Thursday, January 26, 2017

Bay State Legislation, International, and Chutzpah from Musk

A Massachusetts legislator seeks to tie driverless operation on its roads to zero-emission requirements and higher per-mile fees for empty roving vehicles. Oh and the legislation would replace the gas tax for these vehicles with a VMT (vehicle miles traveled) fee of 2.5 cents for every mile traveled, empty or full. 

In October 2016, an executive order in the Bay State was issued that encourages partnerships involving automated vehicles, giving usual utterance about safety, and pointing out that Boston - I assume meaning Cambridge as well - is the expected center of driverless activity.

A Pittsburgh-area company is trying to grow in a market niche of finding bugs in self-driving software code. It's a nice niche and a good place to be, right near Uber and Carnegie Melon.

International: Far and wide 

At the Christ Church airport in New Zealand, there is a driverless shuttle being tested and it's basically ready to transport airport travelers. The shuttle vehicle is a 15-person, French-made Navya. 

Here's a link to a boring, but brief, video of Paris Easy Mile bus in operation, with at least one passenger, in a very separated lane. Don't be shy, scroll down until you get to the rectangular box.

From the drink and ride desk

An Irish legislator believes that driverless vehicles will mean economic revitalization for rural areas, particularly for rural pubs. No one will worry about or avoid drinking at a pub due to concerns about driving.

Can't ignore Musk - nice on the chutzpah

While lots of testing and pilots are happening or being planned; while governors and legislators salivate and invite business and partner with universities; while federal money and interest drips into the driverless coffee pot - Elon Musk at Tesla and his partnership with Nvidia seems close to bearing big, maybe gigantic, fruit in three to six months with the rollout of "fully self-driving mode." It will go where your calendar says you should be, or default to taking you home if it does not receive a destination.

The Musk model seems to perpetuate the current system of the single-occupancy-vehicle, business as usual, just with no hands on the wheel. I would be happy to be proven wrong.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Still Looking Like State/University vs. State/University

Despite proposed national guidelines and lots of talk about how a national approach is needed so that driverless vehicles will be licensed, for want of a better word, to travel across jurisdictional and state lines, we continue to see a vacuum at the federal level in terms of legislation. That is to be expected because the United States Constitution established a system where it would be difficult, not easy, to pass legislation. Presently, there is no fire under Congress, no immediacy, for consensus to propel the enactment of a law. So the decision making remains with the states, which police and license motor vehicle travel and road design, building, and maintenance.

And in that vacuum, more and more states are seeing opportunity or, at least, they are attempting not to be left behind. Last week, I reported on Maryland, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. Here are a few more, plus a sales tour for a driverless transit-like shuttle.

Nevada and transit?

Who would have thought that Nevada would be a leader in the testing of driverless transit? Or that Nevada will be the first state to have driverless transit-like shuttle pilots going on in multiple cities? Well, count me in as someone who is surprised because with my East Coast glasses on I did not look into a crystal ball a year or two ago and proclaim Nevada! And I did not read anyone else predicting this either.

Las Vegas is already a location for driverless experimentation and soon Reno, Carson City, and Sparks (a city I have never heard of) will be hosting driverless shuttles as part of a project out of the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC). This project is a collaboration among the RTC, the University of Nevada (link to Reno campus), transit, and others.

Sales tour for driverless transit-like service

Speaking of transit or transit-like, Transdev and Easy Mile are taking their cute driverless shuttle across the country to market it for providing transportation for events and on private campuses, basically off of public roads. Right now, the shuttle is in Florida, but they will be showcasing the vehicle in Atlanta, New Orleans, LA, San Jose, and Arlington, TX. 

Riding easy in the Sunshine state

Florida Polytechnic University is, perhaps, taking a first step to follow Carnegie Melon University and a few other universities, to train students in driverless vehicle software and design, except that the Florida course - only one course - is not growing out of anyone's research, but rather is an intentional move by the university. What remains to be seen is whether a program will grow out of the course, now being taught by a retired Air Force colonel, who has a background in computer science and drone technology. The course is based on one taught at MIT (that's Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

The Florida university is located right near the testing ground recently picked by the US Department of Transportation.

MIT spawn

It is not only Carnegie Melon and Stanford with spawn in the driverless world, MIT's offspring nuTonomy is doing pretty well in Asia and in its extended hometown of Boston, crossing over one of the bridges from Cambridge for its driverless testing and, hopefully, pilot project. The linked article is a nice update and summary of the nuTonomy Boston project. No doubt the very progressive and innovative MassDOT secretary, Stephanie Pollack, will make sure there is a welcoming environment in Massachusetts for driverless. She gave some great talks at the recent TRB (Transportation Research Board) conference. I am a big fan.

