2020-06-18
edition of the 8th year of SmartDrivingCars
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao Announces First Participants in New Automated Vehicle Initiative to Improve Safety, Testing, and Public Engagement
Press release, June 15, “The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced nine companies and eight States that have signed on as the first participants in a new Department initiative to improve the safety and testing transparency of automated driving systems, the Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative. The participating companies are Beep, Cruise, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Local Motors, Navya, Nuro, Toyota, Uber, and Waymo. The States are California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.
"Through this
initiative, the
Department is
creating a formal
platform for
Federal, State, and
local government to
coordinate and share
information in a
standard way," said
U.S. Transportation
Secretary Elaine L.
Chao. ...
This initiative aligns with the Department’s leadership on automated driving system vehicles, including AV 4.0: Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies.” Read more Hmmm… Excellent. This is really good because it is promotes and organizes the open sharing of safety information assoiated with automated driving. This is extremely important because safety of these systems is a necessary condition for their adoption.
Unfortunately, a few things seem to be missing from the announcement.
-
a budget (Washington may not have any money left after COVID-19),
-
any mention of mobility for people or for goods. The testing of safety is conducted without doing any useful mobility, but the value of testing is derived from the delivery of that mobility. Safety in that context requires the active engagement the entities that are being transported. It is very important that this initiative include potential customers and neighborhoods whose streets such automation might use, and
-
the whole Northeast including New Jersey seems to have not “signed on”, nor is Ford/Argo, Zooks, Aurore, Voyage Amazon, Apple…. :-( Alain
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 161 - Alberto Stochino
###
F. Fishkin, June 17, “Is less data sometimes more when it comes to driverless vehicle technology? Perceptive Founder and CEO Alberto Stochino joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus the DOT’s new plan for sharing autonomous safety information, the latest from Tesla, EVs from China and more.” “Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!”. Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay … Alain
SmartDrivingCars Zoom-Cast Episode 161 - Alberto Stochino
###
###
Video version of SmartDrivingCars PodCast 161 …. Alain
The
SmartDrivingCars
eLetter,
Pod-Casts,
Zoom-Casts and
Zoom-inars are
made possible in
part by support
from the Smart
Transportation and
Technology ETF,
symbol MOTO. For
more information:
[www.motoetf.com](https://www.smartetfs.com/).
Most funding is
supplied by
Princeton
University's
Department of
Operations
Research &
Financial
Engineering and
Princeton
Autonomous Vehicle
Engineering (PAVE)
research
laboratory as
part of its
research
dissemination
initiatives.
SmartDrivingCar Zoom-inar 004Insurance: For or Against SmartDrivingCars?
###
Live: Tuesday, June 23, 2:00pm New York Time
Free Pre-registration is required
Michigan, Fiat Chrysler join federal self-driving car initiative
K. Laing, June 15, “… But safety advocates sharply criticized the transportation department for sticking with an voluntary approach to self-driving regulation that critics have described as toothless, citing fatal accidents involving partially autonomous cars that have been operated in recent years by companies such as Tesla and Uber. “ Read more Hmmm… How much more “teeth” could regulations and US DoT contribute that make a dent in the “teeth” that the economy sink into Uber’s bottom for its pathetic system design and implementation that disregarded stationary objects in the lane ahead. That caused $60B in valuation to evaporate.
Tesla has somewhat of an excuse to disregard stationary objects in the lane ahead. It explicitly puts that responsibility on the human driver. If bad things happen, it is the driver’s misbehavior that’s the root cause. AutoPilots have always required driver supervision whether they be in Boeings or Teslas. Alain
The Plan to Merge Geely Auto and Volvo Cars, plus more
M. Sena, July, 2020 issue, “The July issue of The Dispatcher continues the theme of the impact of China on the global automotive industry by looking at the proposal of Volvo Car’s parent company, Geely, to merge Volvo Cars and Geely Auto and take the combined company public. In Musings I discuss the issue of vehicle connectivity again, and in Dispatch Central I review current attempts to promote electrification through incentives that are also aimed at helping the automobile industry get through the COVID-19 pandemic….” Read more Hmmm… Another excellent issue. See especially the whole section: Musings of a Dispatcher: Vehicle Connectivity
We're all
speaking
different
languages.
... a follow-up
to the most
interesting [Zoom-tank Zoom-inar 003](https://youtu.be/DMNLH_fkcI4) on
Connectivity in
which Michael
was the
provacteur.
Alain
Renault Rattled by Threat From Chinese Electric Cars Imports
T. Patel, June 12, “A flood of Chinese electric cars coming ashore in Norway – one of the biggest markets for battery-powered vehicles in Europe – is a sign of the “ferocious competition” awaiting the region’s automakers.
That warning by
Jean-Dominique
Senard, chairman of
struggling French
carmaker Renault SA,
comes as European
manufacturers roll
out more electric
cars in the midst of
a deep slump brought
on by the
coronavirus.
Tighter emissions
rules across the
European Union have
prodded automakers
to lean into the
transition to
electric powertrains
or face big fines
this year. To
further spur
electric-car sales,
the governments of
France and Germany
have included extra
incentives for the
purchase of electric
vehicles in economic
stimulus packages.
As a result, the
Chinese models are
arriving in a market
that's becoming
increasingly crowded
with new EVs,
including Renault's
updated and
best-selling Zoe
subcompact and
Volkswagen AG's
coming ID.3...." [Read more](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-11/renault-rattled-by-threat-from-imports-of-chinese-electric-cars) Hmmm... Will
this look like
the Electric
Scooter
invassion
Re-read
Michael Sena's
Dispatchers
from [March](http://www.michaellsena.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/The-Dispatcher_March-2020.pdf),
[May](http://www.michaellsena.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Dispatcher_May-2020.pdf)
and [June](http://www.michaellsena.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Dispatcher_June-2020.pdf)
for more
background.
Alain
FORD CO-PILOT360™ TECHNOLOGY ADDS HANDS-FREE DRIVING, OVER-THE-AIR UPDATES AND MORE TO HELP FORD CUSTOMERS FEEL MORE RELAXED AND CONFIDENT
Press release, June 18, “Ford Co-Pilot360™ Technology – a comprehensive collection of available driver-assist features – adds new offerings including Active Drive Assist, allowing for hands-free driving on more than 100,000 miles of divided highways in all 50 states and Canada.
"The stress of long
highway drives
remains a huge issue
for drivers around
the world," said Hau
Thai-Tang, Ford's
chief product
development and
purchasing officer.
"By introducing
driver-assist
technologies like
Active Drive Assist,
Ford's version of
hands-free driving,
we're allowing our
customers to feel
more confident
whenever they're
behind the wheel."
Active Drive Assist
is the next
evolution of
Intelligent Adaptive
Cruise Control with
Lane Centering from
Ford, adding a
first-for-Ford
Hands-Free Mode with
the potential for
more enhancements in
the future.1..." [Read more](https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2020/06/18/ford-co-pilot360-technology-adds-hands-free-driving.html) Hmmmm.... Excellent... Active Drive Assist sounds very
much like [GM's Super Cruise](https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30795396/gm-super-cruise-self-driving-2023/)
and their TM
Co-Pilot360
may well
infringe on
ALK's [CoPilot](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alk.copilot.mapviewer&hl=en_US)
wich was
trademarked
last century.
Alain
Cadillac Super Cruise vs. Tesla Autopilot
R. Glon, June 10, “Tesla’s Autopilot technology is one of the most-hyped and best-known suites of electronic driving aids, but it’s not the only (or the best) system of its kind on the market. Cadillac’s Super Cruise isn’t as well known, yet it’s outstandingly safe and, in some ways, smarter than Autopilot. Join us for a look at how these rivaling systems work, the ways they’re similar, and the areas where they differ….” Read more Hmmmm…. Informative. Alain
We’re never going to get meaningful data on self-driving car testing
A. Hawkins, June 15, “The US Department of Transportation launched a new voluntary program to collect and share data from autonomous vehicle operators. Companies testing AVs on public roads are invited to submit information to the government, which will then publicize it online. But given the voluntary nature of the program, safety advocates say the effort is likely to fall short of providing useful data to the public.
There is currently
no federal rule
requiring AV
companies to submit
information about
their testing
activities to the
government. Instead,
a patchwork of
state-by-state
regulations govern
what is and isn't
disclosed.
California has the
most stringent
rules, requiring
companies to obtain
a license for
different types of
testing, disclose
vehicle crashes,
list the number of
miles driven, and
the frequency at
which human safety
drivers were forced
to take control of
their autonomous
vehicles (also known
as a
"disengagement").
Unsurprisingly,[AV companies hate California's requirements](https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/26/21142685/california-dmv-self-driving-car-disengagement-report-data)....
