2021-05-09
rgb(51, 51, May 8, 2021
blue;
text-decoration:
blue;
text-decoration:
none;">18th
edition of the
9th year of
SmartDrivingCars
eLetter
###
Why has’t Waymo expanded its driverless service? Here’s my theory
###
T. Lee, May 7,
"Suburban
ride-hailing
is a lousy
business to be
in.
Last October, Waymo did something remarkable: the company launched a fully driverless commercial taxi service called Waymo One. Customers in a 50-square-mile corner of suburban Phoenix can now use their smartphones to hail a Chrysler Pacifica minivan with no one in the driver’s seat.
And then...
nothing. Seven
months later,
Waymo has
neither
expanded the
footprint of
the Phoenix
service nor
has it
announced a
timeline for
launching in a
second city.
It's as if
Steve Jobs had
unveiled the
iPhone,
shipped a few
thousand
phones to an
Apple Store in
Phoenix, and
then didn't
ship any more
for months—and
wouldn't
explain why.
Last Friday,
two Waymo
employees [participated in an "ask me anything" thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfDrivingCars/comments/n031vq/you_voted_and_were_excited_to_chat_about_waymo/)
on the
SelfDrivingCars
subreddit, a
watering hole
for
self-driving
industry
insiders.
Questions
about
expansion
plans
dominated the
conversation.
"How are you
going to
scale?" one
redditor
asked. "What
are the
impediments to
service
expansion at
this time?"
The Waymonauts
responded with
maddening
generalities.
"We feel the
same urgency
to scale
quickly that
others do, but
a ton of work
goes into
doing it
safely," wrote
Waymo's Sam
Kansara." [Read more](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/05/why-hasnt-waymo-expanded-its-driverless-service-heres-my-theory/) Hmmmm... Not at all surprising.
Can you
imagine trying
to be better
than one's own
Land Rover or
Porsche in car
country. That
is a heavy
lift. Making
it heavier is
the focus on
today's most
entitled
yuppies.
That's as bad
as the
original focus
of driverless
cars on
1%ers. Waymos
are pure and
simple
mobility
machines to
get you
from/to places
horizontally,
just as
elevators do
vertically ...
just get you
up to the "8th
floor". Why
are elevators
so successful
at what they
do?... Second
best is the
stairwell!
They win all
the time,
hands down.
In Chandler, the “stairwell” is your car parked in your garage. You don’t even have to go outside in all that heat. Waymo’s got to be really good to beat that! Waymo might end up getting close to that good, but in the beginning chances “slim-to-none”. Not that the car in the garage doesn’t have an enormous amount of “excess baggage”. Everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten about it. When even with all of its LiDars, radars and deepLearning, whereas the car with the Mad Men fantasies is way more than half full and your go-to mobility is your car. Your car allowed you to consider the Chandlers of this world as a place whee you want to live. That’s a challenging market place for Waymo. It’s worse than Bing v Google
A better place for Waymo ( or Ford/Argo or GM/cruise) the place to start is to focus on a market where they can easily deliver better service. The obvious market is to provide Waymo mobility to concentrations of households that have zero or only one car. Folks that have been left behind by the automobile and don’t have access to one. Those that have been relegated to take the staircase thereby not even having the opportunity to reach “the eighth floor”; which, once they can using Waymo, would substantially improve their lives. They might in fact appreciate Waymo right out of the box.
Manhattan is one such place, but it has a great subway and safely driving its roads is enormously challenging, so that’s arguably the last place for Waymo to go. However, the census identifies many communities and “inner suburbs” that have substantial densities of zero and one-car household. For example: Trenton New Jersey. Waymo would be the obvious mobility choice. Numerous Trenton residents would readily perceive Waymo as the “Google” in their trip mode-choice.
Another note… trying to sell Waymo technology on its ability to improve safety is a fool’s gambit. Since Waymos don’t misbehave, it is “easy” to make them safer, but that argument is hard to get across Misbehaviors are core to the fantasies of driving and are thus excused and forgotten about. Alain
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 212, Zoom-Cast Episode 212
w/Ken Pyle
F. Fishkin, May 8 , “Where does Waymo go from here? Is GM really going to market personal autonomous vehicles? Viodi View managing editor Ken Pyle joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser & co-host Fred Fishkin for a look at those issues plus Volkswagen, Tesla, Argo and more.
" Alexa, play the
Smart Driving
Cars podcast!".
Ditto with Siri,
and GooglePlay
...
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.
You voted, and we’re excited to chat about Waymo One this Friday - Ask Us Anything!
Waymo, April 29, “Hey Reddit, we’re Lety Cavalcante and Sam Kansara, excited to hear your questions about our rider-only service, Waymo One!..” Read more Hmmmm… Read for yourself the questions and responses. Nothing surprising and nothing really new. About all that can be said when one is struggling to be as safe as possible while getting something to work.
They are in the right place to get the technology to work someplace. They’re in the wrong market to demonstrate its ability to make a difference. Alain
Valley Metro – Waymo AV Mobility-on-Demand (MOD) Project: Experience from a Real-World Pilot Demonstration:
K. Pyle,May 8, “Overall Impressions from Ken Pyle…
Waymo reinforced their reasons for
1. Improve
safety
2. Open up
access to
transportation
for more
people,
particularly
those with low
income.
3. A greener
future is what
autonomous
mobility
promises
(fewer
vehicles, less
downtime)..."
Read more Hmmmm… Thank you Ken. Interesting that “improved safety” is Waymo’s #1 objective and not what they list as an “after thought” on their #2 (Open up access to transportation for more people, particularly those with low income.). Seems as if they are catering to US DoT (improving safety) rather than to those that could really benefit from the mobility service that they are trying to deliver (getting people to places they can’t get to when the people want to get there (because a bus doesn’t go there then (which is most places at most times)). I suggest they rehearse saying:
1. Provide safe, high-quality, affordable, on-demand mobility to those that don’t have access to their own car.
If they really want to be honest about how they would prioritize the service, should a capacity constraint be encountered, they could also think, but not say out loud:
2. Those that do have access to their own car are “welcomed to use this mobility service on an as available basis.”
Alain
The Problematic Equity Case for Mass Transit
M. Scribner, May 7, “Recently, a number of politicians and activists have raised the subject of highway construction’s historically disparate impact on African Americans and other minorities. The problem then and today is less about any particular type of project and more about the government’s expansive power to seize private property. But the misapprehension of the core problem by some politicians and activists has led them to propose ineffective transportation policy responses. One of the most popular proposals involves portraying mass transit as an important tool to enhance social equity, but a large body of research suggests something quite different: access to private automobiles—not transit—is a powerful social equalizer…. “ Read more Hmmmm… That may well be true; however, a better social equalizer may be the support/leadership to create a mobility system that provides mobility that is comparable to the mobility provided by the private automobile. It is not the private automobile that is the desirable commodity that creates a level quality-of-life playing field. It is the mobility that the private automobile has delivered that has completely tilted the quality-of-life playing field.
By delivering comparable mobility, one goes a long way to delivering comparable quality-of-life and leveling that playing field.
Moreover, the private aspect is really a net minus for the conventional automobile. The Mad Men needed to push that aspect because the conventional car’s business model can’t afford to pay for the labor needed to drive them to deliver their fantastic mobility. Since the business case couldn’t afford a paid driver, they had to create an aura and fantasies that driving them was fun, desirable and you’d better want to d it for yourself without being paid for it. That’s what has motivated the private aspects. But as we’ve learned from the pandemic, we fundamentally don’t like being quarantined at home and, if not manipulated by those on Madison Avenue, we likely don’t fundamentally like being quarantined in a car and forced to drive it. (Note how the comfort and convenience features of driver assistance has become to Tesla and now all the other OEM). Also, having them private just reeks havoc on efficient capitalization, utilization and efforts to save the planet.
My point is, The problem with Transit is that because it has to pay for a driver, it can only offer services where there are masses over which to distribute its labor cost. Consequently, it can only operate between few points, at few times, when there is enough aggregation of captive demand that is can pay to have the “cars, aka:trains, buses, shuttles, …” driven by professionals. Conventional Mass Transit is hopeless at providing non-mass mobility.
Unfortunately, many folks don’t wish to live being “packed into a sardine can” yielding insufficient “Mass” for Mass Transit. What is needed is Mass-less Transit that can deliver affordable mobility from near where people want to travel from/to at about the time they want to travel. Something close to what the private automobile delivers to those so fortunate to have one and be willing and able to drive it for free.
Of course the answer is Shareable autonomousTaxi Networks (SANs)as we’ve proposed for Trenton, NJ as well as several other communities. That is Affordable Mass-less Transit Alain
GM CEO Mary Barra wants to sell personal autonomous vehicles using Cruise’s self-driving tech by 2030
K. Korosec, May 5, “GM CEO Mary Barra sees the automaker selling personal autonomous vehicles by the end of the decade by leveraging technology from its self-driving subsidiary Cruise, according to comments made during the company’s Wednesday earnings call.
Barra wasn't
providing any
specifics just
yet, but
instead laid
out a vision
for the
automaker's
future and how
its stake in
Cruise and its
own internal
effort to
further
develop its
advanced
driver
assistance
system Super
Cruise might
evolve over
the next nine
years.
"I've always
said we have
kind of a
revolutionary
and an
evolutionary
strategy
around driver
assistance all
the way to
full Level 4,
Level 5
autonomy," she
said,
referring to
automation
levels
designated by
the SAE
International...."
[Read more](https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/05/gm-ceo-mary-barra-wants-to-sell-personal-autonomous-vehicles-using-cruises-self-driving-tech-by-2030/) Hmmmm... I hope that Mary realizes
that if she
sells a "Level
5" she has
implicitly
accepted
responsibility
that this
"Level 5 car"
will drive
itself everywhere
without
crashing. If
it crashes,
she picks up
the tab!