By the way, nuTonomy has lots of job openings in engineering, cybersecurity, and mapping.

And out on the Northern Plains

To show how popular it is for states to attract driverless testing, research, and industry, even very sparsely-populated states are trying to get in on the action. Here's an article from North Dakota about consideration of legislation and driverless testing possibilities. The state hasplenty of space, weather, and open roads. Not much congestion.

10 chosen sites

Just so I have this somewhere in my blog-file cabinet of driverless stuff, here is a link to the 10 chosen proving ground sites in the US. 

Thursday, January 19, 2017

National Driverless Committees - Relevant?

Perhaps I am snarky, DC-based, and cynical, but my general opinion is that the committee discussed below will not accomplish much and the private sector will continue to drive - no pun intended - the future of autonomous transportation. This will be so particularly in the Donald Administration with its crew of pro-business advisors and Cabinet secretaries. Even in the outgoing Administration, I have witnessed this kind of pattern with the ride hailing companies as well. 

Lots of news here about:
  • An excellent report about autonomous vehicles and their potential for people with disabilities, and
  • State legislation and possibilities
Sounds like Eh Cat!

In the world of DC acronyms, here is a new one: ACAT, or the Advisory Committee on Automation in Transportation, a committee created by the US Department of Transportation. It is made up of very high people, such as the CEO of GM, for example. I'm convinced that the reason why the word automation is used instead of autonomous, driverless, or the equivalent is to make sure that only people who know that ACAT exists will find information about it on the  website, a notorious labyrinth of unconnected webpages. But I am paranoid. 

Here is the list of committee members. Lots of CEOs, professors, auto, and tech members. Last I would mention the token representative of the disability community and one labor representative. Oh and Lisa Jackson, ex-EPA Administrator and a representative of Apple, but perhaps that was the Obama Administration's parting DOT gift to the new DOT leadership. It would not look good to either disband ACAT or to throw off Jackson.

Since this is a government-created committee, it must adhere to US open meetings laws. On the positive side, any slob can attend or live stream a meeting, such as the Jan. 17, 2017 ACAT meeting, but on the down side none of the corporate bigwigs ever say anything forthright or unexpected because press is present and any person can live stream and sip their coffee at the same time (assuming the multitudes of transportation nerds are sipping the same beverage I am and prefer to view such events in jeans or pajamas). 

Mayor Garcetti was the only one to push the group forward and offer a plea for real action - a blueprint with measurable, planned goals - and hope that the committee will do something significant. And he was not even in the room; he called in from LA, where it was an early 7-9 a.m. Pacific time.

Some tidbits 
  • The labor representative showed concern, as well he should. Remember the elevator operators once had a union and jobs. 
  • The FAA's committee on airborne drones was cited as a successful example of a government advisory committee. 
  • The guy from Zoox was the only one not to wear a professional uniform; he showed up in a hat and a sweater (and pants, of course).
Potential is the word for people with disabilities

A nice report by Henry Claypool, the sole member of ACAT representing people with disabilities or having one himself, has co-authored a frank report for about the potential scenarios for people with disabilities as ride hailing services progress and driverless transportation looms just over the horizon.The report, entitled Self-Driving Cars: The Impact on People with Disabilities and issued the day after the ACAT meeting, goes beyond cars to look at current ride hailing, paratransit, taxi, street network and transit inequities - more than 25 years after passage of the ADA - and the sunny and gloomy scenarios that are possible when driverless transportation arrives. 

Claypool and his co-authors strongly encourage the formation of an active coalition of groups representing people with disabilities and others to educate political and business leaders about the needs of this transportation-challenged and diverse population and to advocate for universal design solutions for the new vehicles. 

Claypool  and his co-authors rightly declare that the opportunity is now to get it right - meaning equitable - for all travelers instead of standing by and allowing current problems, such as those that the ADA did not solve, to continue. 

This is an excellent and in-depth report about an important aspect of the coming transportation revolution. The Ruderman Family Foundation and SAFE (Securing America's Future Energy, a bipartisan think tank) supported the production of the report.

(FYI: This is high praise. Most reports on autonomous vehicles are basically driverless-for-dummies productions, make completely speculative declarations based on huge assumptions, or both.) 

Smart Belt - some PR person said it's better than Rust Belt

Starting with the self-congratulatory name of the Smart Belt, some previously Rust Belt states are ganging up together for a better chance to obtain federal funds and to lead the way together - well somewhat together - in the race toward driverless. Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are cooperatively pushing their impressive array of government and academic partners for the testing, research of, and presumably, wide introduction of driverless transportation. Focus areas also include policy, funding and freight issues.

