Category Archives: Info

AVS 2014 Breakout Session: Legal “Accelerators and Brakes”

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The 2014 Automated Vehicle Symposium is coming up in San Francisco this month (July 15-17th). Some of the organizers and panelists of the show have provided insights into several of the breakout sessions that will be held. The title of the breakout session discussed below is Legal “Accelerators and Brakes”. For more information about the event and the individual sessions, click here.

A brief overview of the session:
This breakout session will explore the key issues that could accelerate or inhibit the deployment of autonomous and connected vehicles.  The first two panels will focus on different aspects of transportation including tollways, highways, and transit, and the third panel will discuss state, federal and international regulation that impacts those modes of transportation.

The purpose of this breakout session is to understand deployment challenges from different transportation perspectives, disentangle their complexities, and discuss options for arriving at their potential solutions. This will be done through panel presentations and then audience discussion of issues such as:

  • Which mode of transportation is the most likely to be the first to deploy AVs?
  • What are key considerations for data use and misuse?
  • Will “infotainment” (the on-board mix of information, such as navigation systems, and entertainment, such as video and music) accelerate the deployment of automated/connected passenger vehicles?
  • Will the lack of uniform state laws inhibit the deployment of AVs?
  • What will make you hate or love lawyers as the industry moves towards AV deployment?”

According to two of the organizers of the session, Frank Douma with the University of Minnesota and Karlyn Stanley with RAND Corporation, the focus of this breakout session will be to look at the challenges of deploying automated vehicles in different modes of transportation, including commercial trucking and passenger vehicles. The session will look at the regulatory and legal frameworks that have to be adapted for deployment and identify the accelerators and brakes from the legal perspective.

Frank has been involved with the TRB Automated Vehicle Workshop for the past three years. He is excited to see the energy that is exchanged and is looking forward to engaging industry leaders in symposium discussions. Karlyn is participating in the symposium for the second year. She is delighted that the focus of the entire symposium is the actual deployment of autonomous vehicles.

The organizers of this session envision lawyers as the primary audience but they are hoping to engage non-attorneys so a good discussion can be generated about what really needs to be addressed on the legal side. They have invited panelists who have practical, on-the-ground experience working with the deployment of autonomous vehicles. These panelists will share the challenges to deployment that they have observed from their experience. Some of the examples include issues about distracted driving laws and following distances that vary between states.

Some of the key speakers include CoCo Briseno with Caltrans and Bernard Soriano, Deputy Directory for the California DMV, who will give their perspective as California finishes its regulations for autonomous vehicles. Maxime Flament with Ertico will speak on the liability issues panel, which will address the perspectives and possible conflicts of state, federal and EU laws and regulations concerning AVs, connected vehicles, and the perceived need for uniform laws. Two of the authors of “Autonomous Vehicles Technology: A Guide for Policymakers”, James Anderson and Karlyn Stanley with RAND, will be moderators of panels at this session. They have written one of the most recent and comprehensive reports about autonomous vehicles.

This session will be highly interactive with structured small group discussion where people can articulate particular issues and possible suggestions for solutions. Participants in the break out session will work together in a final session that Frank will moderate to prioritize the key issues and opportunities for actual deployment. Organizers hope that a diverse group of attendees will make this a fascinating process.

 

AVS 2014 Breakout Session: Near-term Deployment

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The 2014 Automated Vehicle Symposium is coming up in San Francisco this month (July 15-17th). Some of the organizers and panelists of the show have provided insights into several of the breakout sessions that will be held. Driverless Transportation will be sharing some of those insights throughout the next two weeks. For more information about the event and the individual sessions, click here.

Title: Near-term Connected/Automated Technology Deployment Opportunities.

A brief overview of the session:
Automated vehicles by themselves can deliver many but not all of the benefits possible through automation.  Automation assisted by connection to other vehicles and the infrastructure and by roadway features such as managed lanes may be needed to unlock the full potential inherent in automation. Connected automation systems that include a role for an engaged driver can provide many benefits in the nearer-term, as part of the decades-long transition to a fully automated highway system. This breakout session will focus on ways to advance the development of an automated and connected highway system that will support increasingly capable vehicles and deliver safety and highway system operational benefits both in advance of and in addition to the benefits associated with fully automated vehicles.

According to Ginger Goodin, Senior Research Engineer for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and one of the organizers of the breakout session, one of the goals of this session is to focus on defining what the near term deployment opportunities are, how can the safety and the benefits of fully automated vehicles be advanced, what does the near term look like and how do we get to the long term.

