AdvertisementAs tech historian Peter Norton told me this week, promises like this — that new kinds of cars will solve the problems caused by our current cars — are nothing new.\nIn his 2021 book “Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving,” he explores history to argue that self-driving cars aren’t the solution tech companies and automakers market them as.\nTake claims that self-driving cars can fix California’s trademark congestion.\nPlus, recent research concluded traffic would actually get worse in urban areas as more people opt for self-driving cars over public transit.\nLos Angeles TimesSupport our journalism Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times.
"}}}},{"node":{"postTitle":"Blacksburg-based autonomous vehicle firm Torc to acquire Canadian company; more . . .","slug":"blacksburg-based-autonomous-vehicle-firm-torc-to-acquire-canadian-company-more","publishDate":"2023-03-01 00:00:00","createdLocal":"2023-03-02 14:30:56.875267","feedName":"Autonomous Vehicle News","postSummary":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"Economy:Blacksburg-based Torc autonomous vehicle company to acquire Canadian computer vision company — Virginia Business.\nHealth care:Work continues on medical center in South Boston.\nWant more health care coverage?\nThere’s no full-time health care reporter west of Richmond.\nWeather:For more weather news, follow weather journalist Kevin Myatt on Twitter at @kevinmyattwx and sign up for his free weather email newsletter.
"}}}},{"node":{"postTitle":"Ohio State awarded $15 million for autonomous transportation research","slug":"ohio-state-awarded-15-million-for-autonomous-transportation-research","publishDate":"None","createdLocal":"2023-03-02 14:30:54.980469","feedName":"Autonomous Vehicle News","postSummary":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"The U.S. Department of Transportation has chosen a research consortium led by The Ohio State University to address cybersecurity risks in various modes of transportation.\nOhio State will receive $10 million in federal funding and $5 million in cost-share over the next five years to establish a Tier 1 University Transportation Center (UTC).\nCARMEN+ will expand upon work completed in the two-year CARMEN UTC, awarded to Ohio State in 2020 and led by Kassas.\nThe CARMEN+ consortium also includes North Carolina A&T State University, University of Texas at Austin and University of California, Irvine.\nRelevant expertise and resources are abundant between the four institutions, including three preeminent PNT labs, four dedicated transportation and autonomous vehicle research centers, an electromagnetics research center, The Ohio State University Airport and close affiliation with the Transportation Research Center, Inc., home of the nation’s largest autonomous vehicle proving grounds.
"}}}},{"node":{"postTitle":"Ford Tries to Patent a Dystopian Future Where Self-Driving Cars Repo Themselves","slug":"ford-tries-to-patent-a-dystopian-future-where-self-driving-cars-repo-themselves","publishDate":"2023-02-28 20:55:00.765000+00:00","createdLocal":"2023-03-02 14:30:54.213511","feedName":"Autonomous Vehicle News","postSummary":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"Ford has filed a patent for theoretical tech that would, among other things, allow its vehicles to repossess themselves if a driver falls behind on car payments.\nThe U.S. Patent Office published the company’s application last Thursday, February—about 1.5 years after Ford first filed it.\nAdvertisementIn the automaker’s dystopian, proposed and patented version of reality, a couple skipped car payments would trigger a cycle of in-car consequences—or a “multi-step repossession procedure,” as it’s called in the document.\nAnd still, if the lockout doesn’t work, Ford has filed to patent tech that would allow its vehicles to self-repo.\nThis is not the only absurd patent Ford has filed for its vehicles.
"}}}},{"node":{"postTitle":"Battle of the robots: Waymo vs. Cruise","slug":"battle-of-the-robots-waymo-vs-cruise","publishDate":"2023-02-28 00:00:00","createdLocal":"2023-03-02 14:30:53.615888","feedName":"Autonomous Vehicle News","postSummary":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"Waymo car on left; Cruise car on right.\nState of play: Waymo and Cruise are the two autonomous vehicle operators allowed to transport passengers in San Francisco without a human driver in the front seat.\nWaymo is not yet allowed to charge for rides, while Cruise has been able since June to charge for late-night rides.\nDemand for a car with Cruise was pretty high on a Thursday night just after 10pm – when the service starts in San Francisco.\nYes, but: The San Francisco County Transportation Authority, along with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, recently filed complaints about both Waymo and Cruise, saying their expansion \"is unreasonable\" in light of incidents such as stopped vehicles blocking traffic.
"}}}},{"node":{"postTitle":"FoMoCo Repo: Ford Patents System for Self-Repossessing Vehicles","slug":"fomoco-repo-ford-patents-system-for-self-repossessing-vehicles","publishDate":"2023-02-28 23:17:00+00:00","createdLocal":"2023-03-02 14:30:52.917326","feedName":"Autonomous Vehicle News","postSummary":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"One of the systems described in the patent enables an autonomous vehicle to repossess itself.\nAvoiding the repo man could get a lot harder in the future, specifically if vehicles can one day repossess themselves.\nIn situations where Ford's repo system corresponds with the lender and determines the vehicle's market value isn't worth the cost of the repossession, it could drive itself straight to the junkyard.\nEssentially, Ford's repo system could immobilize the car, truck, or SUV and even lock the owner out.\nFor now, all Ford's patent filing confirms is that the company is at least kicking around the idea of self-repossessing vehicles.
"}}}},{"node":{"postTitle":"Waymo takes testing to the next level: no human even in the driver’s seat","slug":"waymo-takes-testing-to-the-next-level-no-human-even-in-the-drivers-seat","publishDate":"2023-03-01 00:00:00","createdLocal":"2023-03-02 14:30:52.255840","feedName":"Autonomous Vehicle News","postSummary":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"Waymo, the company behind the autonomous automobile’s you’ve seen cautiously cruising up and down the streets of Santa Monica, has announced it will be advancing its testing to the next level, driving with no human so much as even sitting in the driver’s seat.\nWhen this near-final phase of testing begins, it will be the first time any fully autonomous car has driven in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.\nThere were 18 minor contact events that were too minor to meet the tow-away and police-report criteria, with 55 percent of those being the result of a human driver hitting a stationary Waymo vehicle.\nWhile the Waymo vehicles also incorporate cameras and radar, LiDAR offers a level of accuracy for 3D mapping at a resolution hundreds of times higher than radar and there are several of these mounted over the exterior in key positions.\nI like human contact and human interaction,” said Santa Monica resident Cindy Smith.
"}}}},{"node":{"postTitle":"PANYNJ to Host Second Platooning Demonstration of Autonomous Vehicles at JFK Airport","slug":"panynj-to-host-second-platooning-demonstration-of-autonomous-vehicles-at-jfk-airport","publishDate":"2023-03-01 15:48:27+00:00","createdLocal":"2023-03-02 14:30:51.598787","feedName":"Autonomous Vehicle News","postSummary":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Ohmio, a leading New Zealand-based autonomous mobility company, announced that in June, John F. Kennedy International Airport will host the country’s first three-vehicle platooning demonstration at a U.S. airport.\nThe agency also hosted a demonstration of two eight-passenger electric autonomous shuttles in a platoon at the airport in October 2022 to simulate how such technology could serve passengers in the future.\nThe Ohmio demonstration will focus on using eight-passenger driverless shuttles in a three-vehicle platoon on a closed road segment at the JFK Long Term Parking Lot, where they will travel very closely together without any physical connection.\n“We had great success in 2022 with this technology, and this second demonstration will allow us to evaluate and test a larger platoon at faster speeds,” said Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole.\nFollowing the Ohmio platooning pilot at JFK, the agency will look for longer-term use cases such as moving passengers between parking lots and on-airport facilities.
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