No lawyer, accountant, stock holder or spouse is going to let her do that. One of the fundamental beauties of the “car business” is that once the dealer sells it, it becomes the buyer’s headache if something bad happens (except for very few instances). Alain
Volkswagen says it can profitably sell a self-driving system for €7 an hour
J. Klender,
May 7,
"Volkswagen is
claiming that
it can
profitably
sell a
self-driving
system to
owners of its
vehicles, and
it will sell
it for as
little as €7
an hour.
After pledging
to transition
to a lineup of
fully electric
cars in 2017,
VW has been
working
steadily on
perfecting
this system,
which handles
the
responsibility
of
consolidating
electric
controls and
reducing
microprocessors,
a strategy
that would
advance the
company's
driver-assistance technologies...
In an
interview with
TopGear,
Volkswagen's
Klaus Zellmer
says that the
automaker is
planning to
build every
vehicle it has
with all the
bells and
whistles, and
customers can
then "lease"
each feature
from VW, not
locking them
into a massive
purchase or
extensive
program with a
bulky initial
cost.
One of the ways it plans to do this is to introduce Over-the-Air software updates, which Volkswagen promised to make available to customers later this year.
"Over the air
allows access
to a car's
operating
system. The
interesting
aspect is
functions
on-demand,"
Zellmer said
in an
interview. "If
you happened
to buy a car
and weren't
convinced you
needed an
autonomous
drive mode at
the time, but
then you
decide you'd
love to have
it, we can
switch it on,
but we can
then switch it
off if the
next owner of
the car
decides they
don't need
it."
What's even
more
interesting is
Zellmer says
that
Volkswagen can
charge as
little as €7
an hour for a
Level 4
Autonomous
drive
mode...." [Read more](https://www.teslarati.com/volkswagen-profitable-self-driving-system/) Hmmmm... "Level 4" !? No way!!!
That means
hands--off,
feet-off and
eyes-off, if
not also
Butt-out. Insurance
to cover any
Level 4
may end up
costing €7
per hour all
by itself.
On average a car is used around 14,000 miles per year. This system will likely be used only when the car is averaging about 70mph. If half of a car’s life is spent at 70mph, that means that the system might be used for about 100 hours per year; thus, providing about €700/carYear. Given that cruise control is today likely not used to that extent, this €7/hour profitability hurdle claim seems very Elonish… unrealistically optimistic.
The software download is essentially a zero cost item at scale. The sensors, actuators and processors are all up-front, fixed-cost items that need to be included in every car, even those that will never acquire even one hour of “Level 4”. I must have missed something very basic somewhere.
If VW can do “Level 4 throughout the Mercer County’s Operational Design Domain at €7/hour, that is half of “minimum wage”. I’ll sign a contract right now to buy all that VW can build and put them in shared-ride, on-demand mobility throughout Trenton and rolling out in Mercer County, Central Jersey , all of New Jersey and the whole the NorthEast Corridor (except Manhattan 😁). Please call me. Alain
Recommendations for the Security of Connected and Automated Mobility
Staff, May 2021, “…The aim of this report is to provide a high-level overview of the cybersecurity challenges in the CAM sector and to highlight both the concerned CAM actors and associated recommendations. Cybersecurity in the CAM ecosystem is partially standardised and the role of standards is widely recognised. All stakeholders’ contributions to the CAM ecosystem are intertwined. Standards and regulations are often not adopted uniformly worldwide, and therefore some countries may advance faster than others in building a safe and secure cybersecurity system around CAM infrastructure. In the context of growing cybersecurity threats and concerns about cybersecurity and data protection, this report aims to identify the main challenges in the current situation and to propose actionable recommendations for the different stakeholders involved in the CAM ecosystem to enhance the level of security and resilience of CAM infrastructures and systems in Europe…“ Read more Hmmmm…Mandatory reading. Alain
THE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE WORLD IS SHRINKING — IT’S OVERDUE
A. Hawkins, May 7, “After years of positive vibes about the future of autonomous vehicles and nearly unrestricted access to cash from Kool-Aid-drunk venture capitalists, the AV industry is confronting some hard truths. The first is that autonomous vehicles are going to take a lot longer to reach mass scale than previously thought. The second is that it’s going to be a lot more expensive, too. And the third hard truth: going it alone is no longer a viable option.
Last week, [Lyft sold its self-driving car division to a subsidiary of Toyota](https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/26/22404406/toyota-lyft-autonomous-vehicle-acquisition-amount-deal) for
$550 million.
[Cruise bought Voyage](https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/15/22331794/cruise-acquires-voyage-self-driving-car-merger). [Aurora merged with Uber's autonomous vehicle unit](https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/7/22158745/uber-selling-autonomous-vehicle-business-aurora-innovation).
[Delivery robot startup Nuro acquired self-driving truck outfit Ike](https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/23/nuro-acquires-autonomous-trucking-startup-ike/). There
have been so
many mergers,
joint
ventures, and
various
tie-ups lately
it can be
difficult to
keep them all
straight.
Where that
leaves things
is a little
unclear. There
is still money
flowing to
these
companies, and
nearly all of
the
executives,
engineers, and
software
developers
working on the
technology
remain bullish
about the
future. But
there is a
growing sense
among experts
and investors
that the heady
days when
anyone with a
couple of test
vehicles, some
LIDAR, and a
vision for the
future could
launch a
startup are at
an end. And
there will
definitely be
more shrinkage
to come.
"The
consolidation
is long
overdue," said
Raj Rajkumar,
robotics
professor at
Carnegie
Mellon
University.
"The AV
industry has
promised too
much for too
long, and has
delivered too
little." [Read more](https://www.theverge.com/22423489/autonomous-vehicle-consolidation-acquisition-lyft-uber) Hmmmm... Yup!. So far most of the
revenue is
from
Safe-driving
and
Self-Driving.
Driverless
revenue is
still
essentially at
zero.
However,
Driverless
deserves some
halo -effect
revenue
because had
Elon not
created the
halo that
autoPilot was
Driverless, he
may not have
sold nearly as
many Teslas
and maybe
almost no
autoPilot. He
certainly
would not have
sold any
FSDs...
(which are
Self-driving
and NOT
Driverless.).
Alain
Issues in Autonomous Vehicle Testing and Deployment
B. Canis, Updated April 23, “Autonomous vehicles have the potential to bring major improvements in highway safety. Motor vehicle crashes caused an estimated 36,096 fatalities in 2019; a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has shown that 94% of crashes involve human error…. “ Read more Hmmmm…Sorry.. human misbehavior! Right from the first sentence, this report is in dire need of another update. While facts about the state of the recent Federal legislative initiatives are accurate, the continued perspective that this technology address first (and foremost (implied)) human error, rather than human misbehavior and barely address opportunities for substantially enhanced mobility for those not having access to a personal automobile is truly unfortunate. Alain
Accurate GPS Needed to Measure Climate Change
D.Furchtgott-Roth, May 5, “President Biden, in his address to Congress, described climate change as one of the “crises of our time,” along with pandemics, terrorism, and mass migration. To resolve that crisis, it is vital to safeguard the Global Positioning System (GPS), which is used to measure how the climate is changing.
Shoring up GPS
is a
shovel-ready
project. The
Transportation
Department is
ready to roll
out a plan.
Earlier this
year the
Department of
Transportation
published a
report on 11
different
technologies
to back up and
complement GPS
if satellites
went down.
Today –
Wednesday, May
5, at 2 pm –
leaders of the
Transportation
Department's
Office of
Research and
Technology in
three
different
Administrations—Biden,
Trump, and
Obama—will
join together
in a webinar
hosted by
George
Washington
University's
Space Policy
Institute to
discuss the
report and t[he need to strengthen GPS](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-technologies-can-secure-gps-tickets-150834212189#).... " [Read more](https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2021/05/05/why_we_need_to_reinvest_in_gps_775792.html) Hmmmm...Absolutely necessary to
protect and
improve.
Alain
Tesla refutes Elon Musk’s timeline on ‘full self-driving’
K. Korosec, May 7, “What Tesla CEO Elon Musk says publicly about the company’s progress on a fully autonomous driving system doesn’t match up with “engineering reality,” according to a memo that summarizes a meeting between California regulators and employees at the automaker.
The memo,
which
transparency
site Plainsite
obtained via a
Freedom of
Information
Act request
and
subsequently
released,
shows that
Musk has
inflated the
capabilities
of the
Autopilot
advanced
driver
assistance
system in
Tesla
vehicles, as
well the
company's
ability to
deliver fully
autonomous
features by
the end of the
year. ..." [Read more](https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/07/tesla-refutes-elon-musks-timeline-on-full-self-driving/) Hmmmm...Wonder what he'll say
during [SNL tonight](https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/8/22421873/elon-musk-snl-jokes-thud-why). I'm certain it will be
entertaining.
[Andrew Hawkin's take on this](https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/7/22424592/tesla-elon-musk-autopilot-dmv-fsd-exaggeration). Alain
Nixing the Fix: An FTC Report to Congress on Repair Restrictions
Staff, May
2021, "The
Federal Trade
Commission
("FTC" or
"Commission")
submits this
report
pursuant to
Congress's
directive for
the Commission
to report to
the Committees
on
Appropriations
of the House
and Senate
regarding
anticompetitive
practices
related to
repair
markets.1 When
directing the
Commission to
issue this
report,
Congress noted
that it "is
aware of the
FTC's ongoing
review of how manufacturers—in particular mobile phone and car manufacturers—may limit
repairs by
consumers and
repair shops,
and how those
limitations
may increase
costs, limit
choice, and
impact
consumers'
rights under
the
Magnuson-Moss
Warranty Act."
Congress
specifically
directed the
FTC to include recommendations on how to best address these problems...." [Read more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/8huu22bk2c5y8p8/FTC%20Report%20on%20Repair%20Restrictions%205.6%2C21-1.pdf?dl=0) Hmmmm... Interesting detail about
ensuring
competition in
the car
business.
