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Michigan’s Sayer a Change Champion

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Burney Simpson

The White House recently recognized the University of Michigan’s James R. Sayer as one of the 2015 Transportation Champions of Change for his work on connected and automated vehicles.

jim.sayer_PNGSayer is a research scientist and head of the Human Factors Group at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

He currently leads the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Model Deployment, a U.S. Department of Transportation-sponsored program. The DOT plans to use the results to determine driver acceptance of connected vehicles, and to “evaluate the feasibility, scalability, security, and device interoperability of connected-vehicle technologies.”

That project has been expanded into the Ann Arbor Connected Vehicle Test Environment. Sayer said in a release that Ann Arbor “will be the world’s first example of how connected vehicle and infrastructure technology can and will be utilized in a community of the future.”

The goal is to make roads safer and reduce fatal vehicle crashes, he said.

“Last year alone there were over 30,000 fatalities. Our current transportation system is responsible for $240 billion per-year cost in terms of medical and work loss,” he said. “Connected vehicles, similar to what we have deployed (here) could reduce up to 80 percent of unimpaired crashes.”

Sayer was instrumental in the development of Mcity, the 32-acre test site for connected and automated vehicles operated by the university’s Mobility Transformation Center that opened this summer in Ann Arbor.

The Transportation Champions of Change are honored for their leadership and innovation in the field. In addition to Sayer, the 2015 Champions are:

Atorod Azizinamini, Marilyn Bull, Habib Dagher, Elaine Roberts, Nathaniel Ford, Sr., Olatunji Oboi Reed, Peter Lagerwey, Robert Portiss, Kyle Wagenschutz, and Carl Weimer.

The champions were honored at a ceremony with Anthony Foxx, secretary of the US DOT, Federal Highways Administrator Greg Nadeau, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Mark Rosekind, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Acting Administrator Scott Darling, National Economic Council Director and Assistant to the President Jeff Zients, and other officials.

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Self-Driving Cars Have More Crashes

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Burney Simpson

Self-driving vehicles have a higher crash rate than conventional vehicles though they haven’t been at fault for the crashes, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

Self-driving vehicles have an overall crash rate that is nearly five times that of conventional vehicles, according to “A Preliminary Analysis of Real-World Crashes Involving Self-Driving Vehicles.” (Links to an abstract). 

The self-driving vehicles also had an injury rate about four times that of conventional vehicles, though the severity of the injuries is less that of standard vehicles. There has been no recorded fatality from a crash involving a self-driving vehicle since tests began in 2009.

However, all the crashes involving self-driving cars were the fault of the driver of the conventional vehicle, UMTRI reports.

In their study, the researchers warned that their findings were preliminary because the data covered only 50 self-driving vehicles traveling about 1.2 million miles, mostly in the warmer areas around Silicon Valley.

Results for those vehicles were compared with 269 million conventional vehicles that had traveled 3 trillion miles across all 50 states in a mix of geographic and weather conditions.

In addition, many crashes involving conventional vehicles go unreported. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 60 percent of property-damage only crashes and 24 percent of injury crashes involving conventional vehicles go unreported every year, the UMTRI researchers noted.

The researchers developed their findings by analyzing the on-road safety record of self-driving vehicles released by Audi, Delphi, and Google, three of the 10 firms conducting tests in California.

The data covered 1.2 million miles traveled by the Google car, primarily in Silicon Valley though some around Austin, Texas, along with the 3,400 mile cross country trip taken by Delphi, and a 550 mile trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas conducted by Audi.

Crashes resulting in injuries for the self-driving cars were 10 percent lower than for conventional vehicles, while the self-driving cars had 10 percent more crashes that resulted in property damage.

The study authors are Brandon Schoettle, and Michael Sivak, UMTRI’s director of sustainable worldwide transportation.

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Continental Pushes Autonomous Boundaries

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Burney Simpson

Tier 1 auto technology firm Continental Corp. this month moved quietly but confidently to strengthen its leading position in the global development of autonomous driving.

Continental participated in the recent driverless demo in Virginia that received international press coverage, driving its own Chrysler 300c right behind the Cadillac SRX that Virginia Tech Transportation Institute researchers took for a spin near Washington, D.C. (See “Virginia Seeks Autonomous Research Lead,” October 20).