". [Read more](https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/15/21292014/dot-nhtsa-self-driving-car-test-data-voluntary) Hmmmm....Testing with "safety drivers" behind the wheel
is really just
like driving a
Tesla with
autoPilot. No
need for the
Feds or States
to require
anything.
More importnt is the understanding of the decision process and the evidence that a company will use to offer mobility services without a driver or attendant on-board. Those data and evidence should be captured in a certification process, not a testing process. What process will convince a community, a State, a Federal government, a … to welcome such driverless mobility services in its prescribed Operational Design Domain (ODD). Alain
Tesla admits its approach to self-driving is harder but might be only way to scale
F. Lambert, June 18,
"Tesla's head of AI
admitted that the
automaker's approach
to self-driving is
harder than what
most companies in
the industry are
doing, but he says
it's the only way to
scale.
There are dozens of
high-profile
companies working on
solving self-driving
and virtually as
many different
approaches, but
there are two main
differences: those
who rely mainly if
not entirely on
computer vision and
those who rely on HD
mapping. Tesla
falls in the former
category of relying
on computer vision.
Andrej Karpathy,
Tesla's head of AI
and computer vision,
is leading this
effort. Earlier
this week, he
participated in a
CVPR'20 workshop on
"Scalability in
Autonomous Driving"
during which he gave
an update on the [status of Tesla's program and talked about the scalability challenges](https://youtu.be/g2R2T631x7k):...
" [Read more](https://electrek.co/2020/06/18/tesla-approach-self-driving-harder-only-way-to-scale/) Hmmmm... Must [Watch video!](https://youtu.be/uMkRgxL7CGc) At
2:30 in, does
AutoPlot
actually know
the clearance
in the lane
ahead under
the 2nd
overpass? I
sure hope so.
The problem with “relying” on HD maps is that they contain zero information about the objects moving in the scene ahead, You need something else (vision) to “see” these objects and to tag their location, velocit, acceleration relative to you so you can avoid hitting them or them hitting you. Since vision can also deal with the stationary objects, the HD aspects of digital maps are not necessary and tough to justify even as a redundancy. Alain
New method makes more data available for training self-driving cars
CMU, June 17, “…In the past, state-of-the-art methods for training such a system have required the use of labeled datasets—sensor data that has been annotated to track each 3-D point over time. Manually labeling these datasets is laborious and expensive, so, not surprisingly, little labeled data exists. As a result, scene flow training is instead often performed with simulated data, which is less effective, and then fine-tuned with the small amount of labeled real-world data that exists.
Mittal, Held and robotics Ph.D. student Brian Okorn took a different approach, using unlabeled data to perform scene flow training. Because unlabeled data is relatively easy to generate by mounting a lidar on a car and driving around, there’s no shortage of it.
The key to their approach was to develop a way for the system to detect its own errors in scene flow. At each instant, the system tries to predict where each 3-D point is going and how fast it’s moving. In the next instant, it measures the distance between the point’s predicted location and the actual location of the point nearest that predicted location. This distance forms one type of error to be minimized… “ Read more Hmmmm…. I don’t understand… “the actual location of the point nearest that predicted location” is a label. Something had to classify/label that “actual” point. LiDAR doesn’t classify each point. If it did, you wouldn’t need any “method”, new or not. ???? Alain
Tesla deliveries unsurprisingly crash in US amid pandemic but it’s not that bad
F. Lambert, June 17,
"Tesla deliveries
have fallen ~37% in
California and ~30%
in the US based on
registration data,
but it's not
surprising amid the
pandemic and
actually not even
that bad of a
drop. Due to the
pandemic, Tesla had
to shut down its
Fremont factory for
just over a month in
March and April.
It is where Tesla
produces most of its
vehicles and
therefore, the
shutdown is expected
to have a major
impact on Tesla's
sales and ultimately
its financial
results during the
second quarter.
The Wall Street
Journal now reports
data registration
for Tesla in
California, Tesla's
biggest market in
the US, and it shows
a 37% drop in April
and Ma:... " [Read more](https://electrek.co/2020/06/17/tesla-deliveries-california-amid-pandemic-registrations/) Hmmmm...
Impressive.
Need to wait
for China
deliveries in
those months.
Could be
really
impressive.
Alain
Driver free but virus free? Robo cars hit new speed bump
T. Krisher, June 17, “… An executive with self-driving car company Waymo said Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic forced it to put its limited ride service in the Phoenix area on hold to make sure human backup drivers and passengers were safe.
The
passenger-carrying
service hasn't
resumed yet, but
testing restarted on
May 8. Some of the
rides were shifted
toward delivery,
Patrick Cadariu,
Waymo's head of
supply chain
operations, said on
a webinar...." [Read more](https://apnews.com/de78208122f116d05b170e10627f9e7d) Hmmmm.... On the positive side, the coders continue to
imprve the
code Making
these
driverless
cars
safe,remains
to be the
"critical
path" to
driverless
mobility
services.
This may not
have hit a
speed bump,
but instead
has
accelerated
because the
coders may
have actually
become more
productive.
Just a
thought.
Alain
Watch This Stopped Tesla Model 3 Get Violently Rear Ended By A Chevy SUV
S. Loveday, June 11, “Watch This Stopped Tesla Model 3 Get Violently Rear Ended By A Chevy SUV…’‘ Read more Hmmm… See video. So much for the automated emergency braking system on the Chevy SUV.. It either didn’t have one or the one it had didn’t work. Alain
Toyota Looks Pretty Smart Right Now On Autonomous Vehicles T. Davenport, June 10, “…All of which makes Toyota’s strategy on smart cars the smartest one around. For years it’s been pursuing Guardian—a project at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) focused on making human driving smarter and safer. …“ Read more Hmmm… What I’ve been calling Safe-driving cars. Nice that Toyota continue to work on these. It would be nice if they were available in showrooms. It would be pretty smart if they were in showrooms now. Alain
###
Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit
Postponed
until Evening
Oct. 20
through Oct.
22, 2020
(Maybe???) A.
Kornhauser, Feb 6,
"The focus of the
Summit this year
will be moving
beyond the AI and
the Sensors to
addressing the
challenges of
Commercialization
and the delivery of
tangible value to
communities. We've
made enormous
progress with the
technology. We're
doing the
investment; however,
this investment
delivers value only
if is
commercialized: made
available and is
used by consumers in
large numbers.
Demos and one-offs
are "great", but to
deliver value that
is anywhere near
commensurate with
the magnitude of the
investment made to
date, initial
deployments need to
scale. We can't
just have
"Morgantown PRT
Systems" whose
initial deployment
has been nothing but
enormously
successful for 45
years (an
essentially perfect
safety record, an
excellent
availability record
and customer valued
mobility).
Unfortunately, the
system was never
expanded or
duplicated
anywhere. It didn't
scale. It is a
one-off.
Tests, demos and one-offs are nice niche deployments; however, what one really needs are initial deployments that have the opportunity to grow, be replicated and scale. In 1888, Frank Sprague, successfully deployed a small electric street railway system in Richmond, Va. which became the reference for many other cites. “… By 1889 110 electric railways incorporating Sprague’s equipment had been begun or planned on several continents…” Substantial scaled societal benefits emerged virally from this technology. It was eventually supplanted by the conventional automobile but for more than 30 years it delivered substantial improvements to the quality-of-life for many.
In part, the 4th
Summit will focus on
defining the
"Richmond" of
Affordable Shared-ride
On-demand
Mobility-as-a-Service.
The initial
Operational Design
Domain (ODD) that
safely accommodates
Driverless Mobility
Machines that people
actually choose to use
and becomes the envy
of communities
throughout the
Read more
Hmmmm... [Draft Program](https://www.dropbox.com/s/p7t7fwkm1wu9n3g/ProgramDraft1_4thAnnualPrincetonSDC_Summit.pdf?dl=0) is
in flux.
Consider all
named
individuals as
"Invited yet to
be confirmed".
Alain
C’mon Man!(These
folks didn't
get/read the memo)
##
Sunday
Supplement
Half-Baked
Click-Bait
Calendar
of Upcoming Events:s
SmartDrivingCar Zoom-inar 004 AV Shark-Tank:
Insurance: For or Against SmartDrivingCars?
Live Tuesday, June 23 @ 2pm New York Time
Evening Oct. 20
-> Oct 22.
SmartDrivingCar Summit
Princeton University Princeton, NJ
On the More Technical Side
http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Papers/
###
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 159, Zoom-Cast Episode 159 w/Kara Kockelman
###
F. Fishkin, June 4, “Prof. Kara Kockelman’s focus on smart transportation to save lives, money and the environment has made her a sought after global expert. The U. of Texas Transportation Engineering Professor joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin on the impact of Covid-19 and much more. Plus Tesla, Uber, Argo AI and the top smart driving headlines. For more on Dr. Kockelman’s work….please visit… http://www.caee.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman.”