Alain
Pop Up Metro USA Intro 09 2020
H. Posner’77, Sept 13, 2020. “Creating Value for Light Density Urban Rail Lines” . See slides, See video Hmmmm… Simply Brilliant. Alain
font-family:
Georgia,
serif;">4th[Annual Princeton](https://orfe.princeton.edu/conferences/sdc/session/20210128)SmartDrivingCar Summit [It is over!!!](https://orfe.princeton.edu/conferences/sdc/session/20210325)
Now time to
actually do
something in
the Trentons
of this
world.
Making Driverless Happen – The Road Forward (Updated)
K. Pyle, April
18, ""It's
time to hit
the start
button," is [Fred Fishkin's](https://www.techstination.com/)
succinct way
of summarizing
the next steps
in the Smart
Driving Car
journey.
Fiskin, along
with the LA
Times' [Russ Mitchell](https://twitter.com/russ1mitchell?lang=en) co-produced the final session
of the [2021 Smart Driving Car Summit, Making It Happen – Part 2](https://orfe.princeton.edu/conferences/sdc/session/20210415).
This 16th and
final session
in this
multi-month
online
conference not
only provided
a s[ummary of the thought-provoking speakers](https://viodi.com/2021/04/18/making-driverless-happen-the-road-forward/), but
also provided
food for
thought on a
way forward to
bring mobility
to "the
Trentons of
the World."
Setting the
stage for this
final session,
Michael Sena
provided
highlights of
the Smart
Driving Car
journey that
started in
late December
2020. Safety,
high-quality,
and affordable
mobility,
particularly
for those who
do not have
many options,
was a common
theme to the
2021 Smart
Driving Car
Summit. As
Princeton
Professor
Kornhauser,
the conference
organizer put
it,....." [Read more](https://viodi.com/2021/04/18/making-driverless-happen-the-road-forward/)
Hmmmm.... We
had another
excellent
Session.
Thank you for
the summary,
Ken! Alain
Ken Pyle’s Session Summaries of 4th Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit:
14th Session What Will Power Safely-driven Cars
13th Session Improving the Moving of Goods
12th Session 3/18/21 Human-centered Design of Safe and Affordable Driverless Mobility
11th Session 3/11/21 Incentivizing Through Regulation
10th Session 3/04/21 Incentivizing Through Insurance
9th Session 2/25/21 Can Level 3 be Delivered?
8th Session 2/18/21 Who Will Build, Sell and Maintain Driverless Cars?
[Michael Sena's Slides](https://www.dropbox.com/s/yfzscinfy41vrka/Sena_Session8%20SDC_Summit.pdf?dl=0), [Glenn Mercer Slides](https://www.dropbox.com/s/8x4sd97vrifa9r9/Mercer_Session8%20SDC_Summit.pdf?dl=0)
7th Session 2/11/21 Finally Doing It
6th Session 2/ 4/21 Safe Enough in the Operational Design Domain
5th Session 1/28/21 At the Tipping Point
4th Session 1/21/21 Why Customers are Buying Them
3rd Session 1/14/21 The SmartDrivingCars We Can Buy Today
2nd Session1/ 7/21 A Look into the Future1st Session:12/17/20Setting the Stage
Kornhauser & He, April 2021 “Making it Happen: A Proposal for Providing Affordable, High-quality, On-demand Mobility for All in the “Trentons” of this World”
Orf467F20_FinalReport “Analyzing Ride-Share Potential and Empty Repositioning Requirements of a Nationwide aTaxi System” Kornhauser & He, March 2021 “AV 101 + Trenton Affordable HQ Mobility Initiative”
C’mon Man!(These folks didn’t get/read the memo)
Sunday Supplement
Half-Baked
Click-Bait
Calendar of Upcoming
Events
The 2021 TRB Annual
Automated Road Transportation Symposium
Virtual on July 12-15, 2021
5th Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCar Summit
Fall 2021 Live in Person To be Announced
13.5pt;
font-family:
Georgia,
serif;">
On the More Technical Side
http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Papers/
K. Lockean’s AV Research Group at U of Texas
and
[The SYMPOSIUM ON THE FUTURE NETWORKED CAR 2021 VIRTUAL EVENT](https://www.itu.int/en/fnc/2021/Pages/default.aspx)
R. Shields, 22 - 25 March, “Recordings from the conference:
Session 1 plus opening: (Regulatory): https://youtu.be/UcDC8gXiUFk
Session 2: ([Cybersecurity](https://youtu.be/ppp2hxlvebY)):
[https://youtu.be/ppp2hxlvebY](https://youtu.be/ppp2hxlvebY)
Session 3: [(Automated Driving Systems](https://youtu.be/uL2dRHuX2Cc)):
[https://youtu.be/uL2dRHuX2Cc](https://youtu.be/uL2dRHuX2Cc)
Session 4: [(Communications for ADS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFQcL6yfBso)) :
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFQcL6yfBso](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFQcL6yfBso)
Read more Hmmmm… Russ, thank you for sharing! Alain
###
These editions are sponsored by the SmartETFs Smart Transportation and Technology ETF, symbol MOTO. For more information head to www.motoetf.com
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 211, Zoom-Cast Episode 211 w/ Michael Sena, Editor of The Dispatcher
F. Fishkin, May 1 , “There’s plenty of combustion around the issue of banning internal combustion engines (ICE). Consultant and The Dispatcher publisher Michael Sena joins us for a look at what makes sense…and what doesn’t. Plus #Tesla, #Toyota, #Volkswagen, #Baidu and progress in Florida. …”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 210, Zoom-Cast Episode 210 w/Ken Pyle & Louis Aaron’23
F. Fishkin, April 26 , “Passengers at the Las Vegas Convention Center are about to get their first taste of the new underground mobility service from #Elon Musk’s The Boring Company. Princeton student Louis Aaron has been working there and he joins Viodi View Managing Editor Ken Pyle, Princeton’s Alain ..”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 209, Zoom-Cast Episode 209 w/Clifford Winston, Brookings Inst.
F. Fishkin, April , “The Texas #Tesla crash that killed two continues to make headlines. The impact on the electric and automated vehicle industries? From the Brookings Institution, senior fellow Clifford Winston joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for a look at what the real focus should be on..”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 208, Zoom-Cast Episode 208 w/Prof. Stephen Still, U. of Buffalo
F. Fishkin, April 18, “What does it take to bring about mobility for all in the real world? With help from the federal DOT and a team at the University of Buffalo…some big steps are being taken there. Professor Stephen Still joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that…plus, Tesla, Uber, Cruise and more on Smart Driving Cars.”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 207, Zoom-Cast Episode 207 w/Selika Josiah Talbott
F. Fishkin, April 10 , “When a driverless vehicle crashes…what should passengers, other vehicle owners, law enforcement and first responders do? American University Professor Selika Josiah Talbott says the time for planning is now. She joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Tesla, Apple and more in the latest Smart Driving Cars.”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 206, Zoom-Cast Episode 206 w/Stan Young, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
F. Fishkin, April 2, “When it comes to future mobility, what will fuel the vehicles? How can the shortcomings of electric vehicles be overcome? Stanley Young, Mobility Systems team lead for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser & co-host Fred Fishkin…”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 205, Zoom-Cast Episode 205 w/Michael Sena; Editor The Dispatcher. President, MLSena Consulting
F. Fishkin, March 26, “Every driverless car should take the same tests that we take..and have the same responsibilities. So says Michael L. Sena in the latest edition of The Dispatcher. He joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus the latest from Tesla and more…on Episode 205 of Smart Driving Cars…”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 204, Zoom-Cast Episode 204 w/Andrew Rose, President, OnStar Insurance Services
F. Fishkin, March 15, “.With GM aiming to upend the car insurance industry, the President of the automaker’s new OnStar Insurance Services, Andrew Rose joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. What advantages will OnStar insurance bring to the table…and a look at the future of auto insurance..”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 203, Zoom-Cast Episode 203 AV 101: A. Kornhauser
###
F. Fishkin,
March 13,
".GM's move to
transform auto
insurance
through OnStar
Insurance:
Is it a win,
win for
all? Is
adaptive
cruise control
prompting some
drivers to
speed? And
what does
Tesla really
mean by "full
self
driving"?
Just some of
the questions
tackled in
the latest
edition of
Smart Driving
Cars with
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser
& co-host
Fred Fishkin."
[SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 202](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-202), [Zoom-Cast Episode 202](https://youtu.be/Hj3GmnTqfdk) President
& CEO,
RoadDB
###
###
F. Fishkin,
March 3, "When
will we be
able to
purchase cars
that can
largely drive
themselves?
It may not be
long...but
don't expect
to vacate the
driver's
seat. That's
the view of
entrepreneur,
tech pioneer
and RoadDB CEO
Russ
Shields. He
takes an in
depth look at
where we are
and where
we're headed
with
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser
& co-host
Fred Fishkin." [SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 201](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-201), [Zoom-Cast Episode 201](https://youtu.be/n5oEfvBrWa8)
w/Michael
Sena,
Publisher of The
Dispatcher
###
###
F. Fishkin,
Feb. 26,
"Smarter cars
need smarter
assembly...and
location
matters. The
Dispatcher
publisher
Michael Sena
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin for a
look at that,
politics,
climate and
carmakers...plus
Tesla,
Velodyne,
Foxconn and
more.." [SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 200](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-200), [Zoom-Cast Episode 200](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVHQuwNT4eY&feature=youtu.be)
w/Edwin Olsen,
CEO, May
Mobility
###
###
F. Fishkin,
Feb. 22, "How
May Mobility
is building
confidence in
autonomous
transportation
and creating a
road map for
growth through
the pandemic
and beyond.
CEO and
co-founder
Edwin Olson
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin for
that and
more."
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 199, Zoom-Cast Episode 199 w/Marc Scribner, Senior Transportation Policy Analyst, Reason Foundation
###
F. Fishkin,
Feb. 19, "How
the Biden
administration
& Congress
can pave the
path for
autonomous
vehicles.
