit systems (west, east, NYC) and Amtrak of a system that would efficiently and effectively perform their '1st mile'/'last-mile' mobility needs. Read more

M. Issac, Jan 20, "Uber and Google have long been bitter rivals in the race to build the autonomous vehicles that appear integral to the future of transportation. Soon, Uber will have a bit of help in that effort from a man who has played a key role in Google's history. Amit Singhal, a 15-year Google veteran and a former senior vice president for search at the company, said on Friday that he planned to join Uber as senior vice president for engineering. ...will lead the company's mapping division as well as a unit that runs the dispatching, marketing and pricing of Uber cars. ..."I love Amit's excitement for solving complex computer science problems and his passion for helping improve people's lives through technology," Mr. Kalanick,..." Read more

K. Pyle, Jan 21, "Vehicles are increasingly becoming consumer electronic items, as evidenced by the number of companies and booths at International CES 2017 that were dedicated to creating the next great ride. The embedded electronics allow even the most utilitarian vehicle to become an extension of its rider. Of course, there was the 21st century version of the muscle car, from Faraday Future and many others, that hearkens back to an earlier time when the open road and the freedom of driving were the dream of many.

But, it is no longer about muscle, as vehicles of all levels are becoming intelligent. Whether this means an improved Human-Machine interface or an operating system embedded with and connected to Artificial Intelligence that allows the car to think and act without the aid of a human, mobility is changing, and changing fast. And the latest features aren't just the latest gee-whiz, as safety was a recurring theme throughout the exhibits...." Read more

K. Korosec, Jan 20, "The U.S. Department of Transportation picked 10 official sites for developing and testing self-driving car technology, one of the last actions the agency made under the leadership of former U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

The DOT made the announcement Thursday, Foxx's last day as secretary. On Friday, Donald Trump was sworn in as president and a new administration took over. ..." Read more

Jan 2017, "SunTrax is a large-scale facility that will be developed jointly by FDOT, Florida Polytechnic University and Industry partners. This cutting-edge facility will offer unique opportunities for the testing of emerging transportation technologies in safe controlled environments. ..." Read more

D. Baker, Jan 17, "...With a few notable exceptions, most of the companies developing self-driving vehicles use lidar to scan the roadway environment with high precision. And while truly autonomous cars capable of driving themselves in all situations remain several years away, Velodyne is banking on rapid growth in the number of test vehicles on the road

"People often ask, 'When will I see autonomous cars?' They're on the road today, but just in small quantities, and how this will emerge is the number will increase month after month over time," said Mike Jellen, Velodyne's president and chief operating officer. "We will need to have the capacity ready to support a tremendous increase starting in 2018 and moving into 2019." ... Read more

Dec. 19, "Lucid Motors officially unveiled its first high-end electric vehicle, a sleek, sunlit sedan called the Lucid Air that executives expect will roll off the assembly line starting late 2018. But as advancements in automotive innovation - autonomous driving, electric vehicle batteries and ride-sharing, among others - continue to progress at a rapid clip, it's unclear exactly how different the car market will look when the Lucid Air finally hits the road. Indeed, the 'alpha prototype' car that Lucid Motors put on display this week promises to be fully electric and allow for completely autonomous driving. The company claims the car will feature a 100 kilowatt hour battery - and eventually a 130 kilowatt hour battery - that can travel up to 400 miles (643.7kms) on a single charge. The top-tier Tesla Model S can get up to 330 miles (482 kms), according to the company. Read more

January 2017, "Traffic accidents cost world economies billions each year, but with the development of autonomous driving technologies these costs could be reduced dramatically. Autonomous driving technologies are revolutionising the automotive industry with their promise to improve vehicle safety and reduce traffic accidents, but what is the monetary impact of this on GDP?...The US topped the list of 73 countries, where over $340bn is lost to traffic accidents each year, ..." Read more

Jan 18, "TomTom announced that it has acquired Autonomos, a Berlin-based autonomous driving start-up.

The acquisition strengthens TomTom's position in autonomous driving. Autonomos has provided Research & Development consultancy services for automated vehicle assistance systems and has built up expertise and technologies in the process, including a full demonstration-level autonomous driving software stack, 3D sensor technology, and digital image processing. The company was established in 2012 after the founders had worked for several years in successful autonomous driving research projects at the Free University of Berlin...." Read more

thoughts that deserve your attention

http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Papers/

probably doesn't deserve your time

folks didn't get/read the memo)

of Upcoming Events:

January 20, 2017

Public Announcement, Jan 22: "Pierce Transit will receive $1,664,894 to deploy buses equipped with collision avoidance warning systems or automatic braking features. The objective of this project is to deploy and demonstrate collision avoidance technology in partnership with the Washington State Transit Insurance Pool (WSTIP), a collaborative organization of 25 Washington public transit agencies that combine their resources to provide and purchase insurance coverage, manage claims and litigation, and receive risk management and training. Pierce Transit will work with WSTIP to accurately determine the business case for investing in these technologies." Read more

(Above link should work) Jan 19, "... Summary: ... NHTSA's examination did not identify any defects in the design or performance of the AEB or Autopilot systems of the subject vehicles nor any incidents in which the systems did not perform as designed. AEB systems used in the automotive industry through MY 2016 are rear-end collision avoidance technologies that are not designed to reliably perform in all crash modes, including crossing path collisions. The Autopilot system is an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) that requires the continual and full attention of the driver to monitor the traffic environment and be prepared to take action to avoid crashes. Tesla's design included a hands-on the steering wheel system for monitoring driver engagement...

