Posts

A 'downtown' area for driverless and connected test cars to maneuver through in M City, a small city created to be a testing ground in Michigan.

U of M Celebrates Grand Opening of ‘M City’ Testing Ground; 2015 AVS Shows Signs That Debut of Advanced Technologies Could Be Imminent

/0 Comments/in , , , , , ,

John Estrada

 

This week was a big one for the world of automated vehicles, particularly in Michigan. First, the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, or UMTRI, celebrated the grand opening of its M City test facility.

An intersection in M City, a small city created to be a testing ground for driverless and connected vehicles in Michigan.

An intersection in M City, a small city created to be a testing ground for driverless and connected vehicles in Michigan.

The facility is designed for the testing of automated and connected vehicles in a controlled environment. It has a wide range of road types, from freeway exits to city streets to roundabouts (traffic circles). Additionally it has realistic signage and other roadway features. The stop sign even has graffiti on it!

This was a major event on Monday, with the governor of Michigan, both of the state’s U.S. senators and numerous industry VIPs all in attendance.

A 'downtown' area for driverless and connected test cars to maneuver through in M City, a small city created to be a testing ground in Michigan.

A ‘downtown’ area for driverless and connected test cars to maneuver through in M City, a small city created to be a testing ground in Michigan.

Additionally this week, Michigan hosted the 2015 Automated Vehicle Symposium (AVS). This is the fourth year for this show, and the second in which it has been co-hosted by TRB and AUVSI. Jane Lappin from the DOT Volpe Research Center in Massachusetts, who is one of the main organizers of the show, noted early on that it was getting harder to get speakers for the show, even though the industry is clearly growing, which hopefully is an indication that announcements and rollouts of new technologies must be just over the horizon. That definitely seemed to be the case, as most of the main speakers really didn’t present anything new.[1]

An autonomous vehicle prototype on display at the 2015 AVS symposium in Ann Arbor, Mich. in July 2015.

An autonomous vehicle prototype on display at the 2015 AVS symposium in Ann Arbor, Mich. in July 2015.

One exception to this was the presentation by Dr. Mark Rosekind of NHTSA. Dr. Rosekind was the initial keynote speaker at the opening session. He noted that today, “motorists have had to accept that loss of life is part of the cost of mobility.” He discussed how the DOT is accelerating its effort to change this model, in particular with the moving up of the timetable for the requirements on DSRC safety requirements.

He also discussed how the government was increasing its focus on cybersecurity. This was very timely given the article this week in Wired Magazine about the hacking of a Jeep Cherokee while it was driving on a St. Louis freeway. As we move control of vehicles from drivers to connected technology built by engineers and programmers, this will only take on a much greater requirement.

This was the biggest show in the series to date, and we expect an even bigger show next year.

[1] We were asked not to present any information on the breakout sessions. These did contain some more interesting details.

AmericasRoadTeam2

Volvo: Roads will be Safer if 5.9 GHZ Band Reserved for Driverless Tech

/1 Comment/in , , , , ,

Burney Simpson

 

An important driverless technology advocate ramped up the battle for wireless bandwidth, urging the U.S. Senate keep the Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) 5.9 GHz spectrum reserved for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications.

Ensuring that portion of spectrum exclusively to such autonomous and self-driving technologies will lead to safer roads and more efficient delivery of freight, Susan Alt, Volvo Group North America’s senior vice president of public affairs, told a Senate subcommittee on July 7.

OPENING 5.9 GHZ

Alt spoke before the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security subcommittee during a hearing titled “Technologies Transforming Transportation: Is the Government Keeping Up?“ (Visit here for a transcript of Alt’s testimony).

Volvo’s position as stated by Alt put it in opposition to Sen. Corey Booker, a New Jersey Democrat and the ranking member of the subcommittee, and Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican running for president.

The two joined in February to sponsor the Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S 242) that would require the Federal Communication Commission to test opening the 5.9 GHz band to greater public use beyond certain automated vehicle technologies.

Additionally, a GM lobbyist in June told the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee it would begin testing the use of Wi-Fi in the 5.9 band with Cisco Systems. (See “GM to Congress: We’ll Test Wi-Fi in DSCR Spectrum”). GM has pledged to launch a Cadillac CTS in the 2017 model year with V2V capabilities.

In her testimony Alt noted there are now four types of automated technology available to heavy-duty truck users including adaptive cruise controls and rear view cameras; remote monitoring equipment of driver behavior; remote monitoring equipment that predicts vehicle problems; and technology that checks the driver’s route to avoid possible delays.