Reason
Foundation Sr.
Transportation
Policy Analyst
Marc Scribner
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin to
focus on
what's next.
Plus jobs and
autonomous
trucking,
Waymo, GM,
Ford and
more." SmartDrivingCars
[Pod-Cast Episode 198](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-198), [Zoom-Cast Episode 198](https://youtu.be/G7wnT9StV5Q)
w/Dick Mudge,
CEO, Compass
Transportation
&
Technology
###
F. Fishkin,
Feb. 13, Which
autonomous
vehicle
companies will
be the last
standing?
And does
private
ownership of
self driving
cars make
sense?
Compass
Transportation
and Technology
President Dick
Mudge joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin for
that...plus
the latest on
Tesla, GM,
Toyota and
more..." SmartDrivingCars
[Pod-Cast Episode 197](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-197), [Zoom-Cast Episode 197](https://youtu.be/1DXuNFbaxIc) w/Michel
Parent,
Founding
Member of
SuburVan
###
F. Fishkin,
Feb. 5, "Smart
mobility
innovation in
France. Dr.
Michel Parent
founding
member of
SuburVan is
aiming to
provide fully
autonomous
mobility on
the outskirts
of Paris and
more. He
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin for
that...plus
the latest on
Ford, GM,
Tesla, VW and
more...."
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 196, Zoom-Cast Episode 196 w/Steve Polzin, Recently US DoT
###
F. Fishkin,
Jan. 24, "Will
more safe
vehicle
technology
dampen the
push for
driverless
mobility?
Measuring the
progress and
challenges
ahead with Dr.
Steven
Polzin..former
Sr. Advisor,
Office of the
Ass't.
Secretary for
Research and
Technology in
the DOT. He
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser
& co-host
Fred Fishkin
... plus GM
going zero
emission,
Tesla, Waymo
and more.."
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 195 Zoom-Cast Episode 195 w/Diana Furchtgott-Roth, G. Washington U.
###
F. Fishkin,
Jan. 24, "What
progress has
been made
towards
smarter, safer
mobility? The
push for a
back-up to
GPS. Why the
jump in
vehicle
fatalities
last year?
Those issues
and more as
former deputy
assistant U.S.
Transportation
Secretary for
research and
technology
Diana
Furchtgott
Roth joins us. Plus...Microsoft, Cruise, Tesla and more on Smart Driving Cars with
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser
& co-host
Fred Fishkin. SmartDrivingCars
[Pod-Cast Episode 194](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-194) [Zoom-Cast Episode 194](https://youtu.be/hK4Fj6erScY)
w/Anuj
Pradhan, UMass
###
F. Fishkin,
Jan. 15,
""When it
comes to
vehicle safety technology...should manufacturers be sharing instead of competing?
Should there
be
standardization?
Anuj Pradhan,
co-director of
the Human
Performance
Lab at UMASS
Amherst joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin for
that...plus
the latest
from GM,
Tesla,
Mobileye, Nio
and more." SmartDrivingCars
[Pod-Cast Episode 193](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-193) [Zoom-Cast Episode 193](https://youtu.be/OETxB_wzkDw)
w/Bobby
Hambrick,
AutonomousStuff
###
F. Fishkin,
Jan. 8, "Bobby
Hambrick
started
AutuonomouStuff
in a barn in
Morton,
Illinois....and
has pioneered
much of the
technology
moving the
autonomous
industry
forward, now
as part of
Hexagon. Bobby
joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin to
look back and
look ahead.
Plus...Apple,
Hyundai,
Waymo, Tesla
and more! "
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 192 Zoom-Cast Episode 192 w/Danny Shapiro, nVIDIA
###
F. Fishkin,
Dec. 30,
"NVIDIA
continues on a
roll powering
the Zoox robo
taxi unveiled
this month by
Amazon.
NVIDIA senior
director of
automotive
Danny Shapiro
outlines the
progress and
looks ahead to
2021 in the
latest Smart
Driving Cars
with
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin. "
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 191 Zoom-Cast Episode 191 w/ Louis Aaron’23 and Joel Johnson
F. Fishkin, Dec. 20, “College student Joel Johnson has been keeping a log of dozens of trips in Waymo’s self driving service in Chandler, Arizona, and posting videos on YouTube. Louis Aaron’23, another student, has been working with Elon Musk’s Boring Company in Las Vegas. The two share their experiences with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin in the latest Smart Driving Cars.”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 190 Zoom-Cast Episode 190 w/Chris Urmson, Aurora
###
F. Fishkin,
Dec. 15, "With
Aurora taking
over Uber's
self driving
efforts, what
is on the
horizon for
the start up
whose leaders
have roots at
Waymo, Tesla
and Uber?
Co-founder and
CEO Chris
Urmson joins
Princeton's
Alain
Kornhauser and
co-host Fred
Fishkin in
this special
edition of
Smart Driving
Cars."
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 187 Zoom-Cast Episode 187 w/Michael Sena, The Dispatcher
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..”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 186 Zoom-Cast Episode 186 w/Kelly Funkhouser, Consumer Report
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.”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 185 Zoom-Cast Episode 185 w/Dan Smith, Waymo F. Fishkin, Nov 20, “Only Waymo has been transporting customers in driverless vehicles without a safety monitor on board. What goes into that kind of decision? Waymo Assistant General Counsel Dan Smith joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin in this special edition of Smart Driving Cars.” SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 184 Zoom-Cast Episode 184 w/Marjory Blumenthal, Rand F. Fishkin, Nov 20, “So when are driverless vehicles safe enough to be deployed? Senior Rand Corporation policy researcher Marjory Blumenthal joins Princeton University’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin to examine her latest report and more.”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 183 Zoom-Cast Episode 183 w/Kirsten Korosec F. Fishkin, Nov 13, “Rivian’s hands free driver assistance will be standard equipment…while Ford unveils the E-Transit. TechCrunch Senior Transportation reporter and editor Kirsten Korosec joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Nuro, Tesla, Uber, Lyft, Cruise and more. Plus the coming changes for mobility under a new administration!”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 182 Zoom-Cast Episode 182 F. Fishkin, Nov 6, “What will a new administration mean for autonomous mobility? And what about the passage of Proposition 22 in California after Uber’s big campaign? That plus luxury EVs coming from Bentley….and cheap EVs from China. Join Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that and more.” SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 181 Zoom-Cast Episode 181 w/Sheldon Sandler & Glenn Mercer F. Fishkin, Oct. 30, “Waymo releases self driving data…while traditional car dealers enjoy surprisingly strong profits during the pandemic. Why? What about the coming autonomous mobility? Bell Air Partners’ Sheldon Sandler and researcher-consultant Glenn Mercer explain in Episode 181 of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. “
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 180 Zoom-Cast Episode 180 w/John Rich, Ford/Argo, part 2 F. Fishkin, Oct. 15, “Ford and Argo AI have unveiled their next generation self-driving test vehicle. Once again, Ford’s Director of Autonomous Vehicle and Technology Development John Rich joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin to unveil the technology and the company’s self driving business plans.” SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 179 Zoom-Cast Episode 179 w/John Rich, Ford/Argo F. Fishkin, Oct. 15, “Which autonomous vehicle platforms will survive? The director of Ford’s Autonomous Vehicle and Technology Development says there may only be two…and Ford /Argo AI will be one of them. John Rich joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that and more.” SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 178 Zoom-Cast Episode 178 w/Andrew Hawkins, Verge F. Fishkin, Oct. 9, “Here we go! Waymo going fully driverless in Phoenix suburb service. The Verge senior transportation reporter Andrew Hawkins joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Tesla… Amazon… Rivian and more. Subscribe!
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 177 Zoom-Cast Episode 177
F. Fishkin,
Oct. 2, "New
grades for
assisted
driving
systems from
Euro NCAP.
But Princeton
Professor
Alain
Kornhauser
says the devil
is in the
details in
this edition
with co-host
Fred Fishkin.
And there's
Amazon's
success
against Covid
plusTesla,
Uber, GM,
Nikola and
more. SmartDrivingCars [Pod-Cast Episode 176](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-176) [Zoom-Cast Episode 176](https://youtu.be/lHjSTXH-GGchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHvG6Aqt6fk&feature=youtu.be)
w/Marc
Scribner
F. Fishkin, Sept. 25, “A new government entity to oversee autonomous vehicles? Marc Scribner, Sr. Transportation Policy Analyst at the Reason Foundation on regulation and more with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus…Tesla, Nikola, GM and the California move to ban new gasoline vehicles.”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 175 Zoom-Cast Episode 175 w/Michael Sena F. Fishkin, Sept. 18, “Automobility and the future of car dealers… “The Dispatcher” publisher Michael Sena offers a different take on how car dealers may battle automakers pushing for direct to consumer subscriptions. That and more in this edition of Smart Driving Cars with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin.”
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 174 Zoom-Cast Episode 174 w/Kelly Funkhouser, Consumer Reports
F. Fishkin, Sept. 4, “Moving forward with autonomous vehicle testing, the head of safety at Uber’s Advanced Technology Group is pledging safety data transparency. Nat Beuse joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co host Fred Fishkin for that and more on the latest mobility headlines.” SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 173 Zoom-Cast Episode 173 w/Nathanial Beuse F. Fishkin, Sept. 4, “Moving forward with autonomous vehicle testing, the head of safety at Uber’s Advanced Technology Group is pledging safety data transparency. Nat Beuse joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co host Fred Fishkin for that and more on the latest mobility headlines.” SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 172Zoom-Cast Episode 172 Special Edition w/Danny Shapiro
F. Fishkin ,Sept. 2, “Mercedes unveils the latest S Class with more computing power than 60 average cars…with NVIDIA playing a big role. NVIDIA’s Director of Automotive Danny Shapiro joins Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that and more.” SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 171Zoom-Cast Episode 171 w/Henry Greenidge
SmartDrivingCars PodCast 170 ZoomCast Episode170 w/Michael Sena SmartDrivingCars PodCast Episode 169 ZoomCast Episode 169 w/Anthony Townsend SmartDrivingCars PodCast Episode 168 ZoomCast Episode 168 w/Olaf Sakkers SmartDrivingCars PodCast 167 ZoomCast Episode167 w/Robin Chase, Carlos Pardo & Daniel Sperling SmartDrivingCars PodCast Episode 166ZoomCast Episode 166 w/Jay Rodgers’95, CEO Local Motors
F. Fishkin, July 20, “Is Driverless home delivery the fastest route to Affordable Mobility for the Mobility Disadvantaged? … “
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.” SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast 164 Episode 164, Zoom-Cast Episode 163 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. …” 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. .”
