2021-05-24
rgb(51, 51, May 22, 2021
blue;
text-decoration:
blue;
text-decoration:
none;">20th
edition of the
9th year of
SmartDrivingCars
eLetter
###
Why I Ride with Waymo: Mike
Waymo One, May 13, “… I started taking it to work, and after crunching the numbers for gas, maintenance, insurance, upkeep, and owning a depreciating investment, it was pretty much a no-brainer that we really didn’t need two cars. I sold off my car and made Waymo my choice for commuting to and from work and for trips my wife and I need to take when the other is using our car…” Read more Hmmmm…This is really great that he “crunched the numbers” and found it to be “pretty much a no-brainer”, which is what every real Waymo customer in chandler has to do to becoame a Waymo customer. One “doesn’t move to Chandler” unless one has “two cars”. See slide 5: 70% of the households have 2 or more cars in Chandler, so most of the folks have had to do the mathto become a customer. If Waymo offered the same service in Trenton, where 70% of the households have at most one car and 30% don’t have any, then it doesn’t take much number crunching to appreciate Waymo when walking is the next best way to go.
The Chandler Operational Design Domain may be a great place to get the technology working. It may well be the “easiest” ODD in the world. A Trenton ODD may well not be all that much more difficult technologically. What Trenton does have are customers for whom what Waymo can deliver is truly a no-brainer. Alain
SmartDrivingCars
Pod-[Cast Episode 214](https://soundcloud.com/smartdrivingcar/smart-driving-cars-episode-214),
[Zoom-Cast Episode 214](https://youtu.be/EEm0WjtF6Tw)
F. Fishkin, May 23 , “An interview with the chief engineer behind Ford’s F150 Lightning EV truck…Waymo shares rider stories and the AFL-CIO tells Congress autonomous vehicles should be required to have human operators. Join Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for those stories 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
initiative
###
U.S. labor leader calls for human drivers in automated vehicles
D. shepardson, may 18, “A senior American labor union leader will tell U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that the government should require human operators in all self-driving passenger services to take over in the event of an emergency.
Greg Regan,
president of
the
Transportation
Trades
Department for
the AFL-CIO,
will tell a
U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee that autonomous
vehicles place
"millions of
jobs at risk"
and any
legislation to
speed
deployment of
self-driving
cars should
not apply to
commercial
trucks
weighing
10,000 pounds
or more,
according to
his written
testimony
released by
the panel on
Monday.
"We do not
allow
passenger
airplanes to
operate
without pilots
or passenger
rail to run
without
engineers, and
we should use
a similar
approach with
AVs that
operate on our often-congested roadways and in complex transit networks," Regan says in
his
testimony...."
[Read more](https://hedgescompany.com/blog/2018/10/number-of-licensed-drivers-usa/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Bureau%20of,commercial%20driver's%20license%20(CDL).) Hmmmm... OK for commercia trucks
weighing
10,000 pounds
or more nd
there are
about 2M
Commercial
truck drivers;
however, ...
if such
legislation is
enacted, the
sweet spot for
trucks will be
those weighing
9,999 pounds.
While some
might think
that it would
then take 8 of
these to do
what today's
class 8 can
do... maybe
not! Many
shipments
today "cube
out" before
they "weigh
out" and
trucks today
are big so as
to better
distribute the
cost of the
driver. No
driver enables
more frequent,
more spatially
diffuse
logistics. So
one should be
carefullwhat
one wishes
for.
Also, without coal to run in “200 car unit trains”, railroads may return to where they were 50 years ago. it wasn’t pretty. the only thing that might save them is to buy out the last 2 jobs in the 5-man crew the same way they bout out 3 of those jobs 45 years ago. That action gave the industry 50 good years. Buying out those last two could give them 50 more good years.
With respect ot the airlines, one can readily pay pilot wages on the routes that have 200 passengers in the seats. But if your trip is to some out of the way place, then hope that there is a driverless car to take you there because you’ll likely not be able to afford to have a pilot fly you there. Alain
###
[Traffic Control Devices: Considerations to Support Automated Vehicle Deployment](https://www.dropbox.com/s/hnxnp03pfzs7b9f/Traffic%20Control%20Devices%20-%20Considerations%20to%20Support%20Automated%20Vehicle%20Deployment%20-%2017%20pages%20%28Transport%20Canada%20-%20April%202021%29.pdf?dl=0) P.
