Way too long blog post #1 - US

You spend a week away and tons of autonomous vehicle (AV) stories come out, by which I exclude the "here's how the world will change, IMHO" pieces and the "world will end with AV transportation" stuff. My favorites of those genres are the "we'll all be having sex in AVs" and the "we'll all be nauseous with carsickness in AVs," which, if you consider those together for a second, is not an attractive combination.

I will only mention actual news.

United States

Still waiting - We are sitting by our laptops and phones in anticipation of the next iteration of the NHTSA AV guidance, due in July. I personally expect the guidance to be released after mid-July or, perhaps, I'm just hoping not to sit inside on July 4th reading it. I think it will continue along the trajectory of the "let's get out of the way of private sector innovation" 2.0 guidance released last time around. This is not to judge Sec. Chao's USDOT in particular because the Obama Administration took pretty much the same position.

Minor revision - Partial AV technology is revisited by SAE. The standard AV taxonomy is reconsidered oh so slightly by clarifying what SAE is referring to in its six levels of vehicle automation - from 0 to 5. Here's the heart of the brief document:

The levels of driving automation are defined by reference to the specific role played by each of the three primary actors in performance of the DDT [dynamic driving task] and/or DDT fallback. “Role” in this context refers to the expected role of a given primary actor, based on the design of the driving automation system in question and not necessarily to the actual performance of a given primary actor. For example, a driver who fails to monitor the roadway during engagement of a level 1 adaptive cruise control (ACC) system still has the role of driver, even while s/he is neglecting it. 

Active safety systems, such as electronic stability control and automated emergency braking, and certain types of driver assistance systems, such as lane keeping assistance, are excluded from the scope of this driving automation taxonomy because they do not perform part or all of the DDT on a sustained basis and, rather, merely provide momentary intervention during potentially hazardous situations. Due to the momentary nature of the actions of active safety systems, their intervention does not change or eliminate the role of the driver in performing part or all of the DDT, and thus are not considered to be driving automation.

Startup boost - May Mobility is getting a boost from an auto supplier company named Magna. Looks like pilots with May Mobility technology will be coming down the pike.

Senators hear both sides of debate - The June 13 hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works (like roads) Committee featured witnesses on both sides of the AV START Act debate, meaning those favoring more versus less regulation and control over AVs. A stark comparison can be made, for example, between the testimony of Shailen P. Bhatt, President and CEO of ITS America (the former Colorado Secretary of Transportation who allowed the spectacle of the staged AV truck delivery of Coors beer), who recommended that tech and auto companies get free reign, and the testimony of Shaun Kildare, Director of Research at Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, who pointed out how untested AVs are and how we don't maintain roads now, so how can we expect anything different with roads full of connected vehicle technology. Apologies for the awful run-on sentence.

Is concern in the Senate part of the reason for the birth of the Partnership for Transportation Innovation and Opportunity (PTIO)? Though PTIO is touted as a labor-focused enterprise to deal with upcoming loss of jobs, the initial descriptions - here's the website - show a concerted effort to deal with public relations problems that the AV industry has been and will encounter. PTIO includes some big players - Lyft, Uber, Waymo, FedEx, Ford, Toyota, Daimler, and the American Trucking Associations. Interesting that none of the cute AV shuttle companies are in the group. Probably have not been asked to join the team. Right now, it looks like PTIO will only have a presence in DC.

Pittsburgh mayor is pissed - Love this because Mayor Peduto is fighting the battle for every city in the country to control its streets and not be completed preempted by sometimes faraway and antagonistic state capitals. So what is Peduto angry about? The state transportation department of Pennsylvania, PennDOT, will be meeting separately with each of the major AV players in the state - meaning Pittsburgh, where they are all testing and developing technology - instead of hosting a public  meeting. Basically, the people of Pittsburgh, whose streets are the testing ground, and Mayor Peduto have been locked out of the process.

At first, after the Uber crash in Arizona, PennDOT appeared to be changing course and steering toward a California-like regulatory/voluntary approach. Peduto seemed to be on board or, at least, ready to talk. But then, like many matches made through dating apps, radio silence. This whole debacle demonstrates that inclusion and taking the time to invest stakeholders (such a DC word), such as major cities, works far better than effectively saying "screw you, not interested in your input." In an instantly viral world, PennDOT should be careful; Mayor Peduto is a charming and passionate adversary if that is what the agency turns him into.