East, then down south and west

Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration (the DMV equivalent for any New Yorkers) is advocating for its prominent role in driverless regulation, perhaps seeing ahead that it will have much less to do once there are no drivers. The MVA Administrator testified in Annapolis, the state capital, in favor of a bill that would give her agency broad flexibility. She also wants testing of driverless in the state. 

Alabama is worried that without drivers there will be a huge reduction in state funds. There won't be drivers speeding, failing to put on lights, going over lane markings or anything else. When your state coffers depend on driver fees and penalties, it is worrisome to think there will not be any drivers. So Alabama is exploring legislative approaches via its Legislative Committee on Self Driving Vehicles, considering laws dealing with vehicles, insurance, and funding programs. 

Transit-friendly Texas? 

Texas has promoted itself as a business-friendly state and it continues this tradition with the state's efforts to enable driverless testing - in Houston on highways. The auto makers welcome this endeavor, but so do some freight players and Houston's public transit agency, which is also involved. (I admit that as a native New Yorker I do not also associate transit with Texas, but Houston recently did a nice job of rethinking its bus routes in a very inclusive process.)

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Happy New Year - and Driverless Testing

Boston

A successful hometown startup, nuTonomy, operating driverless vehicles in Singapore, has come back to Beantown to do driverless testing in a restricted area. Nothing unusual except that this is new for Boston and that its neighbor, Cambridge, spawned nuTonomy at MIT. Testing began this week.

Testing will be at low speeds and only in good weather, just like all Boston driving. Ha ha! Go to the Globe article and see a short unimpressive video of the initial spin.

Las Vegas

Sometime in 2017 this sin city, whether downtown, on the Strip, or both, will have a driverless shuttle. Two possibilities are Olli from Local Motors and NAVLY from Keolis

Video below is Nvidia's latest, this time with music and an attempt to generate excitement outside of nerd community.


Pennsylvania

Since its heyday with Philadelphia as the nation's capital and hosting the Continental Congress as well as the convention that produced the US Constitution, perhaps due to closed windows and doors in terrible summer heat (like hot yoga meets intellectual debate), the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has not been an urban leader (talking general reputation here), but it is fighting hard to keep Pittsburgh's prominent position in the race for driverless development, testing, and perhaps a real rollout - as opposed to what is essentially a PR pilot by Uber.

Actual news: Pennsylvania through its transportation agency, PennDOT, is throwing its hat into the USDOT ring to get funding for a driverless proving ground designation. Really no idea why it can't just be called a testing ground. This news is being reported everywhere.

Link to USDOT intent to designate proving grounds.

Michigan - Eastern time zone, but Midwest in nature

My brain is asking: Embarrassed by Trump, seeing marketing possibilities, needing highly-educated talent or all of the above? Ford canceled its plans for a plant in Mexico and will be staying more grounded in its ancestral homeland of Michigan, where it is now a progressive mobility company instead of pusher of car in every driveway - at least while it considers its transformation to be profitable. Ford will be producing its hybrid and driverless vehicles in its home state, to the happy applause of unions and Trump, making for interesting bedfellows. Yes, this news is everywhere; tons of articles if you want to spend ten more minutes reading.

Michigan has also applied to host a USDOT-approved proving ground, which will exist whether or not the national Department of Transportation designates it as such. I suspect the chances are excellent, however. A new administration in DC will want to reward those states that gave the Electoral College to Trump despite the popular vote for Hillary Clinton. Just a guess.

Balancing hobbies

So nice to take time off, but driverless never sleeps and to avoid Lucy-and-Ethel mind crushing mental experience of shoving metaphorical or actual chocolates in my mouth as they burst forth down the assembly line, I will be concentrating on driverless trends and what interests me. There's plenty of others speculating - 70 percent of driverless news - or reporting absolutely everything. Plus, I am also committed to finishing my 108 Breads project this year, which will require effort and assistance of friends who will serve as tasting committee for a significant challenge I have given myself for the last 14 or so breads. Project has achieved initial goals of (a) being busy as transitioned to empty nest and (b) learning about and experimenting with different doughs, pre-doughs, and bread making approaches. The empty nest is the new adolescence.

There's also a sudden burst of energy to do my artwork of paintings, collage, and book, so driverless has to fit in, but not obliterate, actual creative production ongoing in my small walk-in closet a/k/a art studio (sometimes using a sink elsewhere when water becomes necessary).