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.”
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.”
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. ”
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...](https://youtu.be/DMNLH_fkcI4) F. Fishkin,
June 2, "But
the debate is
not really
about
technology nor
is it about
who delivers
the best value
for the money
or the most
privacy. It is
about ..."
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, Zoom-Cast Episode 157 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 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!”
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 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
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 152,Zoom-Cast Episode 152 w/Brad Templeton
SmartDrivingCars Podcast Episode 148 w/Richard Bishop
SmartDrivingCars Zoom-Cast Episode 148 w/Richard Bishop
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 147 - Michael Sena
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 142 - J. Hughes
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 141- A. Roy
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 139- Randal O’Toole
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 138-Nick Zart
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 136
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 135 - with Jim Atkinson
Smart Driving Cars Podcast Episode 130 with Dick Mudge & Michael Sena
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:
51, 255);">
May 1, 2021
[May 2021 Issue: To Ban or Not to Ban: Should That Be the Question?](http://www.michaellsena.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-Dispatcher_May-2021-1.pdf)
M. Sena, May
1, " They
banned spray
cans with
chloro-fluorocarbons,
didn't they?
Why not ICE?
TAKING THE
PLEDGE to stop
selling cars
with
internalcombustion
engines (ICE).
That's what
cities and
states and
provinces and
countries are
doing all
around the
world. It's
become a
competition:
Who will ban
them
sooner and who
are the most
credible in
making their
bans stick?
Gas stations
and car repair
workshops like
Pee Wee's
Texaco Service
Center
pictured left
are already
relics of a
bygone era.
How long will
it take for
gas pumps to
disappear?..."
[Read more](http://www.michaellsena.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-Dispatcher_May-2021-1.pdf) Hmmmm... Another great issue
discussed in [Pod](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-211)/[Zoom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNHrvtz0j8k)-Cast Episodes 211 below. As well as two
excellent
articles on
V2X and the
continuing
discussions
about spectrum
allocation,
DSRC and
Cellular V2x.
Read these two
sections
thoroughly and
carefully.
Alain
April 23, 2021 [Scrutiny of Tesla crash a sign that regulation may be coming](https://apnews.com/article/business-technology-general-news-280521ffcddd7b8d63a15c9d99fc2add) T.
Krisher, Feb
19, "The fiery
crash of a
Tesla near
Houston with
no one behind
the wheel is
drawing
scrutiny from
two federal
agencies that
could bring
new regulation
of electronic
systems that
take on some
driving tasks.
The National
Highway
Traffic Safety
Administration
and the
National
Transportation
Safety board
said Monday
they would
send teams to
investigate
the Saturday
night crash on
a residential
road that
killed two men
in a Tesla
Model S.
Local
authorities
said one man
was found in
the passenger
seat, while
another was in
the back.
They're
issuing search
warrants in
the probe,
which will
determine
whether the
Tesla's
Autopilot
partially
automated
system was in
use. Autopilot
can keep a car
centered in
its lane, keep
a distance
from cars in
front of it,
and can even
change lanes
automatically
in some
circumstances.
On Twitter
Monday, Tesla
CEO Elon Musk
wrote that
data logs
"recovered so
far" show
Autopilot
wasn't turned
on, and "Full
Self-Driving"
was not
purchased for
the vehicle.
He didn't
answer
reporters'
questions
posed on
Twitter...."
[Read more](https://apnews.com/article/business-technology-general-news-280521ffcddd7b8d63a15c9d99fc2add) Hmmmm... I'll stand by my
quote... "..."Elon's
been totally
irresponsible,"
said Alain
Kornhauser,
faculty chair
of autonomous
vehicle
engineering at
Princeton
University.
Musk, he said,
has sold the
dream that the
cars can drive
themselves
even though in
the fine print
Tesla says
they're not
ready. "It's
not a game.
This is
serious
stuff."..."
... even
though it
isn't the most
critical
comment.
What is more concerning…. “Why didn’t Tesla’s Automated Emergency Braking System prevent the Tesla from hitting the tree?” The common theme in the Joshua Brown, Elaine Herzberg, Walter Huang, Firetruck/Derrick Monet, 2nd_Firetruck_Tesla crash …, Teslas seem to disregard stationary objects directly ahead, or certainly doesn’t avoid hitting them enough of the time. The Tesla code must assume that it can pass underneath them. Can such an egregious oversight in Tesla’s AEB computer code really exist? Is the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) involved in this oversight because it has made Tesla and maybe others so adverse to false positives that they simply assume that Teslas can pass under any and all stationary objects in the road ahead? Not a pretty situation. Alain
[Making Driverless Happen – The Road Forward (Updated)](https://viodi.com/2021/04/18/making-driverless-happen-the-road-forward/)
K. Pyle, April
18, ""It's
time to hit
the start
button," is [Fred Fishkin's](https://www.techstination.com/)
succinct way
of summarizing
the next steps
in the Smart
Driving Car
journey.
Fiskin, along
with the LA
Times' [Russ Mitchell](https://twitter.com/russ1mitchell?lang=en) co-produced the final session
of the [2021 Smart Driving Car Summit, Making It Happen – Part 2](https://orfe.princeton.edu/conferences/sdc/session/20210415).
This 16th and
final session
in this
multi-month
online
conference not
only provided
a s[ummary of the thought-provoking speakers](https://viodi.com/2021/04/18/making-driverless-happen-the-road-forward/), but
also provided
food for
thought on a
way forward to
bring mobility
to "the
Trentons of
the World."
Setting the
stage for this
final session,
Michael Sena
provided
highlights of
the Smart
Driving Car
journey that
started in
late December
2020. Safety,
high-quality,
and affordable
mobility,
particularly
for those who
do not have
many options,
was a common
theme to the
2021 Smart
Driving Car
Summit. As
Princeton
Professor
Kornhauser,
the conference
organizer put
it,
"We want the
value [of safe driving and driverless] to
be captured by society."....." [Read more](https://viodi.com/2021/04/18/making-driverless-happen-the-road-forward/)
Hmmmm.... We
had another
excellent
Session.
Thank you for
the summary,
Ken! Alain
April 17, 2021
blue;
text-decoration:
none;">
[UB, partners receive $8.2 million to help vulnerable populations with transportation issues](https://engineering.buffalo.edu/home/news/seas.host.html/content/shared/university/news/news-center-releases/2021/02/020.detail.html?utm_source=Buffalo+Engineer+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9bde50071a-BUFFALO_ENG_NEWSLETTER_2017_10_31_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_39e94e67af-9bde50071a-197212690)
P. Murphy, Feb
18,
"University at
Buffalo
researchers
are part of an
$8.2 million
effort to
improve
transportation
options for
vulnerable
people in the
City of
Buffalo.
The project,
called
"Complete Trip
Deployment,"
is led by
Virginia-based
ICF
International
and funded by
an $8.2
million U.S.
Department of
Transportation
grant.
The project
brings
together
researchers
from the
School of
Engineering
and Applied
Sciences
(SEAS) and the
School of
Architecture
and Planning
(SAP), who
will serve as
technical
leaders.
Local partners
include the
Niagara
Frontier
Transportation
Authority,
Buffalo
Niagara
Medical
Campus, Inc.,
Niagara
International
Transportation
Technology
Coalition, New
York State
Department of Transportation, and the City of Buffalo.
The project
focuses on
addressing the
transportation
needs of three
distinct
populations:
people with
mobility,
visual and
hearing
disabilities,
people living
in low-income
neighborhoods
and older
adults." [Read more](https://engineering.buffalo.edu/home/news/seas.host.html/content/shared/university/news/news-center-releases/2021/02/020.detail.html?utm_source=Buffalo+Engineer+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9bde50071a-BUFFALO_ENG_NEWSLETTER_2017_10_31_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_39e94e67af-9bde50071a-197212690) Hmmmm... Absolutely the right
focus and
absolutely
necessary.
Alain
April 2, 2021
[Waymo Chief John Krafcik Resigns, Co-CEOs Tapped To Run Alphabet's Self-Driving Tech Giant](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2021/04/02/waymo-chief-john-krafcik-resigns-co-ceos-tapped-to-run-alphabets-self-driving-tech-giant/?sh=2921a28b65ca) A.
Ohnsman, April
2, "John
Krafcik, the
auto industry
veteran who's
run Waymo for
over five
years, is
stepping down
as CEO of the
Alphabet Inc.
self-driving
tech giant and
is being
replaced by
two
high-ranking
company
executives.
...Takedra
Mawakana,
Waymo's chief
operating
officer, and
Dmitri Dolgov,
its long-time
CTO, are both
being promoted
to co-CEOs,
the company
said. Krafcik
will continue
to work with
Waymo as an
advisor.
"After 5
exhilarating
years leading
this team,
I've decided
to depart from
my CEO role at
Waymo &
kick-off new
adventures,"
he said on
Twitter. "To
start, I'm
looking
forward to a
refresh
period,
reconnecting
with old
friends &
family, and
discovering
new parts of
the
world."..." [Read more](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2021/04/02/waymo-chief-john-krafcik-resigns-co-ceos-tapped-to-run-alphabets-self-driving-tech-giant/?sh=2921a28b65ca) Hmmmm... John, thank you for a
fantastic 5
years and for
keeping Waymo
focused on
bringing
high-quality,
affordable
mobility to
all. Doing
good for many
isn't easy.
