2020-07-23
edition of the 8th year of SmartDrivingCars
Waymo and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) expand autonomous driving technology partnership
Company News, July 22, “Back in 2016, we announced our very first OEM partner: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). Since then, we’ve worked closely with FCA to integrate our Waymo Driver into FCA vehicles, and together we’ve made self-driving history in the proven, capable, L4-ready Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan, including launching the first commercial autonomous ride-hailing service, beginning to offer fully driverless service to our riders, and driving in dozens of cities across diverse geographies and challenging weather conditions. Now, we’re pleased to share that we’ve strengthened our partnership with FCA in several important ways.
FCA has
selected Waymo
as its
exclusive,
strategic
technology
partner for L4
fully
self-driving
technology
across FCA's
full product
portfolio.
We've already
started to
work together
to imagine
future FCA
products for
the movement
of people and
goods operated
by the Waymo
Driver.
In addition,
Waymo will
work
exclusively
with FCA as
our preferred
partner on the
development
and testing of
L4 autonomous
light
commercial
vehicles* for
goods
movement,
including in
Waymo Via. We
will initially
target
integration of
the Waymo
Driver into
the Ram
ProMaster van,
a highly
configurable
platform that
will enable
access to a
broad range of
global
commercial
customers....
" [Read more](https://blog.waymo.com/2020/07/waymo-and-fiat-chrysler-automobiles-fca.html) Hmmm....
This is big!
WayFCA v
AmaZoox
(+Rivian)!
Only
challenges:
a. WayFCA is missing the Customer leg of the 3-legged stool. It is only the Zoox (+Rivian) part of AmaZooRiv. Does FedEx or UPS or USPS or WalMart or Maycy’s (heaven forbid) or Sears (heaven forbid squared) or ??? make the Trinity to take on AmaZooRiv, plus
b. Is the Technology rather than the Customer is wagging the WayFCA??? dog.
In any even, Affordable (Driverless) Home Delivery of Stuff may well be the Elijah for Affordable (Driverless) Mobility for the Mobility Disadvantaged as we debated in SmartDrivingCar Zoom-inar 004 AmaZooks. Alain
SmartDrivingCars PodCast 166 w/Jay Rodgers’95, CEO Local Motors
###
F. Fishkin 16,
"Local Motors
announces a
partnership
with Beep to
broadly deploy
autonomous
electric
shuttles. CEO
Jay Rogers
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin for a
wide ranging
chat. Plus the
Waymo-Fiat
Chrysler deal,
Tesla, AutoX,
Ford, Mobileye
and more."
"Alexa,
play the Smart
Driving Cars
podcast!".
Ditto with Siri,
and GooglePlay
...
Alain
SmartDrivingCars ZoomCast Episode166 w/Jay Rodgers’95, CEO Local Motors
###
###
###
Video version of SmartDrivingCars PodCast 166…. Alain
Roman"">
[SmartDrivingCar Zoom-inar Episode 004 AmaZooks](https://viodi.com/2020/07/21/first-packages-then-people-potential-implications-of-the-amazon-zoox-deal/)
F. Fishkin, July 20, “Is Driverless home delivery the fastest route to Affordable Mobility for the Mobility Disadvantaged? … “
Listen/Watch more Hmmm… We only scratched the surface. Then came WayFMC??? 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.
Beep And Local
Motors
Announce
Strategic
Partnership To
Broadly Deploy
Autonomous,
Electric
Shuttles
PRWire, July 23, “Beep, a Florida-based autonomous Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) provider and Local Motors by LM Industries, the world’s first and only digital vehicle manufacturer, today announced a strategic partnership and new reseller agreement. The collaborative agreement is intended to significantly expand the number of AV shuttles on both public and private roads, enabling Beep and Local Motors to bring autonomous solutions to more people and enhance the rider experience through continued testing and safe deployments.
Under the
reseller
agreement,
Local Motors
will provide
Beep with Olli
2.0
autonomous,
electric,
3D-printed
shuttles for
future
customer
deployments.
Beep and Local
Motors will
also team up
to advance and
expand the
operating
domain of
multi-passenger,
autonomous
vehicles in
concert with
their ongoing
testing and
information
sharing
program
through the
National
Highway
Traffic Safety
Administration
(NHTSA).