[SmartDrivingCars Zoom-inar 003 Everyone's for Connectivity; but...](https://youtu.be/DMNLH_fkcI4) F. Fishkin, June 2, "But
the debate is not really
about technology nor is it
about who delivers the
best value for the money
or the most privacy. It is
about ..."
Listen/Watch more Hmmm… We only scratched the surface. Alain
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 158, Zoom-Cast Episode 158 w/Chunka Mui
###
F. Fishkin, May
28, "In the midst
of the Covid-19
pandemic, what are
the smartest ways
to re-build and
plan for the
future? Futurist
and author Chunka
Mui joins
Princeton's Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin for that
plus Amazon, Zoox,
Intel Mobileye,
Tesla, Uber and
more." SmartDrivingCars [Pod-Cast Episode 157](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-157), [Zoom-Cast Episode 157](https://youtu.be/AQbuiJ70c7U)
w/Grayson Brulte
F. Fishkin, May 21, “Global auto makers must completely re-think their autonomous mobility strategy as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. So says innovation strategist Grayson Brulte of Brulte & Company….who joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus…Waymo, Tesla, Uber and more.”
###
SmartDrivingCars
Zoom-inar 002 [The Future of Public Roadway Transit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sqBZZzezUg)
(Will the Bus be Thrown Under the Bus?)
###
-
Zoom-inar Video (Video replay)Smart Driving Cars: The Future of Public Roadway Transit
-
PodCast (Audio Only) Smart Driving Cars: The Future of Public Roadway Transit
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 156, Cars Zoom-Cast Episode 156 w/Danny Shapiro2
###
F. Fishkin, May 14, “With new hardware and software capabilities NVIDIA is expanding into new areas of driver assistance technology. Sr. Director of Automotive Danny Shapiro joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that…plus the latest on Waymo, Voyage, Ford and more. listen and subscribe!” “Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!”. Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay … Alain
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 155, Zoom-Cast Episode 155 w/Alex Roy2
###
F. Fishkin, April 29, “The continuing impact of Covid-19 on autonomous vehicle progress. But it may not be all bad news. Alex Roy…host of the No Parking Podcast and Director of Special Operations at Argo AI joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Tesla, Intel, Lyft, Uber and more. Listen and subscribe!”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 154, Zoom-Cast Episode 154 w/Dan Sperling
###
F. Fishkin, April 29, “Can ride sharing rebound after the pandemic? Daniel Sperling, founding director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Tesla, Waymo, Ford and more.”
SmartDrivingCars Zoom-inar 001 The Driverless New Normal Debate
-
SmartDrivingCar PodCast (Audio Only) Smart Driving Cars: The Driverless New Normal Debate
-
Zoom Audience Questions (Only a few were addressed in Zoom-inar)
###
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 153, Zoom-Cast Episode 153 w/Dick Mudge2
###
F. Fishkin, April 17, “The plummeting price of oil and what it may mean for mobility, ride sharing and the economy.. Dick Mudge, founder and president of Compass Transportation & Technology joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus GM, Uber and more on the Coronavirus impact.”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 152, Zoom-Cast Episode 152 w/Brad Templeton
###
F. Fishkin, April 17, “Can robotaxis survive a pandemic? Internet pioneer, self driving car consultant and author Brad Templeton joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin in a wide ranging chat on the impact today and the future. Plus…Uber, Zoox, Waymo, Tesla and more.” “
###
###
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 151, Zoom-Cast Episode 151 w/Joe Moye
F. Fishkin, April 9, “In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, fully autonomous, driverless vehicles are carrying medical supplies and Covid-19 tests to the Mayo Clinic in Florida. They’re provided by Beep and the CEO, Joe Moye, joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that, plus the latest from Nuro, Tesla and more.”
SmartDrivingCars Podcast Episode 150 - Andrei Greenawalt
###
F. Fishkin, April 3, “Coronavirus devastates transportation and mobility. How does it recover? Matthew Daus, former NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission chairman, joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that and much more. Watch, subscribe,
Video version… Watch episode 150 with Andrei Greenawalt
SmartDriving CarsPodcast Episode 149 - Matt Daus
F. Fishkin, Mar. 26, “The Smart Driving Cars podcast with automated driving strategy consultant Richard Bishop joining Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Is automated trucking dead? Also…Covid-19 puts Waymo in park, the latest on Tesla and more. listen and subscribe!” … Alain
Video version… Watch episode 149 with Matt Daus…. Alain
SmartDrivingCars Podcast Episode 148 - Richard Bishop
F. Fishkin, Mar. 26, “The Smart Driving Cars podcast with automated driving strategy consultant Richard Bishop joining Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Is automated trucking dead? Also…Covid-19 puts Waymo in park, the latest on Tesla and more. listen and subscribe!” … Alain
SmartDrivingCars Zoom-Cast Episode 148 - Richard Bishop Video version… Watch our first attempt…. Alain
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 147 - Michael Sena
F. Fishkin, Mar. 14, “From Sweden…The Dispatcher editor Michael Sena joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin as Covid-19 takes a toll on Waymo, Uber and more. Plus Saving the Car Industries in the U.S. and the EU… the latest from Future Networked Car 2020 in Geneva and more.” Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 142 - J. Hughes
F. Fishkin, Feb 15, “What shifting populations mean for the future of mobility and transportation. Leading expert Jim Hughes of Rutgers University joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus the latest on Tesla, GM, Comma AI’s inexpensive autopilot, Aptiv, Lyft and more. Tune in and subscribe! “
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 141- A. Roy
F. Fishkin, Feb 7, “The latest glossary of BS in mobility, self driving and autonomy from author, podcaster and cannonball driver Alex Roy on Smart Driving Cars with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus the news from Tesla, Nuro, Waymo, GM and more! “ Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 140 - C. Mericli
F. Fishkin, Jan 31, “How self driving tech can increase profits in the trucking industry. Locomation’s CEO joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Waymo’s partnership with UPS, Tesla’s rocket ride, Hyundai’s Smart Park Super Bowl ad and more. “ Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 139- Randal O’Toole
F. Fishkin, Jan 25, “Adaptive cruise control and self driving tech may lead to more urban sprawl. But the Cato Institute’s Randal O’Toole says maybe that isn’t a bad thing. He joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Subaru’s tech, GM’s Cruise, Tesla and more on the Smart Driving Cars podcast. This edition is sponsored by the SmartETFs Smart Transportation and Technology ETF, symbol MOTO. For more information…head to www.motoetf.com “
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 138-Nick Zart
F. Fishkin, Jan 18, “The new mobility on the ground and in the air. Nicolas Zart joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co host Fred Fishkin for a discussion on Urban Air Mobility…plus..Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Mobileye, Waymo and more in this edition of the Smart Driving Cars podcast.” Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 136
F. Fishkin, Jan 6, “He’s back! Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser…still on the mend …but opinionated as ever…joins co-host Fred Fishkin for a look at the latest from Waymo, Tesla and more in Episode 136 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast. “ Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 135 - with Jim Atkinson
F. Fishkin, Dec 5, “In this special edition… the launch of a new exchange traded fund focused on smart transportation and technology. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management CEO Jim Atkinson joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus..a push by the Coalition for Future Mobility for action in Washington, AutoX wants driverless testing in California and Aptiv grows in Pittsburgh. “
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 130 with Dick Mudge & Michael Sena
F. Fishkin, Nov. 1, “An updated outlook for automated vehicles…Tesla, Waymo , Ford, VW and more. Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin are joined by guests Michael Sena and Dick Mudge in the latest edition of Smart Driving Cars!” Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 126 - Sturges & Caudill F. Fishkin, Sept 19 , “From the public library in Princeton, NJ… a special edition of the Smart Driving Cars podcast following a public forum conducted by Princeton Future on the potential for transit on demand for all. Join Princeton professor Alain Kornhauser, co-host Fred Fishkin and special guests for that…plus…the latest on Waymo, Tesla, Hyundai, Aptiv and more. “ Pictures from the Princeton Future Public Forum on Driverless Mobility for All.
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 121 - Ken Pyle F. Fishkin, Aug 22 , “Daimler and Bosch hold a community meeting in San Jose as they ready plans for autonomous vehicle testing. Community board member Ken Pyle joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus…Waymo, Tesla and more.”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 116 - Jerome Lutin F. Fishkin, July 20, “Can technology dramatically improve the safety of bus transportation for pedestrians, riders and drivers? The lead investigator in a national study, Jerry Lutin, joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin on episode 116 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast. Plus…Tesla’s new safety report, the latest from Lyft, Aptiv and a NY Times report on why driverless cars are taking longer than expected. Tune in and subscribe!.”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 112 - J. Hardiman NJM F. Fishkin, June 9, “Should the insurance industry be pushing more safety and autonomous tech in cars? It’s a win, win says Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser. Joining him in the discussion along with co-host Fred Fishkin is NJM’s John Hardiman, a board member of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Also…Fiat Chrysler, Ford and more.”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 110 - Lance Elliot F. Fishkin, May 25, “ The untold secrets of driverless car videos. Dr. Lance Eliot joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for a liveley discussion. Plus…Waymo brings back self driving trucks, so will Daimler and is the future driverless for Uber and Lyft. Tune in and subscribe!” Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 108 3rd Summit Wrapup
###
F. Fishkin, May 18, “Wrapping up the 3rd annual Princeton Smart Driving Car Summit, Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin zero in on mobility for all and more. It’s just getting started. Plus the headlines from Nissan, Tesla, Uber and Lyft. Tune in and subscribe!”
