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News Roundup: India Says ‘No’ to Self-Driving Cars, Two Companies Plan Cross-Border Road Test for Driverless Cars, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A roundup of recent headlines to come out of the driverless and connected-car industries this past week:

India says No to driverless cars over fear of job losses

India’s transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, told news outlets this past week that driverless cars will not be allowed in India anytime soon, due to the number of job losses it could lead to. Gadkari said India’s unemployment rate is still too high to risk losing jobs to automated vehicles. As it is currently, he said the country is in need of at least 100,000 more commercial drivers and he looks forward to being able to provide the Indian people with so many available jobs. In addition, India officials estimate that the amount of infrastructure changes that would be needed to prepare India for self-driving cars would be far too expensive given the nation’s current economy. Gadkari did say he would not rule out the technology altogether in the future if India’s situation improves. Read more from BBC News.

 

Manhattan proposal wants to transform cross-island highways into roads exclusively for driverless vehicles

Manhattan-based architecture firm Edg has proposed a bold project that they say would reduce urban pollution and congestion in Manhattan and make some major roadways on the island exclusive to driverless cars. The proposal, called “Loop NYC,” wants to take major roadways that cut across the island-namely, 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, 86th and 110th streets-and turn them into roads that are exclusive to driverless cars. Edg says this could cut down traffic time from the current 40 minutes it takes to drive a loop from Grand Central Station to Lower Manhattan and back down to just 11 minutes, with traffic flowing more smoothly thanks to self-driving vehicles. In addition, Loop NYC wants to create enormous green spaces and pedestrian bridges that would cross over the driverless roadways and would be exclusive to pedestrians and bicyclists, improving beauty while reducing pollution, as well as increasing the city’s walkability. As expected, the proposal is still “largely speculative” in nature, particularly given the fact that the federal government still has not approved a nationwide set of laws and regulations for driverless cars. Read more about Loop NYC on ArchDaily.

 

Two companies plan road test for driverless cars across the border from the U.S. into Canada

Two major companies working on driverless vehicle technology, Continental and Magna, are teaming up for a whopper of a road test. The two companies plan to send self-driving cars across the border from Michigan into Sarnia, in Toronto, Canada. The cars will reportedly cross the border at two locations-through the tunnel from Detroit into Windsor, and crossing the Blue Water Bridge into Sarnia. Reps say the cars’ “driverless mode” will be enabled whenever possible but will likely include a few instances when the driver will take over control. They add, crossing an international border makes for incredibly unique driving conditions, which will allow Continental and Magna to collect a lot of valuable data from the cars’ cameras, LiDAR and radar. In addition, the test will reveal future hurdles when it comes to crossing the borders of two different countries with two different sets of laws and regulations. Read more from TechCrunch.

Image: Loop NYC rendering by Edg

News Roundup: Serious Crash Involving Self-Driving Uber Car Under Investigation, Why Driverless Crash Liability Should Be Modeled After Vaccine Laws, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A roundup of recent headlines to come out of the driverless and connected-car industries over the past week:

Uber’s self-driving test cars return to the roads after 3-day halt following serious crash

Uber’s fleet of self-driving test cars returned to the roads in San Francisco Monday after the entire program was halted for three days following a serious crash in Arizona Saturday. Testing in Tempe, Arizona and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania remains halted as the investigation into the crash continues. Police in Tempe, Arizona said the accident occurred when a normal human-driven vehicle failed to yield to the driverless Uber car in an intersection. The two cars collided, causing the Uber car to roll over. Tempe police reported that the driver of the normal car was cited for the accident. An Uber employee was sitting behind the wheel of the Uber car, and fortunately was not injured. Uber representatives say a more detailed report will be released after the investigation concludes. Read more from TechCrunch. See photos and video from the accident on ABC15 Arizona.

 

What if driverless vehicle legislation were modeled after vaccine compensation cases?

In this article, Automotive News writer Katie Burke presents an interesting theory, in which legislation regarding liability in driverless vehicle collisions were modeled after the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. That law created the Office of Special Masters within the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, with the sole purpose of hearing cases in which a family claims their child was injured as a result of a vaccine. The law also created a special fund from which families who prove their child’s injury was caused by a vaccine are compensated. The act marked a turning point for U.S. pharmaceutical companies, allowing them to confidently continue researching and creating new vaccines without fear of losing billions in injury lawsuits. Burke thinks modeling legislation regarding liability in driverless car crashes in a similar way will encourage automakers working on developing the technology to continue their work without similar fears. What do you think of the idea? Read more from TheTruthAboutCars.com.