"By partnering
with Beep and
leveraging our
existing
relationship
with Robotic
Research, we
can bring Olli
to new
customers in
expanded
markets across
the U.S. and
abroad," said
Vikrant
Aggarwal,
President of
Local Motors.
"We're living
in a world
where
self-driving
technology is
needed now
more than
ever, and this
partnership is
a huge
validator of
the increasing
demand for
autonomous
solutions. By
deploying more
vehicles and
introducing
Olli to new,
complex
scenarios on
public and
private roads,
we can provide
safe,
sustainable,
and
comfortable
experiences
for all riders
now and in the
future."..."
[Read more](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/fear-transit-bad-cities/612979/) Hmmm....Nice,
[watch](https://youtu.be/22ciz5Yr6Pg) / [listen](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-166)
ZoomCast with
Local Motors
CEO Jay
Rodgers'95.
Alain
Fear of Public Transit Got Ahead of the Evidence
J. Sadik-Khan, June 14, “The headline of the report read like the title of a 1950s horror film: “The Subways Seeded the Massive Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City.” As America’s densest city became the epicenter of a national pandemic in March, New York’s subway system, which carried 5.5 million people on an average workday in 2019, emerged as the villain from central casting. Landing in mid-April, the report, written by an MIT economics professor, concluded that New York’s subway system was “a major disseminator—if not the principal transmission vehicle” in the city’s COVID-19 outbreak.
Ominous
articles
citing the
report created
an uproar
during the
opening weeks
of the
pandemic. Some
elected
officials
urged Governor
Andrew Cuomo
to shut down
New York's
transit
system.
Conservative
commentators,
long skeptical
of public
transportation,
seized on the
MIT report as
more evidence
of transit's
unviability.
In recent
months,
public-health
experts in the
United States
have urged
people to
avoid crowds,
enclosed
spaces, and
time spent in
close contact
with
others—each a
feature of a
normally
functioning
transit
system. The
notion that
subways
themselves
were seeding
disease
interrupted
this social
contract and
also played to
long-standing
fears of urban
spaces.... "
[Read more](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/fear-transit-bad-cities/612979/) Hmmm.... All
of this MUST
be taken very
seriously
because
Transportation's
most major
challenge by a
long shot is
ride-sharing.
Essentially
every major
issue..
affordability,
congestion,
the
environment,
energy,... is
caused by the
lack of ride
sharing. In
the past
ride-sharing
has focused on
many people
riding togther
to address the
affordability
challenge
because the
human driver
costs money.
Either lots of
riders each
pitch in to
pay for the
driver, aka
conventional
mass transit,
or enslave
yourself to do
it for free.
Most people
are
willing to do
that only for
themselves.
Doing the
driving for
free is
arguably the
fundamental
basis for the
private
automobile and
it is the
driver's
predisposition
to do it for
free only for
themselves
that creates
the problems
of congestion,
pollution, ...
The other possibility is to have a gizmo do the driving. Rails only do the steering so they aren’t much help by themselves without encasement (keeping other things out of the way). Easy to do in elevators, thus tall buildings became affordable to use. Doable in highly controllable environments like airports where the demand is naturally concentrated.. Also doable when there are many going between few places or underground. The high cost of tunnel construction allows only a few places can be interconnected affordably.
The big opportunity with Driverless is that the gizmo replacing the driver may well become very inexpensive and is NOT fundamentally predisposed to do it only for itself, or one passenger. It doesn’t mind doing it for just two or three, even if that’s all that could readily travel together. Doubling the Average Vehicle Occupancy for all vehicle trips solves the congestion, energy, pollution and affordability challenges of mobility.
Pre-covid19 that predisposition was engendered by social distancing norms that had a chance of being addressed. If there is anything nice that can be said about “9-11” is that it brought New Yorkers closer together. Reduced Social Distancing. Unfortunately Covid-19 has demonized social closeness instead of physical closeness. bans on physical closeness can be lifted as soon as the pandemic ends. The mentality against social closeness may well take very much longer to dissipate. Alain
COVID-19 and Public Transportation: Current Assessment, Prospects, and Research Needs
A. Tirachini, July 2020 “The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge for contemporary public transportation worldwide, resulting from an unprecedented decline in demand and revenue. In this paper, we synthesize the state-of-the-art, up to early June 2020, on key developments regarding public transportation and the COVID-19 pandemic, including the different responses adopted by governments and public transportation agencies around the world, and the research needs pertaining to critical issues that minimize contagion risk in public transportation in the so-called post-lockdown phase. While attempts at adherence to physical distancing (which challenges the very concept of mass public transportation) are looming in several countries, the latest research shows that for closed environments such as public transportation vehicles, the proper use of face masks has significantly reduced the probability of contagion. The economic and social effects of the COVID-19 outbreak in public transportation extend beyond service performance and health risks to financial viability, social equity, and sustainable mobility. …” Read more Hmmm… More on what we’ll need to do moving forward. Thank you Robin Chase and Carlos Pardo. Alain
Editorial JTH 16 –The Coronavirus Disease COVID-19 and implications for transport and health
C.
Musselwhite,
Apr 4,
"...Although
it was found
that the use
of crowded
public
transport
vehicles can
be associated
with the
acquisition of
infectious
diseases, it
can be argued
that these
findings do
not support
the
effectiveness
of suspending
mass urban
transport
systems as a
pandemic
countermeasure
aimed at
reducing or
slowing
population
spread
because,
whatever the
relevance of
public
transport is
to
individual-level
risk,
household
exposure most
likely poses a
greater
threat" ([Williams et al., 2010](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7174824/#bib14);
[Cooley et al., 2011](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7174824/#bib4))...."
[Read more](https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2009&context=jpt) Hmmm...
Thank you Carlos
Pardo.
More from Carlos…
Japan
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/japan-ends-its-covid-19-state-emergency
“Reassuringly, they did not trace any clusters to Japan’s notoriously packed commuter trains. Oshitani says riders are usually alone and not talking to other passengers. And lately, they are all wearing masks. “An infected individual can infect others in such an environment, but it must be rare,” he says. He says Japan would have seen large outbreaks traced to trains if airborne transmission of the virus was possible”
Austria:
(“Out of 297 local clusters, none was related to public transport”)
Singapore: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shreya-gadepalli-9a48591b_lawrence-wong-co-chair-of-singapore-ministerial-activity-6675929081944543232-IxFg
“Lawrence Wong co-chair of Singapore Ministerial Covid19 Task Force: ‘We have evidence that the risk of spreading the virus in gatherings and social interactions is much higher than in public transport where people wear masks, don’t talk and travel in disinfected vehicles for a short time’”
“Sorry for bugging everyone with more info, but this point is crucial: the five key factors that we’ve identified and that we want to publish soon (well, I guess not just we, but at least we have been more insistent in our specific recommendations to public transport) are more useful - no particular order: 1- Cleanliness (which everyone knows already for a while) 2- Wearing a mask (which we all know but few are doing…) 3- Being silent (which, unless you have a friend or are singing for money, isn’t a huge problem in transit) 4- Distancing (we have heard the 6 feet endlessly, but see more below) 5- The ventilation system of the vehicle (which is a huge super technical issue that implies doing aerodynamic analysis etc - I wanted to share some of that but we’re not allowed to yet - but it can be summarized as “open your windows wide and always, and confirm that your AC is very good at “renovating” or otherwise don’t use it)). 6- The duration of the trip (anything after 15 min is problematic)
So when you look at the above, you can already note that the combination of all 5 factors creates a situation where there is little to no contagion (see Japan, Paris trains as described in links below, no contagion associated to their use), but if you are missing one or more it becomes complicated. So in ridesharing you may have leeway because you can open the doors, but in elevators you have to be more careful since air renovation is extremely poor BUT the trip is really short.
I hope that helps. And I hope we can publish some of this soon so that I can share it more officially and better explained. And as you notice, I am very happy expanding my views on the topic!
Carlos.” Thank you Carlos! Alain
First Packages, Then People – Potential Implications of the Amazon-Zoox Deal
K. Pyle, July 21, “Will package delivery via autonomous vehicles provide a path for those people who can least afford mobility, the so-called mobility disadvantaged? Specifically, does Amazon’s purchase of Zoox hint at a world where the world’s largest online seller becomes the low-cost people mover? And, if so, what are the implications for public spaces, the built environment, and human-to-human interaction?…“ Read more Hmmm…. Excellent summary of our latest DriveTheDebate. Thank you Ken. Alain
Tesla stock soars more than 5% after company reports surprise Q2 profit, on track for S&P 500
C. Assis, July 22, “Tesla Inc. stock rose more than 5% late Wednesday after the Silicon Valley car maker reported a second-quarter GAAP and adjusted profit, setting it on a course to join the S&P 500 index and surprising investors as most of the quarter was beset with coronavirus-related stoppages.
Tesla (TSLA) said it earned $104 million, or 50 cents a share, in the quarter, contrasting with a loss of $408 million, or $2.31 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, Tesla earned $2.18 a share, swinging from an adjusted loss of $1.12 a share a year ago. Sales fell 5% to $6.04 billion from $6.35 billion a year ago.
Analysts
polled by
FactSet
expected an
adjusted loss
of 2 cents a
share on sales
of $5.15
billion.
"Demand is not
our problem,"
Chief
Executive Elon
Musk told
analysts on a
conference
call after the
results. Most
of the
challenges,
including some
parts
shortages, are
related to
supply-chain
and production
issues, he
said. "Don't
worry about
demand, that's
not the
issue."..." [Read more](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstocks/tesla-stock-soars-more-than-5-after-company-reports-surprise-q2-profit/ar-BB174cJq?ocid=FinanceShimLayer) Hmmm....
Wow! See
also Fred
Lambert's
take: [T](https://electrek.co/2020/07/22/tesla-tsla-q2-2020-result/)[esla (TSLA) releases Q2 2020 result: delivers profit and crushes expectations](https://electrek.co/2020/07/22/tesla-tsla-q2-2020-result/) Alain
Tesla’s insane stock price makes sense in a market gone mad
Russ Mitchell,
July 22. "Like
a SpaceX
rocket lofting
a Tesla
Roadster into
orbit, Tesla
stock is on a
vertical trip
into outer
space. Since
March, the
electric car
maker's share
price has more
than
quadrupled to
a
mind-boggling
market value
of $290
billion.
That makes
Tesla, which
reported
second-quarter
earnings
Wednesday, the
world's
highest valued
car company —
if far from
the largest.
Of the 90
million cars
sold around
the world in
2019 Tesla
sold 367,000.
Take the two
top-selling
carmakers in
the world,
Toyota and
Volkswagen,
toss in Ford;
the stock
market still
values Tesla
higher than
all three
combined.
On Monday,
Tesla stock
climbed nearly
10%, adding
$26.5 billion
to its market
value in a
single day. It
pulled back
4.5% on
Tuesday, to
$1,568.36 a
share, then
closed up
about 1.5%
Wednesday.
Shares spiked
more than 5%
in after-hours
trading when
Tesla reported
a net
quarterly
profit of $104
million.
Even Jim
Cramer, the
CNBC
personality
who has hyped
Tesla stock
plenty in the
past, is
astounded.
Asked about
Tesla stock on
Twitter on
Monday, he
wrote: "I
don't even
know if it is
a stock. it is
something else
entirely, like
a new species
discovered in
the wild."
Or maybe it's
a more
familiar
beast, only
supercharged.
Tesla's
bewildering
ascent makes
more sense
when you think
of it as a
hyper-exaggerated
product of —
and maybe
metaphor for —
a stock market
that itself
has stopped
making sense,
at least by
conventional
measures...."
[Read more](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-07-22/why-the-stock-market-is-so-high-and-tesla-even-higher) Hmmm.... The
market now has
a New Normal.
See also: [Tesla, posting a crucial profit, unveils Austin factory plan](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-07-22/tesla-earnings-analysis) Alain
California DMV allows AutoX to test autonomous cars without drivers behind the wheel
K. Wiggers, July 17, “The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) today awarded autonomous car startup AutoX a permit authorizing it to test driverless vehicles on streets within a designated part of San Jose. While AutoX has had state authority to pilot vehicles with safety drivers since 2017, the new license allows the company to test one autonomous vehicle without a driver behind the wheel on streets around its San Jose headquarters.
With the
permit — the
third-ever
awarded in
California's
history,
following
issuances to
Waymo and Nuro
— AutoX will
be able to
drive its test
vehicles in
"fair weather
conditions"
and light
precipitation
on streets at
speeds not
exceeding 45
miles per
hour.
Currently, 62
companies have
an active
permit to test
autonomous
vehicles with
a safety
driver.
AutoX, which
recently
launched
robo-taxi
services in
Shenzhen and
Shanghai
involving
fleets as
large as 100
cars, was
founded by
former
Princeton
University
assistant
professor Xiao
Jianxiong, who
also serves as
the company's
CEO. Xiao
launched AutoX
in 2016 with
the goal of
"democratizing"
autonomy
through a
full-stack
system — AI
Driver —
packing
solid-state
lidar sensors, high-definition cameras, and a computer that acts as the brains of the
system. He
often claims
that part of
the company's
secret sauce
is a
custom-designed
control unit
dubbed the
XCU, which
ostensibly
delivers
faster
processing
speed and more
computational
capability
than competing
solutions..
.... " [Read more](https://venturebeat.com/2020/07/17/california-dmv-allows-autox-to-test-autonomous-cars-without-drivers-behind-the-wheel/) Hmmm... Congratulations JianXiong!!
Non-trivial
accomplishment.
Alain
Aurora will test its fleet of self-driving cars and semi trucks in Texas
A. Hawkins,
July 20,
"Aurora, the
startup
founded by
former lead
engineer for
Google's
self-driving
project Chris
Urmson, is
bringing its
fleet of test
vehicles to
Texas. It's
the latest
company to
shift
resources to
the Lone Star
State, which
has quickly
become a
hotbed of
autonomous
vehicle
testing.
Aurora says it
is bringing a
"small" fleet
of vehicles to
the
Dallas-Fort
Worth area
within the
next few
weeks. The
company tests
out its
autonomous
vehicle
hardware and
software in
both Chrysler
Pacifica
minivans —
also popular
with Urmson's
former
employers at
Waymo (née
Google) — and
Class 8
tractor
trailers.
Aurora says
its first
commercial
service will
be in trucking
"where the
market is
largest today,
the unit
economics are
best, and the
level of
service
requirements
is most
accommodating."....
" [Read more](https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/20/21331418/aurora-self-driving-cars-semi-truck-av-texas-robotaxi) Hmmm...
Excellent.
Alain
###
Why some self-driving startups reject Google’s “moonshot” approach
T. Lee, July 21, “Progress on self-driving technology has been slower than many people expected just a few years ago. Google’s Waymo was aiming to launch a fully driverless taxi service by the end of 2018 but missed its deadline. GM’s Cruise abandoned plans to launch a commercial service in 2019. Tesla has repeatedly fallen short of Elon Musk’s optimistic timelines for delivering fully self-driving technology.
This isn't a
crisis for
these
companies.
They have
plenty of cash
and can keep
working on the
problem as
long as they
need to. But
it is a big
challenge for
some of their
competitors:
independent
self-driving
startups that
rely on
venture
capital to
stay afloat.
As the
timeline for
self-driving
technology has
stretched out,
fundraising
has gotten
more
difficult.
"Given the
amount of
resources
required to
develop an
autonomous
vehicle, it
never made
sense to have
dozens of
companies
doing the same
thing," said
Sam
Abuelsamid, an
analyst at
Guidehouse
Insights.
"There was
always going
to be a
shake-out."
...
Some of these smaller startups believe they can bring their products to market at a fraction of the cost of the big guys. Voyage raised $31 million last September. May Mobility raised $22 million in February 2019 and another $50 million in December. Optimus Ride raised “nearly $50 million” last November.” Read more Hmmmm…. . Alain
Autonomous Vehicles, Mobility, and Employment Policy: The Roads Ahead
J. Leonard, July 2020, “Fully autonomous cars, trucks, and buses, able to operate across wide geographical areas with no drivers necessary, would revolutionize ground transportation. The number of accidents and fatalities could drop significantly. Time that people waste stuck in traffic could be recovered for work or leisure. Urban landscapes would change, requiring less parking and improving safety and efficiency for all. New models for the distribution of goods and services—the “physical internet”—would emerge as robotic vehicles move people and objects effortlessly through the world, on demand. …
KEY FINDINGS:
• The
widespread
deployment of
fully
automated
driving
systems that
have no safety
driver onboard
will take at
least a
decade. Winter
climates and
rural areas
will
experience
still longer
transitions.
• Expansion
will likely be
gradual and
will happen
region-by-region
in specific
categories of transportation, resulting in wide variations in availability across the
country. ... "[Read more](https://workofthefuture.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2020-07/WotF-2020-Research-Brief-Leonard-Mindell-Stayton.pdf) Hmmmm.... "Widespread" isn't
defined so the
first bullet
is
"whatever".
The fact is
that we
haven't even
started yet
with the game
changer...
"no safety
driver
onboard"
(except for a
very small
amount of
rides in
Chandler).
Safety improvements
will kick in
for cars that
we all drive
else it is
more of the
same. Alain
Mobileye expands Ford partnership to power driver-assist features
K. Wiggers, July 20, “Mobileye, Intel’s driverless vehicle R&D division, today expanded its partnership with Ford to offer camera-based detection capabilities for the automaker’s advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Mobileye will provide its suite of EyeQ sensing technologies to bolster features available through Ford’s Co-Pilot 360 suite, including lane-keeping, pedestrian and cyclist detection, auto high beam headlamps, pre-collision assist with automatic emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go and lane-centering.
Mobileye's
collaboration
with Ford
isn't new —
the two
companies have
been working
together for
years — but
it's the first
time Ford has
committed to
the company's
solutions for
the lifecycle
of its cars.
Moreover, it
marks the
start of a
Ford pilot to
evaluate
Mobileye's
Roadbook
platform,
which
leverages
anonymized,
crowdsourced
data from
vehicle
cameras to
build a
high-definition
map for
autonomous
navigation and
localization.
Along with its
EyeQ family of
devices,
Mobileye says
it will supply vision-processing software to support level 1 and level 2 driver-assist
systems in
Ford cars
globally as a
part of the
expanded
partnership.
.... " [Read more](https://venturebeat.com/2020/07/20/mobileye-expands-ford-partnership-to-power-driver-assist-features/) Hmmm... Good. Alain
Elon Musk on Tesla Self-Driving: ‘I can almost go from my house to work with no intervention’
F. Lambert,
July 23,"Elon
Musk said that
he is testing
Tesla's latest
alpha built of
its
self-driving
system and
claim that he
can "almost"
go from his
house to work
without
intervention.
...." [Read more](https://electrek.co/2020/07/23/tesla-self-driving-elon-musk-house-to-work/) Hmmmm... Unfortunately, the "almost"
implies that
if Elon stops
paying
attention or
hops in the
back seat, or
therwise
misbehaves he
is likely to
die. Please
don't. We all
love you!
Alain
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
Popular “Shark Tank” Moderated by Richard Mudge
Thursday, July 30
Two Sessions:@ 1pm & 2pm New York Time
Roman""> [DrivingTheDebate Episode 006](https://drivingthedebate.com/) AV
Shark-Tank:
Topic to be announced
August 10 @ 2pm New York Time
to be 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 PodCast Episode 165, ZoomCast Episode165 w/Michael Sena
###
F. Fishkin 16,
"Is the option
to buy a car
at a
dealership
going to
vanish? The
Dispatcher
publisher
Michael Sena
has a
provocative
perspective in
this edition
with
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser
& co-host
Fred Fishkin.
Plus..an
update on the
Amazon Zoox
deal,
autonomous
vehicles and
how they can
help battle
discrimination
in
transportation,
TuSimple,
Mobileye,
Uber, Tesla
and more." ... Alain SmartDrivingCars
[Pod-Cast 164 Episode 164](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-164), [Zoom-Cast Episode 163](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxFEz8tqHJo&feature=youtu.be)
w/Robbie
Diamond
###
F. Fishkin, July 9, “Fostering economic opportunity through autonomous technology is the focus of an upcoming report from Security America’s Future Energy. Founder and CEO Robbie Diamond shares details and more in this edition with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus ..are armed police officers really needed for traffic enforcement? And the latest from Tesla, Waymo and more. …“ … Alain
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 163, Zoom-Cast Episode 163 w/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. .” … Alain
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
Roman""> DrivingTheDebate Episode 004 [Insurance: For or Against SmartDrivingCars?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHlPaNmjeag&feature=youtu.be)
###
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.”
DrivingTheDebate Episode 003 Everyone’s for Connectivity; but… 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.”
###
DrivingTheDebate
Episode 002 [The Future of Public Roadway Transit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sqBZZzezUg) F.
Fishkin, May
14,
"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.”
DrivingTheDebate
Episode 001 [The Driverless "New Normal" Debate](http://zoom-tank.com/) F.
Fishkin, April
27,
-
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, March 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, Mach 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
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 110 - Lance Elliot
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 108 3rd Summit Wrapup
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 106 3rd Summit David Kidd & Cecillia Feeley
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 104 3rd Summit Anil Lewis & Katherine Freund
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 97 - Michael Sena’69
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 71-Nader’55 Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 69 - Chunka Mui
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 65 - Bernard Soriano, CA DMV
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 58-Keith Code,Motorcycles
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 55-Larry Burns, Autonomy
Recent Highlights of:
OEMs Driving
Toward
Relevance or
Perdition
###
M. Sena, August 2020, “Are we ready to be online carscribers? Online new car sales and car subscription programs, now being pursued simultaneously by car OEMs, will either lead the OEMs to endless highways paved with gold or two large dead ends. Each of these approaches to putting customers behind the wheel of a car are aimed at different pain points—real or perceived—in the purchase process. With online sales, the customer is in theory spared the visit to car dealers except. Car subscription programs go one step further. The customer is also decoupled from the dealer and in addition is, in theory, shielded from having to care about most of the responsibilities related to car ownership. Who benefits, who thinks they benefit and who loses, either in the short term or in the long term. Continue reading
Dispatch Central: Battery Electric Vehicle News Continue reading
Musings of a Dispatcher: The Way Forward: We Continue to Wander in the DesertContinue reading
Postscript on
the China
Series: In The disciples of
liberal
democracy
can be
forgiven for
believing that
China would
become one of
them if it was
invited into
the World
Trade
Organization.
It was their
belief—hope—that
more trade
with liberal
democracies
would would
make China a
libral
democracy that
drove the
decision to
open up to
China.
Although [Continue reading](http://www.michaellsena.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/The-Dispatcher_August-2020.pdf)..."
[Read more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ltmk5s3hdpwf6nr/The-Dispatcher_August-2020.pdf?dl=0) Hmmm....
Listen to
PodCast 165 or
watch ZoomCast
165. Alain
Fostering Economic Opportunity through Autonomous Vehicle Technology July 8, “SAFE invites you to join us for the release of “Fostering Economic Opportunity through Autonomous Vehicle Technology”, our new paper that addresses how autonomous vehicles (AVs) and autonomous transit can redress imbalances for low-income communities, whose options are limited by inadequacies in today’s transportation.
To mark the
launch of the
paper, SAFE is
holding a
panel event on
July 16 at
2:00pm ET.
Alisyn Malek,
SAFE, will be
moderating a
conversation
between:
- Courtney
Ehrlichman,
CEO,
Ehrlichman
Group
- Dr. Richard
Ezike, Senior
Policy
Associate, The
Urban
Institute
- Dr. Alain
Kornhauser,
Director of
the Program in Transportation, Princeton University
SAFE would
appreciate you
joining us for
what we expect
will be an
illuminating
discussing on transportation's role in limiting economic opportunities for millions of
Americans, and
how AVs and
autonomous
transit can be
part of the
solutio..." [Read more](https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bUHzsV9BSm-tJkKQ6QVNqg) Hmmm.... [Watch today's PodCast](https://youtu.be/VxFEz8tqHJo) and join
in on July 16. Alain
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
[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
March 29, 2019
Automated vehicles could provide mobility to the ‘mobility disadvantaged’
Market Framework and Outlook for Automated Vehicle Systems
October 24,
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](https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/31/17412908/waymo-chrysler-pacifica-minvan-self-driving-fleet)
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
This list is
maintained by
[Alain Kornhauser](mailto:alaink@princeton.edu)
and hosted by
the [Princeton University](http://lists.princeton.edu)