Commercial interruption for Waymo video. Arizona riders love Waymo AVs.

Wicked* AVs in Beantown - Watch out Jamaica Plain, Beacon Hill, Roxbury, and Alston: Every Boston neighborhood could soon see AVs zipping around. Boston is now permitting AVs to be tested throughout the city. So far, that means nuTonomy, which has been testing for a long time at the seaport. nuTonomy is beaming, stating the company is:

[P]roud to be the first and only company authorized to operate autonomous vehicles on public roads citywide in Boston. Being recognized by the City for our exceptional safety record is an important milestone for the entire nuTonomy and Aptiv team.  

My message to nuTonomy is to watch out. Those Boston drivers can be aggressive; as a pedestrian, I used to wait for three cars to go through the intersection as the light changed before I felt safe to walk.

*By the way, translate the word "wicked," when used in Boston (or anywhere in the Red Sox Nation states of New England) as "fabulous."

Wicked all over Massachusetts - So far, the states that have passed AV laws have either preempted their municipalities out of any say-so for control of where AVs may test or the state laws call for onerous requirements, hoops that would have to jumped through with each municipality. The latter demonstrate part of the reason that a state like Arizona has attracted testing. It's easier to operate when there is one state rule.

Massachusetts has possibly arrived at a beautiful angle of repose for balancing state-city relationships in relation to AV testing. "the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and 14 towns and cities in the Greater Boston area signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will open up their roads to autonomous vehicle testing." Massachusetts, unlike some other states with councils established to study AV testing, continued to meet even after testing commenced in the state. Usually those councils precede and end with a report.

According to an article from a Worcester news source:

The new MOU streamlines and standardizes the process for companies seeking to test Autonomous Vehicles on Massachusetts roadways. Following the signing of this MOU, MassDOT and the participating communities will finalize a universal application for companies to use when seeking to test Autonomous Vehicles and the participating municipalities will identify locations and roadways suitable for Autonomous Vehicle testing. 

The municipalities signing the MOU today include Arlington, Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Newton, Revere, Somerville, Weymouth, Winthrop, and Worcester. In addition, the Department of Conservation and Recreation is joining the MOU in order to make Commonwealth-owned parkways available for the testing of Autonomous Vehicles.

Basically, this area covers the Boston T and commuter-rail universe. Nice.

Nebraska slows down - Despite a lenient, come-on-in-to-test new law and despite plans for testing on public roads in Lincoln, Nebraska will not be seeing AVs too soon on public roads. No reports are explaining the details of why an ambitious pilot for testing in Lincoln has slowed way down, but now the word is that the University of Nebraska will host a pilot on the private roadway of the campus.

Officials in Lincoln had initially planned to launch a driverless shuttle service to carry passengers between downtown Lincoln, the Haymarket District and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s main campus, but a city spokeswoman said the project was delayed and won’t arrive in Lincoln for at least another few weeks. City officials now expect to run smaller-scale tests on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Innovation Campus to work out any possible kinks.

Not the Lincoln in Brooklyn* - BUT Lincoln, NE won a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to fund an AV shuttle pilot. The mayor has declared, "Lincoln is seeking to become the first city in the United States to offer an on demand autonomous shuttle service for public transportation." A Navya shuttle will be used.

*In Brooklyn, NY, there is Lincoln High School, Lincoln Gardens cooperative apartment building community, and Lincoln Garden Cleaners. All of you alumni of P.S. 209 and Avenue Z Jewish Center (plus the million nearby churches) know what I'm talking about. And tons of famous Lincoln alumni, including Mel Brooks, Arthur Miller, Neil Sedaka, and Stephan Marbury.

Back to Nebraska, the law is lenient for AVs. Neb. Revised Staututes from 60-3301 to 60-3311 are the pertinent state code sections; 60-3308 is the preemption provision.

Even Toledo - The Toledo in Ohio (not Spain) has a plan for AVs; the "[u]se of smaller, autonomous vehicles is a key element of MoveToledo, a strategic plan TARTA [Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority]." Last week,  TARTA's general manager "announced his agency has received a $1.8 million federal grant to develop an experimental automated public transit route. The three-year pilot, Mr. Gee said, most likely will use small vehicles similar to a 15-passenger, electric shuttle." The pilot is scheduled to be on the street by summer of next year. Details have yet to be determined and these AV transit pilots take a while to arrange due to the programming of the vehicles and the need for accessibility, which is an odd add-on for foreign manufacturers.