The session will focus on three forces and groups that play a role in accelerating early deployment and realizing safety and congestion benefits in the near-term.

  1. The first force is technology, and the OEMs and suppliers that will be developing it. What are the connected technologies that are on the horizon that can deliver benefits over the next several decades?
  2. The second are the innovators from the infrastructure side. Basically finding out who the owners and operators are and what are the barriers that will need to be overcome.
  3. The third force is determining what the value proposition is for both private and public sectors.

Ginger got involved in the first TRB Road Vehicle Automation workshop in 2012 where she presented on managed lanes. Her background as a researcher is in the area of road pricing, and she was previously the Chair of the TRB Managed Lanes Committee.  Her involvement in TRB connected her with the first workshop organizers.  Since then, she and other workshop organizers have conducted research on policy implications of automated vehicles, supporting policy makers involved in infrastructure at the state and local government levels.

There are seventeen speakers in this breakout session that include individuals from federal, state and local governments, the private sector, the military, and economic development. A list of all of the speakers can be found here.

Attendees of this session can expect lively discussion with thought provoking questions. This is an opportunity to be part of the visioning process of where do we go from here. Ginger hopes for a diverse group of people to attend as she feels the best discussions arise when you have people from different backgrounds.

Automated Vehicles Symposium 2014

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The 2014 Automated Vehicles Symposium is coming to San Francisco next month (July 15-17, July 14-18 with ancillary meetings). The meeting is being designed and organized by AUVSI and TRB. This looks to be one of the, if not the, premier event on Automated Vehicles in 2014.

This is the third year for this type of meeting for both AUVSI and TRB; however, in previous years each organization has had its own meeting. This is the first year that the two groups are working together. Since the two will not be competing, an even stronger program should be provided this year.

The original TRB automated vehicle workshop in 2012, was very education focused. That meeting focused on providing information to the community about the state of the industry and in particular what was happening outside of the U.S. Last year’s TRB workshop focused on developing research needs statements. Some of the research topics identified there have since been used by research groups, commercial entities and government agencies to focus their research in this space, and many are being posted to TRB’s Research Needs website.

The goal for this year’s program is even broader. Although some additional research needs will be defined, many of the breakout sessions will focus on broader goals. These will include synthesizing the existing research, identifying barriers to deployment and incentives to encourage further development in the industry.

One of the goals of this year’s meeting is to make it highly interactive and encourage questions and participation from the audience. Consequently, the plenary program is centered around presenters giving short “TED” like talks followed by interactive panel sessions. The organizing committee is working very hard to avoid “death by PowerPoint”.

Jane Lappin of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center and Chair, TRB Intelligent Transportation Systems Committee and one of the key planners of this symposium as well as the two previous TRB workshop stated: “We are very excited about this year’s meeting. We’ve lined up a tremendous set of speakers and breakout sessions. I really think this will be out best meeting ever”.

The meeting will open on Tuesday morning with speakers who are leaders from the automotive industry. Tuesday’s keynote speaker is Dr. Ralf Herrtwich, Director Driver Assistance and Chassis Systems, Group Research and Advanced Engineering, Daimler AG. Dr Herrtwich will be followed by Dr. Jan Becker, Senior Manager, Autonomous Technologies Group, Robert Bosch, LLC., Cris Pavloff, Advanced Technology Engineer, BMW Group Technology Office and Dr. Maarten Sierhuis, Director, Nissan Research Center Silicon Valley. After the presentations, there will be a panel where the audience can ask questions of the group.

Following this is a panel on Digital Infrastructure with Ogi Redzic from Nokia HERE and Andrew Chatham, Principal Engineer, Self-Driving Cars, with Google, moderated by Bob Denaro.

Following Digital Infrastructure is a panel discussing Technology Challenges. Many people feel that the technology challenges have been met and the big hurdles are legal and consumer acceptance. However, Dr. Steven Shladover, Program Manager, Mobility at PATH at the University of California at Berkeley feels that this is far from true and thus this is a very important panel. Joining Dr. Shladover is Dr. Alberto Broggi, VisLab; Dr. Markos Papageorgiou, Director, Dynamic Systems & Simulation Laboratory, Technical University of Crete; Dr. John Leonard, Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering Associate Department, MIT; and Michael Wagner, Carnegie Mellon University.