 

North Dakota Senate unanimously passes law requiring full study of autonomous vehicles

On Monday, the North Dakota Senate passed a new law 45-0 requiring the Department of Transportation (DOT) to work with the technology industry to conduct a study of the use of autonomous vehicles on the state’s highways. In addition, the study will focus on laws surrounding self-driving vehicles, including licensing, registration, insurance, ownership of data, and inspections. Results of the study must be presented at the next general assembly. In the same session, the Senate rejected a related bill that would have made the owner of a driverless vehicle the owner of any data gathered by or stored within the vehicle. Presumably, lawmakers want to encourage driverless vehicle manufacturers to share data collected by the vehicles with transportation agencies to allow for continued improvement of systems. Read more from InForum.

 

Photo Credit: Uber

News Roundup: California DMV’s New Proposed Driverless Car Regulations, How Alexa and Cortana May Soon Take Over Your Car, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A roundup of some of the biggest headlines to come out of the driverless and connected-car industries over the past week:

Many applaud California DMV’s newly proposed regulations for testing driverless cars

This past Friday, March 10, the California Department of Motor Vehicles released new proposed regulations for the testing of driverless cars in public, which look remarkably like laws recently passed in Michigan. Many are applauding all the changes made since releasing a significantly stricter version back in September. DMV reps say they listened closely to a wealth of feedback from stakeholders after the September draft and implemented many of them. In particular, the new regulations reverse their previous requirements that driverless test cars must have a human driver in the car while testing in public, and that prototype vehicles must include a steering wheel and pedals (which reportedly made Google/Waymo executives very happy). However, if the vehicle does not include those conventional features, the manufacturer must show the DMV they have approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A mandatory 45-day comment period is currently in effect, ending April 24, after which a public hearing will take place. DMV representatives said they hope the regulations will officially go into effect by the end of the year. Read more from Bloomberg Technology.

 

Automakers turn to personal assistance tech like Cortana, Alexa to develop better connected-car voice commands

While systems like Ford’s Sync are already appearing in cars on the market today, many industry analysts say the technology still contains many flaws, with limited available commands and continuous voice recognition difficulties. As connected-car technology becomes more and more in demand, automakers like Ford, Volkswagen and Nissan are turning to personal assistant apps like Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana to improve in-car voice command systems. VW announced they are trying to combine Alexa with their Car-Net system and apps so that, while driving, you can ask Alexa to do things like add items to your ongoing shopping list that is synced between your car and your personal device. Reps say you’ll even be able to ask Alexa through your Amazon Echo at home to tell you how much gas your car has in it. Ford said it is integrating Alexa into its current Sync system, with some paired features debuting this summer. Nissan said they are partnering with Microsoft, but have not announced a launch date yet. Read more from CAR magazine.

 

Whoa! Intel buys Mobileye for more than $15 billion

In the biggest acquisition of an Israeli tech company to date, Intel announced this week that is acquiring Mobileye for an astounding $15.3 billion, after partnering with them since late last year. Mobileye is known for its computer vision systems for autonomous cars, including sensor fusion, mapping and front- and rear-facing camera technology. They are also working on crowdsourcing data for high-definition maps, as well as getting involved in policies and regulations surrounding autonomous driving. Intel has been getting involved with driverless technology as of late, most recently partnering with Mobileye and BMW and pledging $250 million to invest in the technology, particularly how much data autonomous cars can generate. The sale of Mobileye to Intel is expected to take about nine months to close. Read more from TechCrunch.

TomTom’s Drop Brings the D20 Stock Index Down After 5 Weeks of Gains

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After five weeks of consecutive gains, a drop by TomTom led the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) to take a slight step back this week, losing 0.18 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 185.64.

With an evenly divided 10 stock price gainers and 10 stock price losers, this time the D20 was no match for the Dow, which rose 1 percent, or the S&P 500, which added 0.8 percent.

Tesla Motors (TLSA) was the D20 price-percentage gainer, adding 7.1 percent to close at $269.23.  Tesla’s jump in price was likely caused by a combination of CEO Elon Musk’s access to President Trump and the NHTSA’s decision to close the investigation into a fatal accident that involved a Tesla with its Autopilot engaged.