Cross-border cooperation - On the state/province level, there is collaboration on AV planning. This is in the Pacific Northwest and cross-border counterparts in Canada. The states of Oregon and  Washington, and the province of British Columbia have set up an AV working group called the Automated, Connected, Electric, and Shared (ACES) Northwest Network, an organization focused on moving people and goods throughout the Puget Sound. ACES is not an official government endeavor for either the American or the Canadian participants, but, according to it press release, will include visionaries, researchers and other experts. (I have the same instinctive response to the word "visionaries" that I have to the word "passion," which is that these words are being employed awkwardly outside of their central zones of application.)

No Human, Fare Free and In Traffic

Headlines from the past week:

Waymo in Phoenix - hands free and engineer in back seat

Las Vegas AV shuttle begins with a glitch

Tampa AV shuttle to start public transit service in January 2018

and from Miami - Mayor with a big bus dream

What do these headlines have in common? Autonomous vehicles (AVs) that are shared - for transit or for pooled taxi-like rides - are moving ahead, well in front of the sale of fully autonomous private cars.

And, for now,  the rides are free though, we have yet to hear whether Waymo's Phoenix-area rides - with the engineer in the back seat - will be free or discounted. The Miami dream is way too far away to talk about fares.

In regular traffic and then an all-too-human driver ...

Here is a video with a reporter who was on the Law Vegas shuttle. The report includes "real people" concerns that the passengers expressed in the wake of the mishap of a very minor crash with a truck in the shuttle's first couple of hours of operation. The crash, by the way, was the fault of the human truck driver, not the AV technology. The shuttle was manufactured by Navya.

Florida shuttle coming after New Year's

The Tampa AV shuttle is being shown off this week at an AV summit. The cute AV will be in regular operation come January. The shuttle manufacturer is Coast Autonomous and the vehicle will seat 14 passengers and fit a total of 20. And the AV shuttle will be fare free.

The transit agency will operate the AV shuttle. This is actually Tampa's second experience with AV service. There was an AV giving rides at a science museum. That demonstration project started way back in 2015.


Miami mayor wants big driverless bus

The mayor of Miami has gotten cold feet for a large rail project. These come with scary price tags. Instead, the mayor is proposing a newly developed autonomous bus - a really big bus - that is touted as a train on wheels. It's like the AV shuttles on steroids with room for 300 passengers. Miami already has dedicated bus lanes. 

Now to read all of the articles, legislative bills, etc. starting to pile up this week.

Local Governments Scream "What do I do now?"

All over the United States, cities and counties, even state governments, are waking up - suddenly, as if an alarm clock just went off, awakening them from a deep sleep - and they are screaming "What are we going to do when autonomous vehicles come? Ahhhhhh!!!!! Oh my g-d, what the f&*ck are AVs? CVs? V2Vs? And gas stations versus EVs?

They don't know what the future holds and how to plan; no one knows, partly because the private sector is calling the shots. Plus, federal legislation will come along to preempt state laws and state laws will preempt local laws.

[Aside: I do believe that in the next year, unless we get totally bogged down with impeachment proceedings or some nightmare major distraction, the US will see the passage of a true bipartisan law in the form of AV legislation. The regulation and on-the-street details will fall to the US Department of Transportation and state departments of transportation. Many states already have some kind of AV advisory council.]

Calling on the quiet kid in the back

Let's take Nashville as an example because its transit plans for bus rapid transit (BRT) and light rail (LRT) are attracting criticism - as ambitious transit projects tend to do in car-oriented places - because of talk that shared AVs will make transit less important or not important at all. Shared AVs, some say, will absorb all of the extra congestion expected in the coming decades from Nashville's growth. So, two giant assumptions here: (1) Nashville's current population trajectory will continue, and (2) residents and workers in Nashville will be traveling in shared-AVs that are shuttle or taxi-like instead of alone in their own AVs.

So, one might say, plan for AVs. BUT no one knows when AVs will be coming, in what form, or what business models will co-exist in particular local and regional markets or which will dominate, or whether to go out now and buy all of the connected technology one can get one's hands on or whether to wait because vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) won't be necessary when every vehicle is connected to every other one.

A question answered - Where?

We do know where AVs are thanks to a cool map from the Initiative on Cities and Autonomous Vehicles (ICAV, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute). This screenshot is just of the US and Canada, but the Initiative map covers the globe and one can zoom in and click on a colored spot for information about the AV activity in that city AND a link to municipal information about the particular project. Very cool.