Following this panel, Steve Underwood will present the results of an online survey of the AVS2014 registrants in which they have expressed their opinions about the importance of the various challenges to deployment of automated systems and their predictions about when various levels of road vehicle automation will become commercially available. This will help set the stage for the afternoon breakout discussions by giving the participants an indication of what their peers think about the future of automated driving systems.

After lunch, the symposium will split into 10 breakout sessions. Each of these is a virtual symposium in and of itself. These sessions include:

  1.     Evolutionary and Revolutionary Pathways to Automated Transit and Shared Mobility
  2. Regional Planning and Modeling Implications of Driverless Cars 
  3.     Roadway Management and Operations with Automated Vehicles 
  4.     Truck Automation Opportunities 
  5.     Legal Accelerators and Brakes 
  6.     The State and Future Direction of Automated-Vehicle Human Factors
  7.     Near-Term Connected/Automated Technology Deployment Opportunities 
  8.     Personal Vehicle Automation Commercialization 
  9. Technology Roadmap, Maturity and Performance: Operational Requirements for Vehicle-Road Automation Systems and Components 
  10. Road Infrastructure Needs of Connected-Automated Vehicles 

The second day will begin with the Clifford Nass Memorial Lecture, given in memory of Prof. Clifford Nass of Stanford University, one of the leaders in the industry until he passed away last fall. Don Norman, Director, Design Lab, University of California, San Diego and Author of “The Design of Future Things” will be giving the lecture, titled The Human Side of Automation. Don is one of the pioneers in human-computer interaction and worked with Prof. Nass, so this should be a fitting tribute.

Following the pattern of the first day, there will next be a series of speakers and panels from OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in the automotive industry. These include:

  • John Capp, Director, Electrical & Controls Systems Research & Active Safety Technology Strategy, General Motors Research & Development
  • Steffen Linkenbach, Director Systems & Technology, NAFTA, Continental
  • Patrice Reilhac, Innovation & Collaborative Research Director, Comfort & Driving Assistance Business Group, Valeo
  • Dr. Chris Urmson, Director, Self-Driving Cars, Google

Next will be a series of presentations on some of the largest and most important automation projects in Europe. Dr. Adriano Alessandrini, Università degli Studi di Roma will discuss CityMobil2: Automated Road Transport Systems in Urban Environments (including a live video feed from a current demonstration in Sardinia); Dr. Angelos Amditis, Research Director, I-Sense Group, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) will discuss The AdaptIVe Project: Working on Research, Legal and Deployment Issues in Europe for Automated Vehicles and Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz, General Manager, Volvo Monitoring & Concept Center, Volvo Car Corporation will present The Drive Me Project: Autonomous Driving by Volvo (the major field test planned for 2017 in Gothenburg, Sweden).

Following the reports from Europe, the symposium will then look at Societal Issues and Non-technical Challenges, with a panel moderated by Jane Lappin, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center and Chair, TRB Intelligent Transportation Systems Committee; and including presentations by Ginger Goodin, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University System; Michael Gucwa, Management Science and Engineering department, Stanford University; and Dr. Ken Laberteaux, Toyota Research Institute-North America.

The final morning will begin with reports on current activities by national and state governments. Speakers will include:

  • Kevin Dopart, Program Manager for Connected Vehicle Safety and Automation, Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, U.S. Department of Transportation
  • Nat Beuse, Associate Administrator, Vehicle Safety Research, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
  • A representative of the European Commission
  • Takumi Yamamoto, Director, ITS Policy & Program Office, Road Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
  • Dr. Bernard C. Soriano, Deputy Director, Risk Management, California Department of Motor Vehicles

These presentations will be followed by brief summary presentations from the ten breakout discussion groups that spent the previous two afternoons in in-depth consideration of important topics associated with automation. This will be the opportunity for all of the meeting participants to learn about the key outcomes from the discussions in the breakout sessions they were not able to attend.

All in all, it looks to be an enlightening three days of presentations and panels, with the real leaders in the industry. When asked about the attendees, Dr. Shladover indicated that this was one of the really great aspects of AVS2014, because the people who have attended the previous meetings and who are expected to be coming again this year are people with a wide range of backgrounds from technology to government and research to manufacturing and everything in between. Furthermore, these were not just any people from these backgrounds but the thought leaders and decision makers.

In the coming days, we’ll provide insights into some of the breakout sessions that are part of this symposium. If you are interested in attending, space is limited, click here.