Carlson, April
2021, "...
This report is
focused on the
physical
aspects of the
TCD
infrastructure
and does not
include
connected
vehicle topics
such as
digital
infrastructure,
roadside
communication
devices, or
other aspects
of connected
vehicle
operation..."
[Read more](https://www.dropbox.com/s/hnxnp03pfzs7b9f/Traffic%20Control%20Devices%20-%20Considerations%20to%20Support%20Automated%20Vehicle%20Deployment%20-%2017%20pages%20%28Transport%20Canada%20-%20April%202021%29.pdf?dl=0) Hmmmm...This is fantastic. because
it does deal
with what can
be seen in the
road
infrastructure
by human
eyes. Thus it
applies to
both
cnventionally
(humand)
-driven
vehicles and
computer-driven
vehicles.
"Since the
beginning"
SmartDrivingCar
developers
have asked for
only 2 things
from the road
infrastructure
community...
smooth roads
(no or few pot
holes) and
good paint
(well marked
lanes and
signs).
Things
fundamental to
any good
highway
department.
Unfortunately, that “ask” was highjacked by the “…digital infrastructure, roadside communication devices, or other aspects of connected vehicle operation… “, the “ITS guys”, and the “pot holes and paint aspects”, were implicitly deemes as too mundane.
In fact, they are the key aspects.
-
The “pot holes” because, it is “involved” in a lare number of the “6%” of the crashes that don’t involve human human misbehavior. (The primary opportunity of SmartDrivingCars is mitigating human misbehavior in driving.)
-
The “paint” because it is fundamentally important in Safe-driving Cars… SAE levels 1 & 2.
Wha was involved in the Huang Tesla crash occur…
California places Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ under review
AP, May 18, “California’s Department of Motor Vehicles is reviewing whether Tesla is violating a state regulation by advertising its vehicles as being fully autonomous without meeting the legal definition of self-driving.
The department
confirmed the
review Monday
in an email to
The Associated
Press. State
regulation
prohibits
advertising
vehicles for
sale or lease
as autonomous
if they can't
comply with
the regulatory
definition, it
said.... " [Read more](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/california-places-teslas-full-self-driving-review-rcna958) Hmmmm... seems to me that Elon is
calling them
"Full
Self-Driving"
and not
"autonomous"
(and certainly
not Level ???
and not
SmartDrivingAnything.
So Elon is getting a lot of free noteriety a la our past president. Remember… Caveat emptor Alain
Tour the Ford F-150 Lightning with Chief Engineer Linda Zhang
F. Fishkin, May 20, Listen to this interview: Watch this interview: Hmmmm… The Frunk may well be one of its top differentiators. Very nice Fred, Congratulations! Alain
Ford unveils the F-150 Lightning. Will truck buyers take to electric pickups?
R. Mitchell, May 20, “Ford Motor Co.’s new all-electric pickup truck will arrive next year having already secured one notable admirer. “This sucker’s quick,” President Biden said from behind the wheel in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday after a high-torque off-the-line blast in a pre-production F-150 Lightning.
Although a
classic car
lover, Biden
is a climate
hawk whose
aggressive
goals for
cutting
greenhouse gas
emissions will
require
large-scale
electrification
of U.S.
transportation.
So count him
as receptive.
The company
also expects
young,
tech-savvy
buyers to be
early
customers of
the Lightning,
set to go on
sale in
mid-2022.
But for Ford
to achieve
long-term
success with
its new
electric line,
it must
eventually win
over customers
who think like
Stan Nixon and
Scott David,
loyal F-series
customers for
decades, who
must be
persuaded to
trade in their
internal
combustion
engines when
it's time to
buy their next
truck...." [Read more](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-05-19/ford-unveils-the-f-150-lightning-will-truck-buyers-take-to-electric-pickups) Hmmmm... Ford may well beat Tesla
with this
one. Alain
ADAS adoption is worth exploring for safety’s sake
J. Evangelist,
May 11,
"...during a
session at the
recent
Technology
&
Maintenance
Council
meeting, we
learned that
fleets have
been slow to
adopt ADAS.
