"Our strategy is to keep our costs low by partnering with automakers for the hardware, and to keep those production costs low while we create both the technology and the service," ... Robot Taxi Chairman Hisashi Taniguchi told reporters.
No deals yet or reports of interested automakers. But the news is that Japan's wheels of government are turning to create a regulatory scheme to allow testing of self-driving cars on roads. So not any real news. But I did watch the Oscars and I can tell you which dresses and suits I liked.
A California Assemblywoman has introduced a bill that would specifically permit the Contra Costa Transportation Authority to operate a pilot driverless shuttle at speeds of less than 35 MPH on public roads, with passengers, and - without a steering wheel. The bill, AB 1592, is limited to this one situation and even designates where the shuttle may operate. I'm guessing that Assemblywoman Bonillla is constrained by the fear in her legislature and wants to make sure that the pilot, already arranged, will be allowed to get off the ground, or rather on the road. Go transit! Woo hoo! Off in a quiet neighborhood of Pittsburgh, meanwhile Uber will be testing driverless vehicles in a Pittsburgh neighborhood - off the roads in a private now-unused site that is slated for future development, post-Uber use. The city believes that the Uber name will help home values for the post-Uber testing development. If this works out, no one will have to deal with pesky or murderous Uber drivers. Off in Texas and Colorado - off road all the way to Afghanistan
And a place called the Southwest Research Institute - or SwRI - in San Antonio and at a campus in Boulder is working on several driverless projects, some involving the military and some for navigation on unpaved roads, which the Institute says amount to 36 percent of US roads. There's also a lot of unpaved roads in Afghanistan and elsewhere in locations where soldiers are very much at risk of attack. They work on interesting projects for materials scientists. Stuff like vehicles that won't melt on other planets. I have a budding one in the family, so I'm always interested in fun projects such specialized smart people work on. Off in India, just some guys saving the world from sleepy drivers In India, one small team has created a driverless-in-a-box kit to turn any car into a self-driving one. Great story of the impetus and the development of the prototype car and the kit.
Tesla Problems? Tesla has brought in a new director of its driverless project. Actually, this person is already at Tesla. Will this mean more of the bit-by-bit advance for its driverless technology? Does it mean speeding up the project? I have no idea and I'm not seeing reports that do more than speculate. Ford - 3 Is a Lucky Number Ford is about to triple the dollars it spends on driverless technology, demonstrating (1) that the automaker is serious, (2) that it feels real competition, and (3) that the company believes is it is close and a competitive player for taking this market when driverless goes live, as it were. And Ford is aiming for normal people, not the luxury market. CEO Fields envisions this as heeding the company's Model T heritage of bringing automobiles to the masses. (Now wasn't that a disaster for cities? Don't even think that unmentionable name of Robert Moses, whose evil extended to the loss of the Brooklyn Dodgers, causing heartrending sadness for my hometown and for my grandpa.) Please note that Ford is playing it safe by pursuing both semi-autonomous and completely self-driving technology. Flying High in the Sky A little des(s)ert here after the above healthy meal. Google is working in the beautiful desert of New Mexico on solar-powered drones. It's a 5G project. This will make the Jetsons look completely old fashioned. (That's the extent of my sci-fi interest.) Will Google employees run into Walter White? Oh, now I remember. Guess not. One Last Tea Leaf The current laser technology that allows driverless vehicles to "see" has potential competition. The competition is not yet ready for prime time, but someone who is working with this stereoscopic technology is confident that the computer advances and faster speeds will soon make this a practical and cheaper alternative. Translation: Perhaps this is the VHS to the laser's betamax. If you are under 30, you probably have no idea what that translation means. You might first have to learn G-talk and find out about Huckapoo shirts and Jordache jeans. Or maybe that's my Brooklyn upbringing talking. As Bernie says, Enough already. Or was that my father? Both.
