2020-07-03
edition of the 8th year of SmartDrivingCars
Announcing 2020-2021 Fellow-in-Residence Henry L. Greenidge, Esq.
Press release, June 24, “The McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University has announced transportation policy expert Henry L. Greenidge, Esq. as a 2020-2021 Fellow-in-Residence. …
"As New York
City and
cities around
the nation
reopen amid
COVID-19,
there is an
important
conversation
to be had
about the
intersection
of
transportation
policy with
poverty, race
and class. In
a field where
there are too
few thought
leaders of
color, Henry
Greenidge's
industry
expertise and
distinguished
track record
of public
service make
him an
invaluable
addition to
the NYU
McSilver
team," says
Michael A.
Lindsey, PhD,
MSW, MPH,
Executive
Director of
the institute.
"Race and
transportation
have been
inextricably
linked since
the first
slave ship
crossed the
Americas,"
says Henry
Greenidge. "As
our nation
continues to
grapple with
institutional
racism, which
serves as the
fabric for
every facet of
the United
States, the
inequities of
transportation
policies must
be at the
center. I am
humbled and
excited to be
working with
the McSilver
Institute to
unpack how
transportation,
race, and
poverty
intersect.."
[Read more](https://mcsilver.nyu.edu/henry-greenidge-fellow-in-residence/) Hmmm.... In
no uncertain
terms,
we must make
sure that
inequities and
racism are not
explicitly nor
even
implicitly
baked into
the
SmartDrivingCar
r/evolution.
We are still
at the very
beginning, so
it shouldn't
be hard nor
expensive but
so far it
doesn't look
good. The
emphasis has
been on giving
those that
already have
fantastic ways
to get around
one more way.
The focus
hasn't been on
the mobility
disadvantaged
and certainly
not on the
Black
community.
Just look
where the
testing has
been taking
place and the
folks that
take part in
the focus
groups and
those that are
given rides.
Look at who
designs and
writes the
software and
the
investors.
Sure, one can
and should
serve them,
but if public
policy is
going to play
a role, then
it can't bake
in more
inequities.
Moreover, the
private sector
can also step
up and realize
that these
systems can
readily serve
everyone. The
technology
that makes
SmartDrivingCars
possible is
not inherently
racists. It
can respect
and serve
everyone.
Henry and
others can
help make sure
that the
designers and
deployers of
SmartDrivingCars
don't
explicitly nor
implicitly
bake in racism
and bias.
Alain
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 163 - Henry Greenidge
###
F. Fishkin, July 2, “Transportation, racial injustices and changing the thinking around the future of mobility. NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy & Research fellow Henry Greenidge joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin in an eye and mind opening episode of Smart Driving Cars. Plus Amazon, Zoox, Waymo, Tesla & more. .” “Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!”. Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay … Alain
SmartDrivingCars Zoom-Cast Episode 163 - Henry Greenidge
###
###
###
Video version of SmartDrivingCars PodCast 163…. 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.
Princeton Will Remove Woodrow Wilson’s Name From School
B. Pietsch, June 27, “Princeton University will remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its public policy school and one of its residential colleges, the university’s president said on Saturday — a move that comes four years after it decided to keep the name over the objections of student protests.
The
university's
board of
trustees found
that Wilson's
"racist
thinking and
policies make
him an
inappropriate
namesake for a
school or
college whose
scholars,
students and
alumni must
stand firmly
against racism
in all its
forms,"
Princeton's
president, [Christopher L. Eisgruber, said in a statement](https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/06/27/president-eisgrubers-message-community-removal-woodrow-wilson-name-public-policy)....
" [Read more](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/nyregion/princeton-university-woodrow-wilson.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20200627&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=cta®i_id=89228009&segment_id=32040&user_id=bb3a3afb7a60246a936251b2f79cc1db) Hmmm...
Fantastic!
Alain
We’re acquiring Zoox to help bring their vision of autonomous ride-hailing to reality
Amazon, June 26, “Amazon has signed an agreement to acquire Zoox, a California-based company working to design autonomous ride-hailing vehicles from the ground up. Aicha Evans, Zoox CEO, and Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder and CTO, will continue to lead the team as they innovate and drive towards their mission….