Press release: COM.* 2014 USDOT Keynote Outlines Federal Government’s Vision and Potential Roadmap for Self-Driving Cars

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Washington, DC – June 24, 2014 
Mr. Tim Schmidt, Senior Technology Advisor at FHWA-TFHRC, U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), will deliver a keynote “How Talking Cars Will Transform the Way We Travel” at COM.* 2014 conference which will be held on August 4-6, 2014, Washington, DC. Imagine a transportation system where cars can see things that you can’t. Such cars could warn of a potential crash or icy roads ahead, advise of a traffic jam ahead, or help find a parking space. Imagine if buses could tell if you will make your next connection, mapping software could indicate the greenest travel route, and cell phones could communicate with traffic signals so disabled pedestrians can safely cross an intersection. These developments are closer than you think through the U.S. Department Transportation (USDOT) connected vehicle research. Connected vehicles combine leading-edge technologies (GPS, Wi-Fi, wireless sensors, and dedicated short-range communications) to enable high-speed, real-time communications among vehicles, roadside infrastructure, and mobile devices. The USDOT is investing in connected vehicles because of their promise to save lives, as well as improve traffic flow, reduce environmental impacts, and make our communities safer and more livable.

Mr. Tim Schmidt has served the U.S. Department of Transportation in multiple senior executive capacities involving technology advocacy, strategic planning and thought leadership, and has been involved with various aspects of connected and automated vehicle activities. His keynote will outline various aspects of the federal government’s vision and potential roadmap for self-driving cars. Mr. Schmidt is currently the Senior Technology Advisor at FHWA’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. He was formerly the U.S. DOT’s Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He has also held technology and corporate leadership positions at the FAA, IRS, White House and multiple private sector corporations. Mr. Schmidt is a retired Army officer having served over 20 years within the U.S. Department of Defense.

com.starpressrelease

Conference Updates: Call for Hot Short Talks, Demo Videos by June 30
The Hot Short Talks session (each talk with 10-minute presentation and Q&A) is an opportunity for presenting your hot products, late-breaking results, ongoing projects, speculative or innovative work in progress, application or case studies, development techniques, and technical services. Furthermore, this session does provide the extra opportunities specially for start-ups, exhibitors, vendors, consultants as well as potential billionaires, innovators, and so on. Poster is an option of the talk.
The Demo Videos session is intended to showcase innovative geospatial computing related implementations and technologies. It is also intended to provide speakers and participants with the ability to network with each other and to engage in technical discussions about the work.

For more details, please see the http://www.com-geo.org/conferences/2014/

About COM.* Conference
COM.* 2014 has expanded to three more emerging tech areas, Big Data, driverless cars, and geospatial computing. COM.Geo has been playing a guiding role to advancing the technologies in computing for geospatial research and application since it was initiated 5 years ago.
This year, COM.* conferences and summits will focus on COM.BigData 2014, COM.DriverelessCar 2014, and COM.Geo 2014. All three will take place in the same time frame and conference center in August in Washington DC, USA as well as COM.* online Virtual Conference center.
Several leading keynotes and insightful panels from U.S. federal government and world-class industries and universities will be open to all the attendees of the three conferences and summits. There will be a great opportunity for everyone to learn trends, share visions, exchange ideas, discuss details, and expand networking circles.

 

Metro Access: Dependent Independence

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I have a difficult time getting around in this world. I’m blind in my left eye and don’t see well in my right eye so I am unable to drive a car. In order to go anywhere by myself I have to walk or ride my bike. If the distance is too far or not accommodating for some reason I either have to get a ride from someone else, which isn’t always possible or take a taxi, which is prohibitively expensive. This year however, I was presented with a new option, an option that’s increased my mobility more than ever before. A state run transportation program for the disabled called Metro Access.

metroaccess

Created by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) in 1994, Metro Access is a paratransit door-to-door transportation service dedicated to serving disabled individuals who cannot utilize a rail or bus service to get where they need to go. Eligibility is determined by Metro based on a potential customer’s written explanation of his or her disability as part of an application. This application must be backed by a certified medical professional in writing. If everything is satisfactory, a meeting is scheduled for the potential customer at the Metro Headquarters in Washington D.C for intake, an orientation into the program and to have their picture taken for their Metro Access I.D card. Metro Access provides free transportation to and from this meeting and trips can be booked immediately afterward. It takes about a week to get the official I.D card out to the customer but they are able to use any photo I.D in the interim period.