Go local

Local is in. Local is farmers markets and quirky restaurants, yarn stores, parks, and murals. But most places are full of strip malls, free parking, and street crossings and pedestrian infrastructure that are ugly and dangerous. AVs challenge the conventional transportation wisdom of free parking and  everyone needing a car. However, that challenge might only be in the minds of planners and others paid to ponder transportation networks. It is possible that we will have an AV in every parking spot and companies aiming to make that goal both affordable and profitable.

Now, cities and counties are wondering how to move forward and they are hosting meetings, writing reports, investing money, and sometimes being completely frank that they are not sure what to do. In no particular order, here are some examples.

Disclaimer: What appears below is not a complete list. In fact, actual city plans are mentioned later. Scroll down if at first you become irritated.

Columbus, Ohio - Winner of the much-hailed and competitive $40 million Smart Cities Challenge (with a matching bonus of another $10 million), Columbus is perceived as having an advantage. Here is a one-year update on the Columbus demos being funded, which include autonomous shuttles and new fare card technology. Do not believe Columbus is ahead, if only because this city is very troubled. Few complete streets, terrible transit, lots of highways, illegal drugs, and big, big problems with poverty. There is so much to fix; this is a city very much tied to the automobile and the Smart Cities plan tries to do too much. Big doubts. - 😬. Columbus' plan links via ICAV.

Lake County, Illinois - Just outside of Cook County, which is mostly Chicago, Lake County is suburban and exurban, with lots of strip malls and big box stores, and some local stuff thrown in. (I've had decent falafel there and lots of good walks.) Great parks and walking trails. This is a place built around the car. Lake County is just beginning to address AVs and the already changing transportation system as it ponders the new popularity of complete streets and cities. So, being smart, nearby experts from Chicago were invited to address the Lake County Transportation Alliance about ways to improve transportation that do not involve extra lanes and more cars - or huge investments of tax dollars.

Atlanta, Georgia - Not even on the ICAV map yet, but Atlanta is promising a hi-tech, connected corridor right by Georgia Tech, with an AV shuttle. Lots of promotion and news stories about the Ponce-City-Market-to-Midtown (home of Georgia Tech) CV corridor and future AV shuttle route. Here's a boring, but informative video that focuses on the CV aspects of the project. (As a mom of a GaTech grad student, not sure the cycling stuff alleviates any concern about my biking offspring on that exact route.)

Portland, Oregon - Home of Portlandia, food trucks, and all things artisnal - way west of Brooklyn, still independent as its own city, and without the snarkiness. Have to include a clip from Portlandia. This is from a classic early episode about whether the organic chicken on the menu had a full life.

Portland's draft policy smartly considers AVs in the context of the city's transportation goals, such as Vision Zero for pedestrian and biking safety, pollution reduction, and reduction in low-occupancy vehicle trips, among others. View the Portland AV policy page for draft policy documents, timeline, and a new acronym - SAVI for Smart Autonomous Vehicles Initiative. Basically, the draft policy is four single-spaced pages stating that AVs should serve the very new urban goals that the city has already identified. That's good, BUT (you knew there would be a but) there is no explanation of who, when, or how these linkages will be made and goals accomplished. Still, this is a saner-than-Brooklyn-almost-paradise (which has had its own problems, such as the recent ethnic-reactionary murder on the streetcar). The policy identifies a rational order of priorities.

Implement a prioritization of modes for people movement by making transportation system decisions according the following ordered list:
1. Walking
2. Bicycling
3. Transit
4. Fleets of electric, fully automated, multiple passenger vehicles
5. Other shared vehicles
6. No or low occupancy vehicles, fossil-fueled non-transit vehicles

Boston, Massachusetts - The Boston Plan incorporates the laudable non-tech goals of “Zero deaths. Zero injuries. Zero disparities. Zero emissions. Zero stress.” Good way to think of technology - as a means to an end, rather than as the end. Boston has articulated definite goals, a brave move because results can be compared against actual performance. One goal even aims for improved transportation for people with disabilities: "Greater Access for Nondrivers. AVs increase the mobility of people who are unable or unwilling to drive, such as the disabled and the elderly."

While the Boston planning document makes major assumptions, it does examine a range of scenarios in terms of ownership, modes, and use of AVs. I like that. BUT this document only looks at a dense, urban area of the city instead of playing with variables for different types of neighborhoods throughout the city. Allston is not Jamaica Plain is not Beacon Hill. The document also foresees improved mobility for older adults and people with disabilities without analyzing at all the pieces that must be in place for those results to occur.