“Zoox is working to imagine, invent, and design a world-class autonomous ride-hailing experience,” said Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s CEO, Worldwide Consumer. “Like Amazon, Zoox is passionate about innovation and about its customers, and we’re excited to help the talented Zoox team to bring their vision to reality in the years ahead.”…
“Since Zoox’s inception six years ago, we have been singularly focused on our ground-up approach to autonomous mobility,” said Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder and CTO. “Amazon’s support will markedly accelerate our path to delivering safe, clean, and enjoyable transportation to the world.”…“ Read more Hmmm… OK, but the original path to “world-class autonomous ride-hailing experience” is likely to be changed to first pass through “world-class autonomous package delivery experience”. Amazon is now not only in control but also THE customer. Ironically, having the primary customer, package delivery, drive the product development may actually accelerate the successful creation of a world-class affordable mobility-as-a service machines. Delivering packages from an Amazon distribution center or from Whole Foods or from … to my “front door” has substantially easier quality-of-service and safety challenges, especially, if in the beginning, the delivery service is done between “1am and 5am”.
Start during those times in your Operational Design Domain (ODD), continue to improve, expand to the rest of the day, enlarge your ODD and then you’ll be really ready to begin providing affordable high-quality mobility to those that need it most and everyone else too.
See also: CNBC Amazon to buy self-driving technology company Zoox Alain
Amazon Buys Self-Driving Company Zoox For $1.2B And May Rule The World
B. Templeton, June 26, “Reports have emerged that Amazon.com will purchase self-driving startup Zoox for “more than $1.2B” with exact details of the deal not disclosed. Amazon says they plan to have Zoox realize its vision of passenger transport (robotaxi) service, which I will dub “AMAZOOX.” At the same time, it is hard to believe they don’t also have interest in robotic delivery and logistics, since that’s a huge part of their business.
I have already
done analysis
twice on this
deal — first
when [Zoox started shopping](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2020/05/08/zoox-looks-to-be-sold/),
and then when[Amazon was revealed as the suitor](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2020/05/27/the-match--mismatch-of-amazon-buying-self-driving-unicorn-zoox-as-is-rumored/).
All the
analysis in
these articles
remains
similar.
Today, two
things become
fact — the
confirmation
of the deal
and Amazon's
declaration
that they wish
to support the
robotaxi
vision..." [Read more](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2020/06/26/amazon-buys-self-driving-company-zoox-for-12b-and-may-rule-the-world/#75411bf9769c) Hmmm...
While I would
like to think
it is about
the aTaxi
business, to
me the main
driver is the
"free" package
delivery
business. A
substantial
part of
Amazon's
success is
built on
"free"
delivery.
Sure, Amazon
can
internalize
the cost of
such a
service, but
this
acquisition
can enable
them to move
much of that
internalized
cost directly
down to its
bottom line.
That is
fundamentally
powerful.
Alain
How Planes, Trains and Automobiles Worsened America’s Racial Divide
S. Gidigbi, June 26, “…But in the larger quest for justice, there’s another bill on the agenda that could also be crucial to rectifying some of the 20th century’s most deeply unfair policies: A transportation funding bill set for a vote in the House next week would help undo the injustice built into our highways, our roads and our sidewalks.
At first
glance,
transportation
might seem
like a side
issue, but it
has been
central to the
inequality
debate in
America for
generations.
We often gloss over it today, but much of the civil rights struggle centered on access to public transportation. The unfortunate Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision of “separate but equal” came about because Homer Plessy was ejected from a “whites only” train car and then fought for his rights in court. Rosa Parks’ protest sparked the Montgomery bus boycott after she refused to give her seat to a white passenger after a long day of work. Her resolve united leaders to demand systemic changes including that buses stop at each street corner in Black neighborhoods just as they did in white ones. Black residents organized carpools, an early example of ride-share, and made the long treks across segregated neighborhoods to avoid using the city buses, as their yearlong campaign sought broader civil rights such as fair access to jobs and opportunity. Later, the Freedom Riders withstood rogue violence of stunning ferocity to get the Southern states to uphold the law and integrate interstate bus travel.
Transportation
spending
decisions have
also rewritten
the story of
American
communities
over the past
hundred
years—in ways
that cost
Black
communities
deeply and
benefited
white
neighborhoods....