The black Chrysler’s autonomous technology included five radars and six cameras, along with Redundant Sensing and Actuation Architecture that doubles brake, steering, power and communication lines so the car can continue driving safely if there is any failure of the primary controls.

The camera system operates a forward-facing stereo camera, a surround view camera system that includes four 185-degree field of view fish-eye cameras, and a Driver Analyzer camera focusing on the driver.

Ibro Muharemovic, Continental’s head of advanced engineering NAFTA, noted that Continental had already tested an early-driverless vehicle for about 55,000 miles on U.S. roads in 2012. This precedes the highly publicized cross-country drive that Continental rival tier 1 supplier Delphi took this spring.

Continental is currently testing its autonomous vehicles in a number of states, and “when other states make their roads available, we will go there,’ said Muharemovic.

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Also this month, Hanover, Germany-based Continental launched its Holistic Connectivity demo vehicle at the ITS World Congress in Bordeuax, France. Drivers can use the Human-Machine Interface in the car’s console to obtain by voice or visual interaction the vehicle diagnostic data along with traffic information. Drivers can also make commands to their home systems, allowing for the control of temperature and lighting.

In addition, Continental announced that Augmented Reality (AR) Creator software developr Elektrobit Automotive would operate as a standalone company. Continental purchased Elektrobit in July. AR Creator offers visualized lane positioning, navigation data, environmental modeling, and other autonomous-related capabilities.

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Autonomous Tech Scales Capitol Hill

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Burney Simpson

The autonomous transportation industry brought its game to Capitol Hill this week, holding a nearly all-day event that featured speeches from a U.S. Senator, four Congressmen, and a number of driverless leaders, all over the course of a luncheon, a seminar, and a showcase event/cocktail party with several dozen of the top firms in the business.

Not bad for a day’s work.

Trade group ITS America put on ‘The Future of Mobility: Rethinking Transportation for the Next 30 Years’ and garnered the participation of Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, and Representatives Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, Rodney Davis, an Illinois Republican, and Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon.

While much of the conversation was positive and friendly, a few of the seminar panelists took the opportunity to raise issues that Congress may have to address someday.

  • Data Privacy and Security — Daniel Morgan, chief data officer with the US Department of Transportation, noted that the security and privacy of citizen travel data was essential but that the information could be beneficial for metropolitan planners. Morgan floated the idea that a third party firm be responsible for collecting and storing the data if people objected to the federal government holding it.
  • Reserving DSRC wavelength for V2V and V2I — Alan Korn, an executive with heavy-truck parts supplier Meritor WABCO, said the Dedicated Short-Range Communications 5.9 GHz spectrum must be reserved for Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure communications to ensure autonomous driving safety. Later, Sen. Peters said that new technology may allow for the sharing of the 5.9 spectrum with other Wi-Fi users.
  • Driverless Timeline — Supplying a welcome dose of reality was Tom Dingus, director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). Dingus said developing a truly autonomous system would be considerably more difficult and probably take longer than some recent studies and press reports suggest. Driverless vehicles will have to be safer than the much-maligned human driver but consider that the average human has one rear-end crash every 25 years, and makes 3 million braking decision in that time, said Dingus. “It is very difficult to build a system that is that robust,” said Dingus.

The exhibition hall featured 22 organizations involved with autonomous transportation development, including Eberle Design, Econolite, GM, Iteris, the University of Michigan Mobility Transformation Center, NXP Semiconductors, Southwest Research Institute, and Uber.

VTTI was there too taking a bit of a victory lap after its successful demo this week on a nearby highway of its driverless Cadillac SRX. The ride along featured Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and generated extensive media coverage (See “Virginia Seeks Autonomous Research Lead,” October 20, 2015).

The showcase garnered a little more exposure for the technology with another half-dozen members of Congress visiting the exhibit hall to check out the firms on display, according to an ITS spokesperson.

The day also offered an exhibit of a DeLorean car from an old movie that predicted people would fly on skateboardy-type things. This fascinated a number of Gen-Yers and Millennials who took selfies.

Photo: United States Capitol, 2015, Matt C.