One more like: The Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) type of "digital mobility platform." Here is the image from the document. Interesting that the city is set up as the central governor of the system. Boston rightly envisions itself as part of a public/private ecosystem with which coordination must happen with other city and state bodies.

Toronto, Ontario - This Canadian city has long been on top of AV developments. Thus far, Toronto staff have acknowledged that there are too many unknowns to make firm predictions. A March 2017 document, Implications of Automated Vehicles for TTC, spends most of its pages defining variables and what exists. About two-thirds of the way in, the Toronto document lists the ways in which AVs will likely bring change to traffic, transit fleet management, workforce needs, roadway safety, and the mobility of people with disabilities (without offering any details on that one). It identifies these questions as ones that remain unanswered:

• What will be the cost of the vehicles, the services needed to support them, the training to work with them, etc.? 
• Will the software running the system be proprietary, or something independent of the vehicle that can be changed? 
• How is liability determined between Operators, maintenance, ITS, and the manufacturer? 
• What would the overall net change in costs be after considering vehicle and software procurement, new infrastructure, and changes in roles and staffing? 
• How will AVs operate in inclement weather?

Seattle, Washington - Seattle does not so much have a plan as a working let's-look-into-these factors document, which also serves as a teaching document that defines what the heck is actually being discussed. This document nicely summarizes the federal/state/local/judicial division of responsibilities and powers.

Arizona - Just read the other day about Waymo's expansion to the four Arizona cities of Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe and Gilbert. Well, a native New Yorker would not characterize these as cities because walking and transit are not major transportation modes, but Waymo is there and those "cities" are happy. Actually, to be fair, Tempe is a real city, small, but a city.

I have now managed to write a too-long post and insult most cities in the US. At least the dog is sleeping next to me.

Blackberry in the Middle, with Ford Pulling Ahead

Remember when a Blackberry was the cool phone to have? I'm sure Blackberry does and that was only eight or nine years ago. Well, once the entire world started its heated affair with the Apple iphone, Blackberry was left alone to lick its wounds. Even government employees get iphones instead of the Blackberry, but now the company is a player in the driverless business and it still has to deal with Apple.

Stealing away employees

Apple has a driverless software operation in Canada, near Ottawa, where Apple is poaching engineering and management talent from Blackberry subsidiary QNX. Lots of talent. Ouch and Apple is way far from its Silicon Valley home. What exactly does it even have going on in the frozen north? Supposedly Apple will be developing an operating system for driverless vehicles.

Model T taxibot?

While Apple is pissing off Blackberry, Ford is making a partner. The car company, I mean mobility company, will be expanding use of Blackberry's secure operating system for driverless cars. (Here's another article; this one has more of a smartphone focus.)

Ford is planning on rolling out driverless cars for sale and shared use taxibot services in 2021 and the company wasting no time in preparing. Ford just hired a vice president of autonomous vehicle solutions, Laura Merling, to serve under the company's smart mobility chairman. 

Current count in the Golden State

Is the count now 19 or 20 for companies with California permits to do driverless testing? NextEV is being added to the list and opening an 85,000 square foot facility that will have 400 employees. Lots of investment. NextEV is based in China and is called the Chinese Tesla counterpart. There is tons of Chinese money coming to the US for driverless development, both in Silicon Valley and in Michigan.

Michigan and Ontario Agree to Talk

Does it count as an agreement when you only list stuff to discuss in the future and you don't actually consent or have a meeting of the minds about anything? Maybe yes, at least according to the state of Michigan, home of Detroit, and the Canadian province of Ontario (that's where Toronto and Windsor are). They are both, evidently, anxious about losing future vehicle manufacturing jobs and profits to other places. So instead of their usual competition, they are going Socialist (did I say that?) and attempting to work together to as governments to keep jobs, profits, and whatever else they consider to be fruits of their leadership in this economic sector. 

Republican-led Michigan is putting money into the auto sector, specifically into testing sites for driverless and connected vehicles. Now why Republican, free-market, (but it's okay to poison the water of poor people in Flint) Gov. Rick Snyder - and his Republican-majority legislature - are doing their best to influence the private sector is both obvious and hypocritical; but that's the sausage making of politics.

Actual cross-border agreement to ...