F. Fishkin, May 18, “In this special edition from the 3rd Annual Princeton Smart Driving Cars Summit, Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin are joined by RoboSense VP Leilei Shinohara on the LiDAR’s benefits. And view of autonomous technology from law enforcement with New York State Police
Staff Sergeant Terence
McDonnell." [Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 106 3rd Summit David Kidd & Cecillia Feeley](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-106)
F. Fishkin, May 18, “From the 3rd Annual Princeton Smart Driving Car Summit, David Kidd from the Highway Loss Data Institute joins Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin and then on site preliminary research results on mobility for all with Cecilia Feeley and Andrea Lubin from Rutgers.”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 104 3rd Summit Anil Lewis & Katherine Freund
F. Fishkin, May 18,, “From the 3rd Annual Princeton Smart Driving Car Summit, join Professor Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. In this special edition, the summit’s focus on mobility for all with guests Anil Lewis, Executive Director of Blindness Initiatives at the National Federation of the Blind and ITN America Founder Katherine Freund.”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 100 - Andrei Greenawalt’99/Via
April 5, F. Fishkin, “The success of on demand transit company Via is proving that ride sharing systems can work. Public Policy head Andrei Greenawalt joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for a wide ranging discussion. Also: Uber, Tesla, Audi, Apple and Nuro are making headlines”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 97 - Michael Sena’69
March 28, F. Fishkin, “The Future Networked Car? From Sweden, The Dispatcher publisher, Michael Sena, joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for the latest edition of Smart Driving Cars. Plus …the Boeing story has much to do with autonomous vehicles and more. Tune in and subscribe.”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 81 -nVIDIA, Shapiro & Local Motors / Olli, Hodge
F. Fishkin, Jan. 9, “How NVIDIA is paving the way for self driving cars and a new OLLI automated transport from Local Motors. NVIDIA’s Senior Director for Automotive, Danny Shapiro and Kurtis Hodge of Local Motors join co-hosts Alain Kornhauser of Princeton University and Fred Fishkin for another edition of Smart Driving Cars from CES 2019..”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 71-Nader’55
F. Fishkin, Dec. 13, “When it comes to self driving cars, Ralph Nader says “Not so fast.” The renowned political activist and author takes the government and the industry to task in a super sized Episode 71 of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast. Join Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that and more!” Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 69 - Chunka Mui F. Fishkin, Nov 29, “What will it take for driverless vehicles to become a leading form of transportation? Futurist and author Chunka Mui joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for Episode 69 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast. Plus…Waymo, GM, Amazon and more. Tune in and subscribe! “
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 68 - Dick Mudge F. Fishkin, Nov 22, “The insurance industry hears about the outlook for automated vehicles. Co-author Dick Mudge joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for Episode 68 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast. Plus…Uber, GM Cruise, Waymo, VW and more. Tune in and subscribe!” Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 65 - Bernard Soriano, CA DMV
F. Fishkin, Nov 1, “California gives Waymo the green light for fully driverless vehicle testing on public roads and the state’s deputy director of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Bernard Soriano, joins the Smart Driving Cars podcast with the no nonsense details. Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin explore that and more. Tune in and subscribe!”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 58-Keith Code,Motorcycles
F. Fishkin, Sept 22 “In this edition of the Smart Driving Cars Podcast, Alain Kornhauser of Princeton University and co-host Fred Fishkin are joined by the founder of the Superbike School, Keith Code. Keith is an instructor, coach, author and researcher into motorcycle safety…and a champion racer. Beyond that….he’s an old high school friend of Alain’s! And there’s more on BMW, Apple, VW and more! . Tune in and subscribe!”
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 55-Larry Burns, Autonomy
F. Fishkin, Sept 6, “The coming new world of driverless cars! In Episode 55 of the Smart Driving Cars podcast former GM VP and adviser to Waymo Larry Burns chats with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and Fred Fishkin about his new book “Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car and How it Will Reshape Our World”
Recent Highlights of:
Society of Actuaries Research Brief Impact of COVID-19, June 12, 2020 R. Dale Hall, June 12, “…By June 10, 2020, 7.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, and the count continues to climb with general agreement that the number is actually higher due to delays in full testing and reporting in many countries. Approximately 188 countries have reported at least one confirmed case and about 416,000 deaths from COVID-19.6 It is important to recognize that the number of reported confirmed cases for any disease typically lags the number of actual confirmed cases. As a result, the number of reported confirmed cases typically continues to rise after the actual number of new confirmed cases declines….” Read more Hmmm… Excellent! An enormous amount here. See especially FIg 11 and 17. These are trully non-uniform distributions. Also Table 1, Figures 21, 22, 24, 25, Table 3, … An enormous amount to digest here. Excellent. Alain
[Two-way Vehicle Connectivity is a Three-sided Coin That Everyone Wants to Own](https://www.dropbox.com/s/eyomgyelgm4q6fl/Sena_Two-way%20Vehicle%20Connectivity_2-3.pdf?dl=0) M.
Sena, May 26,
"Two-way
vehicle
connectivity
has three
facets. Two of
them are
mainly of
interest to
vehicle OEMs
and their
suppliers.
They are
vehicle-centric
and
customer-centric. Vehicle-centric connectivity includes functions such emergency
notification,
logistics
tracking and
over-the-air
updating.
Customer
centric
connectivity
includes many
services that
are also
provided by
mobile apps
outside of the
vehicle, such
as music
streaming,
workshop
service
booking,
traffic
notifications
and car
sharing
applications.
Two-way
vehicle
connectivity
today is a
major
competitive
factor for the
OEMs.
The third vehicle connectivity facet is principally of interest to public sector traffic management authorities. It is focused on communicating warnings to vehicles and providing guidance on which roads to use in case of traffic congestion or emergencies. The public authorities view these roadway-centric functions as their domain, and vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication as the tools to accomplish the job. They are grouped together under the term V2X. This third facet is not a competitive factor for the OEMs. If it is legislated, V2X will not distinguish one OEM from another since every OEM will have to include it….
But the debate
is not really
about
technology nor
is it about
who delivers
the best value
for the money
or the most
privacy. It is
about..." [R](https://www.dropbox.com/s/eyomgyelgm4q6fl/Sena_Two-way%20Vehicle%20Connectivity_2-3.pdf?dl=0)[ead more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/eyomgyelgm4q6fl/Sena_Two-way%20Vehicle%20Connectivity_2-3.pdf?dl=0) Hmmmm... The
provacateur's
lead at the
beginning of
our 3rd
Shark-Tank
Zoom-inar ([Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMNLH_fkcI4&feature=youtu.be),
[Audio](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/zoom-tank-06-02-20-everyone-is-for-connectivitybut))
Alain
Amazon in Advanced Talks to Buy Self-Driving-Car Tech Company Zoox C. Lombardo & T. Higgins, , May 26, “Amazon.com Inc. is in advanced talks to buy Zoox Inc. in a move that would expand the e-commerce giant’s reach in autonomous-vehicle technology. The companies are discussing a deal that would value Zoox at less than the $3.2B it achieved in a funding round in 2018…“ Read more Hmmmm… This would be a real bargain for Amazon and bring on some real talent to focus on the algorithmic side of driverless delivery while leveraging Rivian on the vehicle side. See also Financial Times Alain
Technology driving safer transport
H. Zhao, May 1, “This edition of ITU News Magazine discusses the latest trends in connected cars, new
ITU
initiatives to
improve smart
transportation
— and key
insights from
the annual
Symposium
on the Future
Networked Car
(FNC‑2020), a
gathering of
top experts
hosted by ITU
and UNECE.
Participants
at the 5 March
event
discussed the
technical,
business and
regulatory
actions
required to
build public
trust in
connected,
automated
vehicles.
They highlighted the state of the art in automotive cybersecurity. Together, they explored the status
and future of safety-critical radio‑ communications for the road, and they presented
the latest
developments
in the review
of regulations
governing road
transport.
FNC‑2020 participants also had the opportunity to consider the crucial role of the latest 5G connectivity technologies in delivering safer and more effective transport. Read on to learn about the experts’ insightful discussions at the event, how ITU’s work is supporting the development of Intelligent Transport Systems —
and what key
industry
players are
doing to
leverage the
power of ICTs
for better
transport." [Read more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/83pfrexwacnnqy8/ConnectedCars2020_ITUNews01-en.pdf?dl=0) Hmmmm...