It’s time to divest from the racist legacy of our past and invest in a more just and equitable future…. (emphasis added)
Transportation is not a side issue in our national reckoning with race. …“ Read more Hmmm… The real opportunity for driverless mobility machines is to deliver high-quality affordable mobility to the mobility disadvantaged… the largest segment of which are the economically disadvantaged. The Operational Design Domains (ODDs) of these should/must begin by encompassing these communities. This is where these technologies can deliver the most improvement in quality-of-life and not those communities where everyone already has “fourteen” other great ways of getting to where they are going when they want to go. Alain
Nearly 30 years after the ADA, the nation’s transit agencies report successes and shortfalls
M. Alderton, June 26, “Scott Crawford hasn’t driven a car in 20 years. A retired clinical neuropsychologist, Crawford relocated from Miami to his hometown of Jackson, Miss., in 2006, seven years after developing primary progressive multiple sclerosis. When his illness put him in a wheelchair, the bus became his lifeline — that is, when it didn’t leave him behind, which happened often and sometimes still does….” Read more Hmmmm… I continue to be dumbfounded by Conventional Transit’s complete aversion to autonomousTaxis and conventional ride-hailing (Uber/Lyft). These are ways for the Transit Industry to deliver “separate-but-enormously-better” mobility to the mobility disadvantaged. And do it at a fraction of the cost of its low-quality conventional bus services and its inaccessible low-quality “rail” services.
Definitions: High-quality mobility takes individuals from where they are to where they want to go when they want to go. Lo-quality mobility takes individuals between a few (~20) long-ago designated locations (stops) at a few (~20) designated times. Alain
More Hmmmm… from Dr. Prashanth Venkataram…..For wheelchair access, subways & buses generally have complementary problems. It is easy to get to the front of a bus without an elevator, but then getting into the bus requires a ramp or lift, which is a point of failure (and note that lifts, being more mechanically complicated, tend to be more prone to failure and consequently harder to operate manually than ramps) and is a substantial cost associated with the vehicle. By contrast, getting to a subway platform typically requires an elevator (unless there is enough land to allow for long gradually-sloped floors), which is a point of failure associated with the infrastructure of a station, but getting from the platform into the train can be done much more easily. Of course, there are exceptions: many light rail trains require ramps or lifts for wheelchair access, many commuter/regional rail trains have gaps that can only be bridged by virtue of conductors on board being able to manually find ramps in stations & deploy them (as the allowable dwell times are long enough), and many subway platforms have gaps to the train that are too large to bridge (and the short dwell times & lack of conductors means the only solution is usually to retrofit level boarding by rebuilding the platform appropriately, which is quite costly & time-consuming), while on the flip side, there are only a few examples (here is one using existing buses but rebuilt sidewalks: http://www.bostonbrt.org/everettbrt ) of buses that allow for level boarding, and even then only at certain stops where the curbs have been built in tandem with the bus design to allow it.
Note also that
commitment to
wheelchair
access in
subway systems
doesn't
necessarily
correlate that
strongly with
the age of a
system. While
it's
reasonable
that the
Chicago L
& Boston T
aren't fully
accessible
because of
their ages,
they do far
better than
the NYC Subway
despite being
of a similar
age.
Similarly, the
BART &
Washington
Metro do far
better than
the Montreal
Metro, which
is of a
similar age
(that is much
less than the
Chicago L or
Boston T). (On
a side note
regarding the
Montreal
Metro: the
conscious
decision by
the designers
of the
Montreal Metro
in the
1960s/1970s to
ignore
wheelchair
access was not
restricted to
transit at
that time.
With respect
to housing,
there is an
undergraduate
dormitory at
MIT, known as
New House,
which was
built in the
1970s: during
its design,
budget
constraints
forced a
choice between
either
elevators or
air
conditioning,
and ultimately
the latter was
chosen without
the former.
Thankfully,
recent
renovations
have added
elevators.)
Taxi
regulations
typically
pushed taxi
companies to
have a certain
percentage of
the fleet be
wheelchair
accessible,
but the rise
of TNCs has,
especially in
smaller
markets,
forced many
taxi companies
to close
entirely, and
those that
don't close
often first
get rid of
their
wheelchair
accessible
vehicles, as
those tend to
be more
expensive to
operate &
requires
further
training of
drivers in
their
operation,
while TNCs
have been
unwilling to
fill the gap
in this way;
this is
especially
problematic in
exactly these
smaller
markets where
there are few
alternatives
to driving
just to get
around for
work or normal
errands.
You & I
already know
that while bus
services can
work in
moderately
dense areas
along certain
corridors at
high frequency
and with good
connectivity,
far more
economic
opportunities
can be opened
up to people
marginalized
by the current
transportation
paradigm,
including
people with
disabilities,
through
on-demand
point-to-point
service, and
this looks to
be most
promising if
the promises
of shared
driverless
mobility can
be realized.