What Michigan and Ontario actually agreed to do in their newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), according to Gov. Snyder's press release, was to:

[C]reate a working group to explore opportunities for increased collaboration that enhance the competitiveness of both jurisdictions. Potential focus areas include:

• Technology advancement, including connected cars, autonomous vehicles, lightweight materials and alternative fuels

• Increased supply chain integration and technology transfer through business-to-business partnerships

• Best practices in industry strategy, regulatory and policy approaches, and workforce skills development. 

For some unknown reason or through oversight, the agreement itself was not linked to the press release.

Money, money

The Governor and the Ontario Premier made nice, nice about how they are both leaders in the world of automobile manufacturing and technology and how their respective jurisdictions are already close friends, what with the billions and billions worth of trade flowing across their common border. No fence requested here.

Crain's remarked on the synchronous timing of the MOU and auto labor talks.

The Russians, Chinese Are Coming in Driverless Buses, Pods

Russia plans to introduce a driverless bus. So far, it has been tested, presumably at low speeds, on private roads, such as campuses. The bus is low floor, and therefore accessible (I presume), and runs on electricity. No confirmation if the bus will be launched during the 2018 soccer World Cup games. Warning: Even insomniacs will fall asleep to this video.

Toronto wants driverless buses, or at least little shuttles

Though driverless vehicles - sans drivers - are not yet legal in Ontario, Toronto council members are hatching a plan for driverless transit. They will meet in mid-July to consider a report to plan driverless transit. Toronto was one of the first cities to designate a staff person to begin to look at the transformation that driverless transportation will bring.

Intel + MobilEye + BMW = ?

The three companies: a chipmaker, driverless player, and a traditional high-end car company, are teaming up. The question is whether the deal will push BMW ahead in the driverless car race. Bloomberg did a nice summary. More speculation and details are provided by Android Headlines (AH). I have not seen anything yet that would make me believe this is a game changer. 

Baidu chooses Chinese town as third of 10

Baidu has chosen an ancient Chinese town, a tourist magnet, for a driverless project with a route system. The company, known as the Chinese Google, is planning to introduce driverless vehicles to 10 cities. The ancient town of Wuzhen is the third to be announced. There is no date set for the launch of the demonstration projects.

Tesla fatal crash

To all of us who did not know the victim, the Tesla crash heard round the world is a piece of information, something to be fixed. To me, personally, the fatal crash demonstrates the dangerous and disingenuous game that the partially driverless vehicle plays. Human drivers, such as the victim, himself a big fan of his beloved Tesla autopilot, get lulled into complacency with each day's safe trip. One day, when daydreaming, watching a movie - as the "driver" was reportedly doing - or just staring out the window, but hardly paying attention to the road, the human is not driving or thinking about driving, when an instant you-must-pay-attention-right-now situation presents itself. We humans are not generally good at the split second jolt to action. The crash occurs before the driver knows what is happening, in that split second when he or she is processing information, before action is taken.

While Mobileye and Tesla hash out who was responsible in the press, presumably continuing into the courts unless the victim's family is placated with lots of money first, I hope that NHTSA, which will investigate, will take the opportunity to impose a black box requirement for driverless vehicles and also consider the great risks of the combination of the partially driverless vehicle and the human who is supposedly ready to drive.  

My condolences go out to the family of Joshua Brown. His death is a great sorrow to his family and friends. May they be comforted by memories of him.

Catching Up

Just the updates for right now.

George Hotz and Comma.ai still aiming for late 2016 release for their gizmo to make existing cars turn into driverless ones (at least on the highways) and for gathering driver data with an app - Chafr.

First insurer to go all out with a policy for self-driving cars and partially driverless is in the UK.

Toronto council member pushing for plan for driverless buses. 

Why stop at a vehicle? There's a passenger drone, kind of a driverless helicopter, approved for testing in Nevada. Drone taxi anyone?

Speaking of flying, Google co-founder Larry Page is deep into inventing (and, presumably, selling, renting, or share-using) flying cars. The report claims this is easier to accomplish than driverless vehicles, but isn't flying way more three dimensional? Just to be clear, these would be self-flying. No pilot's license necessary. Beyond George Jetson.

I have to look at this more closely. The NHTSA Administrator has expressed in public the need for government guidelines that will allow innovation to proceed regarding self-driving vehicles. The word regulation was not used. Mark Rosekind emphasized that we need to improve our safety record and noted that we kill a large airplane's worth of people with human-operated vehicles every week - just in the US.