This topic
will be at the
heart on the
next Zoom-Tank
Zoom-inar on
June 1 (or
June 15??)@
2PM. An
eloquent
summary of
this
topic/symposium
was presented
by Michael
Sena in his [April 2020 edition of The Dispatcher](https://www.dropbox.com/s/74cp2mjt2h0907w/The%20Dispatcher_April%202020.pdf?dl=0).
Alain
[Luminaries Battle In Lincoln-Douglas Style Debate About The Future Of Self-Driving Cars](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2020/04/28/luminaries-battle-in-lincoln-douglas-style-debate-about-the-future-of-self-driving-cars/#35c0455028b6) Lance
Eliot, April
28, "Several
self-driving
car luminaries
assembled
online via a
Zoom-casted
battleground
this week to
undertake a
Lincoln-Douglas
style debate
about the
future of the
Autonomous
Vehicle (AV)
self-driving
car industry
and the advent
of AI-driven
mobility.
Originally
scheduled for
one hour, the
dialogue and
fielding of
audience
questions
prompted the
superstars to
keep going,
tackling many
of the most
vexing and
unsolved
matters that
underlie the
potential
success of
self-driving
vehicles,
encompassing
both
autonomous
cars and
autonomous
trucks.
The lively
discussion was
civil and
polite,
fortunately so
in these times
of seemingly
stark
polarization
and guttural
attacks during
our
contemporary
public
discourse.
Yet, even in
the realm of
eloquent
argumentation,
at times the
gloves came
off and there
were some
fierce zingers
and moments of
rather
piercing
cut-the-air-with-a-knife
verbal
sparring..."
[Read more](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2020/04/28/luminaries-battle-in-lincoln-douglas-style-debate-about-the-future-of-self-driving-cars/#35c0455028b6) Hmmmm... Lance, Thank you for
the kind and
thorough
synopsis of
our 1st
Zoom-inar. We
were all
pleased by the
turnout,
interaction
and substance.
Alain
[What Negative Oil Prices Mean and How the Impact Could Last](https://www.nytimes.com/article/negative-oil-prices-facts-history.html) V.
Bajaj, April
22,"A main
benchmark for
the price of
oil fell
negative for
the first time
ever this
week. The
decline —
more than 300
percent in
daily trading
— raised fresh
questions
about the
damage the
coronavirus is
having on the
global
economy.
What does it
mean for oil
prices to be
negative?
A benchmark
price for a
barrel of oil
to be
delivered next
month fell to
-$37.63 on
Monday, which
means that
sellers would
have to pay
someone that
much to take
it off their
hands.
But that
historic
plunge was
exacerbated by
a quirk in how
the oil
markets work.
The negative
price
concerned only
contracts for
delivery of
barrels in May
that are
traded on
so-called
futures
markets. At
the same time
trading
happens for
May
deliveries,
people trade
on contracts
ending in
June, in July
and so on." [Read more](https://www.nytimes.com/article/negative-oil-prices-facts-history.html) Hmmmm... What??? I realize that
I'm often "out
of it",
but... In all
my life I have
NEVER...
thought of,
let alone
mentioned, nor
have heard
anyone else
mention the
concept of negative
oil!
Often, talked
about $150/B
oil, $250/B,
S20/B even
$7/B oil.
NEVER $0/B
oil,
negative
Oil...
NEVER,NEVER,
NEVER!!!! and
look where we
are. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Implications:...
no one's
models
extrapolate to
that regime.
(it requires
extrapolation
because no
data exists in
this
unimaginable
region.
Listen to [Pod-Cast](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-153);
Watch [Zoom-Cast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nW3AcoFeA8&feature=youtu.be)
Alain
[Can Robotaxis Survive A Pandemic?](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2020/04/13/can-robotaxis-survive-a-pandemic/#247ed3bd2ca6)
B. Templeton,
April, 13,
"Almost all
the
self-driving
car fleets are
out of
operation
right now. The
primary reason
is that
testing these
cars is not an
"essential
service" and
so the safety
drivers who
supervise them
are not
allowed to
come to work.
Most companies
use a team of
two people in
each car,
which would
create a
disease risk,
and to top it
off, the roads
are empty and
this
unnaturally
easy, making
testing less
valuable.
Questions
arise about
what happens
in the robocar
world if we
need to suffer
another
pandemic in
the future.
The Covid-19
crisis took
place before
the commercial
deployment of
robocars, but
that won't be
true later. I
covered some
issues in my
article on
delivery
robots, but
let's consider
what we've
learned this
year: Uber/Lyft
LYFT and Taxi
rides are way,
way down, and
not just
because all
travel is way
down
-
Transit ridership has cratered, and service has been cut
-
Delivery demand has vastly increased
-
People worry if drivers might be infectious
-
People don’t want to touch things, from seats to scooter handlebars, that others are touching
All travel is way down, but people are particularly suspicious of travel with other people, be it transit, or riding with a driver. They are also concerned about sitting down in a vehicle where somebody else just sat. With parking plentiful, there are incentives to go back to using your own car even if you previously used something else. Scooter services like Lime and Bird have also suffered major declines. As noted in the delivery article, while delivery robots are always good in a time when there is a massive surge in demand for delivery, it's pretty easy for a driver in a van with an automatic door to never have to touch the packages, just like a delivery robot. With massive unemployment, human driven vans are probably the best answer to the delivery demand surge...." [Read more](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2020/04/13/can-robotaxis-survive-a-pandemic/#247ed3bd2ca6) Hmmmm... Not a pretty picture, but with every challenge, comes opportunities... Listen watch more on [Pod-Cast_152](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-152)/[Zoom-Cast_152](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuIbtSJjDck&feature=youtu.be). Alain
Autonomous shuttles help transport COVID-19 tests at Mayo Clinic in Florida
Press
release,
April, 2, "For
the first time
in the U.S.,
autonomous
vehicles are
being used to
transport
medical
supplies and
COVID-19 tests
at Mayo Clinic
in Florida.
At a time when
health care
resources and
staff are
stretched
thin, the
Jacksonville
Transportation
Authority
(JTA) has
partnered with
Beep and NAVYA
to use
autonomous
vehicles to
safely
transport
COVID-19 tests
collected at a
drive-thru
testing
location at
Mayo Clinic in
Florida.
"This
development is
a historic
moment for the
Jacksonville
Transportation
Authority,"
says Nathaniel
P. Ford, Sr.,
CEO of
Jacksonville
Transportation
Authority.
"Along with
our partners,
Beep, NAVYA
and Mayo
Clinic, we are
leveraging our
learnings from
three years of
testing
autonomous
vehicles
through our
Ultimate Urban
Circulator
program. Our
innovative
team saw this
as an
opportunity to
use technology
to respond to
this crisis in
Northeast
Florida and
increase the
safety of
COVID-19
testing."..."
[Read more](https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/autonomous-shuttles-help-transport-covid-19-tests-at-mayo-clinic-in-jacksonville/) Hmmmm... While not mentioned in
the article,
they
are operating Driverlessly... without attendant or safety driver. Yea!!! (People
aren't being
moved, just
goods and the
Operational
Design Domain
is
constrained,
but it it is
driverless
none the
less!) Listen
watch more on
[Pod-Cast_151](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-151)/[Zoom-Cast_151](https://youtu.be/YAuqHS5W53c). Alain
Society of Actuaries Research Brief Impact of COVID-19
D. Hall, Mar 25, “… The result in late March 2020 has been one where a confluence of risks has come together. Additional operational and financial risks may emerge as additional events compound on the current situation. Actuaries will be watching for any additional risk events that layer on to the current environment, especially ones that may cause additional property, mortality and health risks such as catastrophic weather events. Morbidity, mortality, asset/liability management and operational risks are all a part of the initial and evolving story. This update to the Society of Actuaries Research Brief has been constructed to highlight some of the key continuing and new features of the pandemic all around the world and contemplate the risks for the actuarial profession to consider in their work…” Read more Hmmmm… This is one of the best reports that I have seen and will be updated every 10 days or so. A good summary of the materials, podcasts and other good sources are here:
https://www.soa.org/resources/newsroom/covid-19-updates/#research
https://www.soa.org/resources/research-reports/2020/impact-coronavirus/
ECDPC Daily data GitHub Covid19 data
Alain
###
###
###
###
Starsky Robotics Failed. Does That Mean Automated Trucking Is Dead?