However, the
aforementioned
problems with
current
designs for
wheelchair
access need to
be seriously
considered as
a core issue
with the
design of
driverless
vehicles, and
not simply as
an
afterthought;
at least if
problems
arise, it may
be cheaper to
take a single
relatively
cheap car from
a large fleet
out of service
compared to a
single
relatively
expensive bus
from a
comparatively
smaller fleet.
In addition to
questions of
physical
ingress/egress,
there also
needs to be
consideration
of whether
there are
certain
nontrivial
ways that
current
drivers help
wheelchair
users
enter/exit
vehicles
(whether cars,
vans, or
buses) that
may not have
an obvious
replacement if
the driver is
removed (and
this would be
especially
critical if
driverless
cars ended up
retaining but
automating
current
designs for
ramps/lifts),
and whether
safety
regulations
for
wheelchairs to
be secured in
vehicles
(which is
required for
cars, vans,
and buses, but
typically not
for trains due
to the more
centralized
nature of
control &
lack of
"other"
traffic, and
which, when
required, is
typically
performed by
the driver)
need to be
revisited.
Perhaps the
issues of
ingress/egress
from buses,
proposed
ingress/egress
from
driverless
cars, and
general
sidewalk
access can all
be addressed
through a
concerted
effort to
simultaneously
redesign
sidewalks,
redesign
buses, and
propose new
standards for
driverless
vehicles, to
allow for
level boarding
(without ramps
or lifts).
This would not
only ensure
that
wheelchair
users
currently
using buses
and who may in
the future use
driverless
vehicles can
access them
without any
assistance,
but it would
also improve
the experience
for
pedestrians,
speed up
entry/exit of
passengers
from buses
which will
improve the
overall
experience,
and further
mitigate
problems for
people who may
not be in
wheelchairs
but may have
knee pain, may
be pushing a
stroller, et
cetera. The
biggest
improvements
from investing
in level
boarding would
be removing
all of the
costs
associated
with
ramps/lifts
aboard buses
and generally
metaphorically
leveling the
playing field
for wheelchair
users compared
to able-bodied
riders, such
that a
wheelchair
user will
essentially
never be in a
situation of
being unable
to ride a bus
or driverless
car when an
able-bodied
rider can ride
the same
vehicle.
All of this
focuses on
wheelchair
users, but
there are
other
disabilities
to consider
too. Apps or
kiosks to
summon
driverless
cars, as well
as the
interfaces
within the
cars
themselves,
will need to
be designed to
accommodate
people with
low
vision/blindness,
as well as
people with
mild mental
disabilities
(an example
can be found
here:
[https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/06/25/new-app-makes-mass-transit-accessible-to-people-with-cognitive-disabilities/](https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/06/25/new-app-makes-mass-transit-accessible-to-people-with-cognitive-disabilities/)
); for
example, cars
meant for
people with
mental
disabilities
may need to
have a more
"friendly"
face on a
screen and be
able to
respond
reasonably
patiently to
people with a
reasonably
large range of
cognitive or
speech
disabilities
to fulfill the
role that kind
drivers may
currently
play. People
who may not
need a
wheelchair but
may have other
medical
equipment to
transport with
assistance,
like a
portable
oxygen tank,
may currently
require driver
assistance as
well as
accommodation
inside of the
vehicle, so
these things
need to be
considered for
the design of
driverless
cars. (These
points are
more
speculation
from me, as I
have been
insulated from
these issues
in my own
experience.)
This is my
summary for
your
newsletter,
which I have
tried to
tailor to the
context of
driverless
mobility.
"This is a
solid summary
of the current
state of the
strengths and
weaknesses of
public transit
and TNCs when
it comes to
wheelchair
access. I've
been saying
that a lot of
the problems
with
fixed-route
transit
service or
expensive
&
unreliable
point-to-point
paratransit
service can be
solved through
on-demand
point-to-point
shared
driverless
mobility,
giving much
more mobility
& freedom
to those
currently
marginalized
from today's
transportation
systems at a
much lower
cost through
sharing and
through taking
the driver out
of the
equation.
However,
driverless
mobility
developers
can't simply
take it as
given that
their products
will be a
cure-all - we
can't rest on
our laurels!