Comments on NHTSA comments.

And lots and lots of buzz about rumors that Uber will take over Daimler or some other auto manufacturer, partner with an auto manufacturer (maybe Fiat Chrysler, but other names mentioned), or be taken over. I'm not going to give a source because this is super easy to find. The one thing that is significant is the big pile of money from Saudi sources being put into Uber, whose valuation is - not actual value, I think - is higher than that of conventional car companies. I mention this because of Uber's substantial investment in and testing of driverless vehicles.

Is Tesla in denial?

Another Tesla crash and Tesla is again blaming the driver - after reviewing crash data. Fortunately, the crash was not serious; it happened when the car accelerated while parking. Similar Tesla argument as it has previously spouted, that the driver had switched off autopilot. When will Tesla learn that partially autonomous is a recipe for disaster? It is the company's fault, in my opinion, if it puts out a vehicle that was designed to "understand" how a sometimes software/sometimes human-controlled vehicle works without itself understanding and testing how humans would act in those circumstances. I'd like to write a brief for that plaintiff in the inevitable lawsuit - unless Tesla quietly settles soon, which is likely.

I'm also reading in various sources about GM CEO statements that the company is holding onto steering wheels, brakes and other human-operated equipment. I am presuming that GM is not as advanced as it would like to be and is likely jealous of the companies that are further along in this regard. A couple of years ago it was saying that driverless vehicles were decades away. Now it is investing billions and making deals. GM will stay wedded to the idea of steering wheels etc. until it has developed - or purchased a company that has developed - a fully autonomous vehicle without such human-operator equipment.

Ford + Driverless = Transit?

A European executive at Ford predicts that its first round of driverless vehicles will be for transit or transit-like services because individuals will be unlikely to purchase them and because these self-driving vehicles might not be ready for prime time in all locales due to pesky realities of snow, rain, and darkness. Here are these and other interesting comments from the Ford executive.

GM agrees - or seems to

GM is also now predicting - a departure from previous statements - that within five years, driverless cars will be sold on the consumer market. Within 15 years, they could be the majority of vehicles on the road, GM is saying - at least by a spokesperson in Canada. But GM is also telling Canadians that these vehicles will be shared. (Thank you to Uber and Lyft for changing that conversation.) 

And why is GM in Canada to share these predictions? There is movement afoot to do more driverless development and research in the country of our neighbors to the north. The GM president and managing director is plugging for that.

Iowa and Canada - Contrasting Driverless Invitations

Iowa put out a general call to driverless companies in April. The state is trying to get at least one date to come calling to use what the Iowans say is a perfect testing ground for driverless vehicles - an old runway. So far, Iowa is going stag to the prom.

Perhaps Iowa's problem is that M City in Michigan is a done deal and is set up to replicate different roadway conditions. Another problem is that companies such as Google and Uber are already on public roads in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania, with other companies involved in pilots on private campuses.

Could be that Iowa needs to offer a more contemporary invitation - like the streets of Iowa City or Des Moines.

Up North, however ... 

Canada's Ontario province is promising driverless something for 2016. It has a driverless planner with a two-year mandate to develop said plan. The province is operating with the belief that driverless is coming soon and it wants to be, in driving parlance, ahead of the curve.

Good Driverless Planning Happening

In Australia, one state, South Autstralia, is planning on being the first state there to embrace drirverless technology and attract companies that are developing this technology.

Take a bot on a cold day

Toronto has two-year effort to plan for driverless vehicle future. The plan for the plan has an actual leader designated and he is enthusiastic. Toronto's General Manager for Transportation Services, Steve Buckley, wants to make sure his city is ready to seize and make the most of the opportunities that widespread driverless adoption will bring. 

Issues that Buckley is studying include whether taxi and other bots, as he's calling them, will share lanes with traditional driver vehicles, whether taxi bots will rule the day, or whether there will be a mix of SOV driverless, privately owned, mixed in with the taxi bots.

Apple Speculation and Hacking Worries

After weeks of travel and lots of work - okay, mainly incredible numbers of emails - I am finally returning to writing about driverless developments. Even in just weeks, the pace of these developments is speeding up. It is not hyerbole to say that more countries, more universities, more municipalities, and more companies are joining this competition every day.

We are at the point that there is quite a bit one can ignore, for example the patent for Ford's interior of a driverless car, which looks so similar to the Mercedes-Benz design that I wonder if Ford did not have a twelve year old trace it. Or Audi's almost-but-not-quite autonomous luxury sedan. I don't want an almost driverless vehicle, personally.