During the
session, the
American
Transportation
Research
Institute's
senior vice
president Dan
Murray
explained that
fleets and
drivers say
they are
concerned that
driver control
will be
compromised if
ADAS is
installed on a
vehicle.
Murray
believes this
is a result of
a
misunderstanding
of how the
systems work.
There is also
concern over
cost and
maintenance of
the
systems...."
[Read more](https://www.fleetowner.com/industry-perspectives/ideaxchange/article/21163828/adas-adoption-is-worth-exploring-for-safetys-sake) Hmmmm... hard to believe that ADAS
isn't a
complete
no-brainer by
fleet owners.
Most fleet
owners
slef-insre, so
they know all
too well the
crash
implications
on their
pocketbook.
ADAS is all
about safety.
Fleet owners
should be
insisting on
it. drivers
should be
insisting on
it so that
they can live
longer. OSHA
should be
demanding it
to
substantially
improve
workplace
safety for
truck drivers
and Truck OEMs
should be
selling it
because of its
extremely
attractive
RoI. lain
Aerion Supersonic shuts down, ending plans to build silent high speed business jets
M.Sheetz, May 22, “
Aerion
Supersonic,
the
Nevada-based
company that
planned to
build business
jets capable
of silently
flying nearly
twice as fast
as commercial
aircraft, is
shutting down,
the company
confirmed to
CNBC on
Friday.
"In the
current
financial
environment,
it has proven
hugely
challenging to
close on the
scheduled and
necessary
large new
capital
requirements"
to begin
production of
its AS2
supersonic
jet, the
company said
in a
statement...."
[Read more](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/aerion-supersonic-shuts-down-ending-plans-to-build-silent-high-speed-business-jets/ar-AAKfEPT) Hmmmm... [Cold fusion](https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i44/Cold-fusion-died-25-years.html), [Quiet Supersonic](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/16/aerions-as2-silent-supersonic-jet-aims-to-fly-by-2024.html?&doc=106886902),
[Nikola](https://nikolamotor.com/),
[Hyperloop](https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Beach_Pneumatic_Transit),
[GameStop](https://www.gamestop.com/),
[BitCoin](https://www.google.com/search?q=bitcoin&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS909US909&oq=bitcoin&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i131i433l2j0i433j0i131i433j0i433j0i131i433l4.3618j1j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8),
... [FOMO](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fomo).
Alain
Germany takes step toward autonomous driving on public roads
Bloomberg, May 23, “German lawmakers agreed to allow some driver-less vehicles on public roads, a first step toward enabling autonomous driving in Europe’s biggest economy.
Lawmakers in
the lower
house of
parliament
adopted
legislation
enabling
automated
driving under
some
conditions.
The bill cites
scenarios
including
small buses
and logistics
vehicles that
can shuttle
passengers and
goods along
pre-determined
routes.... "
[Read more](https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/germany-takes-step-toward-autonomous-driving-public-roads) Hmmmm... Wow! Germans are
suggesting
that
Driverless be
done on public
roads where
I've been told
that it snows
sometimes and
maybe een more
often than in
Trenton.
maybe Trenton
can indeed be
next. 😁
Alain
Chinese startup Pony.ai gets approval to test driverless vehicles in California
K. Lyons, May
22, "Chinese
autonomous
vehicle
startup
Pony.ai has [received a permit from California's Department of Motor Vehicles](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/news-and-media/dmv-authorizes-pony-ai-to-test-driverless-vehicles-in-fremont-milpitas-and-irvine/)to test
its driverless
cars without
human safety
drivers behind
the wheel on
specified
streets in
three cities.
Pony has been
authorized to
test
autonomous
vehicles with
safety drivers
in California
since 2017,
but the new
permit will
let it test
six autonomous
vehicles
without safety
drivers on
specific
streets in
Fremont,
Alameda
County;
Milpitas,
Santa Clara
County; and
Irvine, Orange
County.
According to
the DMV, the
vehicles are
designed to be
driven on
roads with
speed limits
of 45 miles
per hour or
less, in clear
weather and
light
precipitation.
The first
testing will
be in Fremont
and Milpitas
on weekdays
between 10AM
and 3PM...."