Accessibility
MUST be a core
value, and
just like
safety, MUST
be included as
a high minimum
constraint in
the design
process
itself, NOT
just slapped
on as an
afterthought
which breaks
way too often
(which was how
we got into
our current
mess). It
would be good
if there could
be more
coordination
among
driverless
mobility
developers,
transit
agencies,
other city
agencies, and
disability
advocacy
groups,
preferably
with people
with
disabilities
not simply
confined to
such advocacy
groups but
actually
directly
advising
developers
&
agencies, to
thoughtfully
ensure
wheelchair
access for
current and
future
mobility,
through
vehicles,
physical
infrastructure,
and other
aspects of the
ride. Plus,
drivers today
do a lot to
help people
with other
disabilities,
including
those with
medical
equipment,
mental
disabilities,
and so on, so
those riders'
needs have to
be considered
too - they
can't be an
afterthought
either just
because they
don't have
easily-recognizable
wheelchairs!"
Prashanth
Partnering with Volvo Car Group to scale the Waymo Driver
Company News, June 25, “On the path to building the World’s Most Experienced Driver, we partner with some of the world’s largest automakers to realize our mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going. We focus on custom designing our hardware suite, software, and compute. We then collaborate with carmakers, leveraging their expertise in automotive design, engineering, and manufacturing, to help us create vehicles that integrate easily with the Waymo Driver, making them well-suited for ride hailing, local delivery, trucking, and personal car ownership. That’s why we’re pleased to share today our latest automotive partnership.
Waymo is now
the exclusive
global L4
partner for
Volvo Car
Group, a
global leader
in automotive
safety,
including its
strategic
affiliates
Polestar and
Lynk & Co.
International.
Through our
strategic
partnership,
we will first
work together
to integrate
the Waymo
Driver into an
all-new
mobility-focused
electric
vehicle
platform for
ride hailing
services.
Adam Frost,
Chief
Automotive
Officer,
Waymo: "This
key
partnership
with Volvo Car
Group helps
pave the path
to the
deployment of
the Waymo
Driver
globally in
years to come,
and represents
an important
milestone in
the highly
competitive
autonomous
vehicle
industry.
Volvo Car
Group shares
our vision of
creating an
autonomous
future where
roads are
safer, and
transportation
is more
accessible and
greener. We're
thrilled to
welcome Volvo
Car Group as
our latest
automotive
partner."..."
[Read more](https://blog.waymo.com/2020/06/partnering-with-volvo-car-group-to.html) Hmmm... Yes,
Waymo is in
the Driver
building
business and
not the Car
building
business. The
Car is
the commodity
here, not the
Driver.
Details
certainly
matter, but on
the surface,
this deal
seems to
benefit Volvo
much more than
Waymo. Plus,
Waymo may need
to be very
careful to not
get
Levandowshied
again.
See and Andrew Hawkin’s take on this...Volvo will use Waymo’s self-driving technology to power a fleet of electric robotaxis Alain
TuSimple is laying the groundwork for a coast-to-coast autonomous trucking network
A. Hawkins, July 1, “Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple is joining forces with big logistics providers as it seeks to bolster its delivery capabilities. The company announced it will be working with UPS, Xpress Enterprises, Penske Trucking, and Berkshire Hathaway-owned grocery and food-service distributor McLane to lay the foundation for a coast-to-coast autonomous trucking network.
TuSimple aims
to be making
nearly 100
delivery runs
a week,
doubling its
current number
of freight
hauls, but the
ramp-up will
take place
over the next
four years....
TuSimple is aiming for a fully driverless system, but currently its trucks include a human operator to take over driving when needed. … “ Read more Hmmm… Seepromotional video. It is a shame that TuSimple does not promote the enhanced driver working conditions that its technology provides today but instead focuses on only the removal of the driver at some distant future. By that time all the benefits have been discounted to zero. Whatever! :-X Alain
Stock surge makes Tesla the world’s most valuable automaker
T. Lee, July
1, "One share
of Tesla stock
traded for
more than
$1,130 on
Wednesday,
pushing the
company's
market
capitalization
to nearly $210
billion. That
sent Tesla's
market cap
past Toyota,
which is worth
either $170
billion or
$203 billion,
depending on
how you count
it. Tesla is
now the
world's most
valuable car
company.
It's a
remarkable
milestone for
a company that
sells far
fewer cars
than its
leading
rivals. Toyota
and its
subsidiaries
sold 10.7
million
vehicles in
2019, while
Volkswagen and
its
subsidiaries
sold almost 11
million
vehicles.