Enjoy and
thank you!!
Alain
March 26, 2021 [Labor to DOT: Scrap Trump administration's automated vehicles plan](https://www.freightwaves.com/news/labor-to-dot-scrap-trump-administrations-automated-vehicles-plan) J.
Gallagher,
March 24, "Two
prominent
labor unions
want the U.S.
Department of
Transportation
(DOT) to
reject the
Trump
administration's
automated
vehicle (AV)
strategy for
relying too
much on the
viewpoint from
industry
without enough
attention paid
to potential
damage to
worker safety
and jobs.
The 38-page [Automated Vehicles Comprehensive Plan](https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2021-01/USDOT_AVCP.pdf) (AVCP),
one of the
last documents
released for
public comment
by DOT under
Secretary
Elaine Chao
before she
left the
administration
in January,
laid out the
previous
administration's
vision for
integrating
AVs – both
cars and heavy
trucks – into
the U.S.
transportation
system.
The plan received 23 comments before the comment period closed on Tuesday, with trucking technology companies generally supporting the strategy and labor rejecting it.
“This document doubles down on the previous administration’s irresponsible, hands-off approach to AV deployment and regulation and mostly boosts the agency’s role as cheerleader and enabler rather than safety regulator,” wrote John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), which represents transit workers….” Read more Hmmmm… One might suggest that TWU’s position is enormously short sighted. Transit pre_Covid served 1% of the person-miles in the US. That is a niche of a niche. During Covid, almost anyone who could affords a car and didn’t have one, bought one. Transit ridership took an enormous hit. Even with enormous subsidy, Transit, especially bus transit, is hardly ever the “mode of choice” for anyone because its level-of-service is fundamentally poor. It serves relatively few locations, loosely connected by a route which delivers service only at infrequent fixed times. Essentially no other consumer commodity today operates with so little regard to its customer’s real-time needs and desires. Even network television has adapted to become demand-responsive as opposed to take-it-or-leave-it.
Conventional transit is labor intensive because it needs a chauffeur for each vehicle and that chauffeur deserves nice working conditions and a living wage. Unfortunately, the service that a chauffeur can deliver can’t attract enough customers to make that service a going concern. However, an automated driver can arguably deliver demand-responsive service while having the total cost of its working conditions and level-of-effort be substantially less than a TWU driver. This might let a Transit entity to actually develop a going concern that would serve 10x or more person-miles and create better paying and better working conditions for all TWU members.
More importantly, there is no downside for the TWU with these automated drivers. If they aren’t substantially better than a TWU driver, they won’t be adopted by any Transit operator. If they are, they’ll so improve the level-of-service that ridership will boom and there will be better jobs for all TWU members and more. There is no downside here. All of this is in the TWU’s best interests. Alain March 19, 2021
[Tesla's "Full Self Driving" Beta Is Just Laughably Bad and Potentially Dangerous](https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/news/a30186/tesla-autopilot-crash-employees-worried/) M.
Hogan, March
19, "A beta
version of
Tesla's "Full
Self Driving"
Autopilot
update has
begun rolling
out to certain
users. And
man, if you
thought "Full
Self Driving"
was even close
to a reality,
this [video of the system in action](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=antLneVlxcs) will certainly
relieve you of
that notion.
It is perhaps
the best
comprehensive
video at
illustrating
just how
morally
dubious,
technologically
limited, and
potentially
dangerous
Autopilot's
"Full Self
Driving" beta
program
is...." [Read more](https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/news/a30186/tesla-autopilot-crash-employees-worried/)
Hmmmm...
The [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=antLneVlxcs)is MUST watch. This is what I
would call a "Semi-SelfDriving
Alpha"
product in
this
Operational
Design Domain
(non-dense
city/commercial
suburban
streets,
during
daylight, in
clear weather
with moderate
temperature
conditions).
Drivers have four (4) “responsibilities”. 1. Feet/foot on/near the pedals, 2. Hand(s) on the wheel, 3. Eyes on the road, and 4. Butt in the driver’s seat (and possibly 5…. Have reasonable cognitive brain functions). If the Operational Design Domain is a straight lane with a slight downgrade and nothing else around, my “55 Chevy” can “Self-drive” and even be “Driverless”. I don’t even have to be in it. However, we must all agree, that we can’t call my “55 Chevy” a “Driverless” car. We can’t even call it a Self-driving because I’m going to need to have my butt is the driver’s seat to do something when the ODD changes (the road turns , …) and it is, at best, Semi-Self driving because my eyes will need to be on the road for me to realize that the “55 Chevy” is about to exit its ODD. It is going to need help from me to not crash.
So Elon’s FSD is definitely Semi-SelfDriving because its ODD doesn’t come close to including many of the situations that it found in its video journey above. It is Alpha because any potential user can be expected to have little if any idea what is required to use this product without getting hurt. So, please be very careful out there and don’t stop paying attention to the road ahead!!! Alain
Saturday, March 13, 2021
[General Motors Aims to Transform Auto Insurance Industry with OnStar Insurance](https://www.dropbox.com/s/96y8p2x2hpet1zr/GM_OnStar%20Auto%20Insurance%20Launch%20Media%20Advisory.pdf?dl=0)
Press Release,
March 11, "GM
announced it
will take its
relentless
focus on
safety and
delivering a
world-class
customer
experience one
step further
with [OnStar Insurance](https://www.onstarinsurance.com/). ... OnStar Insurance
Services
intends to
leverage its
unique
understanding
of the
vehicles GM
produces to
offer..."
[Read more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/96y8p2x2hpet1zr/GM_OnStar%20Auto%20Insurance%20Launch%20Media%20Advisory.pdf?dl=0)
Hmmmm.... See
Kornhauser's [Automated Driving of Road Vehicles 101: Why, What, Where, When](https://www.dropbox.com/s/e9gnpjre1oqsbyd/AutomatedVehicleTechnologiesWhyWhatWhenWhere.pdf?dl=0). Also:
Given that:
1. “>90%” crashes involve driver misbehavior;
2. OEMs are including more SmartDriving technology in cars. That technology comes in two part: a. SafelyDriven technology which “works” essentially everywhere, all the time to avert crashes by mitigating driver misbehavior, see #1 above..
i. Examples: anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, automated emergency braking, blind spot warning, …) ii. Liability/Insurance implications: the better these work the lower the expected liability, the lower the expected LOSS and the happier the company that insures their owners. 😁! iii. OnStar/GM Insurance Advantage: They know earlier and better how well these systems can be expected to work. They designed and tested the systems before they put them in the showroom and have “the data” to compute better expected liabilities by driver characteristics and thus be better able to craft and price an insurance product for each purchaser of a GM vehicle. Simply, they will be better able to “know when to hold ‘em .. know when to fold ‘em … they can better know what’s comin’”.
b. SelfDriving technology which works only some of the time and some of the places (Don’t worry, as soon as they work all of the time and all of the places it will be a very big deal and you’ll know it, but don’t hold your breath.)
Nor do any of them perform better than an average driver that is not misbehaving. Again, don’t hold your breath. Consequently these systems are Comfort & Convenience features that, at best, should not degrade safety. To not degrade safety, these systems must work properly when engaged by the driver and the driver must not engage them when and where these systems aren’t going to work properly. (… Drivers must not misbehave in the use of these systems (… Use these systems outside their certified Operational Design Domain, ODD)).
i. Examples: Cruise Conroe (Feet-off , but required the driver to steer (Hands-on), be aware and alert (Eyes-on) and be seated in the driver’s seat (Butt-in), and available only in a certain speed range, lane-grade range, doesn’t respond to traffic signals, doesn’t work if there is a stationary object in the lane ahead, …); Automated lane keeping ({Feet-on, Hands-off, Eyes-on, Butt-in}, but only if proper lane markings exist); Automated parking ({Feet-off, Hands-off, Eyes-on, Butt-out} all starting from speed zero in an area that is recognized by the systems as a parking opportunity); StupidSummon ({Feet-off, Hands-off, Eyes-on, Butt-out}, but only available within the driver’s own property), “Level3” ({Feet-off, Hands-off, Eyes-off, Butt-in}, but only on some certified in real time road segments.)
ii. Liability/Insurance implications: To date these systems have been sold on a “buyer beware” basis in that all liability implications of their use fell on the shoulders of the driver and their insurer. Consequently, misuse of these systems was the driver’s/insurer’s “problem”. Unfortunately, misuse of these systems and the resulting degradation of safety can be expected to cause regulators to insist that future versions of these SelfDriving technologies must include monitoring systems that preclude them from being available, let alone be used, outside of their real-time Operational Design Domain(ODD) for which their functionality has been “certified by the OEM” to not degrade safety. This “floor” for safety can be expected to be that experienced by an average non-misbehaving driver in similar driving situations.
This implies that if a crash happens during the use of one of these systems, it is 1. one of these “rare” events in which the driver was not misbehaving. The insurer is dragged in and may well be liable (This is what insurance is supposed to be all about), or 2. the system failed in its automated driving function. The OEM is dragged in and may well be liable from a product liability standpoint or 3. the driver was mis-behaving in the use of the system. This means that the system failed in precluding the system’s use. The OEM is dragged in and may well be liable from a product liability standpoint.
3. Implications on Insurer: Let: $Aij be the distribution of expected expenses of “being dragged in and possibly having to pay damages” if driver i of GM car with features j gets involved in a “Rare events” crash, or crashes, over the duration of the insurance policy.
(This expense
distribution
is largely a
function of
the kinds of
driving driver
i is going to
do. Its
estimation is
independent of
any
proprietary
product
information
held by GM.
OnStarInsurance
is not
advantaged.)
$Bij be the distribution of expected expenses of “being dragged in” if driver i of GM car with features j gets involved in a crash, or crashes, resulting from the failure of features j to avoid the crash when driver i was misbehaving.
