Sidewalk drones
In terms of surface transportation, and avoiding the large topic of flying drones, there is a company, amusingly called Starship Technologies, that has invented a delivery drone that travels on sidewalks. This sidewalk drone will be "99 percent driverless," with a human at a remote location who will be able to step in to operate the drone.
Think Chinese food delivery without a human. The drone is approximately 40 pounds and can cross streets. I'm imagining R2D2.
Transit bots in a clean country
Switzerland is soon to be host to a new driverless transit service that will serve the tourist area of the Swiss city of Sion, population about 33,000. Small bot-like buses will start operation in the spring of 2016. Isn't the yellow and black design cute?
The bot bus service is the result of a collaboration between PostBus and BestMile. PostBus is the leading Swiss provider of public bus service, but it also provides rural and regional bus transit in areas of France and Liechtenstein.
BestMile's master plan
BestMile would like to see its bot buses not compete with existing transit, but providing first mile/last mile service. This is BestMile's first commercial contract. The company is also involved with CityMobil2 in Europe.
First mile/last mile confounds traditional transit
Why is important? If a person is far from the bus stop or the intersection nearby is not designed well for pedestrians, then that person will not use transit. But if a small bus or a bikeshare can safely transport the person for the first mile/last mile, then transit suddenly is a potentially attractive option.
In the US, the first mile/last mile problem is huge due to low-density suburbs and street networks unfriendly to pedestrians and bikers. Someone walking a few blocks should not have to confront a completely inaccessible, dangerous intersection, but that is the reality in much of the country. Bots, in my opinion, could be a partial solution. Improving the pedestrian street network would also go a long way.
So what did people expect when a car came on the road that allows for hands-free driving on the highway - but only highways with clear lane markings - and a warning that hands should remain - doing nothing - on the wheel? Turns out, those hands are not remaining on the Tesla steering wheels, Some "drivers" are climbing into their Tesla backseats or engaging in other unauthorized, not-good-driver behavior. Oh, and the car can't "read" weather, stop signs, traffic signals, or other common road situations.
I don't have the time, but apparently these mischievous Tesla owners are posting their videos all over the place.
Apparently, I'm not the only person concerned that semi-autonomous vehicles present real dangers. State driving regulators in California are pondering this issue. They were taking their time, but will they hurry up now that the semi-autonomous Teslas are out there driving themselves on highways throughout the state? According to a Silicon Valley article, linked to above in this paragraph, all eyes are on California to issue regulations and set the model for what other states and countries should document, restrict, and allow.
And ... Tesla cars, with those hands-free drivers, perhaps some of them napping or watching videos while behind the wheel, are not considered self-driving according to current California rules. That will be one fun lawsuit when the first accident occurs because the driver did not become instantly attentive when the car alerted him or her.
California might start first driverless community
Planners developing a Southern California community to be pedestrian friendly and have supermarkets and other services within a 10-minute walk of each residence, is considering becoming the first driverless community in the U.S. as well. The idea is that when a car is needed, it can be shared and driverless.
The name is Lilac Hills Ranch, for those wanting to delve deeper.
Florida embracing driverless
Why pay to build a road twice? Florida is resolving this possible problem before it becomes a problem. The sunshine state is planning to build roads that can be adjusted in some way for the day when connected and/or driverless vehicles begin traveling up and down its roads.
Meanwhile, on the roads of Greece, completely driverless gets a chance
Personally, I think a completely driverless vehicle is safer than a partially autonomous one. One city in Greece won the highly competitive spot to try real driverless transit on local roads - with dogs, pedestrians, bicycles, and angry human drivers - on a 1.5 mile stretch. I reported on this before the pilot program started; now the vehicles are in operation. No reports of passengers yet. There is a human monitoring the situation in a control center. He or she will be able to remotely take over the controls if need be, but the little bus is designed to travel without human control of any kind.
That article provides very good coverage of the difference between the Greek CityMobil2 project and earlier ones.
Fare-free, driverless transit in Greece as CityMobil2 provides actual bus service for actual riders on the streets of Trikala. No idea where that is, but it has 80,000 people. A nice small city for a test project. (Though the article calls Trikala rural, it would not be deemed rural by American standards. American transportation regulations define rural as 50,000 or less.)
The CityMobil2 buses are on the roads right now and will continue to provide rides through February 2016.