After posting a Q4 loss with revenue down 6 percent, TomTom (TOM2) was the D20’s price-percentage loser.  TomTom lost 9.6 percent last week, closing at €7.79. Without TomTom’s loss the D20 would have been easily in the black this week.

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

 

Up-and-Comers:

Ford, looking to add muscle to its driverless car program, invests in Argo AI.  Ford is committing to spend $1 billion on the start-up and operate it as an independent subsidiary. Argo AI was founded by the former head of Google’s car division, Waymo, and a former top engineer for Uber’s self-driving division. It appears Ford, like many of the other automotive manufacturers, felt the need to buy technology as opposed to developing it in house with the race to deliver driverless cars heating up.

Otto won Hot New Startup at the Chrunchies.  The Chrunchies Awards are an annual event in its tenth year, sponsored by TechCrunch and devoted to celebrating start-up technology companies.  Otto has plans to develop technology for self-driving trucks. Otto demonstrated its technology in October with an Otto-powered truck delivering 50,000 Budweiser cans to Colorado Springs from Fort Collins, Colorado.

News Roundup: Ford Introduces ‘SmartLink’ Connected-Car Plug-In For Older Vehicles, U.S. Lawmakers Consider Car Cybersecurity Bill, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A roundup of interesting headlines from the driverless and connected-car worlds over the past week:

Ford designs new device to turn older cars into connected cars

Ford Motor Co. has created a new device called SmartLink that can plug into older cars through the OBD link II and turn them into fully connected cars. The SmartLink includes a 4G LTE modem on board, letting it act as a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 8 devices in the vehicle. It also enables remote start, lock and unlock functions, and can send alerts to a car owner via a companion web and mobile app to let them check the car’s diagnostic health, and get alerts related to security and service requirements. SmartLink was designed to work with Ford and Lincoln cars built between 2010 and 2016. Read more from TechCrunch.

 

Driverless bus debuts in Atlanta before embarking on U.S. tour

The Alliance for Transportation Authority offered rides in an autonomous, 12-passenger bus in Atlanta on Thursday to kick off a U.S. tour. The tour, which will take the bus to other major cities in states such as Texas and California. Representatives of the Alliance hope the tour, and free rides on the shuttle, will improve public perception of self-driving cars, which they see as one of the biggest barriers to the implementation of the technology. Read more from the Albuquerque Journal.

 

U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to study cybersecurity in connected cars

With at least 90 percent of cars on U.S. roads expected to have connected-car features by 2020, U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to study cybersecurity in vehicles. Named “The Security and Privacy in Your Car Act,” the bill requires the NHTSA to work with the Defense Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center, SAE International, and academics and manufacturers in the automotive industry to set a standard for safety in all connected cars. Together, the group will study how to isolate software systems in vehicles, create a system to prevent and detect hacks, determine best practices for storing data and create a timeline for how to implement these standards. Read more from GeekWire.

Photo: Ford SmartLink plug-in / Credit: Ford Motor Co.

News Roundup: Mass. State Senator Introduces Bill to Allow Zero-Emission Driverless Cars, Skipping Driverless Cars and Going Straight to Passenger Drones, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A roundup of headlines to come out of the driverless, connected-car industry in the past week:

Massachusetts Introduces Bill to Self-Driving Cars on Public Streets — As Long As They’re Electric

A new bill has been introduced at the state level in Massachusetts that would provide regulations for autonomous cars on public streets-as long as they’re electric. Senator Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) is preparing to file the bill with the State Senate, and says mandating that self-driving cars be zero-emission will help encourage automakers to be more environmentally friendly, which is line with Massachusetts’s priorities. Lewis said the bill would come with a tax of 2.5 cents per mile, to help offset lost state revenue from gas taxes. He said he welcomes ideas and suggestions and hopes the bill’s introduction will prompt “robust debate.” Read more from The Valley Dispatch.

 

Op-Ed: Forget Driverless Cars — The Future is Driverless Passenger Drones

Check out this opinion piece from Adam Singola. Singola argues almost suggests that simply making cars driverless is a waste of time, when we can take it one step further and make them flying, too. Singola said the future of transportation is flying passenger drones. He points out that one thing that makes human-driven cars so dangerous is the fact that they have to share the road with passengers, cyclists, unexpected objects and poor road quality, not to mention other cars. Therefore, he says driverless passenger drones will be safer, and will render things like parking problems, traffic congestion, and road construction obsolete. He also describes a ride he recently took in an actual passenger drone. Read more on TechCrunch.