Taking autonomous driving technology to the next step means improving V2V and V2I communications, and keeping other Wi-Fi communications out of the 5.9 GHz band.

“The concern is that by allowing other technologies to be shared on the same spectrum, it could create a lag or latency in sending critical and lifesaving communication signals. Therefore, we … (oppose) the Wi-Fi Innovation Act that would open up the 5.9 GHz frequency spectrum to Wi-Fi access for non-safety and other applications such as entertainment and advertising,” Alt testified.

Leaders from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) have also opposed opening the 5.9 frequency spectrum to non-safety applications.

ELIMINATING HUMAN ERRORS

As part of her testimony Alt offered two Volvo Truck videos. One from October 2014 previews heavy-duty trucks the video says will be “market ready in five to 10 years” and capable of providing a 360-degree scan from the driver’s seat that will virtually eliminate human errors.

The video claims the technology will be able to see all the objects within this 360 scan, including vehicles, bikes and pedestrians, and predict up to five seconds ahead of time what these moving objects might do. It will send a warning to the driver of possible accident-causing actions, and take control of the truck to avoid the accident if the driver doesn’t.

A second video released this month offers Volvo Vision 2020. It uses animation to show heavy- duty trucks platooning on the highway, allowing drivers in the following trucks to switch to a ‘driverless’ mode.

Alt also took the opportunity to champion two other major issues facing the freight trucking industry.

First, there is a need for federal definitions and rules on autonomous technology for freight trucks that supersede state regulations. Today, some states are setting their own rules, creating a patchwork of regulations, and that is slowing the development of the technology, she said.

Second, Volvo Trucks would like to eliminate the 12 percent Federal Excise Tax on the sale of a new heavy-duty truck. Adding new autonomous technologies will make trucks more expensive and the tax more onerous. Instead, replace the excise tax with a higher fuel tax, which will have the added benefit of encouraging the adoption of the new technologies, said Alt.

Volvo Trucks markets heavy-duty trucks, engines, and transmissions under the Volvo and Mack brand names, along with marine engines, coaches, and transit buses, said Alt. The U.S. is its largest market.

Feature photo courtesy America’s Road Team program sponsored by Volvo Trucks.

CongressCar2

GM to Congress: We’ll Test Wi-Fi in DSRC Spectrum

/0 Comments/in , , , , , ,

Burney Simpson

The role of Congress keeps growing in the battle among driverless transportation proponents over Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology.

Last week, a U.S. House committee heard testimony from power houses in the industry regarding the possible expansion of Wi-Fi communications into the DSRC 5.9 GHz range.

General Motors and Cisco Systems plan to test the use of Wi-Fi in the spectrum. GM wants to speed the research as it prepares to launch a Cadillac CTS in the 2017 model year with V2V technology.

On the other side are researchers like the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and safety regulators National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). They want to keep that DSRC spectrum devoted to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) communication.

The researchers believe that allowing Wi-Fi within the DSRC 5.9 GHz range will impact the technology, while GM says that the use of Wi-Fi for V2V should at least be tested.

Both sides agree that DSRC is a technology with proven reliability and the capacity to support a variety of communication speeds in good and bad weather, while also handling message authentication and data privacy demands.

Both sides also agree that implementing V2V communications could greatly reduce traffic accidents. The Department of Transportation estimates the technology could prevent about 81 percent of all vehicle crashes involving non-impaired, i.e. sober, drivers.

LEGISLATIVE CONFLICT

The legislative conflict began about a year ago when Sens. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, and Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, introduced the Wi-Fi Innovation Act that would open parts of the 5.9 spectrum to Wi-Fi use. A companion bill was introduced in the House.

Now, Rep. Dan Lipinski has introduced the Future Transportation Research and Innovation for Prosperity (TRIP) Act (HR 2886), a bill that takes a big-picture view of the development of transportation infrastructure, including driverless technologies, freight shipment and research. Lipinski’s bill is on the side of the DSRC purists.

That view was expressed in testimony to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade last week by Peter Sweatman, director of UMTRI. The research group reviewed DSRC use in V2V communications in a two-year test with 47 companies deploying 2843 vehicles that collected 115 billion messages from 35 million miles of driving.

“Our entire ecosystem of companies (are) committed to (V2V) using 5.9 GHz DSRC,” said Sweatman. “Spectrum must be protected for (V2V) safety performance (which) depends on the absolute reliability of messages, as well as certainty in spectrum availability, in the mode that has been fully tested.”