The contract provider for Metro Access is MV transportation. Their budget for the 2011 fiscal year was $103.1 million dollars. They service the Washington metropolitan area like the rest of Metro and since their inception have grown from 200,000 to over 2.4 million trips a year. This is largely due to the growing number of disabled people in the D.C area and the decreasing number of social programs that cater to this demographic. Metro Access has a current vehicle fleet of 504 vans and 95 sedans and also supplements this fleet with local cabs when needed. The vans are their most visible part of the fleet. They are large white vehicles that sport their red, white, and blue logo on the front of the hood. They are fully wheelchair accessible and load a wheelchair using customer by means of a double side door on the right side of the vehicle next to the primary entrance.

Metro Access provides door-to-door shared ride services most days of the year. It does not run on many holidays and does not run on weekends in some areas, such as where I live. Rides must be scheduled at least one day in advance and up to seven days in advance, either over the phone via an operator or through their website at metroaccess-wb.wmata.com. After logging in with a proper Metro Access ID and self-created password, customers are taken to a page where they have the option to review scheduled trips, schedule new trips, manage their account and cancel existing trips. Scheduling a trip consists of filling out a form detailing where a customer is going, where to be picked up, what day the trip is desired and a desired time to be picked up or dropped off. The system stores any previously used destinations in a drop down menu and checks new ones against a database of available addresses. If the address is invalid or outside Metro Access’ effective range the trip cannot be booked. Once a trip is booked the customer is taken to a review screen to see if all of the information is correct and then confirms the trip. The actual pickup time is shown on this screen and there is an opportunity to accept the trip and create a return trip or refuse the trip. The pickup time consists of a 30 minute window that the customer is expected to be ready during as Metro Access can arrive at any time during that window. Payment ranges between three and seven dollars each way and varies depending on distance and time of day. Payment is either received by the driver in cash or done beforehand through Metro Access EZ Pay. A customer receives an EZ Pay account upon joining Metro Access and can add any amount of money to the account to be used on future trips. Customers cannot add money while scheduling a trip however. Missed trips that were not scheduled in advance are fined a no-show fee and repeated no-shows result in temporary suspension from the service with each offense generating an increasingly long suspension.

As a user of Metro Access, I have found it to be a reliable, dependable and highly valuable service. It’s enabled me to commute to jobs otherwise beyond my reach and lets me travel most places I want to go at almost any time of any day, so long as I plan for it. This is where problems occur for me. Everything has to be planned a day in advance, meaning I cannot get to places on short notice. When I worked at Target over the holidays for example I was called on my day off and asked if I wanted to come in that day. Although I wanted to work, I could not do so because I didn’t have a Metro Access trip set up and calling for a cab would have cost more money than I would have earned. I have also found that Metro Access does not go everywhere every day. In my area for example it does not run on the weekends, thus making it difficult to travel without the aid of my parents, brother or friends. Since I often worked on the weekends I had to arrange for alternate transportation. There were many nights where I had to take a cab home which costs about double my usual fare. If I were lucky I could get a ride home from another employee but that didn’t happen too often. Even though the service always arrives within my trip’s pickup window it often isn’t the one I ask for. When making a trip over the phone, I can only choose the times the operator offers and these could be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour before I want to leave, or be picked up for return trips. When scheduling a trip online, I don’t know the exact window that the van will arrive until I’ve booked the trip so I have to schedule a trip time based on what they might give me. I’ve made trips that are between 30 minutes to two hours before my desired pickup time and have to refuse the trip and remake it between 2 and 4 more times to get a time I want. If I play around with the pickup time enough I eventually find a time that works. However, the system would be much more convenient if it offered a list of available times rather than assigning me a random one based on what it thinks I need. Even so, I enjoy the online system more than talking to an operator because I can make a trip any time of day, not just normal business hours. I also don’t have to listen to the operator confirm everything; I can just scan it to make sure everything looks right.

Overall, Metro Access is an invaluable service but an inflexible one. I’m largely independent under it but not completely independent. Not like the independence I would have if I were able to drive. Three to seven dollars a trip also adds up quickly. It ends up being about twice as expensive as taking metro rail or bus and about as expensive as driving and servicing a motor vehicle, but without the true dependence it offers. The only true alternative for someone like me would be a driverless car. Something that I can hop into like anybody else and go as far as my gas tank will take me. It would offer more range than Metro Access and more flexibility with none of the inconveniences. I would have to learn how to maintain a car, something that I’ve never had to do before, but the benefits would be well worth it. A driverless car would end my dependent independence.