 

U.S. Department of Transportation Identifies 10 ‘Proving Grounds’ for Testing Autonomous Vehicle Technology

In a move that many say will help the U.S. keep up with its Asian and European rivals, the U.S. Department of Transportation this week officially designated 10 sites across the country that officials say will act as “official sites for validating the technology,” as run by top organizations working on the technology. Automakers will be able to share the facilities to test their autonomous prototypes, and officials said they hope working in “close proximity” to others working on the same technology will allow them to share best practices and data. The 10 sites are run by the following organizations across the country: Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute; the Texas AV Proving Grounds Partnership; Maryland’s U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center; California’s Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) and GoMentum Station in Concord, California; the San Diego Association of Governments in California; Michigan’s American Center for Mobility (ACM) at Willow Run; the Iowa City Area Development Group; the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Central Florida Automated Vehicle Partners; and the North Carolina Turnpike Authority. Read more from Bloomberg Technology.

Photo: Acura driverless car being tested at GoMentum Station in Concord, California.

News Roundup: Singapore Adds Hybrid Buses to Its List of Driverless Options, Fisker Teases Its Answer to Tesla’s Model 3, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A look at some of the most interesting headlines to come out of the driverless, connected-car world this week.

Driverless taxis and shuttles test so well, Singapore moves on to buses

After public tests of self-driving taxis and shuttles have gone so well, Singapore is already planning to expand its driverless transportation offerings. This week, news outlets like TechCrunch, Engadget and ChannelNewsAsia gave a sneak peek of designs for driverless hybrid buses that feature Lidar, V2X capabilities and even night-vision. An initial pilot launch will apparently consist of two full-size buses that will transport passengers between Nanyang Technological University and CleanTech Park, and potentially even beyond to Pioneer MRT station. The first route has been tested with a driverless shuttle since 2013, TechCrunch reports. See maps of the routes and read more information about the buses and testing on TechCrunch.

 

Henrik Fisker posts teaser photo of driverless car he says will give Tesla a run for its money

Renowned automotive designer Henrik Fisker teased fans this week by posting twfisker-driverless-caro photos of what he says is his forthcoming autonomous-capable car that will give Tesla’s Model 3 a run for its money. The first photo is dark and only shows the front bumper, but was enough to get people excited. The second photo is a dark silhouette of the entire car with its wing-style doors up. Fisker said the long-range electric car will eventually have full autonomous capabilities, and that he is teaming up with a top automotive supplier for the autonomous system, though he declined to state which one. Read more from the Business Journal.

 

Wanis Kabbaj’s TED Talk: What a driverless world would look like

Transportation geek Wanis Kabbaj thinks we can find inspiration in the genius of human biology to design the transit systems of the future. In his recent TED Talk, Kabbaj asks, what if traffic flowed through our streets as smoothly and efficiently as blood flows through our veins? Get a closer look at Kabbaj’s vision and hear his TED Talk on Ted.com.

 

Images courtesy of Henrik Fisker

NuTonomy Raises $16 Million in Funding for Self-Driving Taxi Pilot

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Jennifer van der Kleut

NuTonomy, a self-driving car startup that is backed by Ford Motor Co., announced today it has raised $16 million in funding, which it says will help them achieve their goal of having autonomous taxis on the streets of Singapore by this fall.

Naturally, the Singapore government is one of the big investors, along with major investment firm Highland Capital.

NuTonomy spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2013, founded by PhD graduates Karl Iagnemma (CEO) and Emilio Frazzoli (CTO). Since then, NuTonomy has garnered a reputation as being one of the leading companies in the race toward driverless cars.

Now, CEO Karl Iagnemma says this latest round of funding will help them dramatically “accelerate [their] progress—more people and more cars,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

NuTonomy is just one on a list of eight companies working on self-driving technology that want to bring it to the streets of Singapore. The government asked for proposals last year, and eight companies submitted proposals-among which were NuTonomy, Uber and BMW.

“We are inviting companies and research institutions to test-bed their technology and concepts here, in real-life, mixed-use traffic conditions,” Singapore’s Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Kin Keong Pang said in a statement.

Perhaps in a jab at the regulatory back-and-forth happening in the U.S. right now, Pang added, “We are contributing financial resources in these partnerships and we are able to fast-track regulatory and other administrative approvals, and get the trials and test-beds up and running quickly and with minimum fuss.”