Singapore designs driverless transit for everyone - including people with disabilities
In an ongoing series of shared-use driverless projects - fitting about 10 people per vehicle, Singapore is designing universally so that one category of transportation-challenged people will be afforded true equality. The little transit buses are designed for wheelchair-user riders and not just "normal" riders.
If you look at the vehicles, notice that unlike conventional transit buses, which seem as though wheelchair accessibility is an add on, these seem as if they were designed for more than one type of passenger.
England choosing conventional car manufacturers
I'm thinking this is a mix of forward-thinking car manufacturers and the UK government getting a bit desperate that other countries are passing by the Union Jack in the race to bring autonomous transport to the world's roads. Jaguar and Land Rover are teaming up with British universities and the UK government - a la Michigan's M city, perhaps.
But wait, this multi-faceted endeavor, which also involves 10 UK universities, will be studying drivers as well, meaning increasingly autonomous cars rather than driverless ones as fast as possible. UK might be more behind than it thinks.
Bishop Ranch is an affluent and progressive office park in Contra Costa county, California. BR already promotes use of non-SOV (single occupancy vehicle) modes of transit, carpooling, biking, etc. It goes further by providing information, incentives, and connections for utilizing non-SOV modes.
Now BR will be the first office park in the nation with driverless shuttles that will ferry people to transit and shared-use connections - a driverless feeder service that will travel at low speeds. Service will begin next summer in 2016. EasyMile driverless vehicles, shown above, will be the provider. EasyMile, a French company, has already been involved with pilot projects in Europe, including the CityMobil2 program in Switzerland.
California clearly in the lead
This is the second private driverless shuttle service that is scheduled to begin in California. The other was announced recently for the campus of Santa Clara University.
Transit union drivers, taxi drivers, Uber and other ridehailing drivers, beware. Time now to train for new work. The driverless revolution is coming your way fast.
Literally, it is impossible to take a week off, let alone a decent vacation, from driverless vehicle news because daily there are updates. I'm just catching up after a summer of work and actual vacation travel. Next year, such a schedule could mean I'll miss a sight of the first driverless taxi or ridehailing car in my neighborhood. More likely that will be two years from now. But if I were planning to visit the Netherlands this summer, I could treat myself to a ride on driverless transit.
Catch a ride near some tulips
The Netherlands takes the lead with driverless transit starting in November of this year. The pods are on the roads now being tested and come November they will be shuttling up to six passengers at a time around two towns in the province of Gelderland. (Not sure if there is a connection, but geld, or something close, means money in several languages.) The WEpods will go up to 15 miles per hour (25 kph). Initially, this driverless shuttle will be treated gently; it will not be available during rush hours, at night, or in inclement weather. But you will be able to book it with an app along its initial fixed route.
The Netherlands WEpod follows in the footsteps of CityMobil2, which has operated in towns in Finland and Switzerland. There are also driverless pods at Heathrow Airport outside of London.
And a short trip from London, Oxford, Cambridge ...
In the town of Milton Keynes, in England, two-seater driverless pods are about to be given a trial run. In the works for more than a year, the pilot project will ramp up from three up to 40 pods for ferrying people around and taking lessons for fine tuning regulation of driverless technology.
While in Asia, ...
Singapore did a six-day trial (something biblical here?) a few months ago with tourists as guinea pigs. A large garden that is a tourist destination allowed for pre-arranged rides on the driverless shuttle golf-cart-type vehicle. Turns out that the tourists loved the driverless service and the guinea pigs were safe.
News from across the pond
New York City is already behind as a DOT connected-car-technology testing site. But it may fall further back in the advent of new vehicular technology because it is planning to test only connected vehicle technology and not driverless vehicles on its streets. That's okay, my home town has a long tradition of launching shows after previews elsewhere. This project goes with the conventional wisdom of most traditional car manufacturers, and perhaps more than a few departments of transportation around the US, that regular cars outfitted with driver warning systems, vehicle-to-vehicle technology, and limited autonomous features will win the war against total driverless - and be safe. I do not believe that someone napping, checking email, or watching a cable show clip will suddenly snap to attention when the car somehow shouts out EMERGENCY! Maybe my reflexes are unusual, though.
On the way to Miami
Other spots to test this same connected-vehicle technology will be Tampa, FL, Wyoming, and Ann Arbor, MI.