In comparison, Wi-Fi spectrum sharing was only a theoretical possibility, he said.

Nathaniel Beuse, a NHTSA safety administrator, agreed. He cited a research report finding that “unless … (Wi-Fi) and other unlicensed and licensed technologies are determined not to interfere with DSRC, the potential benefits of the program will be severely compromised.” 

MINOR BOMB

But the GM and Cisco Systems executives set off a minor bomb during their testimony when they revealed that GM will move forward on plans to test V2V communications with technology from Cisco that makes room for Wi-Fi communications in the 5.9 GHz band.

“(GM) is focused upon implementing V2V technology (and) … We are very optimistic about a sharing proposal from Cisco that would operate on a “listen, detect and vacate” basis. We have engaged with Cisco and plan to begin testing their technology as soon as possible,” said the GM exec.

The Cisco exec said it planned to “use a combination of DSRC and wired technologies,” to deliver a “highly secure, mobile, and high availability solution.” 

The sleepy summer in Washington D.C. may have just woken up.

 

Photo 2015 Protesting by Stephen Melkisethian.

AVS15_Header2

Industry Preps for Automated Vehicles Symposium 2015

/0 Comments/in , , , , , ,

Driverless Transportation

The Automated Vehicles Symposium 2015 is coming on fast, and will be held July 21-23 in Ann Arbor, Mich., sponsored by Automation for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB), and held at the University of Michigan. There are also ancillary meetings scheduled for July 20, and July 24.

The AVS15 describes itself as “a multidisciplinary forum designed to advance the deployment of automated vehicles.” The keynote address on Wednesday, July 22 will be given by Chris Urmson, leader of Google’s self-driving cars efforts.

The AVS15 will also offer a number of break-out sessions that are closed to the media.

AVS15 benefactors are AutonomouStuff, Bosch, Continental, Denso, KVH, Magna, Munich Re, Realtime Technologies, Tass International, and Velodyne.

Learn more about the Symposium.

POSTER SESSIONS

AVS15 will offer two poster sessions, giving exhibitors the opportunity to showcase and discuss their work with colleagues. Abstracts for both sessions are due by June 7, and peer review decisions will be announced by June 21.

The first poster session will be held on Tuesday, July 21. It is designed for peer-reviewed research posters, with a presentation of a completed project that takes a similar approach to an academic journal or a Transportation Review Board poster session.

The second session will run on Wednesday, July 22, and cover a broader range of content, from introductions to research centers, to works in progress, to proposed studies.

The AVS15 website provides further guidelines and submission requirements for each poster session.

RealTimeCab1

Researchers Choosing Realtime Tech’s Driving Simulators

/0 Comments/in , , ,

Burney Simpson

A Michigan-based provider of driving simulation technology announced recently a number of international contract wins and that it had become part of an influential driverless transportation research group.

In March, Realtime Technologies, Inc. (RTI) joined the University of Michigan’s Mobility Transformation Center (MTC) Affiliate Program that is developing a commercially viable system of connected and automated vehicles.

RTI markets desktop and on- and off-road simulators, including a graphical, hierarchical, real-time simulation & modeling system; a stand-alone digital collection & review system; a Motion Drive Algorithm (MDA) providing tilt coordination; and a high-fidelity, multi-body, real-time vehicle dynamics model.

“Our tools enable a graphical, real-time simulation and modeling system that can help everyone involved in (the MTC program) truly understand how this technology will work in the real world,” Heather Stoner, RTI’s Senior Project Manager, said in a statement.

Realtime’s sales to university researchers have been strong in the first half of 2015. The Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay will use RTI’s simulators to help it evaluate transportation and driving issues in India. The University of Puerto Rico took delivery of RTI’s SimVista, SimCreator, and SimSimulator desktop systems. And the University of New South Wales Australia and the University of Sydney ordered 11 RTI network simulators.

Next month, RTI will be at the 8th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment Training at Snowbird in Salt Lake City, Utah. Visitors to the RTI booth will be able to drive its next-generation open cockpit simulator. Running from June 22-25, the symposium is an interdisciplinary forum for users of driving assessment tools, applications and technology.

Realtime Technologies is a division of Arotech Corporation (ARTX), a defense and security products and services company that provides interactive simulation for military, law enforcement and commercial markets; and power systems and batteries for the military, commercial and medical markets.