R. Bishop, Mar 24, “I met Stefan Seltz-Axmacher for the first time in November 2015 at the Florida Automated Vehicles Summit. Not long after, we met at the Blue Danube coffee shop in Alameda, CA so he could tell me about his vision for Starsky Robotics. When he energetically described his remote-driving-for-trucks approach, I was skeptical. “Remote driving is hard,” I said. “The military has struggled with this for years. Its harder than it looks.” On the technical side, latency for secure communications is challenging. On the operational side, re-creating enough on-road reality (situational awareness) for a remote driver is difficult when going for the high levels of safety needed. Seltz-Axmacher remained bullish on the approach and at that time went on to found Starsky Robotics as one of the earliest truck AV startups, later closing a $16.5M Series A funding round in March 2018, and then hauling freight while developing both remote and automated driving ability. Initially, Starsky’s concept was all about remote driving for first/last mile. They later expanded their offering to include fully automated highway driving on limited freight corridors.
Now, Starsky
has become the
first casualty
within a
crowded truck
automation
space, and
Seltz-Axmacher
has provided
us with an
intriguing
post-mortem in
a recent
Medium post.
Most of the
media coverage
I've seen has
acted as echo
chambers for
Seltz-Axmacher's
perspective.
Here I offer a
counterpoint
based on my
longtime
involvement in
truck
automation
plus
discussions
with many
others in the
truck
Automated
Driving
Systems (ADS)
startup space,
many of them
irate at what
they see as
unfounded
assertions
made in the
original post.
My sources
tell me that
because
Seltz-Axmacher
hasn't
experienced
their
technology nor
been briefed
on their
technical/safety
approach, he
has no basis
to make
sweeping
claims about
the entire
industry...."
[Read more](https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2020/03/24/starsky-robotics-failed-does-that-mean-automated-trucking-is-dead/#51d50d840c84) Hmmmm... [Listen to PodCast 148](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-148).
or/and [Watch us on YouTube](https://youtu.be/VkzPm5GwEz4).
Alain
Waymo suspends robotaxi service except for its truly driverless vehicles K. Korosec, Mar. 17, “Waymo said Tuesday it is pausing operations of Waymo One, a service in the Phoenix area that allows the public to hail rides in self-driving vehicles with trained human safety operators behind the wheel, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Waymo is also halting testing on public roads in California.
However, Waymo
will keep some
operations up
and running,
notably its
truly
driverless
vehicles,
which don't
require a
human safety
driver,
according to
an
announcement
on its website
Tuesday. These
driverless
vehicles are
used in the
Phoenix area
as part of
Waymo's early
rider program
that lets
vetted members
of the public
hail a
ride..." [Read more](https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/17/waymo-suspends-robotaxi-service-except-for-its-truly-driverless-vehicles/) Yippie!!! Unfortunately, the
latest is not
so good... [Waymo has suspended all services, including the driverless.](https://waymo.com/coronavirus)
Poopie!!!
Alain
NTSB slams Tesla, Apple and regulators over a fatal Autopilot crash
R. Mitchell, Feb. 25, “The nation’s top safety investigator slammed Tesla on Tuesday for failing to take adequate measures to prevent “foreseeable abuse” of its Autopilot driver-assistance technology, in a hearing into the fatal 2018 crash of a Tesla Model X SUV in Mountain View, Calif.
The National
Transportation
Safety Board
said
38-year-old
Walter Huang,
an Apple
software
engineer, had
Autopilot
engaged in his
2018 Tesla
Model X and
was playing a
video game on
his iPhone
when the car
crashed into a
defective
safety barrier
on U.S.
Highway
101.The board
also blamed
the highway
safety arm of
the U.S.
Department of
Transportation
for failing to
properly
regulate
rapidly
evolving
robot-car
technology....
The board
adopted[a long list of measures](https://t.co/mEFsCDf1dB)
meant to
reduce such
accidents as
"partially
automated
driving"
technologies
become more
popular in new
vehicles.... Sumwalt
made clear the
Mountain View
crash was not
an isolated
incident, but
illustrative
of the safety
issues
involved as
humans and
robot systems
increasingly
share the
driving, not
just in Teslas
but in
vehicles from
all
manufacturers.
"It's time to
stop enabling
drivers in any
partially
automated
vehicle to
pretend that
they have
driverless
cars," he
said.
……. the Model X drove straight down the middle of a “gore lane,” a white-striped zone where cars aren’t supposed to go,” … It is clear from the images that the gore area was NOT white-striped as is supposed to be and the lane markings are badly worn. Why didn’t NTSB fault the CA DoT for its poor maintenance and marking practices. CA DoT needs to be severely reprimanded. “ … a Toyota Prius crashed into it 11 days earlier…” to what extent did NTSB investigate the Prius crash. It didn’t have autoPilot, so that’s not the common factor. I suspect that the confusing lane markings and the lack of striping is the root cause… “ … The car’s collision avoidance system did not detect the crash barrier.” … I suspect that this is NOT true. The system detected the stationary object, but the coded logic disregards stationary objects (classifies them as false alarms) because false positives are too likely. NTSB made a similar error in the Joshua Brown crash where the system didn’t mis-identify the stationary trailer ahead as being background sky, but instead classified the stationary object in the lane ahead as a false positive . NTSB investigators have failed to ask the right questions in these investigations…
" ....The
car's forward
collision
warning system
did not
provide an
alert, and the
automatic
braking system
did not
activate."... Again, the system
classified
stationary
objects in the
lane ahead as
phantom
objects and
disregards
them. Once
disregarded,
there is no
reason to
initiate a
warning or
apply
Emergency
Brakes.
Yipes!
[Read more](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-02-25/tesla-autopilot-crash-hearing) Hmmmm... Hopefully this will
curtail the
misbehavior in
the use of
these
systems. The
Self-driving
systems
require
constant
adult
supervision. I
suspect that
NHTSA will
place
extraordinarily
onerous
regulations on
personally
owned
self-driving
cars that will
effectively
ban the
ability to
sleep, play
video games,
text or
otherwise be
non-vigilant
in all
non-driverless
vehicles.
Driverless
vehicles will
be required to
be operated
and maintained
by a
responsible
fleet manager
and not have
any straight
forward way
for a human to
drive them.
Certainly no
steering wheel
or pedals. I
expect that
they'll also
ban the use of Stupid-Summon-like systems outside of one's own personal property. They
should.
Alain
“Urbs,” “Burbs,” and the Immigration Locomotive
J. Hughes, Feb 2020, “Even more so than the nation, the broad fourstate, 35-county metropolitan region centered on New York City (figure 1) is becoming afflicted by a condition of demographic stagnation. While the United States has been experiencing the lowest population growth rates since the Great Depression, the region has only recently (2016–2018) slipped into absolute population decline, spawned by domestic outmigration. The major counterforce forestalling a demographic catastrophe has been positive international migration. Immigration has become the primary source of population growth—the demographic locomotive. Without it, the region would have to bear fully the economic consequences of what has become a virtual domestic population hemorrhage—a vast exodus of regional residents moving to the rest of the country. This is just one dimension of endemic demographic change that has swept the post–Great Recession world….
The second new reset is a turnaround of the pattern evidenced in the 2010–2016 period, when population growth in the “urbs” surpassed that of the “burbs.” After dominating growth early in the decade (2010–2016), the core—the urban heart of the metropolitan region encompassing New York City and three adjacent counties in New Jersey—suddenly slipped into decline post-2016, causing the region as a whole to lose population. This is the latest transformation in what has become a transmillennial demographic roller coaster ride… “ Read more Hmmmm… Most interesting Demographic Dynamic. A must read. Alain
NHTSA Grants Nuro Exemption Petition for Testing Low-Speed Driverless Vehicle
2020 Hyundai Sonata stars in Super Bowl ad all about ‘Smaht Pahk’
S. Szymkowski,
Jan 27,
"Hyundai is
going all in
on Boston
accents and
the 2020
Sonata for its
Super Bowl
advertisement.
As is often
the trend
these days,
the ad made
its debut on
Monday less
than a week
before the big
game, but it's
quite a clever
spot...." [Read more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/dk1wlzbg6rkpqkd/Smaht%20Pahk%20_%202020%20Hyundai%20Sonata%20_%20Hyundai-85iRQdjCzj0.mp4?dl=0) Hmmmm... This is as
irresponsible
of Hyundai as
[StupidSummon](https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/23/20929438/tesla-smart-summon-use-one-million-q3-2019)
is for Tesla.
It may even be
more
irresponsible
because
Hyundai hasn't
included the over-the-air-information system that allows them to monitor its use.
Having the car
do stuff
without an
alert and
attentive
driver in the
driver's seat
implies
liability on
them (their
system) if
something bad
happens.
Plus,
squeezing a
car into a
parking place
when the
people can't
get into the
adjacent cars
is not the
smartest move
unless you've
also made the
Hyundai [key proof](https://jalopnik.com/keying-somebodys-car-is-just-about-the-worst-thing-you-1821884368).
There will be
retaliation.