 

 

 

 

Recommended Books

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We’ve updated the site to include a book section including these books:

The New Killer Apps: How Large Companies Can Out-Innovate Start-Ups - Chunka Mui, Paul B. Carroll - December 2013
The New Killer Apps reverses the conventional wisdom that start-ups are destined to out-innovate big, established businesses. Through crisp analysis and compelling case studies, Mui and Carroll show that this just isn’t true. Or, at least, it need not be. Yes, small and agile beats big and slow, but big and agile beats anyone. This book offers a roadmap for how large companies can Think Big, Start Small and Learn Fast. In doing so, they can get out of their own way, take advantage of their natural assets, and vanquish both traditional competitors and upstarts by nurturing and unleashing their own killer apps.

Driverless Cars: Trillions Are Up For Grabs  - Chunka Mui, Paul B Carroll - March 2013
In January 2013, Chunka Mui started a series of columns at Forbes on the driverless car, drawn from research that he and Paul Carroll were conducting for their coming book, “The New Killer Apps: How Large Companies Can Out-Innovate Start-Ups.” That seven-part series garnered almost 500,000 views and generated hundreds of informative comments from all over the world. Given the immense interest, Mui and Carroll have turned that series into this ebook. They’ve integrated all the columns, incorporated many of the comments and added their latest research.

Future Ride - Peter Wayner - July 2013
The future of transportation is coming faster than ever. Cars that drive themselves are already on the road giving rides to people all day long. When they become widespread, every part of society will change as everyone can enjoy the pleasure of their own chauffeur. The transformation of society will be one of the greatest ever, redefining how we think about our cities, our homes, and our daily lives. Adults will have more time, children will have more freedom, and everyone will be able to accomplish more while letting the robots handle the chore of maneuvering the cars. The book is split into 80 very short chapters examining different ways that society will change.

Traffic  - Tom Vanderbilt - July 2008
Tom Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom, and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety, and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots. Traffic is about more than driving: it’s about human nature. It will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us, and it may even make us better drivers.

Exploring Driverless Transportation: An Introduction to Jack

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Hi there! My name is Jack Folsom. I’m a new feature writer for Driverless Transportation and the websites newest member. I’ll post an article here twice a month, focusing on a specific topic of driverless transportation. This first article is an introduction to who I am, how I got this job and my idea of a driverless world.

I’m 25 years old and currently live in the Virginia/D.C. area with my parents. I graduated from the University of Mary Washington back in May of 2012 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology. In between then and now I’ve had temporary work in retail positions but have been on the lookout for permanent work I can make a career out of. I had done some research on this website and on other sources and knew this technology was something I was interested in, even passionate about. I brought that passion and my own ideas to both of my Driverless Transportation (DT) interviews and through those efforts I got the job. Now I’m ready to explore everything this world has to offer about driverless cars, driverless technology and how and when we might see them for real.Jack2

Now that you’ve learned a little about me you might be wondering why I’m so interested in this technology. The answer is a relatively simple one but has a huge impact on my life. I want to see driverless cars come to life because I can’t drive myself. I’m blind in my left eye and I have 20/70 vision in my right eye. That means for everything a normal person can see 70 feet away I have to get up to 20 feet away to see. That’s a pretty big difference and that’s only the minimum distance. I’m not able to see nearly enough of the things every driver has to watch out for while on the road and would be a serious risk if I ever tried to drive myself. For getting around I’m reliant on taking a taxi cab, getting a ride from someone else, riding a bike or simply walking to and from my destination. All of these have their own problems and none of them are a suitable substitute driving a car. Even Metro Access (a door-to-door service I can use due to my vision that has a shuttle bus come pick me up at a predetermined place and time) isn’t a true substitute. Trips have to be scheduled in advance and they only run on certain days and within a certain area. If I need to travel outside these parameters and there’s no one around to drive me I’m out of luck.

A driverless car could and would completely change my life. I, and others like me, would be able to go anywhere we please regardless of disability, age, ability or any other factor. This technology is still years away and won’t be rolled out all at once, but every day it gets closer. The first driverless cars may require someone who can drive a car in case something goes wrong or if the car runs into an unexpected problem. There will also be significant lack of trust in this technology until it has time to prove itself. That will most likely take years and drivers will want to stay in at least partial control of their cars until then. Plus there will also be people in this world who like to drive. It’s become a big part of our culture for the past century and that will be slow to change. Nevertheless, it will be very exciting to see how this technology ultimately unfolds. It’s already happening faster than most anticipated and companies like Google think the first driverless cars will hit the market in less than ten years. It is guaranteed to happen within our lifetimes and we will see the driver operated car phasing out.