TechCrunch explains, NuTonomy manufactures equipment that is used to retrofit existing vehicles and turn them into driverless ones. They are currently using retrofitted Mitsubishi iMiev electric cars, and are expecting to also use Renault Zoe EVs in its autonomous cab service later this year, the Wall Street Journal reports.

TechCrunch reports, NuTonomy is also currently testing cars in Michigan and in the U.K., where they are partnering with Jaguar Land Rover, among others.

Most recently, NuTonomy gained a lot of attention when it ran a test program for an autonomous shuttle operating in an office park that could be summoned by an app. Representatives said the amount of data gathered by the program was incredibly valuable.

Former Employees From Google, Apple, Tesla Start ‘Otto,’ Develop Equipment for Self-Driving Trucks

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A group of 40 former employees of top-notch firms like Google, Apple, Tesla, Cruise Automation, Nokia’s HERE and others have banded together to form Otto, a company that aims to outfit commercial trucks with equipment that turns them into self-driving vehicles.

Otto is working to develop a hardware kit that, once installed in a freight truck, would enable the vehicle to drive autonomously. The equipment could be purchased and then installed at either a service center, or possible by the truck’s manufacturer if Otto is able to establish manufacture partnerships, reports The Verge.

Two of Otto’s founders-Anthony Levandowski, who led Google’s self-driving car division, and Lior Ron, who led Google Maps-said in a blog post that commercial trucks are ripe with problems and inefficiencies that they believe autonomous driving could help solve.

“…They cause a large number of fatalities, are inefficient and, to top it off, there’s an increasing shortage of drivers. That creates the perfect storm for a tech-based solution, Otto’s founders believe,” TechCrunch reports.

Initially, Otto will focus on highway driving by the trucks they outfit. Drivers will still be responsible for navigating surface streets, and for loading and unloading the trucks as usual.

One thing that is unclear, The Verge explains, is whether the fact that the human in the truck does not have to operate the truck the majority of the time-highway driving makes up the bulk of a commercial truck’s travels-will allow trucking companies to get around laws that minimizes the number of hours trucking employees can work.

“…In theory, an Otto-equipped truck might be able to safely operate for many more hours than a human who is always in full control, but [Lior Ron] says they’ll have to work with regulators to prove that out,” The Verge explained.

TechCrunch reports that Otto initially started out developing driver assistance systems, that aim to make driving a truck more safe. That philosophy carries over into the company’s self-driving equipment.

“…Among many things, they aim to let drivers safely take a sleep break while leaving their truck driving autonomously,” TechCrunch said.

To start with, Otto is testing on Volvo VNL 780 trucks, but The Verge reports that they eventually hope to work with many Class 8 trucks, which are the largest, heaviest trucks on American roads.

Ford and IBM Team Up on Vehicular Data Platform To Solve Rider Problems Like Traffic Jams, Finding Parking Spots, and Even Planning Trips

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A new vehicular data project could soon help drivers navigate all manner of mobility problems, from traffic jams on freeways to finding parking spots in crowded garages.

Ford Motor Co. tapped computer giant IBM to partner with on the data project, TechRepublic reports, and as of this week, it appears the system is ready to go.

The system, dubbed Ford’s Smart Mobility Experimentation Platform (SMEP), reportedly “uses small chunks (10-15 seconds) of data, and the patterns it sees in that data, to help drivers find a parking spot in a crowded lot or avoid a traffic jam on their drive home from work.”

For example, with Ford’s Dynamic Shuttle program-currently being tested on a Ford campus in Dearborn, Michigan-if there is a problem with one of the shuttles, the system can automatically call for a backup shuttle and re-route employees waiting for a ride.

“Should one of the Transit vans experience a malfunction that triggers a warning light, the platform will be able to start routing requests away from that vehicle to other Transits in service – allowing another shuttle to redeploy to keep all riders on schedule,” the company explains in a TechCrunch article.

The SMEP platform also helps run Ford’s “GoPark Painless Parking” program. The data the platform collects helps seek out open parking spots nearby.

Eventually, TechCrunch reports Ford and IBM want to debut a comprehensive mobility app entitled “FordPass.” TechCrunch calls the app “OnHub on steroids.” Even non-Ford drivers will be able to use it for all kinds of tasks such as consulting an all-knowing “Ford Guide” to figure out the best way to get somewhere, and even pre-booking and paying for parking spots in busy cities.

Sounds like a lucrative partnership.