Alain
The Disengagement Myth Kyle Vogt, Jan 17, “In a few weeks the California DMV will release disengagements data from Cruise and other companies who test AVs on public roads. This data is really great for giving the public a sense of what’s happening on the roads. Unfortunately, it has also been used by the media and others to compare technology from different AV companies or as a proxy for commercial readiness. Since it’s the only publicly available metric, I don’t really blame them for using it. But it’s woefully inadequate for most uses beyond those of the DMV. The idea that disengagements give a meaningful signal about whether an AV is ready for commercial deployment is a myth. …” Read more Hmmmm… Amen! This is a MUST read. As with everything, details matter. It is true that figures don’t lie, but but it is easy to game systems such that figures, without the underlying details, do lie. As Kyle points out, there are important details associated with disengagements. These need to be well understood for disengagements to be a proxy for safety and market readiness. The when, where and associated details of each disengagement is critically important if the objective is safety and market readiness.
What is also most important here is the underlying objective of the companies doing the tests and reporting the data. As has happened in our secondary education where students are taught what is in and how to take the SATs rather than just learn. The objective is not learning , but getting 800s on the SATs so that they can get into ‘Princeton’. This is perpetuated by the ‘Princetons’ of this world that don’t look into the details of the student’s academic qualities and capabilities. In the academic world, we know these students as ‘box checkers’, gamers of the college admission process. The gaming is continued by the ‘banks and med schools’ that use simplistic GPA (Grade Point Average, aka ‘disengagements’) cutoffs. The ‘box checkers’ then take ‘underwater basket weaving’ courses and become grade grubbers. It is lazy and irresponsible to use simplistic measures as proxies to very complex concepts such as intelligence, creativity, compatibility, and all the other details that make a good student, a good employee, a good citizen, a good mobility system.
In our case, testing is assumed to be about safety and market readiness; however, for some, it may be about trying to “make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” or “putting lipstick on the pig”. It is easy to game the metric ‘Disengagements’ by simply testing in easy places, under easy conditions, instead of really trying to find the corner/edge cases that you don’t know in places and conditions of the Operational Design Domain that you are actually going to serve and make a business out of all of this technology; rather than just trying to get good press, or flipping it to someone else or putting it on an academic self. The details would readily divulge the real objective of the company doing the testing.
I hope that Kyle, in his next post, will divulge what he, GM’s lawyers and GM’s board are requiring of his system for each of them to sign off and begin to operate an economically viable mobility service to the general public in some ODD. Each will demand that it be safe. The board will also demand that it be profitable. What details are they requesting that will make each comfortable signing on the bottom line? Alain
###
### Hmmmm… Reflections
A. Kornhauser, Jan 12, Hmmmm… Self-driving cars are hot and the OEMs are responding. I’m about to buy a new Subaru Outback and EyeSightis standard. It is no longer just AutoPilot or expensive options that car salesmen don’t sell. Car companies, as reflected in what is in showrooms and what was promoted at CES, have realized the comfort and convenience of Self-driving technology (cars that have a lot of the Safe-driving car features but also enable you to take your feet off the pedals and hands off the wheel at least for short periods of time. These technologies are really becoming the ‘chrome and fins’ that sell cars to individuals in the 2020s. The momentum is all behind that happening and there is little Washington or Trenton or Princeton Council can do about it. Hopefully part of that momentum will be to make these systems actually work well, especially the Automated Emergency Braking Systems (MUST quit assuming that all stationary objects in the lane ahead can be passed under and consequently each is disregarded. As Tesla is finding out, sometimes those objects are parked firetrucks.) and begin to put hard limits on over-speeding, tailgating and use while driver is impaired. Self-driving cars are unfortunately going to lead to substantial urban sprawl, increased VMT, increased congestion and do nothing to help the energy and pollution challenges of our addiction to the personal automobile. Only ‘Waymo-style Driverless’ (autonomousTaxis, (aTaxis)) tuned to entice ride-sharing can potentially stem the tide of ever more personal car ownership and ever expanding urban sprawl. Alain
A. Kornhauser, Jan. 6, Hmmmm… I’m in rehab and hope to go home on Wednesday morning. Thank you to so many of you for all the good wishes and prayers. They each helped. I’m looking to making a full recovery. Remember, if you don’t feel well, get evaluated by a doctor. I was totally clueless about what hit me from out of nowhere. Alain
[Chandler unveils drop-off, pick-up zone for self-driving cars](https://ktar.com/story/2852028/chandler-unveils-drop-off-pick-up-zone-for-self-driving-cars/) G.
Zetino, Nov.
25, ""It's
about to get
easier for
self-driving
cars to drop
off and pick
up passengers
in Chandler.
The city of
Chandler, in
partnership
with Waymo, on
Friday
unveiled the
nation's first
drop-off and
pick-up zone
for autonomous
ride-hailing
cars.
Read more Hmmmm… The iconic image:
autonomousTaxi (aTaxi) stop facilitating true ride-sharing to any destination within the autonomous transit system’s Operational Design Domain. The first of what may well become a half million or so others. Each strategically located to be less that a 5 minute walk from essentially any of the billion or so person trip ends that are made on any typical day in the USA (outside of Manhattan (whose subway stations provide the comparable accessibility). Twenty million or so aTaxi vehicles could readily provide on-demand, share-ride mobility from these ~0.5M aTaxi stops. Provided would be essentially the same 24/7 on-demand level-of-service as we do for ourselves with our own conventional automobiles; however, this mobility would be affordably achieved using half the energy, creating half the pollution, eliminating essentially all the congestion, doubling conventional transit ridership and making such improved mobility available to those who today can’t or wish not to drive a conventional automobile. This is a MAJOR 1st. Alain
Self-driving car capital? One senator thinks it can be Florida R. Wile, Nov 22, “Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) had just finished serving in the Army, and was looking to make a name for himself in Tallahassee as a junior representative. He came across a talk given by the founder of Google’s driverless car project.
He quickly
realized the
potential of
self-driving
cars to
transform many
aspects of
daily life.
Ever since, he
has made it
his mission to
turn Florida
into what he
calls "an
angel
investor" in
automation
policy. "We
want to have
policies in
place for this
technology to
flourish,"
Brandes said
in an
interview at
the 7th Annual
Florida
Automated
Vehicles
conference in
Miami, which
concluded
Friday.
Brandes has drawn headlines in the tech community for filing legislation allowing virtually any automated vehicle on Florida’s roads; this summer, he helped make Florida one of the first states to make AVs without a human back-up safety driver street legal.
Among the
state's
advantages
Brandes points
to that he
believes makes
it ideal for
AV companies:
no snow, which
makes lane
markings more
visible. That
also means
less road
construction
in
general...."
[Read more](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article237625484.html) Hmmmm... Congratulations Jeff!!!
It was a great
AV Summit and congratulations on creating such a Welcoming environment and
intelligently
shaping the
birth of this
technology.
What you've
done is enable
Florida to
begin to
enhance
mobility and
the quality of
life for all
in Florida
and especially
those who can
most benefit
from these
mobility
machines. It
was most
impressive to
witness the
enthusiasm for
nurturing the
many aspects of this technology from Florida's
Governor,
Miami's Mayor,
Fl DoT's
Commissioner,
the heads of
the toll road
authorities,
planning
agencies and
educational
institutions.
Most
impressive was
Ford's comment
that their
autonomousTaxi
efforts are
focused on
developing
driverless
technology and
intend to
operate it to
deliver
Mobility-as-a-Service
in Florida,
rather than
sell the
technology to
individual
consumers. I
applaud that
approach and
hope that Ford
will look to
also bringing
some of those
vehicles to
New Jersey so
that we can
begin to reap
the benefits
of this
technology.
What you've
accomplished
in Florida is
THE "best
practice" for
us to emulate
in New
Jersey.
Congratulations.
Alain
An Update on the Outlook for Automated Vehicle Systems
Waymo to customers: “Completely driverless Waymo cars are on the way”
Your Tesla Can Now Pick You Up R. Mitchell, Oct. 4, “ Smart Summon is for parking lot use. But drivers have other ideas.
Tesla unleashed the latest twist in driverless car technology last week, raising more questions about whether autonomous vehicles are outracing public officials and safety regulators.
…Using a smartphone, a person can now command a Tesla to turn itself on, back out of a parking space and drive to the smartphone holder’s location - say at a curb in front of a Costco store..” Read more Hmmmm…. Russ, great article. A must read!
Elon, please stop. StupidSummon was a bad Valley-entitled idea before you released it. Now that it is out there it will ruin all that is good about Tesla, AutoPilot and Driverless cars. The shorters are going to have a field day.
While you are at it also remove all of the DistractTainment add ons or limit their use when AutoPilot is NOT on and drivers are engaged in driving. Just go back to V09! Along the way also get the Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) system to work properly (See NTSBbelow). To do that, maybe you should take a serious look at Velodyne’s new Tesla LiDAR. It may be able to tell you if the stationary object in the lane ahead is high enough above the road surface before your AEB system decides to disregard it. Then Tesla’s may stop decapitating drivers.