Have you been to Israel? You have not experienced crazy driving and scary fast-moving traffic until you've been there. Not even the Jersey turnpike, the LIE, or anywhere in Italy can compare. And now, a driverless trip on an Israeli highway with the US envoy, who lived to tell about it - and seemed pretty calm.
By the way, if there is ever country where you want to use that seatbelt, Israel is it. Beautiful scenery, great food, interesting people, lots of culture. Frightening roads. If a driverless trip can take place in Israel, we're ready to go primetime.
Well, the Dutch. And they are not talking trucks out West, either. Nor are we talking about truckers seeking to fall under the radar of the Man, specifically state troopers. This is a convoy today of partially-driverless vehicles doing a test for a risk-management company to gather data on safety and vehicle spacing in mixed traffic. Though the vehicles were not completely autonomous, the humans left to the cars decisions about acceleration and lane changes, Not an entertaining video. A good group of car companies participated. "The cars making the journey include BMWs, Hyundais, Mercedes, Teslas, Toyotas and Volvos."
You want to see this again. Kris Kristoferson, Ali McGraw, and Ernest Borgnine. Classic grade B movie.
Audi scores a major public relations coup by ferrying a move star (really, I have no idea who this guy is) to a major film festival in Berlin (that I have never heard of).
Two lessons 1. Driverless is glamorous. 2. I know little about celebrity stuff, though I have seen a good bunch of the current Oscar contenders. 3. Extra lesson: Berlin is a cool city, so it was a spot-on place to pull this sleek PR stunt.
Utah has a driverless bill being considered by its state legislature. Does it allow for driverless operations on the state's roads? No. Does it allow for testing of driverless vehicles within the state? Kind of. An autonomous vehicle is defined as partially to completely driverless. The definition states:
[A] motor vehicle equipped with technology that allows the motor vehicle to perform one or more driving functions throughvehicle automation, without the direct control of the driver. (Emphasis added.)
The bill would require that a study be performed to explore: 1. Best practices for regulating partially and completely autonomous vehicles, including the regimes of other states. 2. Evaluation of safety features and standards for driverless vehicle operation in the Utah terrain and weather. 3. Federal standards. Happy New Year The study is due before Dec.31, 2016. Almost as an afterthought, the legislation allows for testing, but does not supply any details about conditions under which it may occur. The only proviso is that the testing shall be contracted to be performed under the auspices of three state agencies: the Department of Public Safety, the Division of Motor Vehicles (within the Department of Transportation), and the Department of Technology Services. The term "facilitate and encourage" is used in regard to testing, but no specifics are supplied.
Each agency of the state with regulatory authority impacting autonomous vehicletechnology testing shall facilitate and encourage the responsible testing and operation ofautonomous vehicle technology within the state.
A legislative compromise, perhaps? Was there a debate about which agency should be granted authority? Maybe, as no department is tasked with the lead role. The bill does reflect the Utah culture (in my limited regulatory and project knowledge of transportation there) of taking the best practices of other places and adapting them to the communal ethos of the state.