When it does happen, it’s going to change the world as much as the car itself did. It’ll take time to iron out everything but I believe the end result will be a safer, more productive society. Accidents should be reduced as driverless cars are never distracted and follow programmed traffic laws. Traffic will flow more smoothly and that will result in less needed road space. Six lane highways will no longer be needed because an efficient traffic system with all cars working together will result in less start and stop time. No more waiting for lights to change. No more traffic jams during rush hour. Even the very concept of rush hour might disappear. People will be free to do anything they want while their car drives itself and this will both decrease stress and improve productivity.

A transportation system dominated by driverless cars will make a safer world for everyone. Removing the human element from driving will create fewer accidents and fewer situations where accidents can occur because a driverless car is never drunk, tired, or distracted. Driverless cars also always pay attention to pedestrians and can get through traffic with maximum efficiency every time. This will result in less time spent commuting or traveling. The end result of all this will be a world where when you want to go on a trip or simply need to get to work, all you have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Catching Up with zoox

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Back in November at the LA auto show, zoox made a big splash with their announcement of plans to develop a fully autonomous, level 4 vehicle(1).The imagery was spectacular and many of the concepts were revolutionary. However, people questioned whether it was “visionary or vaporous“. We caught up with zoox CEO Tim Kentley-Klay about the work that they’ve been doing, including, how they got started, what they do now, and where they’re headed.

zoox1

Getting its name from a type of plankton that live on the tentacles of polyps, zoox is rooted in the idea of symbiosis. The zoox plankton and the polyps share a symbiotic relationship: zoox provide oxygen to the polyps so they can grow, and the polyps provide a place for the zoox plankton to live. Tim expressed how this is the same type of relationship that should exist between man and machine: man and machine must work together to create efficiencies. Driverless transportation is a way to make the world a more efficient and mobile place. Tim is focused on the idea of mobotics: robotics specialized in the art of mobility.

Since the inception of the company, Tim’s concept hasn’t been to make money or compete with other companies, but to make life more fun and livable. He expressed that he felt that there was a lack of vision in the industry, with technology limited to ground-up thinking, and car manufacturers trying to solve the problem from an engineering perspective. At zoox, their goal is to change the way we view the technology we have, and to introduce new technology to revolutionize the driving experience. Tim believes that zoox are in the right place at the right time, and understand the benefits autonomy can deliver.

zoox2

At the moment, zoox is focused on furthering their vision. The team is currently a group of three, but they hope to expand. The team is looking for partners, doing a lot of traveling searching for others who share their dream, and looking for artists to work on concept designing and prototyping. Tim told us that they will update the website in this quarter to reveal a new team. They are overwhelmed by the amount of interest they have received from people who are interested in joining, such that they can hardly get to all of the emails between the three of them! They have been able to speak to many organizations within the industry, including Google, MIT, Freie University in Berlin, Mercedes, and many others including many of the participants from the DARPA challenges.

It’s important to understand, however, that zoox is not an automaker. They’re looking at things differently than the automobile companies. They’re a group that’s trying to come up with a new paradigm for transportation, and that’s where the idea of mobotics comes in. If you’re looking at this venture as providing a new type of automobile, Tim says, then you’re missing the point. What zoox wants to do is view the transportation service industry in a new way, and that’s how we can really change the world.

If you’re interested in the work that zoox does, visit their website at http://zoox.co/. You can also hear Tim speak Friday, April 11, at the Autonomous Vehicle conference in Santa Clara, California.

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(1) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines a Level 4 as a full self-driving automation: the vehicle is designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip. Such a design anticipates that the driver will provide destination or navigation input, but is not expected to be available for control at any time during the trip.

 

What Goes into Connected Vehicles? Cohda Wireless

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Cohda Wireless is a cooperative ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) manufacturer founded in 2004. The initial goal of Cohda Wireless was to make all cities Wi-Fi enabled and provide free Wi-Fi to everyone within those municipalities. As that vision changed, Cohda turned to the growing market of driverless and connected vehicle technology. Today Cohda Wireless specializes in the production of dedicated short range communications (DSRC) radios used for V2V and V2I communications. DSRC radios can be used to send and receive information concerning the speed, direction and location of a car using Wi-Fi. The DSRC radios made by Cohda Wireless are small, low cost IEEE 802.11P compliant radios designed for large scale trials. These radios have been known for their advanced performance in mobile and multipath communications, specifically with respect to signals bouncing off of nearby buildings. Physically, these radios are built to survive harsh outdoor conditions making them useful for both V2V as well as V2I communications because they can be implemented in road side infrastructures.