[Read more](https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/22/22449084/chinese-startup-pony-ai-autonomous-vehicles-california) Hmmmm... Congratulations! However,
just because
you are
permitted to
do something,
it doesn't
mean that you
should.
During “testing”, there is no positive value in driving around an empty car. at best someone will give you a “participant” trophy for doing so. You can just as easily “test” with our without someone inside. So, when “testing”, please have someone inside.
If you are sufficiently confident that your system works, then “testing” is over and it is time to make what you’ve tested into a scalable business and begin delivering some societal value. that’s when you’ll need to pull the driver because you’ve provven that the driver is unnecessary and you can deliver any substantial societal value unless you pull the driver. Note, if you could have delivered scalable societal value with a driver/attendant inside, then you would have done it long ago and you would have made all of your investors tons of money. Alain
Self-driving cars might never be able to drive themselves
M. wood, May
21,
"Meanwhile, no
cars are fully
self-driving
yet. I spoke
with Missy
Cummings, the
director of
the Humans and
Autonomy
Laboratory at
Duke
University.
She says the
so-called deep
learning that
cars need to
see the road
around them
doesn't
actually
learn. The
following is
an edited
transcript of
our
conversation..."
[Read more](https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/self-driving-cars-might-never-drive-themselves/) Hmmmm... Guess what, if a tree
limb grows in
front of a
stop sign, I
can't see it
either.
True...
computers
don't actually
learn, and
many of us are
fooled by
images.
escher made a
living off of
that truth and
no one has
claimed to be
"fully"
anything. But
.. in the
interest of
full
disclosure,
read on.
Alain
More On….
See
(confidential)
[from yesterday (5/15/21](cid:part71.140024F6.C0E866AB@princeton.edu)[)](cid:part71.140024F6.C0E866AB@princeton.edu). Then Re-see:
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
0, 0);">[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
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 re sponsored by the SmartETFs Smart Transportation and Technology ETF, symbol MOTO. For more information head to www.motoetf.com
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 213,
[Zoom-Cast Episode 213](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biRYIW1ULCo)
w/Robbie
Diamond;
Founder,
Securing
America's
Future Energy
F. Fishkin, May 14 , “The autonomous mobility competition with China. What will it take to succeed? Securing America’s Future Energy founder Robbie Diamond dives in with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser & co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus the latest on #AutoX, #Tesla, #GM, #TuSimple and more. Remember to subscribe! And check out this SAFE panel discussion too. “..
SmartDrivingCars Pod-Cast Episode 213, Zoom-Cast Episode 213 w/Robbie Diamond; Founder, Securing America’s Future Energy
F. Fishkin, May 14 , “The autonomous mobility competition with China. What will it take to succeed? Securing America’s Future Energy founder Robbie Diamond dives in with Princeton’s Alain Kornhauser & co-host Fred Fishkin. Plus the latest on #AutoX, #Tesla, #GM, #TuSimple and more. Remember to subscribe! And check out this SAFE panel discussion too.. https://youtu.be/Z6NBRrtTDnI “
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.
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."
Link to previous SDC PodCasts & ZoomCasts
Recent Highlights of:
May 15, 2021
Autonomous Vehicles: A Framework for Deployment and Safety R. Diamond, May 13, “Join SAFE for an event focused on the importance of autonomous vehicles to our national and economic security and outlining pathways for the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles.
The event will
feature
remarks from
Dr. Steve
Cliff, Acting
Administrator
of NHTSA, a
discussion
between
industry
leaders, and
the release of
a report, "A
Regulatory
Framework for
AV Safety," by
O. Kevin
Vincent,
Associate
General
Counsel,
Regulatory at
Lucid...." [Read more](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efcOl4QT4vg) Hmmmm... A must watch,
complemented
by the [Vincent report](https://www.dropbox.com/s/v7d50nlj2k3o2ud/Kevin-Vincent-Regulatory-Framework.pdf?dl=0) and
our latest [PodCast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biRYIW1ULCo) below.
Alain
May 8, 2021 [Why has't Waymo expanded its driverless service? Here's my theory](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/05/why-hasnt-waymo-expanded-its-driverless-service-heres-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
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.