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Virginia Seeks Autonomous Research Lead

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Burney Simpson

The competition for autonomous driving research dollars was ramped up Monday by the state of Virginia and its research university Virginia Tech at a driverless vehicle test drive in Arlington held for members of the Washington, D.C., press corps.

On hand for the one-hour drive on I-395 in Arlington, and for a press conference after, were Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the state’s transportation secretary, a leader from the US Department of Transportation, and several other Virginia transportation movers and shakers.

The test was organized by the VaTech Transportation Institute (VTTI) which announced in June it would begin offering for autonomous and connected vehicle tests about 70 miles of congested highways, suburban streets and rural roads in the Washington metropolitan area. Auto OEMs, the US DOT, and industry vendors test their vehicles and technology on the tracks. (“VaTech Leaves ‘Em Eating Its Dust in the Race to be the Top Driverless Test Track”).

Warner said Virginia was working to become a major research area for autonomous-aerial, -vehicle, and -maritime technology. “This is the next great disruptive technology,” said Warner. “Put billions into this and you will see the commercial aspects of this much, much faster.”

A NEW ECONOMY

Virginia Secretary of Transportation Karen Jackson said the state is reaching out to grab more automated vehicle research dollars as it shifts away from its reliance on defense spending.

Virginia is home to the Pentagon – the test drive began on Army Navy Drive around the corner from the complex – and a long-time beneficiary of military research dollars. But the budget sequestration of 2013 brought automatic 10 percent spending cuts to the Defense Department that year, and continuing reductions into 2021.

“The sequestration made us brutally aware of our reliance on the defense sector,” said Jackson. “We are building a new Virginia economy.”

The VaTech testing program has brought $300 million to the state since it began about 20 years ago, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Testing of autonomous technology could go on for decades. Several speakers noted that expert firms predicted that it could take anywhere from three to 30 years for driverless technology to become commonplace.

TEST TRACK RIVALRY

The high profile road show also was a sign of the rivalry for autonomous driving test dollars between VTTI, the University of Michigan Mobility Transformation Center, and the GoMentum Station in Concord, Calif.

The Mobility Transformation Center operates the 32-acre Mcity test track in Ann Arbor, Mich., (“Michigan Launches Mcity Automated Vehicle Test Track as AVS Convenes”), while GoMentum Station offers 20 miles of urban-like test roads near Silicon Valley, home of driverless leader Google, satellite offices of the major auto OEMs, and rumored players like Apple.

Dr. Tom Dingus, director of the VTTI, suggested that his organization is now the international autonomous track leader.

“Ten years ago, we were half the size of UMTRI. Now we are double the size and we have 75 sponsors, more than UMTRI,” said Dingus.

The event on Monday successfully garnered attention with stories by The Washington Post, the Associated Press, items on several local TV stations, and the local radio news leader. In June, VTTI earned about a half-dozen stories from local media at a test near its Blacksburg, Va., campus (“Get Me B-Roll! Driverless Car Test a Hit With Local TV”).

WORKED LIKE A CHARM, EXCEPT …

The actual autonomous drive occurred in a Cadillac SRX with much of its driverless operating system contained in the trunk. In addition, German-based auto-parts supplier Continental operated a Chrysler 300C. Warner and US DOT Assistant Secretary of Research Greg Winfree got to ride in the Caddy while about a dozen reporters followed in a driven van that offered a large screen with shots of the action in the Cadillac.

The lunch-time drive was on nearly-empty lanes that are typically busy but are turned around after rush hour.

The Cadillac was operating at Level 3 of autonomous technology, with the vehicle operating the accelerating, braking, and steering, while a driver in the driver’s seat remained capable of taking immediate control of the car.

During the demo the driverless car reacted to staged events including some workers standing at a stopped vehicle, a squad car roadside, and slower autos in front of the Caddy. For the most part the Caddy worked like a charm except when it suddenly switched lanes and the test driver took over as a patrol car came speeding up behind it.

Warner admitted afterwards he had a moment of terror but that the drive overall was a success.

VaTech has partnered on the Northern Virginia part of its automated testing roadways with hi-tech mapmaker HERE, toll road operator Transurban, and the state’s DOT and DMV.