If you don’t remove StupidSummon then at least be sure to limit its use to the Tesla owner’s own private property by responsible users. (You know the GPS coordinates of where each owner lives, so you can geofence it. You also know each irresponsible use (You get the videos). Irresponsible use (use in the violation of the conditions spelled out in the user’s manual) should void its future availability in that car unless proper amend are made. If not, then insurance companies should clearly state that insuring the use of this feature requires a substantial additional premium; else, you’re not covered. Courts should view that use of this feature implies premeditated harm and demonstrates an extreme indifference to human life. Parking Lot owners should install signs forbidding the use of this feature on their property to protect themselves from being dragged into the claims process.
What is most disturbing about this feature is that its only value is to enhance the self-perceived manhood of Entitled Silicon Valley XXs and may well cause the public sector to over react and ruin to opportunity of responsible driverless mobility to substantially enhance the quality-of-life of those who can’t or choose not to drive a car, enhance the environment, subdue our energy use and reduce congestion. Elon, shame on you September 28, 2019 Public forum will explore possibility of transit on demand in Princeton K. Knapp, Sept 22, “What would it take to make Princeton an accessible community for all, even those who cannot or choose not to own or drive a car? Princeton Future will explore the question at a public forum from 9 a.m. to noon on Sept. 28 in the community room at the Princeton Public Library.
Princeton Future is a
non-profit community
group that studies
issues related to
planning, development,
and affordability.
Speakers will discuss
the capabilities of a
transit-on-demand system
where small, driverless
shuttles could be
summoned by a smart
phone app to a location
within walking distance
of a resident's
home...." [Read more](https://planetprinceton.com/2019/09/22/public-forum-will-explore-possibility-of-transit-on-demand-in-princeton/) Hmmmm....
Listen to a
summary of the
event in [Episode 126 of the SmartDrivingCars PodCasts](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-126).
See below for
other info. Alain
September 20,
2019 [Waymo's robotaxi pilot surpassed 6,200 riders in its first month in California](https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/16/waymos-robotaxi-pilot-surpassed-6200-riders-in-its-first-month-in-california/)
August 17, 2019
Autonomous Vehicles: A View from Seniors
March 29, 2019
Automated vehicles could provide mobility to the ‘mobility disadvantaged’ March 1, 2019
FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT Lyft, Inc. Autonomous Vehicles Feb 25, “ This workshop brought together experts in cyber-physical systems, machine learning, transportation engineering, and applied mathematics, both from academia and from industry, to help bridge the technical gaps and to facilitate exchange and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries…“ Read more Hmmmm…. Slides and videos of the presentations are available here. In particular, see..:
-
Andrea Censi: “Liability, Ethics, and Culture-Aware Behavior Specification using Rulebooks” Abstract, Slides, video (via click on Schedule 11:30 Monday;
-
Adam Oberman:”Generalization and adversarial robustness of Regularized Deep Neural Networks “ Abstract, Slides, video (via click on Schedule 11:30 Tuesday);
-
Alain Kornhauser: “Market Forces and Market Potential for SmartDrivingCars (aka Autonomous Vehicles) “ Slides,video, (via click on Schedule 11:15 Tuesday);
-
Hani Mahmassani: “Shared Autonomous Fleet Services and Multimodal Urban Mobility: Optimization, Prediction and Dynamic Network Modeling “ Abstract, video, (via click on Schedule 4:00 Thursday);
Market Framework and Outlook for Automated Vehicle Systems
New Jersey Pending Legislation re: Autonomous Vehicles
Oct 16, Establishes fully autonomous vehicle pilot program A4573 Sponsors: Zwicker (D16); Benson (D14)
Oct 16, EstablishesNew Jersey Advanced Autonomous Vehicle Task Force AJR164 Sponsors: Benson (D14); Zwicker (D16); Lampitt (D6)
Oct 16, [Directs MVC to establish driver's license endorsement for autonomous vehicles A4541](https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2018/Bills/A5000/4541_I1.PDF)
Sponsors: Zwicker (D16);
Benson (D14); Lampitt
(D6)..." [Read more](https://orfe.princeton.edu/%7Ealaink/SmartDrivingCars/PDFs/NVIDIA-Self-Driving-Safety-Report-2018.pdf) Hmmmm....
Things are
beginning to
move in New
Jersey. Alain
Audio Recording of Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology - Monday, October 22, 2018 - 10:00:00 AM
June 12, 2018 [CPUC AUTHORIZES PASSENGER CARRIERS TO PROVIDE FREE TEST RIDES IN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES WITH VALID CPUC AND DMV PERMITS](http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M215/K467/215467801.PDF)
3, 2018
Waymo’s fleet of self-driving minivans is about to get 100 times bigger
PRELIMINARY REPORT: HIGHWAY: HWY18MH010 (Uber/Herzberg Crash)
May 24, “About 9:58 p.m., on Sunday, March 18, 2018, an Uber Technologies, Inc. test vehicle, based on a modified 2017 Volvo XC90 and operating with a self-driving system in computer control mode, struck a pedestrian on northbound Mill Avenue, in Tempe, Maricopa County, Arizona.
…The vehicle was factory equipped with several advanced driver assistance functions by Volvo Cars, the original manufacturer. The systems included a collision avoidance function with automatic emergency
braking, known as City
Safety, as well as
functions for detecting
driver alertness and
road sign information.
All these Volvo
functions are disabled
when the test vehicle is
operated in computer
control..."[Read more](http://orfe.princeton.edu/%7Ealaink/SmartDrivingCars/PDFs/NTSBuberPreliminaryMay2018.pdf) Hmmmm....
Uber must
believe that its
systems are
better at
avoiding
Collisions and
Automated
Emergency
Braking than
Volvo's.
At least this
gets Volvo "off
the hook".
“…According to data obtained from the self-driving system, the system first registered radar and LIDAR observations of the pedestrian about 6 seconds before impact, when the vehicle was traveling at 43 mph…” (= 63 feet/second) So the system started “seeing an obstacle when it was 63 x 6 = 378 feet away… more than a football field, including end zones!
“…As the vehicle and pedestrian paths converged, the self-driving system software classified the pedestrian as an unknown object, as a vehicle, and then as a bicycle with varying expectations of future travel path…” (NTSB: Please tell us precisely when it classified this “object’ as a vehicle and be explicit about the expected “future travel paths.” Forget the path, please just tell us the precise velocity vector that Uber’s system attached to the “object”, then the “vehicle”. Why didn’t the the Uber system instruct the Volvo to begin to slow down (or speed up) to avoid a collision? If these paths (or velocity vectors) were not accurate, then why weren’t they accurate? Why was the object classified as a
"Vehicle" ??
When did it
finally classify
the object as a
"bicycle"?
Why did it
change
classifications?
How often was
the
classification
of this object
done. Please
divulge the time
and the outcome
of each
classification
of this object. In the tests that
Uber has done,
how often has
the system
mis-classified
an object as a
"pedestrian"when the object was
actually an
overpass, or
an overhead
sign or
overhead
branches/leaves
that the car
could safely
pass under, or
was nothing at
all??
(Basically,
what are the
false alarm
characteristics
of Uber's
Self-driving
sensor/software
system as a
function of
vehicle speed
and
time-of-day?)
“…At 1.3 seconds before impact, (impact speed was 39mph = 57.2 ft/sec) the self-driving system determined that an emergency braking maneuver was needed to mitigate a collision” (1.3 x 57.2 = 74.4 ft. which is about equal to the braking distance. So it still could have stopped short.
“…According to Uber, emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled while the vehicle is under computer control, to reduce (eradicate??) the potential for erratic vehicle behavior. …” NTSB: Please describe/define potential and erratic vehicle behavior Also please uncover and divulge the design & decision process that Uber went through to decide that this risk (disabling the AEB) was worth the reward of eradicating “ “erratic vehicle behavior”. This is fundamentally BAD design. If the Uber system’s false alarm rate is so large that the best way to deal with false alarms is to turn off the AEB, then the system should never have been permitted on public roadways.
“…The vehicle operator is relied on to intervene and take action. “ Wow! If Uber’s system fundamentally relies on a human to intervene, then Uber is nowhere near creating a Driverless vehicle. Without its own Driverless vehicle Uber is past “Peak valuation”.
“…The system is not designed to alert the operator. “ That may be the only good part of Uber’s design. In a Driverless vehicle, there is no one to warn, so don’t waste your time. If it is important enough to warn, then it is important enough for the automated system to start initiating things to do something about it. Plus, the Driver may not know what to do anyway. This is pretty much as I stated in PodCast 30 and the 24 edition of May 10, 2018
Don’t Worry, Driverless Cars Are Learning From Grand Theft Auto
Extracting Cognition out of Images for the Purpose of Autonomous Driving
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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