In the first quarter Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Arotech reported a net loss from continuing operations of $483,000 on revenues of $24.2 million.

dotCollage2

Driverless Trans Part of DOT Budget Battle

/0 Comments/in , , , ,

Burney Simpson

Driverless transportation came to the fore last week as Congress considered President Obama’s 2016 budget request for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Proponents took the fight to voters, traveling out of Washington to convince the public to support the $95 billion proposal.

As part of that Obama asked Congress for $935 million over six years for the line item on autonomous driving technology called ‘Intelligent Transportation Systems & Automation Research Acceleration,’ (see pages 6 and 10 in this DOT Budget Highlights pdf).

DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx went to Silicon Valley last week, appearing at Delphi Labs in Mountain View, Calif., and arguing for his Beyond Traffic 2045 concept first launched in February.

Foxx pushed for greater road-related communication infrastructure, including requiring vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication in all new cars. Foxx said he plans to send the rule request to federal regulators before the end of this year, speeding up the rule-making process from his previous plan.

The DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is working with the Federal Communication Commission to test dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) standards in the 5.9GHz spectrum. The wireless protocols are used for V2V and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communications.

It’s not clear if driverless technology is a headline grabber that encourages voters to contact their elected officials to get behind the proposed budget. In the 1980s President Ronald Reagan drew widespread public backing for funding of his ‘Star Wars’ weapons shield in space that he said would protect America from nuclear rockets sent from the Soviet Union.

STATE INFRASTRUCTURE

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, construction unions joined with former Gov. Ed Rendell to publicize funding requests for transportation and infrastructure. The unions would like to raise the state gas tax to pay for the repair and construction of roads and bridges. Proponents say the gas tax was last increased in 1994.

Other states are raising their gas tax. Iowa implemented an increase in March, its first since 1984, and last week the Nebraska legislature overrode the governor’s veto to enact an increase that will start next year.

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review contends that giant transportation projects will only be completed if leaders build collaboration among a mix of supporters. In ‘Too Many Infrastructure Projects go it Alone’ author Rosabeth Moss Kanter writes,

“Systemic problems that affect everyone but are beyond the ability of any one person to solve require collaboration skills. To renew and reinvent our aging transportation infrastructure, we must turn our attention to coalition-building. Classic leadership lessons apply.

To create the conditions that support innovation, leaders need to build connections across companies, industries, and sectors.”

Kanter points to a number of successful collaborative projects including the 32-acre M City autonomous-vehicle test bed set to officially open this July in Ann Arbor, Mich. That project grew in part due to the coming together of major automakers, Google, the University of Michigan, the state DOT, and other interested parties, Kanter writes.

MotionSickness2

Motion Sickness May Rise in Fully Driverless Cars

/0 Comments/in , , ,

Burney Simpson

Remember this the next time the designers roll out one of those beautiful driverless concept cars that look like James Bond’s bedroom – somewhere around one-quarter and one-half of people worldwide are likely to feel an increase in motion sickness while riding in a fully driverless vehicle.

Symptoms for motion sickness? Anything from slight dizziness to vertigo and vomiting. It’s good you won’t be busy driving the vehicle as you may well be cleaning it up.

In the U.S., 37 percent of driverless vehicle passengers will experience an increase in the frequency and severity of motion sickness; in China, it’s 40 percent; in India, more than half, 53 percent; in Japan, 26 percent; in Australia, nearly 30 percent; and in the U.K., 28 percent.

The findings come from the report ‘Motion Sickness in Self-Driving Vehicles’ by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

This report is built upon a survey of 3,255 adults in six countries that asked what they would do in a fully driverless vehicle instead of driving. (Carnegie Mellon researchers conducted a similar survey recently, see “What Will You Do in Your Driverless Car?“) The next step was comparing those responses against the common causes of vehicle motion sickness.

The UMTRI researchers found that many people plan to be taking part in those activities that increase the frequency and severity of motion sickness, activities like reading, texting, working, playing a game, or watching a movie. Gazing downwards while conducting these actions can make it worse.

Motion sickness is caused by sensory conflicts between a person’s visual and vestibular systems, that is, what you are seeing and your sense of balance. People may also experience motion sickness when they are unable to anticipate the direction they are going, and lack of control over the direction.

A number of driverless researchers have looked at addressing these issues. They have suggested using large, transparent windows, positioning video screens so the passenger is looking straight ahead when viewing, and installing fully reclining seats that allow for laying down flat.

However, the best way to avoid motion sickness is sleeping, an activity that many passengers may enjoy in a fully driverless car if commutes continue to get worse.