Photo courtesy VaTech Transportation Institute.

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Driverless Stocks Rise for Three Straight Weeks

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Driverless Transportation

For the third straight week, the Driverless Transportation (D20) Stock Index outpaced both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index by gaining 1.3 percent and finishing at 156.19. The Dow added 0.8 percent to end the week at 12215.97 while the S&P 500 finished at 2033.11 up 0.9 percent. For the D20 this week gainers outnumbered losers 13 to seven.

D20 Stock Index, Dow Jones, and S&P weekly change ending October 16, 2015

After a one week reprieve, Volkswagen (VLKPY) returned to the losing side, dropping 4.6 percent and ending the week at $23.07. Volkswagen’s credit rating dropped and management shake-ups surfaced as the emissions scandal continues to plague the company.

The price of crude oil has been rising in the last month and a half and that has been a boon to BYD Co. (BYDDY), the Chinese electric vehicle and battery manufacturer. BYD had its sixth consecutive weekly advance and closed Friday up 10.7 percent. Between September 4 and October 16 BYD rose from $7.70 to $12.45 a share, a 62 percent increase. NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) also rose consistently during that time, ending last week up 6.9 percent to finish at $27.86.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

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IBM Raises Profile on IoT and Connected Cars

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Big Blue is hitting the accelerator on connected car technology.

IBM is sending its executives to appear at conferences a month after releasing a cloud-based service for automakers that is designed to use the Internet of Things (IoT) so cars can communicate with their owners.

IBM’s IoT for Automotive product will gather data from sensors installed in the vehicle, analyze the information, and let the owner know she needs to change the oil, or communicate with a third-party like a garage or a parking lot, IBM announced.

IBM has been working for several years on connected-vehicle communications systems with German-based auto-technology provider Continental.

Next month, IBM will be presenting at the Connected Fleets USA Conference in Atlanta, discussing the Smart City and its impact on fleets.

Calvin Lawrence, CTO of analytic solutions at IBM, will discuss Smarter Cities for Smarter Infrastructure. In a press release Lawrence says, “(A)s citizens themselves continue to be more socially capable and mobile - their expectation is that the cities in which they live will be fit for purpose. This is especially true for the fleet industry which relies on the efficiency of cities to keep logistics running.”

The connected fleets confab is put on by TU-Automotive and runs Nov. 16-17 in the Grand Hyatt.

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Renesas Launches Autonomous-Driving Platform for Developers

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Burney Simpson

A fleet of cars using a new comprehensive platform for creating, building and testing autonomous driving technology is now available for viewing and test drives at the Renesas DevCon 2015, the conference organized by Renesas Electronics America.

The autos feature eight LiDAR, five radar, forward smart cameras, a Vehicle to Everything (V2X) box, and other technology that is becoming a core part of autonomous vehicles worldwide.

Renesas’ Autonomous Driving Development Platform includes a fleet of cars that can be operated as a modular and open laboratory for the auto industry. Renesas collaborated on the project with autonomous technology firms Harbrick, NewFoundry, Arada Systems, eTrans Systems, and Cogent Embedded.

Renesas DevCon began yesterday and runs through Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Orange County in Anaheim, Calif.

“Advanced automotive systems for cars are complex to develop and carry a heavy burden of responsibility,” said Amrit Vivekanand, vice president of the automotive business unit at Renesas. “We are building vehicle-level platforms that address customer and partner engineering challenges.”

The platform can be used as a “working sandbox in real-world environments” by “algorithm experts, sensor makers, system integrators, and other subject matter experts” so they can “collaborate, validate, experiment” and benchmark new ideas, Renesas announced.

Vehicles using the new platform integrate such autonomous driving technology as sensor fusion, forward camera image recognition, 3D surround view, and V2X communications. It is powered by Renesas microcontrollers, System on Chips (SoC), and semiconductors.

The platform uses Harbrick’s PolySync system, a development system that uses two Renesas R-Car H2 SOCs. Cogent Embedded provided 3D surround view and forward lane detection systems. Arada and eTrans provided Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems that run on two channels of 5.9 GHz dedicated short-range communications (DSRC).

Renesas reported it plans to expand the technology to offer cockpit, safety, security, and powertrain platforms.