Tesla sold a
comparatively
tiny 367,500
vehicles last
year.
But Wall
Street is
apparently
very
optimistic
about Tesla's
prospects for
future growth
and
profits..." [Read more](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/07/stock-surge-makes-tesla-the-worlds-most-valuable-automaker/) Hmmm....
Whew!!! See
Fred Lambert's
[Tesla (TSLA) pushes to new all-time high as Q2 is looking better than expected](https://electrek.co/2020/06/30/tesla-tsla-pushes-all-time-high-q2/). Sure am glad I didn't short @
$400. :-)
Alain
Tesla Overtakes Exxon’s Market Value in Symbolic Energy Shift
D. Wethe, June 30, “Tesla Inc.’s market value has surpassed Exxon Mobil Corp.’s in a sign that investors are increasingly betting on a global energy transition away from fossil fuels.
Elon Musk's
Tesla, now at
$201 billion
in market
capitalization,
is surging on
the
billionaire's
optimism that
his company
can avoid a
second-quarter
loss. Exxon,
which dropped
to $185
billion, is
reeling from
the worst
crude-price
crash in
history. The
largest oil
company in the
Western
Hemisphere is
preparing to
cut some of
its U.S.
workforce...."
[Read more](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/07/stock-surge-makes-tesla-the-worlds-most-valuable-automaker/) Hmmm....
Whew!!! Who
would have
thought??
You can't make
up this
stuff! Alain
Waymo to expand autonomous truck testing in the American Southwest
K. Wiggers, June 30, “Today during a briefing with members of the media, Waymo head of commercialization for trucking Charlie Jatt outlined the company’s go-to-market plans for Waymo Via, its self-driving delivery division. In the future, Waymo will partner with OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to equip cloud-based trucks manufactured and sold to the market with its autonomous systems. In addition, Waymo will work with fleets to provide its software services and offer support for things like mapping and remote fleet assistance.
As Waymo
transitions to
this model,
Jatt said that
Waymo intends
to own and
offer its own
fleet of
trucks — at
least in the
short term.
One of the
delivery
solutions it's
exploring is a
transfer-hub
model where,
rather than an
automated
truck covering
an entire
journey, there
will be a mix
of an
automated
portion and a
portion
involving
manually
driven,
human-manned
trucks.
Automated
vehicle
transfer hubs
close to
highways would
handle the
switch-off and
minimize
surface street
driving.
In a first
step toward
this vision,
Waymo says it
will soon
expand testing
on roads in
New Mexico,
Arizona, and
Texas along
the I-10
corridor
between
Phoenix and
Tuscon, as
previously
announced.
This year
Waymo mapped
routes between
Phoenix, El
Paso, Dallas,
and Houston
and ramped up
testing in
California on
freeways in
Mountain View,
but the focus
for the rest
of 2020 will
be on the
American
Southwest. "
[Read more](https://venturebeat.com/2020/06/30/waymo-expanding-autonomous-truck-testing-in-american-southwest/) Hmmm... Once
again, Waymo,
along with
TuSimple may
well be
missing an THE
opportunity to
get started by
not focusing
on the human
driving
enhancement
features that
provide real
tangible value
to any
long-haul
truck fleet
(reduced
expected
self-insurance
expenditures,
improve driver
retention,
create happier
workforce,
improved
driver
productivity,
...) and
instead
focuses on the
extraction of
the driver
from the
truck. No one
is ready to
have
driverless
trucks
traveling long
hauls down
interstates.
Every
breakdown will
be a complete
fubar and the
first crash
will instantly
halt
everything and
substantially
devalue the
ranch. Whatever!
Alain
AutonomouStuff June News
Staff, June 30, “In this issue:
-
Safety Q&A on ISO 26262 and beyond with VP John Buszek
-
University of Illinois expands autonomous safety with AS
-
Highlight: Qumulo Shift for AWS S3
-
In stock: Velodyne Alpha Prime
..." [Read more](https://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-latest-from-AutonomouStuff.html?soid=1124049885980&aid=pIjjW0JAef4) Hmmm... Bobby, keep up the good work. :-) Alain
Fatality Facts 2018: Collisions with fixed objects and animals
Staff, December 2019, “About 20 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths result from a vehicle leaving the roadway and hitting a fixed object alongside the road. Trees, utility poles, and traffic barriers are the most common objects struck. Almost half of the deaths in fixed object crashes occur at night. Alcohol is a frequent contributing factor. Motorists also run off the road because of excessive speeds, falling asleep, inattention or poor visibility.