... ODI analyzed data from crashes of Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles involving airbag deployments that occurred while operating in, or within 15 seconds of transitioning from, Autopilot mode. Some crashes involved impacts from other vehicles striking the Tesla from various directions with little to no warning to the Tesla driver. Other crashes involved scenarios known to be outside of the state-of-technology for current-generation Level 1 or 2 systems, such as cut-ins, cut-outs and crossing path collisions....

...The Florida fatal crash appears to have involved a period of extended distraction (at least 7 seconds)..." .

...A safety-related defect trend has not been identified at this time and further examination of this issue does not appear to be warranted. Accordingly, this investigation is closed. " Read more

News, Jan 10, "...U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "I'm proud to announce this new automation committee, and look forward to seeing its members advance life-saving innovations while boosting our economy and making our transportation network more fair, reliable, and efficient."... Read more

January 4, 2017

M. Sena, Jan. 5, "In This Issue:

Report from Dispatch Central 1 "...While the 12 million people in the EU who earn their livings directly from the automotive industry are delighted by the news that car sales figures for Novem-ber were up significantly, and it looks like 2016 will be another banner year, there are people in governments doing everything in their power to make both building and owning motorized vehicles economically unviable..." Read more

Autonomous Driving News Apple's Letter to NHTSA 1 "...The Vehicle Safety Act requires companies to certify vehicles to the FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) before first sale. But this law applies to new motor vehicles intended for sale to the public, and by implication, by companies that make and sell cars, not companies like Apple that may or may not intend to sell cars. Further, FAST Act2 specifically allows car makers, but not non-car makers, to test on public roads without requiring ex-emptions from FMVSS...Read more "

What Car Companies Are Doing 2 "...So Uber must have made Volvo a pretty sweet offer when it gets rid of all the drivers with their own cars and has its own fleet of driverless cars...Read more"

Reurbanization or Spreading the Sprawl 3 "...Where do you want to go? My chart below has two opposing scenarios. In the top scenario, we keep doing what we have been doing. In the bottom sce-nario, we try to match policies with desired results. You choose...Read more"

traffic information is useless..Read more"

Musings of a Dispatcher – Civilis cogitationes 6 "...I did not see a lot of people cycling to their jobs when I was in Västerås in the early autumn of this year. Like most places in Europe

and the U.S., when cars became affordable for people with even modest incomes—starting in the 50s in the U.S. and in the 60s in Europe—it was a delight for workers to get out of the rain and snow and into their own car. It's the same today in emerging markets, especially China,.." Read more

December 24, 2016

J. Golson, Dec 19, "Chrysler has completed the 100 autonomous Pacifica minivans that will join the Waymo (née Google) fleet in early 2017. The vans, which are plug-in hybrid variants with Waymo's self-driving hardware and software built in, are part of a partnership between Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and Waymo that was announced earlier this year.

Waymo CEO John Krafcik said last week that his company is not interested in "making better cars." Instead, it wants to make "better drivers."..."

December 14, 2016

A. Hawkins, Dec 13, "Today, Google announced that it would be spinning off its six-year-old self-driving project into a standalone business called Waymo, which stands for "a new way forward in mobility," according to John Krafcik, the CEO of the new company.

It was previously reported that Google would be dropping its plan to build its own vehicle without steering wheels and pedals, instead focusing on creating the self-driving technology that can be installed in third-party vehicles. Krafcik didn't provide much clarity there, but did state definitively that the new company was still fully committed to fully autonomous vehicle technology.

"We are all in, 100 percent, on Level Four and Level Five fully driverless solutions," he said.

Krafcik didn't comment on a report in Bloomberg that Google would be starting its own ride-sharing service in partnership with Fiat Chrysler using the Italian car maker's Pacifica minivans as its fleet of self-driving taxis. Google and FCA announced their collaboration earlier this year. Krafcik did confirm that the self-driving Pacificas were still in the build phase, but would hopefully be on the road for testing very soon.

It may be too soon to say that Google is abandoning its plans to build it's own fleet of driverless cars, without steering wheels and pedals. That said, Krafcik made it clear that Waymo "is not a car company, there's been some confusion on that point. We're not in business of making better cars, we're in the business of making better drivers."...Read more

R. Mitchell, Dec 6, "Silicon Valley voted heavily for Hillary Clinton, but companies working on driverless cars seem overjoyed with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao. Chao will wield great power over how driverless cars and other automated vehicles will be regulated — or not....Industry insiders say they don't want Chao to ignore driverless car policy....

Instead, they hope to avoid a patchwork of differing and conflicting rules across the 50 states. "This should be centralized," said Alain L. Kornhauser, director of the transportation program at Princeton University and an autonomous vehicle expert, "but that doesn't mean the states don't play a part. It would be better if we had a common understanding...." Read more

November 20, 2016

J, Yoshida, Nov 15, "...Qualcomm's pending takeover of NXP Semiconductors isn't making the path to V2X any clearer.