What's new the last few weeks is mostly speculation - huge speculation - about Apple and worries about hacking driverless vehicles so that they stop, start zigzagging, or go straight off cliffs.  

No cute photos, just news.

Everyone speculating about Apple

Almost all of the speculation about Apple's foray into the driverless world is based on  the Guardian article that reported on hard evidence of Apple's secret - or perhaps secretive is a better word - development of driverless vehicles.

Here's articles with educated speculation based on the Guardian article as well as tea leaves.
Christian Science Monitor
NextGov

University News

University of Texas is getting to work on hacking/security issues with driverless technology. I'm seeing more and more articles about how easy it is to hack into any connected device, which includes driverless technology. For some reason, this and the you-ll-be-nauseous in a driverless vehicle have caught the media's attention.

And in Canada, the University of Waterloo is getting the country's first driverless vehicle transit service. Varden Labs will operate a driverless shuttle at the university. The university president hitched a ride with a second-year engineering student.

Catching a Ride on Campus

Speaking of campus driverless shuttles, a driverless pod effort is being aimed at universities, amusement parks, and retirement communities. Seems that Auro Robotics is planning to push driverless, but avoid government regulations that control our roads. TechCrunch reports that Auro is already in agreement with Santa Clara University.

Update 9/3/15: Driverless shuttle vehicles are already at the Santa Clara campus and will be giving driverless rides this semester during a three-month pilot program.

One big plus of the Auro Robotics plan is that it will emphasize driverless vehicle safety in heavily pedestrian environments. Would be great to see that driverless networks will be safer for walking than the past century of human-controlled vehicles.

Hacking Fears Abound

From the same philosophy that brought you Murphy's law - updated for the 21st century - a common refrain, this time reiterated by National Defense Magazine: Anything that can be hacked (and that's anything) will be hacked. The attention in the last week or so has been on the easy hacking of driverless vehicles. You can add baby monitors, GPS devices, and a hundred other common devices that enable us to stay connected to personal information. It is remarkably easy to hack all of these devices and no one wants to be in a vehicle suddenly speeding, darting in and out of traffic, or careening off a cliff (that's all of the California coastline, by the way). No question that software developers involved with driverless technology must address this one; the insurance industry will make sure of that. Possibly legislators as well, but they are generally behind the eight ball, not being a class of tech-savvy, up-to-the-minute individuals.

Independence Day

Meanwhile an Indian startup has created a semi, but mainly, autonomous car for people who are blind or have serious visual impairments. The driver is the navigator and the car is designed to mimic a driving experience for the visually-impaired navigator. Now that we're on the verge of driverless and we're all going to give up the steering wheel, I'm not sure this invention will go anywhere, except, perhaps, to incrementally contribute to driverless technological development.

And - why driverless for everyone?
We humans are terrible drivers. It's an informative game.

Driverless Age to Do Away with Jobs Beyond Driving

Apart from doing away with the need for drivers of taxis, Uber and other car services, no longer needed will be truck drivers, postal carriers who drive (at this point we don't need mail service anyway) and all others who drive for a living. But plans underway for the autonomous age to come include robots do the jobs associated with driving jobs, such as package deliveries by drones, and now having robots pick up the trash. I forgot to add drivers of tow trucks, who also extract vehicles from messy situations, something that a multinational team of researchers has figured out how to automate to the point that humans are not needed. 

And yes, we will be getting rid of friendly garbage men. A Canadian company is working on the segment of the vehicle market for tow trucks and dump trucks. As the article declares, the company is willing to automate anything on wheels. 

It seems that once we have the technology to go driverless, which I fully support, we will also be on a fast trajectory to the complete loss of entry-level and low-wage jobs, which I have some discomfort with. Getting totally self-centered here, but how long will it be until our human brains are completely surpassed? We already lose at chess and legal research databases long ago did away with the need for an army of temps and law students to read through thousands of pages of materials. (I was once one of those.)

In other driverless news

On the international front, Switzerland is entering the driverless sweepstakes, conservative country that it is, after waiting to see autonomous driving technology would actually happen. What can you say about a country with streets cleaner than my living room and absolutely no litter? Really makes one want to throw a gun wrapper right on the ground. The country has paved the way for testing driverless vehicles. (This news via @DriverlessTrans on Twitter.)