Cohad Wireless Product

Cohda Wireless MK4a

Cohda Wireless’ claim to fame in the connected vehicle industry has been its work with the University of Michigan on a safety pilot in Ann Arbor. This safety pilot includes 2,800 cars that have been deployed with DSRC radios capable of many connected vehicle features such as forward collision warning and curve speed warning. Moreover, the pilot shows initiative by the U.S. to move forward from the R&D stage of connected vehicle technology to more advanced development.

Another less known project that Cohda Wireless is involved in is V2I testing using the San Francisco metropolitan bus system. Within San Francisco, 1,500 of the on board units have been installed in public buses and roadside units set up at various intersections. The on board units communicate with the roadside units letting them know the buses are near. The roadside units’ response is to change the traffic lights, giving the buses priority. When the buses return to the bus yard at the end of the day the data from these interactions is downloaded and analyzed.

Cohda Wireless was founded in 2004 by a group of highly regarded research scientists working at the University of South Australia’s Institute for Telecommunications Research.

  • Dr. Paul Alexander Chief Technology Officer - Paul Alexander is an internationally recognized researcher in the advanced signal processing space and is one of the inventors of the technology being commercialized by Cohda Wireless.
  • Prof. Alex Grant Technical & Research Advisor - Alex Grant is an internationally recognized researcher in advanced signal processing and information theory. He is the youngest professorial appointment at the University of South Australia.
  • Prof. Lars Rasmussen Technical & Research Advisor - Lars Rasmussen is a Research Professor of Telecommunications at the Institute for Telecommunications Research at the University of South Australia where he has been the leader of the Communications Signal Processing group since his arrival in February 2002.

Cohda’s world-class team of scientists and engineers has progressed though the completion of prototype Cooperative-ITS systems, to designing and selling real world products with a compelling advantage. Cohda Wireless has secured revenues in the emerging Cooperative-ITS market through the sales of three generations of its on-board and road-side equipment.

The efforts of Cohda Wireless are helping aid the advancements in wireless communications and bridge the gap to a world of autonomous and connected vehicles.

CAVCOE is Driving AV Deployment

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CAVCOE

CAVCOE is an organization based in Canada that was created in November of 2013 by a team of people with a common interest in leading edge technologies. CAVCOE stands for Canadian Automated Vehicles Center of Excellence. CAVCOE’s tag line is “Driving AV Deployment” and this group in that sense is similar to Driver Transportation because they promote public awareness of the advancement of autonomous and connected vehicle technologies.

In their mission to prepare the world for autonomous vehicles, CAVCOE has focused on three areas: 1) outreach; 2) consulting; and 3) hardware/software service.

1)      The outreach portion of the company informs and alerts people about autonomous vehicles and how important they will be in the future. This is done through a variety of means such as public speaking at conventions, publishing newsletters and writing articles for magazines. Some of the events CAVCOE members have been asked to speak at are the M2W Conference for Wireless Communications, the Waterloo Ontario Canadian Institute of Transportation Engineers and the IEEE Vehicular Conference in Vancouver.

2)      By providing consulting as its second area of focus, CAVCOE offers services to anyone who will be impacted by autonomous vehicles ranging from parts manufacturers to insurance agencies. The members of CAVCOE work on different business models and scenarios based on how autonomous vehicles will affect their respective clients. For example, in the case of an accident involving an autonomous vehicle, who would be accountable to the insurance companies? Would it be the car owner, the driver or the manufacturer? CAVCOE works with their clients to solve these problems.

3)      Finally, the hardware/software service area of CAVCOE is what they ruminate is “on their wish list”. They have not yet reached this stage, but hope to get there soon.

One of CAVCOE’s co-founders, Barrie Kirk, shared his prediction of where autonomous vehicles will be in the near future. Mr. Kirk predicts fully autonomous vehicles will be launched by 2018. He believes they will be a bit more expensive than expected and will take some time to become popular amongst consumers. The higher prices of these vehicles will pay off in the long run because of the longevity of the car.

CAVCOE is doing its job in getting the AV word out. Spreading the word and sharing the myriad of details involved around autonomous and connected vehicles can only help drive the industry forward.