From 1975 to
the mid-2000s
there was a
general upward
trend in
deaths from
collisions
with animals,
but this trend
has leveled
off over the
past decade.
In 2018, these
deaths
occurred most
often during
July-September...."
[Read more](https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/collisions-with-fixed-objects-and-animals) Hmmm... Some
interesting
facts here
that rectify
some
statements
made in our [Zoom-inar (Video replay) Insurance: For or Against SmartDrivingCars?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHlPaNmjeag&feature=youtu.be)
Alain
Lyft resumes autonomous vehicle testing on public roads
K. Wiggers, June 30, “Roughly three months after the pandemic halted its autonomous vehicle tests, Lyft today announced its safety operators will resume driving a portion of its cars on public roads. An employee-only autonomous ride-hailing pilot in Palo Alto remains on pause. But in a blog post, Lyft director of product Sameer Qureshi and director of engineering Robert Morgan characterized road testing as a “critical” part of Lyft’s driverless systems development.
In March,
Lyft's safety
drivers —
along with
engineers and
developers —
were told to
stay home
until further
notice as
shelter-in-place
orders made
public road
testing
impossible. In
the interim,
the company
has leaned on
simulation to
further refine
its platform.
Autonomous
vehicle
developers
agree that
simulation
supplements
but can't
replace
real-world
experience.
A spokesperson
said Lyft
would continue
to abide by
the U.S.
Centers for
Disease
Control and
Prevention
guidelines and
work with
local
governments in
deciding
whether to
pause testing
in the future.
This week,
governors in
Washington,
California,
Florida, and
Texas walked
back some of
their
reopening
plans as
COVID-19 cases
rose in more
than 30 states
across the
U.S.
Currently,
Lyft safety
drivers are
using personal
protective
equipment
(including
face shields)
and taking
precautionary
steps inside
the driverless
vehicles. Two
drivers will
be paired
together for
two weeks at a
time and
subject to
temperature
checks, and
separated by
partitions
installed
inside the
regularly
sanitized
cars... " [Read more](https://venturebeat.com/2020/06/30/lyft-resumes-autonomous-vehicle-testing-on-public-roads/) Hmmm... OK, I guess. :-\
Alain
Refraction AI’s robots start delivering groceries in Ann Arbor
K. Wiggers, June 30, “Refraction AI, a company developing semi-autonomous delivery robots, today began handling select customers’ orders from Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Produce Station. This marks the startup’s first foray into grocery delivery after the launch of its restaurant delivery service. The move comes as Refraction reports a 3-4 times uptick in pandemic-related demand….
Refraction
says from
today
customers
within a
three-mile
radius of
Produce
Station can
have orders
delivered by
its REV-1
robot. After
customers
order through
a dedicated
website,
Refraction's
employees load
the vehicles
at the store,
and recipients
receive text
message
updates, along
with a code to
open the
robot's
storage
compartment
when it
arrives.... "
[Read more](https://venturebeat.com/2020/06/30/refraction-ais-autonomous-robots-begin-delivering-groceries-in-ann-arbor/) Hmmm... OK, I guess.
Alain
Watch Tesla Autopilot swerve at last second to avoid a deer
F. Lambert,
July 7, "We
are starting
to see an
increasing
number of
reports from
Tesla owners
about
Autopilot
doing some
really
aggressive
maneuvers to
avoid
crashes. In
this new
example, a
Tesla owner
shares a video
of Autopilot
swerving to
avoid a deer
at the last
second...." [Read more](https://electrek.co/2020/07/01/tesla-autopilot-video-avoid-deer/) Hmmmm... Impressive. But I sure
hope that it
knew another
car wasn't in
the on-coming
left lane.
I'm sure it
did. (If the
choice between
a stationary
deer or an
on-coming ???
I'll always
pick the
deer...)
Wonder why it waited so long to do the maneuver and why it didn’t seem to slow down. It must have seen it a full 2 seconds before it passed it. Seems like Tesla needs to do more work here. It may well have been really lucky here (No on-coming traffic, dry straight road, …). See video. Alain
New
Roman""> [Draft](https://www.dropbox.com/s/p7t7fwkm1wu9n3g/ProgramDraft1_4thAnnualPrincetonSDC_Summit.pdf?dl=0)Princeton
SmartDrivingCar
Summit
Postponed until Evening Oct. 20
through Oct.