Reports are coming fast and furious of Google's success in convincing NHTSA - the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - that a driverless vehicle without even a steering wheel is the equivalent of a human driver and could conceivably operate on the roads. Two of many sources Re/code post
Fortune Is Google going to be tooling down I-95 anytime soon? One word: No 1. The US federal government does not license any drivers. The state governments do that. So far, no state has authorized a vehicle without a licensed human or any vehicle without a steering wheel to operate on its roadways. Some states have, thus far, permitted testing. None have issued rulings, regulations, or court decisions that definitively state that a vehicle without a steering wheel may operate on its roads. However, as some state laws are vague on this question, it is possible some will choose to allow driverless vehicles to operate and will not change their current laws. 2. The federal government does have the powers of its purse, of persuasion, and of the Commerce Clause to the US Constitution. Much road funding comes from the feds, so conditions attached speak loudly to the states. The Commerce Clause permits Congress to pass laws - you guessed it, affecting commerce - a hole one could drive a truck through, no pun intended. The commerce clause allows the federal government to regulate the sale of chickens that have never seen another state. No question that Congress has the authority, if it chooses to exercise it, to regulate or throw out some rules regarding driverless vehicles. 3. The states have and could again adopt uniform legal codes relating to driverless vehicles and technology. Such laws exist for commercial paper, evidence, probate, among others. There is even a Uniform Law Commission that promotes such laws. The full name of the Commission being the National Conference of Commissioners on State Uniform Laws. Beware: An identically-worded statute in all 50 states and the District of Columbia does not necessarily mean that the judges in those states will interpret those laws in identical ways. Click here for more legal discussion of uniform laws. And Google's package delivery patent - not yet ready for prime time I should give up a package delivery man for this? Google just patented a system whereby a presumably driverless truck or car would deliver a package, but - get this - a human at the destination would have to type in a PIN number to open a locker with the package. I can't even remember which PIN goes to what and now I would have to have on hand the unique number to retrieve dental stuff or a cheap book? Plus, there are a bunch of steep steps to walk down to the street. Right now, the delivery guy does the climbing. Or my receptionist at work, who does 100 other things, also would have to keep a list of package PINs. Nice first step Google. Please keep trying.
Type in your destination and ride - on a campus or in an office park - in the future. But for now, in India, a driverless shuttle is open to the public at the Auto Expo in Greater Noida, India. (Don't ask me where that it is; I know NY, DC, parts of Boston and Chicagoland, but not India.) And the pride part is that the vehicle - a transit-like shuttle - is made in India. Well, of course, it's the Indians who are proud. Sitting here in the US, I am smiling for them. One minor complaint here. For a shuttle that is open to the public, the vehicle looks quite unfriendly to people with disabilities. Other nice factoid Battery powered and can run for 150 km on one charge. That's 92 miles. Why do we even have the word factoid? Fact is sufficient.
Except for tourist-oriented horses and buggies, the Isle of Man, located in the waters near Great Britain, self-governing, but not part of the United Kingdom, is making big plans to go driverless. Island leaders are looking to driverless vehicles because:
Transportation resources will be paid for by large companies (much cheaper than a publicly-funded transit system, for example); and
Tourists will flock to the island for driverless rides and an otherwise nice vacation.
The Isle's government is considering legal changes to allow this to happen. In my opinion, that should not be difficult. Any legal provisions could become templates for other countries and states - such as those in the US. Until driverless vehicles become ubiquitous elsewhere, the Isle would be a unique playground for a real, pretty, completely driverless road network - well, except for horse-drawn buggies, pedestrians, and bikers.
For England, a small island nation that once administered a massive empire (redundant, really, because empires are by nature massive), ambition is in the blood. And that ambition is being steered toward driverless vehicles. Plans for and actual pilot driverless projects are popping up all over. Here is what came across my laptop just this morning, plus some old stuff. This is like raking leaves under the forest of trees in my front yard. One does not have to search at all.
Pods similar to those at Heathrow Airport will soon be on the streets of London. (Google this one; it is literally all over the news.)
Bristol is planning a driverless pilot program that is expected to help seniors be more mobile and, therefore, independent. This project was announced almost a year ago and there's been a dearth of details in the press since then.
Milton Keynes pods on the streets since September 2015.
Warning: Generic, almost retro video. Plus, the United Kingdom just pledged a $20 million investment in connected and autonomous vehicle technology. Here's a link to a more detailed article and another article I like about this. Now, this is corporate welfare, is it not? There's already companies investing untold amounts, in the billions. But I can see where competitiveness in terms of a nation's economy is key. One question: Will the vast majority of the manufacturing jobs be for unpaid robots or actual paid humans? Coventry, at least, is predicting 350 jobs, according to the article linked above. Dream trip: Visiting England for driverless rides and bread baking classes. OMG.