(This expense
distribution
would arise
from
situations in
which GM's
SafelyDriven
technology
didn't perform
perfectly.
Given all of
the testing
that GM
conducts on
each of its
technologies
prior to their
placement for
sale in
showroom,
having access
to those
testing data
allows
OnStarInsurance
to more
accurately
estimate this
distribution.
OnStarInsurance is substantially advantaged.)
$Cij be the distribution of expected expenses of “being dragged in” if driver i of GM car with features j gets involved in a crash when the System was engaged and the incident occurred outside the System’s certified ODD.
(This expense
distribution
would arise
from
situations in
which GM's
automated
Comfort&Convenience
features
either didn't
perform as
well as a
well-behaving
driver inside
the feature's
certified ODD,
or driver i
was able to
mis-use the
system by
engaging it
outside its
ODD. Again,
given all of
the testing
that GM
conducts on
each of its
technologies
prior to their
placement for
sale in
showrooms,
having access
to those
testing data
also allows
one to more
accurately
estimate this
distribution.
OnStarInsurance is substantially advantaged.)
In pricing insurance, the insurer must estimate the distribution of expected expenses associated with the crashes driver i can be expected to have in car with features j over the life of the policy and price that insurance product accordingly.
For an outside insurer, call them WB: the expenses expected to be incurred over the life of the policy to insure Driver i in the purchase of a GM car with features j = $WBij = {$Aij}wb + {$Bij}wb + {$Cij}wb
For GM: the expenses expected to be incurred over the life of the policy to insure Driver i in the purchase of a GM car with features j = $GMij = {$Bij}gm + {$Cij}gm (They get dragged in to all of the “non-rare” crashes because of product liability responsibility
For OnStar Insurance: the expenses expected to be incurred over the life of the policy to insure Driver i in the purchase of a GM car with features j = $OSij = {$Aij}os (Since GM is already dragged in, no need for OnStarInsurance to also be drawn in to defend themselves.).
Consequently, OnStar has a fundamental pricing advantage because $OSij « $WBij. Plus OnStar/GM can better estimate the $Bij and $Cij distributions. Thus OnStar “knows when to hold ‘em..” in the insurance pricing game.
Finally, it is very much in GM’s interest to get its SafelyDriven technologies as perfect as possible so as to minimize {$Bij}gm on every vehicle GM sells and to forbid, as best as possible, the mis-use/availability of it SelfDriving Comfort&Convenience features outside their ODD to minimize {$Cij}gm on every vehicle GM sells.
The above is an extraordinarily strong financial incentive for GM to make its SafelyDriven and Comfort&Convenience automated driving technologies as good as possible and, if they are going to do that, GM might as well also be in the insurance business. Alain
[Automated Driving Technologies: Driving Change in Insurance](https://viodi.com/2021/03/05/automated-driving-technologies-driving-change-in-insurance/)
K. Pyle, March
5, "It is in
the insurance
industry's
best interest
to use
automated
driving
technology to
make things
safer through
crash
avoidance, not
just crash
mitigation.
Unlike crash
mitigation,
crash
avoidance
saves the
insurance
company money.
This was Alain
Kornhauserâ's
premise for
the Smart
Driving Car
Summit,
Incentivizing
Through
Insurance. The trillion-dollar question is whether the incentives to automate will
overcome the
countervailing
forces of
existing
business
practices in
other parts of
the mobility
industry?...."
[Read more](https://viodi.com/2021/03/05/automated-driving-technologies-driving-change-in-insurance/)
Hmmmm.... We
had another
excellent
Session.
Thank you for
the summary,
Ken. Alain
51, 255);">
[March 2021 Issue](https://www.dropbox.com/s/vcwicdu3rz3h73z/The%20Dispatcher_March%202021.pdf?dl=0) 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](https://copilottruck.com/)...Michael,
How could you
forget?...!)...navigation
system....
Driving Neat:
Can U.S. Take
Its Cars
Without
ICE?..." [Read more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/vcwicdu3rz3h73z/The%20Dispatcher_March%202021.pdf?dl=0)
Hmmmm... Plus
much much
more.
Enjoy!!! Alain
2021 [COMMENTARY: How the Biden Administration and Congress Can Pave the Path for Automated Vehicles](https://reason.org/policy-brief/challenges-and-opportunities-for-federal-automated-vehicle-policy/) 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.â€
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](https://www.dropbox.com/s/7oiex3xvdh98f5y/challenges-opportunities-federal-automated-vehicle-policy.pdf?dl=0),
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.
The reform
recommendations
for
legislators
and regulators
are
categorized
under four
themes: ..." [Read more](https://reason.org/policy-brief/challenges-and-opportunities-for-federal-automated-vehicle-policy/)
Hmmmm... Read
especially: "[CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR FEDERAL AUTOMATED VEHICLE POLICY](https://www.dropbox.com/s/7oiex3xvdh98f5y/challenges-opportunities-federal-automated-vehicle-policy.pdf?dl=0)". Included is an extensive
discussion on
the SAE Levels
where Marc
states: "...most legacy automakers and new
automated
driving
developers are
planning to
avoid SAE
Level 3
altogether.."
and "Given
the wide
diversity of
road network
operating
conditions,
achieving SAE
Level 5 poses
significant
challenges...."
That leaves
just two very
different
classes of AVs
...
Safely-driven
AVs,
encompasing
SAE Levels 1
& 2, that
assist and
support human
drivers while
requiring that
a human driver
ensures that
the vehicle
will be driven
safely... and
Driverless
AVs, SAE Level
4, where the
responsibility
that the
vehicle will
be driven
safely is
entirely borne
by the driving
technology.
Those are the
only two
kinds. Policy
should focus
on only those
two and get
those right.
They are they
only real
opportunities
for this
technology ...
one to help
human drivers
drive more
safely and the
other is to
drive safely
without any
help or
involvement by
anyone riding
long with the
vehicle.
Thus, the
first order of
business for
Federal Policy
is to simplify
the process by
concentrating
on those two
very diffent
kinds of AVs
and get those
right. Alain
2021
[Biden inherits big traffic safety mess](https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=59e39325-8a38-42b3-af1d-6b62bdd0d6a0&v=sdk)
R. Mitchell,
Feb. 4, "...
" [Read more](https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=59e39325-8a38-42b3-af1d-6b62bdd0d6a0&v=sdk)
Hmmmm... If
the
driver/owner
is expected to
be prepared to
intervene to
maintain
safety, then
it is NOT full
anything,
period.
Moreover, if
the
owner/driver
is NOT
prepared, nor
permitted to
intervene to
maintain
safety, then
the fleet
operator is
required to
accept the
responsibility
and "make
whole" any and
all
liabilities
arising from
any and all
"at fault"
crashes.
Until Elon is
willing to
step up and
take on that
responsibility/liability
or sell his
cars
exclusively to
operating
entities that
assume that
responsibility
his Teslas are
NOT full
anything, period! Alain
2021
Analyzing Ride-Share Potential and Empty Repositioning Requirements of a Nationwide aTaxi System G. Laniewki, Jan 26. “:…“ Read more Hmmmm… Very nice Nation-wide investigation by my students this past Fall. Alain
2021
G.M. Will Sell Only Zero-Emission Vehicles by 2035
N. Boudette,
Jan. 28, "The
days of the
internal
combustion
engine are
numbered.
General Motors
said Thursday
that it would
phase out
petroleum-powered
cars and
trucks and
sell only
vehicles that
have zero
tailpipe
emissions by
2035, a
seismic shift
by one of the
world's
largest
automakers
that makes
billions of
dollars today
from
gas-guzzling
pickup trucks
and sport
utility
vehicles.
.." [Read more](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/business/gm-zero-emission-vehicles.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20210128&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline®i_id=89228009&segment_id=50516&user_id=bb3a3afb7a60246a936251b2f79cc1db)Hmmmm... Great! (maybe???): Good
News:
Zero emission
vehicles; Bad
News: From
where cometh
the marginal
electricity
that enables
that
Zero-Emission
Vehicle to
move and what
carries that
electricity to
the point on
the road where
that
electricity is
used to power
that Zero-Emission
Vehicle?
Until we have
a "Zero
Emission
Battery" and
all
electricity is
created using
Zero Emission,
GM cannot
produce, nor
sell, Zero
Emission
Vehicles that
actually move
(other than [downhill a la Nikola](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/nikola-admits-prototype-was-rolling-downhill-in-promotional-video/)). So please tout the
whole story!!
(Will these
EVs be less
polluting than
an ICE that GM
could build
and sell "by
2035"? is the
real
question. The
answer depends
on where we
will be with
electricity
production and
distribution,
the efficiency
and makeup of
batteries and
the
improvement of
ICEs. (I
didn't mean to
imply that it
was a simple
question, but
the NY Times
should be more
than
click-bait.).
Alain
text-decoration:
blue;
text-decoration:
none;">
[U Mich's Robert Hampshire joins Biden administration to work in transportation research and technology](https://news.umich.edu/u-ms-robert-hampshire-joins-biden-administration-to-work-in-transportation-research-and-technology/)
J. Karoub,
Jan. 21,
"Robert
Hampshire,
associate
professor at
the University
of Michiga's
Gerald R. Ford
School of
Public Policy
whose research
and policy
engagement
focuses on
understanding
the societal,
climate and
equity
implications
of autonomous
and connected
vehicles and
other
innovative
mobility
services, has
joined the
Biden
administration
to work in the
U.S.
Transportation
.. [Read more](https://news.umich.edu/u-ms-robert-hampshire-joins-biden-administration-to-work-in-transportation-research-and-technology/)
Hmmmm... What
a fantastic
appointment. Congratulations Robert! Alain
2021
[AUTOMATED VEHICLES: Comprehensive Plan](https://www.dropbox.com/s/35vtszzmvv90ohx/USDOT_AVCP.pdf?dl=0) 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](https://www.dropbox.com/s/35vtszzmvv90ohx/USDOT_AVCP.pdf?dl=0)
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
January 08,
2021
Automatic braking is now on most new cars. But not GM or Fiat Chrysler vehicles 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.