22, 2020 (But
will likely
need to be
completely
Virtual,
possibly in "[Second life](https://secondlife.com/)") 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
Program 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
New
Roman""> [SmartDrivingCar Zoom-inar 005](http://zoom-tank.com/) AV
Shark-Tank:
Topic to be Announced
Live Monday, July 13 @ 2pm New York Time
Virtual,
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 162, Zoom-Cast Episode 162 w/Cliff Winston
###
F. Fishkin, June 25, “From the Brookings Institution, Cliff Winston, co-author of Autonomous Vehicles…The Road to Economic Growth? joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus..why are fatal crash rates rising in the midst of a pandemic…plus NVIDIA, Didi, Tesla and more.”
...
Alain [SmartDrivingCar Zoom-inar 004](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHlPaNmjeag&feature=youtu.be) Insurance:
For or Against SmartDrivingCars?
###
F. Fishkin, June 23,
"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 ..."
-
Zoom-inar (Video replay) Insurance: For or Against SmartDrivingCars?
-
PodCast (Audio Only) Insurance: For or Against SmartDrivingCars?
Listen/Watch more Hmmm… We only scratched the surface. Alain SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 161, Zoom-Cast Episode 161 w/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.” … Alain
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 160, Zoom-Cast Episode 160 w/Jessica Cicchino
###
F. Fishkin, June 12, “Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Research VP Jessica Cicchino co-authored a new study saying self driving vehicles could struggle to eliminate most crashes. She joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin to discuss the study. Plus the latest on Tesla, Ford & VW, Covid-19 and more. “ “Alexa, play the Smart Driving Cars podcast!”. Ditto with Siri, and GooglePlay … Alain
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 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 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 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 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 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 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:
[Motor Vehicle Fatality Rates Jump 36.6% in April Despite Quarantines, Says National Safety Council](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/motor-vehicle-fatality-rates-jump-36-6-in-april-despite-quarantines-says-national-safety-council-301082390.html#:~:text=Preliminary%20estimates%20from%20the%20National,same%20time%20period%20last%20year.)
Press release, June 24, “ Preliminary estimates based on April data from all 50 states indicate that for the second straight month, Americans did not reap any safety benefit from having less roadway traffic. In fact, the roads became even more lethal as miles driven plummeted. Preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council show a year-over-year 36.6% jump in fatality rates per miles driven in April, in spite of an 18% drop in the total number of roadway deaths compared to April 2019. The actual number of miles driven dropped 40% compared to the same time period last year. The mileage death rate per 100 million vehicle miles driven was 1.47 in April compared to 1.08 in 2019….
“Even without traffic, our roads were no safer,” said Lorraine M. Martin, president and CEO of the National Safety Council. “It is heartbreaking to see the carnage on our roadways continue, especially when our medical professionals should be able to focus intently on treating a pandemic rather than preventable car crashes. These numbers underscore our urgent need to change the culture of safety on our roads.” ..” Read more Hmmm…. Wow!!! Does COVID-19 have any silver linings?? So highway deaths aren’t as well correlated to VMT as we/I had thought. what are the other big terms is the relationship? Alcohol consumption?, Speed?, all the safe drivers staying home and only the high liability drivers (teenagers and Generation COVIDs out there texting??? Alain
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
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
[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
[Starsky Robotics Failed. Does That Mean Automated Trucking Is Dead?](https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2020/03/24/starsky-robotics-failed-does-that-mean-automated-trucking-is-dead/#51d50d840c84) 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
“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
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
September 28,
2019 [Public forum will explore possibility of transit on demand in Princeton](https://planetprinceton.com/2019/09/22/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
August 17,
2019
Autonomous Vehicles: A View from Seniors
Automated vehicles could provide mobility to the ‘mobility disadvantaged’
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
May 25, 2018 [PRELIMINARY REPORT: HIGHWAY: HWY18MH010 (Uber/Herzberg Crash)](http://orfe.princeton.edu/%7Ealaink/SmartDrivingCars/PDFs/NTSBuberPreliminaryMay2018.pdf)
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
March 24,
2018 [Experts say video of Uber's self-driving car killing a pedestrian suggests its technology may have fail](http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-uber-death-video-20180321-story.html)
April 17, 2017
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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