NXP remains a staunch advocate for DSRC-based V2X (as demonstrated via truck platooning on Munich roads last week during Electronica). Qualcomm, a leading voice and force behind the progress of the cellular standards, is sticking to its cellular radio technology-based V2X evolution...We see this as a continued cellular revolution with new elements coming in... " Read more

October 27, 2016

B. Grush, Oct. 2016, "Two contradictory stories about our transportation infrastructure are currently in circulation. One is that Ontario's aging, inadequate and congested infrastructure is perennially unable to catch up with a growing and sprawling GTHA. The other is that vehicle automation will soon dramatically multiply current road capacity by enabling narrower lanes, shorter headways and coordinated streams of connected vehicles to pass through intersections without traffic signals to impede flow.

Since the premature forecast of peak car in 2008 and now the hype surrounding the automated vehicle, we are often told that we have enough road capacity; that shared robotic taxis will optimize our trips, reduce congestion, and largely eliminate the need for parking. This advice implies we need wait only a few short years to experience relief from our current infrastructure problems given by decades of under-investment in transportation infrastructure.

This is wishful thinking. Vehicle automation will give rise to two different emerging markets: semi-automated vehicles for household consumption and fully automated vehicles for public service such as robo-taxi and robo-transit. These two vehicle types will develop in parallel to serve different social markets. They will compete for both riders and infrastructure. The purpose of this report is to look at why and how government agencies and public interest groups can and should influence the preferred types and deployment of automated vehicles and the implication of related factors for planning..." Read more

October 7, 2016

D. Victor, Oct. 5, "Traffic deaths in the United States rose 10.4 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2015, maintaining a steady climb....

The numbers were released on Wednesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which noted that Americans drove about 50.5 billion more miles in the first six months of 2016 than in the first half of 2015, an increase of 3.3 percent....Officials have not identified a specific cause for the most recent increase... " Read more

September 2016, "Executive Summary...For DOT, the excitement around highly automated vehicles (HAVs) starts with safety. (p5)

...The development of advanced automated vehicle safety technologies, including fully self-driving cars, may prove to be the greatest personal transportation revolution since the popularization of the personal automobile nearly a century ago. (p5)

...The benefits don't stop with safety. Innovations have the potential to transform personal mobility and open doors to people and communities. (p5)

...The remarkable speed with which increasingly complex HAVs are evolving challenges DOT to take new approaches that ensure these technologies are safely introduced (i.e., do not introduce significant new safety risks), provide safety benefits today, and achieve their full safety potential in the future. (p6)

"...we divide the task of facilitating the safe introduction and deployment (...defines "deployment" as the operation of an HAV by members of the public who are not the employees or agents of the designer, developer, or manufacturer of that HAV.) of HAVs into four sections:(p6)

"...1. Vehicle Performance Guidance for Automated Vehicles (p6)..."

"...2. Model State Policy (p7) The Model State Policy confirms that States retain their traditional responsibilities...but... The shared objective is to ensure the establishment of a consistent national framework rather than a patchwork of incompatible laws..."

"...3. NHTSA Current Regulatory Tools (p7) ... This document provides instructions, practical guidance, and assistance to entities seeking to employ those tools. Furthermore, NHTSA has streamlined its review process and is committing to..."

"...4. New Tools and Authorities (p7)...The speed with which HAVs are advancing, combined with the complexity and novelty of these innovations, threatens to outpace the Agency's conventional regulatory processes and capabilities. This challenge requires DOT to examine whether the way DOT has addressed safety for the last 50 years should be expanded to realize the safety potential of automated vehicles over the next 50 years. Therefore, this section identifies potential new tools, authorities and regulatory structures that could aid the safe and appropriately expeditious deployment of new technologies by enabling the Agency to be more nimble and flexible (p8)..."

"...Note on "Levels of Automation" There are multiple definitions for various levels of automation and for some time there has been need for standardization to aid clarity and consistency. Therefore, this Policy adopts the SAE International (SAE) definitions for levels of automation. )

August 28, 2016

August 19, 2016

N. Boudette, Aug 16, "In the race to develop driverless cars, several automakers and technology companies are already testing vehicles that pilot themselves on public roads. And others have outlined plans to expand their development fleets over the next few years. At a news conference on Tuesday at the company's research center in Palo Alto, Calif., Mark Fields, Ford's chief executive, said the company planned to mass produce driverless cars and have them in commercial operation in a ride-hailing service by 2021....

"That means there's going to be no steering wheel. There's going to be no gas pedal. There's going to be no brake pedal,'' he said. ...." Read more

7 Crash

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

March 23

2016

2015

This list is maintained by Alain Kornhauser and hosted by the Princeton University LISTSERV.

Unsubscribe |Re-subscribe

This list is maintained by Alain Kornhauser and hosted by the Princeton University LISTSERV.

2017-01-27

Some other

Half-baked stuff that

C'mon Man!(These

Calendar

Recent Highlights of: