M. Sena, Feb 23, " ... There is no way to test a car virtually...
OEMs
are still
learning that
that today’s
cars are not
your father’s
Oldsmobile.
Vehicle
connectivity
is not
something that
is tacked onto
a car, like a
battery-operated portable TOMTOM or GARMIN (or CoPilot...Michael,
How could you
forget?... 😁)...navigation
system....
[log in to unmask]" _mf_state="1" title="null" src="cid:[log in to unmask]" width="44" height="44" border="0"> 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. 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.
F.
Fishkin. 23, "Listen
to this
interview,
Watch
this interview.
" Read
more Hmmmm...Very nice!! Alain
A. Hawkins,
Feb. 22,
"Velodyne,
which makes
LIDAR sensors
crucial for
the operation
of autonomous
vehicles, has
removed its
founder, David
Hall, as chair
of the
company’s
board
following an
investigation,
Reuters
reports.
Hall’s wife,
Marta Thoma
Hall, has also
stepped down
as chief
marketing
officer.
The
investigation,
which started
in December
2020,
concluded that
the Halls
“each behaved
inappropriately with regard to Board and Company processes, and failed
to operate
with respect,
honesty,
integrity, and
candor in
their dealings
with Company
officers and
directors,”
the company
said in a
statement. ...
Last summer, Velodyne became the latest mobility technology company to go public via a reverse merger, or SPAC. The company struck a deal to merge with special purpose acquisition company Graf Industrial Corp., with a market value of $1.8 billion." Read more Ouch!!! I really like and respect David and Marta. Not surprising that pioneering entrepreneurs wouldn't blend happily with a SPAC. What a shame. Alain
A. Litvak, Feb. 22, "At the end of 2020, the U.S. rail system reached a milestone decades in the making and seeded by technology developed at North Shore-based Wabtec Corp....
But safety
isn’t the only
thing that can
be improved by
crunching this
much data all
the time. Fuel
savings,
equipment
maintenance
and scheduling
can — and
already do —
benefit from
technology
developed for
positive train
control.
With enough
sensors and
computing
power, it may
be possible to
remove humans
from the
equation
within the
next decade,
Mr. Nalin
predicted.
In fact, full
automation is
the top goal
of a
technology
ladder that
Wabtec has
made part of
its investor
presentation.
At the bottom
is the
foundation on
which it all
rests:
positive train
control, or
PTC...
The Federal
Railroad
Administration
doesn’t
mandate a
two-person
crew in the
cab of a
train. When
legislation
was introduced
to require
that, the
American
Association of
Railroad
opposed it,
arguing it
would stifle
innovation.
Crew size has
traditionally
been a topic
for collective
bargaining
negotiations,
Mr. Rush
said...." Read
more Hmmmm... At some point both
Unions and RR
CEOs will
realize that
the service
opportunities
available from
many
frequent small
consists
between many
rail locations
employs more
members and
yields higher
profits than
what was once
the norm when
a market
existed to run
unit-coal-trains long distances, some of which ran lloaded downhill.
Unfortunately,
those days are
numbered and
railroads may
well need to
pivot to
survive. One
potential
pivot is to
frequent very
short train
services that
can pay for
themselves
only if they
are
engineer-less.
There may well
be such a high
demand for
such services
that
employment
throughout the
railroad
industry would
actually
increase while
the
profitability
of railroads
would be
sustained. What a Country! Alain
Press
release, Feb
26, "Toyota
Motor
Corporation
(Toyota) has
developed a
product that
packages a
fuel cell (FC)
system into a
compact module
and plans to
begin selling
it in the
spring of 2021
or later. The
new module
will be easily
utilized by
companies that
are developing
and
manufacturing
FC products
for wide
variety of
applications,
including
mobility such
as trucks,
buses, trains
and ships, as
well as
stationary
generators
(referred to
hereafter as
"FC product
companies")...."
Read
more Hmmmm... Notice, product list
doesn't
include
cars... It
isn't small.
That's OK,
need to start
somewhere.
Alain
S. Harper,
April 7, 2015,
"...Although
overall MVA
death rates
declined
during this
period,
socioeconomic
differences in
MVA mortality
have persisted
or worsened
over time. ...
" Read
more Hmmmm... Very relevant Alain
K. Iagnemma, Feb, 22, "An Extraordinarily Ordinary Moment: Motional Operates Driverless Vehicles on Public Roads..." Read more Hmmmm... Maybe don't bother Reading more...
Most unfortunately, what Karl doesn't write here is
extraordinary.
NOT what he
claims to have
done operating
cars with
automated
driving
technology on
public roads.
What he
doesn't write
is that there
were
attendants in
each ready to
"disengage"
the automated
driver should
something go
wrong or seem
on the verge
of going
wrong. Many
have operated
and continue
to operate
"Driverless
vehicles on
public roads"
in this manner
(with well-trained
professional
attendants
on-board
overseeing the
operation).
Consequently, the only thing "Extraordinary" about this
is the
deliberate
misrepresentation
of Motional's
Operation in
Las Vegas.
Had Motional really operated without on-board
attendants,
Karl would
have praised
the
achievement as
unleashing the
opportunity to
provide
high-quality
affordable
mobility to
all who live
in Las Vegas
and
elsewhere.
Rather he promotes Safety (and doesn't do that very well. Driverless technology can dramatically reduce human misbehavior.)
Driverless technology will struggle to be
better than a
well-trained,
professional
driver that
strictly
adheres to the
rules of the
road. It has
likely no
chance of
being safer
than
driverless
technology
overseen by an
alert
well-trained
professional
driver.
Un-supervised driverless technology can be
"extraordinary"
in delivering
is
high-quality,
affordable
mobility to
"ordinary"
people. Once
Karl does this
on some public
roads then it
will really be
worth Reading
more.
Sorry to be so harsh, but we don't need another "Elon
Musk"
egregiously
over-representing
the
capabilities
of their
consumer
products for
their own
personal
gain. See
also
Andrew
Hawkin's
take and
Timothy
Lee's on
this. Alain
L.
Elliot,Feb 23,
"Suppose you
could develop
an AI
application
without having
to lift a
finger.
To some degree
that is the
goal of
Automated
Machine
Learning,
known as
AutoML, which
consists of an
automated
means to build
on your behalf
a Machine
Learning
application,
requiring
minimal
by-hand effort
on your
part." ... Hopefully that isn't the goal
for the
obvious
reasons unless
a free lunch
comes with
it...
moving along... "... Perhaps in college, you had to do a multiple regression" ... If AutoML is like this, then we are really in trouble!..."
... An AI application based on a sour or poorly crafted ML core can contain inherent biases"... Not only do we all know with any process: Garbage in yields Garbage out, and a garbageProcess yields Garbage with Flawless in and Garbage square with Garbage in." ...
...Understanding
The Levels Of
Self-Driving
Cars....
There is not
yet a true
self-driving
car at Level
5, which we
don’t yet even
know if this
will be
possible to
achieve, and
nor how long
it will take
to get there.." .. Perfect (or close enough...
of course we
don't yet have
something that
we don't know
is
possible.)...
". Read
more Hmmmm... All these terms...
Artificial
Intelligence,
Machine
Learning,
AutoML are all
self-aggrandizing. There is No AI, Machines don't learn and thoughts of
them learning
all by
themselves is
preposterous.
All of this is
really serious
and has the
opportunity to
deliver real
value to
society. It
is really hard
to do any of
this well, let
alone really
well. I'm of
the opinion
that tossing
these terms
around doesn't
help, except
our own
narcissistic
needs. Alain
S. Solomon, Feb. 25, "Fleets of autonomous 16-passenger vehicles for public transportation to roll out first in France, then rest of Europe, then beyond.
Intel
Corp’s
Mobileye, a
Jerusalem-based
maker of
self-driving
technologies,
has set up a
strategic
collaboration
with two
French-based
firms to
jointly
develop and
deploy
commercial
autonomous
shuttles for
public
transportation
services in
Europe in 2023
and then
globally.
The agreement
is with
France’s Transdev
Autonomous
Transport
System
(ATS), part of
the Transdev
Group, a
private-sector
public-transport operator, and the Lohr Group, a maker of car-transport
and other
vehicles. The
companies will
integrate
Mobileye’s
self-driving
system into
the i-Cristal
electric
shuttle,
manufactured
by Lohr Group,
with plans to
integrate it
into public
transportation
services
powered by
fleets of
self-driving
shuttles
across the
globe,
starting in
Europe...." Read
more Hmmmm... Good luck!!! 16
passenger ...
chances these
will be
driverless/attendantless
is
"zero-to-none".
Likely
relegated to
"private
facilities/roads,
thus unlikely
to gain any
traction.
Sounds like
another
unaffordable
public
mobility
system for a
mostly
non-existent
market. Alain
W.
Trinkwon, Feb
22, "..." Read
more Hmmmm... NO!!! Don't
bother reading
this.
Automated
highways were
wrong in 1939,
wrong again i
the 1970s,
1980s and
1990s.
Call it the "Kornhauser Law of Transportation" or
whatever you
want to call
it...
"Intelligence"
needs to be in
the vehicles.
The ways
(roadways in
this case)
need to be a
simple, "dumb"
and as cheap
as possible to
build and
maintain...
consider air
transportation...
air is
the "way",
consider
maritime... water
is the
"way",
consider
railroads... A
couple of
pieces of
metal, some
wood and
gravel
is the "way",
consider
pipelines, a pipe
is the "way", and finally
roadways.. a
reasonably
smooth hard
surface with
some paint
is the "way".
We can barely
afford o keep
the hard
surface
somewhat
smooth and the
paint
situation is
really bad.
There is zero
money
available to
pay for and
maintain a lot
of gizmos
along it to
make it
"intelligent".
Note above,
the word
"connected"
seems to have
disappeared
from the
Washington
lexicon. We
were closer qt
the 1939
World's Fair.
Alain
These
editions are
sponsored by
the SmartETFs
Smart
Transportation
and Technology
ETF, symbol
MOTO. For more
information
head to www.motoetf.com
F. Fishkin,
Nov 25, "What
you should
know about
electric cars,
climate change
and more. The
Dispatcher
publisher
Michael Sena
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin in an
eye opening
edition of
Smart Driving
Cars.."
F. Fishkin, Nov 24, "When it comes to active driver assistance systems, what works and what needs improvement? Some answers from Kelly Funkhouser… program manager for vehicle interface, head of connected and automated vehicles at Consumer Reports. She joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for episode 186 of Smart Driving Cars."
F. Fishkin, July 20, "Is Driverless home delivery the fastest route to Affordable Mobility for the Mobility Disadvantaged? ... "
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.
."
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 ..."
M.
Scribner, Feb.
11,
"“Automated
vehicle
technology is
coming; it’s
advancing very
quickly,” said
now-confirmed
Secretary of
Transportation
Pete Buttigieg
during his
confirmation
hearing. “It
is something
that holds the
potential to
be
transformative
and I think in
many ways
policy has not
kept up.”
Secretary
Buttigieg is
absolutely
correct. The
U.S.
Department of
Transportation, specifically the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration
division, has
a number of
tools at its
disposal that
can be used to
modernize the
federal
regulatory
environment to
help speed the
deployment of
automated
vehicle
technologies
that can
greatly
enhance
safety,
mobility, and
access for all
Americans.
There is also
an important
role for
Congress,
especially at
this early
stage of
automated
vehicle
development.
To support
reform efforts
within the
executive and
legislative
branches, my
new Reason
Foundation
policy brief,
Challenges
and
Opportunities
for Federal
Automated
Vehicle Policy,
lays out
several steps
policymakers
can take to
adapt the
automotive
regulatory
apparatus to
automated
driving system
technologies.
The brief is
broken into
three main
sections:
defining
automated
vehicles, a
survey of
current
federal
automated
vehicle policy
development
activities,
and
recommendations
for federal
policymakers.
G.
Laniewki, Jan
26.
"Ride-hailing
apps (Uber and
Lyft) have
long been
criticized for
their
inability to
generate
profit—
especially
now, since
they have been
one of the
hardest hit by
the pandemic1.
It seems that
the viability
of their
businesses
relies heavily
on automation,
eliminating
drivers to cut
their largest
cost and
hopefully
generating
profit.2 This
hail-mary
strategy rests
on that idea
that
autonomous
driving will
become a
valuable
industry—where
some have
estimated to
be worth as
much as $1.5
trillion3—and
any pioneering
company would
have a
non-nominal
market
penetration in
it.
With that
being said,
there is a
need for
research that
analyzes the
viability of
autonomous
ridesharing
while it’s
in its
infancy. Our
approach is
simulation-based
and is built
from a
foundation of
work from
previous
courses:..."
Read
more Hmmmm... Very nice Nation-wide
investigation
by my students
this past
Fall. Alain
E.
Chao, Jan.
2021, "The
Automated
Vehicles
Comprehensive
Plan
(Comprehensive
Plan)
describes how
the United
States
Department of
Transportation
(U.S. DOT) is
supporting the
safe
integration of
Automated
Driving
Systems (ADS)2
into the
surface
transportation
system. It
explains
Departmental
goals related
to ADS,
identifies
actions being
taken to meet
those goals,
and provides
real-world
examples of
how these
Departmental
actions relate
to emerging
ADS
applications...
" Read
more Hmmmm... I guess this is a good
plan. Of
course, Safety
is #1, as it
should be.
DoT's #1
public
responsibility
is Safety.
Whether Cyber
Security and
Privacy are #
2 and 3 and
ahead of
Enhanced
Mobility and
Accessibility
is certainly
debatable.
And if the Enhanced
Mobility and
Accessibility
of the
"mobility
disadvantaged
that have been
left behind by
our current
favored
transport
system" were
to be a
category, then
that one
should be
right behind
Safety at #2
if not ahead
of Safety and
a solid #1.
The rest. as
they should,
are
appropriately
details. What
is most
disconcerting
about the
report are the
images. To me,
those images
depict the
current
"haves", not
"have-nots"
and thus don't
really address
the mobility
needs and
desires of
those whose
quality-of-life
could be most
enhanced by
automation
technology.
These images
seem to focus
the Plan on
giving those
that already
have pretty
good ways to
get around,
yet another
way to get
around, where,
when you
finally get
right down to
it, may at
best be only
slightly
better than
what they
already have.
This
Comprehensive
Plan should
first be
focused on
providing
high-quality
affordable
mobility to
those whose
quality-of-life
could be most
improved by
such new
technologies
and
subsequently
serve those
that already
enjoy and can
afford other
high-quality
forms of
mobility.
Also, Elaine, thank you for a really good 4 years. You (and USDoT) were really the star of what was otherwise a most embarrassing Presidency. Also, thanks to Diana Furchtgott-Roth and many others in US DoT. Alain
C.
Isidore, Dec
17, "Automatic
braking, once
a feature
available
exclusively to
high-end cars,
is becoming
common across
the industry,
according to
analysis from
Consumer
Reports and
the Insurance
Institute for
Highway
Safety.
But the
industry has
some notable
exceptions,
including
General Motors
(GM) and Fiat
Chrysler
(FCAU), which
badly trail
rivals in
offering
automatic
braking as
standard
equipment,
according to
the safety
groups.
Automatic
braking uses
sensors to
apply brakes
when a vehicle
ahead is
stopped, and
the car's
onboard
computer can
avoid or
lessen the
impact of an
accident. It's
an
increasingly
popular
feature with
car buyers.
Many
automakers are
emphasizing
the feature in
their
advertising
and sales
pitches.
Four
higher-end
brands already
had the
feature on 99%
or better of
their vehicles
before this
past year:
Audi,
Mercedes-Benz,
Volvo and
Tesla (TSLA).
Six more have
the feature on
at least 96%
of the
vehicles they
sold in the
United States
between
September 2019
and September
2020: BMW,
Hyundai,
Mazda, Subaru,
Toyota (TM)
and Volkswagen
(VLKAF). Three
more
automakers
 Ford
(F), Honda
(HMC) and
Nissan
(NSANF), had
automatic
braking on
more than 90%
of their US
vehicles....
" Read
more Hmmmm... Set up for the 3rd
session of the
SDC Summit.
Alain
D. Shapiro,
Dec. 17, "When
it comes to
future
mobility, you
may not have
to pave as
many paradises
for personal
car parking
lots.
This week,
autonomous
mobility
company Zoox
unveiled its
much-anticipated
purpose-built
robotaxi.
Designed for
everyday urban
mobility, the
vehicle is
powered by
NVIDIA and is
one of the
first level 5
robotaxis
featuring
bi-directional
capabilities,
providing a
concrete view
into the next
generation of
intelligent
transportation...."
Read
more Hmmmm... Watch Zoom-Cast 192.
Alain
C. Metz
& K.
Conger, Dec 7,
"Uber, which
spent hundreds
of millions of
dollars on a
self-driving
car project
that
executives
once believed
was a key to
becoming
profitable, is
handing the
autonomous
vehicle effort
over to a
Silicon Valley
start-up, the
companies said
on Monday.
Uber will also
invest $400
million in the
start-up,
called Aurora,
so it is
essentially
paying the
company to
take over the
autonomous car
operation,
which had
become a
financial and
legal
headache. Uber
is likely to
license
whatever
technology
Aurora manages
to create.
The deal
amounts to a
fire-sale end
to a
high-profile
but
star-crossed
effort to
replace
Uber’s
human drivers
with machines
that could
drive on their
own. It is
also
indicative of
the challenges
facing other
autonomous
vehicle
projects,
which have
received
billions in
investments
from Silicon
Valley and
automakers but
have not
produced the
fleets of
robotic
vehicles some
thought would
be on the
streets by
now...." Read
more Hmmmm... Actually a good
article.
Alain
S. Wilmot,
Nov 30,
"Nikola Corp.
NKLA 0.76%
isn't turning
out to be the
next Tesla
that investors
and were
hoping for.
The
electric-vehicle
startup put
its
eye-catching
“Badgerâ€ÂÂ
pickup-truck
project on ice
Monday as part
of a radically
shrunken
version of its
deal with GM.
All that is
left of the
original
agreement
signed in
September is a
plan for GM to
supply Nikola
with fuel-cell
technology for
U.S. big rigs.
Detroit's
biggest auto
maker had
planned to
take an equity
stake in
Nikola in
exchange for
building the
Badger under
contract. But
the deal has
been in doubt
almost from
the start
after a
hedge-fund
report
detailed the
limitations of
Nikola's
technology,
leading to the
resignation of
founder Trevor
Milton.
GM won't sell
Nikola fuel
cells soon.
For all its
fanfare about
hydrogen, the
startup is
currently
focused on
battery-powered
versions of
its first
electric
truck, theTre,
It hopes to
start
full-scale
production in
the fourth
quarter of
next year in
Germany and in
early 2022 in
Coolidge,
Ariz. Hydrogen
trucks won't
come before
2023, and in
Europe Nikola
is using Bosch
as its
fuel-cell
supplier.
..." Read
more Hmmmm... Lessons for many in this
endeavor. See
also Andrew
Hawkin's take
as well as David
Morris'.
Alain
N, Webb,
Oct. 30, "As
the world's
most
experienced
developer of
automated
driving
systems, Waymo
has extensive
experience in
developing and
applying
state-of-the-art
safety
methodologies.
Waymo's
methodologies
help implement
Waymo's
forward-looking safety philosophy: Waymo will reduce traffic injuries
and fatalities
by driving
safely and
responsibly,
and will
carefully
manage risk as
we scale our
operations.
Waymo's safety
methodologies,
which draw on
well
established
engineering
processes and
address new
safety
challenges
specific to
Automated
Vehicle
technology,
provide a firm
foundation for
safe
deployment of
our Level 4
ADS, which we
also refer to
as the Waymo
Driver.
Waymo's
determination
of its
readiness to
deploy its AVs
safely in
different
settings rests
on that firm
foundation and
on a thorough
analysis of
risks specific
to a
particular
Operational
Design Domain
)...." Read
more Hmmmm... The process. Must
read! Alain
M. Schwall, Oct. 30, "Waymo's mission to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities and improve mobility for all has led us to expand deployment of automated vehicles (AVs) on public roads without a human driver behind the wheel. As part of this process, Waymo is committed to providing the public with informative and relevant data regarding the demonstrated safety of Waymo's automated driving system (ADS), which we call the Waymo Driver...." Read more Hmmmm... The substance. Must read! ...
I had the priveledge of reviewing Waymo's most recent
Safety
Reports 1 , 2 (above)
In the past, safety reports by the AV community have
largely been a
response to
NHTSA'¢s Voluntary
Safety
Self-Assessments and
have, in my
opinion, been
largely public
relations
documents.
While
generally
descriptive
about the
testing
processes they
contain very
little, if
any,
substantive
information
about their safety
related experience
to-date
focused
exclusively on
driverless
operation.
Safe driverless operation is absolutely necessary for
AVs to evolve
from extremely
expensive
chauffeured
rides to
affordable
mobility
available to
essentially
anyone
throughout an
Operational
Design Domain
(ODD).
Affordability
requires that
the mobility
be delivered
without a
driver or
attendant
on-board the
vehicle. Only
passengers.
The decision to remove the driver/attendant rests in
part on the
shoulders of
public safety
regulators who
need to allow
such
operation, but
more
importantly,
on the
shoulders of
the real
decision
makers at the
AV company.
In the end, it
is those AV
company
decision
makers who
will be held
fully
responsible
for any lapse
in the safety
of the
driverless
operation.
These decision
makers are
inside the AV
companies and
are, of
course, privy
to all the
details and
substance
about their
own safety
related
driverless
operation,
which, in the
past, has not
been shared in
their
Voluntary
Safety
Self-assessments.
My impression is that these just released Waymo Safety
Reports
contain the
substantive
information
that clearly
depicts
Waymo's
safety-related
driverless
operational
experience.
To me, they
read like
internal
documents
meant to guide
and inform
internal
decision
makers to
objectively
decide if a
sufficiently
safe
operational
experience has
been achieved
in order to
vote to fully
accept the
safety
responsibility
of driverless
operation in
their
Operational
Design
Domain.
Given the information that is contained in these
documents, it
does not
surprise me
that Waymo
decision
makers have
decided to
proceed with
driverless
operation in
the Phoenix
Operational
Design Domain.
Had I had the
responsibility
of being one
of the
decision
makers
reviewing
these
documents, I
would have
also voted
yes.
Alain
Staff,
Oct. 2020 "On
this page you
will find the
gradings of
cars tested by
Euro NCAP on
automated
driving
technologies.
For its 2020
assessment of
Highway Assist
systems, Euro
NCAP has
developed
dedicated test
and assessment
protocols,
divided into
two main
areas:
Assistance
Competence,
based on the
balance
between Driver
Engagement and
Vehicle
Assistance,
and Safety
Backup...." Read
more Hmmmm....Look carefully at each
component of
the rating
system. NCAP
has chosen one
algorithmic
way of "adding
apples and
oranges" to
get their
rating.
Unfortunately
they don't
divulge the
secret
formula. To
me, it doesn't
seem to be
sufficiently
iweighted on
what I
consider to be
the most
important
element...
"Collision
Avoidance".
If the system
doesn't do
that well,
then why
bother being
good at
Consumer
Information
(unless that
information
says clearly
that the
system doesn't
work well".
If NCAP itself did a good job of
Consumer
Information
then it would
divulge its
algorithm and
allow the
consumer to
edit its
weights to
trade-off what
the consumer
believes is
more or less
important.
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 EyeSight is 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
Oct 16, Establishes
fully
autonomous
vehicle pilot
program A4573 Sponsors:
Zwicker (D16);
Benson (D14)
Oct 16, Establishes New
Jersey
Advanced
Autonomous
Vehicle Task
Force AJR164Sponsors:
Benson (D14);
Zwicker (D16);
Lampitt (D6)
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 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".
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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