.. " [Read more](https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/17/business/automatic-braking/)
Hmmmm... Set
up for the [3rd session of the SDC Summit](https://orfe.princeton.edu/conferences/sdc/session/20210114).
Alain
December 11,
2020
[Uber, After Years of Trying, Is Handing Off Its Self-Driving Car Project](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/technology/uber-self-driving-car-project.html)
Nikola Teaches GM a Lesson S. Wilmot, Nov 30, “Nikola Corp. NKLA 0.76% isn’t turning out to be the next Tesla that investors and were hoping for. …“ Read more Hmmmm… Lessons for many in this endeavor. See alsoAndrew Hawkin’s take as well as David Morris’. Alain
The Vehicle Fuel Debate Has Been Hijacked
M. Sena, Nov. 19, “The lead article this month was inspired by a diagram I received showing how much of the energy that we generate to heat our homes, light up our rooms, make the concrete and steel to build our infrastructure and power our transportation is wasted. It’s over two-thirds. Wasted! Half of it is from producing electricity.
..." [Read more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/lw27g9qlolrjkpb/The%20Dispatcher_December%202020.pdf?dl=0)Hmmmm... What can I say?? Another great
edition of the
Dispatcher. Be
sure to read
all the way
through
including "[Musings of a Dispatcher: Cars are from Mars](https://www.dropbox.com/s/lw27g9qlolrjkpb/The%20Dispatcher_December%202020.pdf?dl=0)". Enjoy and listen/watch the
following [Pod](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-187)/[Zoom](https://youtu.be/eyGCKObQ4e0)-casts.
Alain
Waymo’s Safety Methodologies and Safety Readiness Determinations 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
[Waymo Public Road Safety Performance Data](https://www.dropbox.com/s/6sf4mu1y3f8fr7s/Waymo-Public-Road-Safety-Performance-Data.pdf?dl=0) 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](https://www.dropbox.com/s/6sf4mu1y3f8fr7s/Waymo-Public-Road-Safety-Performance-Data.pdf?dl=0) 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
rgb(51, 51,
Waymo starts to open driverless ride-hailing service to the public
K. Korosec, Oct. 8, “Waymo, the Google self-driving-project-turned-Alphabet unit, is beginning to open up its driverless ride-hailing service to the public.
..." [Read more](https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/08/waymo-starts-to-open-driverless-ride-hailing-service-to-the-public/) Hmmmm... "...fully Driverless...".
That means
that Krafcik,
the Waymo
"Board",
Alphabet's
Board and all
the lawyers
have signed
off and
said... We are
safe enough to
basically bet
the ranch that
the expected
value of the
mobility that
we'll be
putting out on
the streets
of our Operational Design Domain, which is under our control,
is worth
whatever
expected risk
still exists
that some bad
things may
happen. That
is an enormous
hurdle that
has been
achieved by an
entity that
has an
enormous
ranch. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
It hasn't come
easy, nor has
it come
without intese
diligence and
effort. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Alain
rgb(51, 51,
[ASSISTED DRIVING GRADINGS](https://www.euroncap.com/en/ratings-rewards/assisted-driving-gradings/) Staff,
Oct. 2020 "On
this page you
will find the
gradings of
cars tested by
Euro NCAP on
automated
driving
technologies.
September 25,
2020
[Proposal for a new UN Regulation on uniform provisions concerning the approval of vehicles with regards to Automated Lane Keeping System](https://www.dropbox.com/s/k9aa8x6p4rqjaxd/Level3RegulatonECE-TRANS-WP29-2020-081e.docx?dl=0)
rgb(51, 51,
[Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving Capability' Falls Short of Its Name](https://www.consumerreports.org/autonomous-driving/tesla-full-self-driving-capability-review-falls-short-of-its-name/)
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Saturday,
[The Biggest Self-Driving Truck Startup Stumbles in Hitting High Goals](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/the-biggest-self-driving-truck-startup-stumbles-in-hitting-high-goals)
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Thursday,
[Car OEMs Driving Toward Relevance or Perdition](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ltmk5s3hdpwf6nr/The-Dispatcher_August-2020.pdf?dl=0)
###
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Thursday,
[Fostering Economic Opportunity through Autonomous Vehicle Technology](https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bUHzsV9BSm-tJkKQ6QVNqg)
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Thursday,
Announcing 2020-2021 Fellow-in-Residence Henry L. Greenidge, Esq. rgb(51, 51, 255);”>Thursday,
[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)
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Friday,
What Negative Oil Prices Mean and How the Impact Could Last rgb(51, 51, 255);”>Friday,
Starsky Robotics Failed. Does That Mean Automated Trucking Is Dead?
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Friday,
January 31,
2020
2020 Hyundai Sonata stars in Super Bowl ad all about ‘Smaht Pahk’
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Sunday,
January 12,
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
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Monday,
January 6,
2020
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
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Saturday,
November 23,
2019 [Self-driving car capital? One senator thinks it can be Florida](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article237625484.html)
rgb(51, 51,
255);">
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Saturday,
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/)
November 22,
Market Framework and Outlook for Automated Vehicle Systems
rgb(51, 51,
255);">Wednesday,
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 AJR164Sponsors: 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
PRELIMINARY REPORT: HIGHWAY: HWY18MH010 (Uber/Herzberg Crash) May 24, “About 9:58 p.m., on Sunday, March 18, 2018, an Uber Technologies, Inc. test vehicle, based on a modified 2017 Volvo XC90 and operating with a self-driving system in computer control mode, struck a pedestrian on northbound Mill Avenue, in Tempe, Maricopa County, Arizona.
…The vehicle was factory equipped with several advanced driver assistance functions by Volvo Cars, the original manufacturer. The systems included a collision avoidance function with automatic emergency
braking, known
as City
Safety, as
well as
functions for
detecting
driver
alertness and
road sign
information.
All these
Volvo
functions are
disabled when
the test
vehicle is
operated in
computer
control..."[Read more](http://orfe.princeton.edu/%7Ealaink/SmartDrivingCars/PDFs/NTSBuberPreliminaryMay2018.pdf) Hmmmm....
Uber must
believe that
its systems
are better at
avoiding
Collisions and
Automated
Emergency
Braking than
Volvo's. At least this gets Volvo
"off the
hook".
“…According to data obtained from the self-driving system, the system first registered radar and LIDAR observations of the pedestrian about 6 seconds before impact, when the vehicle was traveling at 43 mph…“ (= 63 feet/second) So the system started “seeing an obstacle when it was 63 x 6 = 378 feet away… more than a football field, including end zones!
“…As the vehicle and pedestrian paths converged, the self-driving system software classified the pedestrian as an unknown object, as a vehicle, and then as a bicycle with varying expectations of future travel path…“ (NTSB: Please tell us precisely when it classified this “object’ as a vehicle and be explicit about the expected ”future travel paths.” Forget the path, please just tell us the precise velocity vector that Uber’s system attached to the “object”, then the “vehicle”. Why didn’t the the Uber system instruct the Volvo to begin to slow down (or speed up) to avoid a collision? If these paths (or velocity vectors) were not accurate, then why weren’t they accurate? Why was the object classified as a “Vehicle” ?? When did it finally classify the object as a ”bicycle”? Why did it change classifications? How often was the classification of this object done. Please divulge the time and the outcome of each classification of this object. In the tests that Uber has done, how often has the system mis-classified an object as a”pedestrian”when the object was actually an overpass, or an overhead sign or overhead branches/leaves that the car could safely pass under, or was nothing at all?? (Basically, what are the false alarm characteristics of Uber’s Self-driving sensor/software system as a function of vehicle speed and time-of-day?)
“…At 1.3 seconds before impact, (impact speed was 39mph = 57.2 ft/sec) the self-driving system determined that an emergency braking maneuver was needed to mitigate a collision” (1.3 x 57.2 = 74.4 ft. which is about equal to the braking distance. So it still could have stopped short.
“…According to Uber, emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled while the vehicle is under computer control, to reduce (eradicate??) the potential for erratic vehicle behavior. …“ NTSB: Please describe/define potential and erratic vehicle behavior Also please uncover and divulge the design & decision process that Uber went through to decide that this risk (disabling the AEB) was worth the reward of eradicating “ ”erratic vehicle behavior”. This is fundamentally BAD design. If the Uber system’s false alarm rate is so large that the best way to deal with false alarms is to turn off the AEB, then the system should never have been permitted on public roadways.
“…The vehicle operator is relied on to intervene and take action. ” Wow! If Uber’s system fundamentally relies on a human to intervene, then Uber is nowhere near creating a Driverless vehicle. Without its own Driverless vehicle Uber is past “Peak valuation”.
“…The system is not designed to alert the operator. “ That may be the only good part of Uber’s design. In a Driverless vehicle, there is no one to warn, so don’t waste your time. If it is important enough to warn, then it is important enough for the automated system to start initiating things to do something about it. Plus, the Driver may not know what to do anyway. This is pretty much as I May 10, 2018 Don’t Worry, Driverless Cars Are Learning From Grand Theft Auto
Extracting Cognition out of Images for the Purpose of Autonomous Driving
Adam Jonas’ View on Autonomous Cars Video similar to part of Adam’s Luncheon talk @ 2015 Florida Automated Vehicle Symposium on Dec 1. Hmmm … Watch Video especially at the 13:12 mark. Compelling; especially after the 60 Minutes segment above! Also see his TipRanks. Alain
Alain L. Kornhauser, PhD
Professor,
Operations
Research &
Financial
Engineering
Director,
Transportation
Program
Faculty Chair,
Princeton
Autonomous
Vehicle
Engineering
229 Sherrerd Hall
Princeton
University
Princeton, NJ
609-258-4657
(o)
609-980-1427
(c)
This list is maintained by Alain Kornhauser and hosted by the Princeton University LISTSERV.