Breaking News in Smart Transportation from CMU's Traffic21 and Mobility21

The Unlikely Technology Helping Autonomous Cars See

2018-01-18T13:51:00.003-05:00

While most autonomous vehicles are being designed to communicate through radio signals, bar codes are the type of robust system that would serve as a welcome backup, says Christoph Mertz, a principal project scientist at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. “Redundancies are always good, especially with autonomous vehicles, because it can be deadly if there is a mistake,” he says. “Any information you want to pass around, you want to pass it around in a number of ways.”
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PPG creates partnership for autonomous vehicle research

2018-01-17T17:17:00.002-05:00

PPG announced it will partner with a University of Michigan program to test coatings for autonomous vehicles. The company (NYSE: PPG) will work with Mcity, a public-private partnership that operates a test facility for autonomous vehicles, connected-vehicle systems and related technologies, according to a news release. PPG is developing coatings to improve functionality and enable broad deployment of autonomous vehicles. In the works are ones for exterior use that enhance vehicle visibility to radar and light detection and ranging, or LIDAR, systems, and easy-to-clean coatings to help prevent obstruction of sensors.
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Parsing the patents: CMU seeking clear answers on AI in workforce

2018-01-17T16:24:00.003-05:00

To researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the documents could be the key to anticipating how and where advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning will alter jobs across the country. The CMU team is getting at an important question in an area of crowded research. The invasion of robots in the American workforce has been addressed in a tide of reports, with broad agreement among labor economists that virtually all jobs have become more computerized and perhaps half of all jobs are likely to be further automated...
“The advantage of our approach is you can see in a very granular way, where these inventions are emerging,” said Lee Branstetter, a CMU professor of economics and public policy leading the new study that is relying in part of patent filings. “And how this is all changing over time.” The research is one of two projects awarded a total of $550,000 from the Heinz Endowments, which is marking the launch of its Future of Work initiative.
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CMU is home to a $27.5 million project to build cloud computing solutions

2018-01-17T16:07:00.000-05:00

Carnegie Mellon University will head a $27.5 million program to build a smarter solution for edge devices — like a router or larger access point to a network — to operate on the cloud. The CONIX Research Center, headquartered on CMU’s Oakland campus, will host researchers from six different universities for the next five years to solve this connectivity problem. They’ll create new architecture for networked computing that will empower Internet of Things applications in a robust, secure manner on the cloud. The Center, short for “Computing on Network Infrastructure for Pervasive Perception, Cognition and Action,” will be headed by Anthony Rowe, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.
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Is All This New Automotive Safety Tech Working? Not If Drivers Don’t Understand It

2018-01-17T15:57:00.002-05:00

Which brings us to the concerning question about the newest, most sophisticated, and priciest new ADAS systems: Are they truly being embraced by drivers, thus moving the safety ball farther down the field? Or are they baffling nuisances that are eventually shut down, unused, or avoided out of frustration, annoyance, or uncertainty? Even more interestingly, are they truly paving the way for the semi-autonomous and autonomous cars now in the pipeline, as manufacturers seem to be counting on?
For the most part, the systems are indeed improving safety and boosting convenience even among those who aren’t particularly dialed into what their cars are up to—often for no other reason than the systems are persistently active and step in to save your bacon when necessary. But the issue of consumer awareness and confusion is very real.
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To Measure the 'Uber Effect,' Cities Get Creative

2018-01-17T15:32:00.003-05:00

They’d cut back on traffic, ease air pollution, and complement public transit. Or so they said.
But the effects of Uber, Lyft, and other transportation network companies (“TNCs,” in wonk-speak) are proving more complicated on city streets. In New York City, rapid growth in on-demand vehicles roving the roads—with and without passengers—is contributing to markedly slower traffic, as numerous analyses of Taxi and Limousine Commission data by Bruce Schaller, a transportation consultant and former NYC DOT official, have shown.
As the old chestnut goes, cities can’t manage what they can’t measure. But because Uber and Lyft carefully guard raw trip data, the kind of analyses Schaller produces is hard to produce in many cities. At the 97th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board this week, Schaller moderated a panel of experts from San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, and Boston on the importance of capturing on-demand mobility data—and how researchers are getting creative to do it.
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This new Florida city will produce its own power and run self-driving buses

2018-01-17T15:29:00.002-05:00

The city of the future will not be the cold metal domes or Mars settlements of science fiction movies. It will be a community of 19,500 homes surrounded by thousands of acres of green space and capable of producing its own energy — in total harmony with the environment.
And that future is now.
Babcock Ranch has an integrated smart network that allows residents to monitor and control their electricity consumption. Self-driving electrical buses are already making test runs in the center of the city, about equal to the size of Manhattan.
Residents and visitors can use the shared transportation system to rent bicycles and explore the city and its pathways through green areas full of cattle, birds and alligators.
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NIC launches driverless car infrastructure competition

2018-01-17T14:54:00.003-05:00

The National Infrastructure Commission has launched a competition looking for “Britain’s leading lights from across industry” to help ensure the country has roads fit for the future and ready for driverless cars. Its Deputy chairman Sir John Armitt said the Roads for the Future competition presented an opportunity to shape how people travel “for generations to come”.
Launched with Highways England and Innovate UK, the competition will seek ideas for making the UK road network ready for connected and autonomous vehicles – including using the latest technology. It will look for ideas as to how existing infrastructure can be adapted, how roads shared by driverless and driven vehicles can work, and how these changes can be introduced alongside charging networks for new electric cars. It will also be looking for ideas that can work on different types of roads, whether a residential avenue, a high street or a motorway.
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BlackBerry launches cybersecurity product for driverless cars called Jarvis

2018-01-17T14:48:00.002-05:00

BlackBerry has launched a cybersecurity software aimed at protecting driverless cars.
The product which was released on Monday and is called Jarvis identifies vulnerabilities in software used in cars. Jarvis scans and delivers insights in minutes, a process that would normally take a large number of experts and a lot of time, BlackBerry said.
"Connected and autonomous vehicles require some of the most complex software ever developed, creating a significant challenge for automakers who must ensure the code complies with industry and manufacturer-specific standards while simultaneously battle-hardening a very large and tempting attack surface for cyber-criminals," said John Chen, CEO of BlackBerry, said in a press release.
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ACMA creates a vehicle-to-everything license

2018-01-17T14:41:00.002-05:00

Australian telecoms regulator ACMA has introduced new regulations that will allow road traffic authorities to roll out intelligent transport systems enabling vehicle-to-everything communications.
A new radiocomunications intelligent transport systems (ITS) class license will support the use of wireless technologies and devices to enable vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-person or vehicle-to-infrastructure communications services.
The regulations will allow the 5.9-GHz spectrum band to be used for ITS services, the same band being used in major vehicle markets such as the US and EU.
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NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Qualcomm to carry out C-V2X trials in Japan

2018-01-17T14:32:00.003-05:00

While efforts are growing in the U.S. to promote Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) instead of DSRC, a group of companies are getting together to launch C-V2X trials in Japan this year.
NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nissan, OKI, Continental and Qualcomm Technologies plan to carry out their first C-V2X trials in Japan, with the goal of validating the benefits of C-V2X using technology defined by the 3GPP in the Release 14 specifications. The trials will use the 5 GHz band.
Use cases will focus on Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) direct communications, as well as Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) operations over cellular network-based wide area communications with cloud access.
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Smart city technology aims to make communities more secure, but does it encroach on privacy?

2018-01-16T16:58:00.001-05:00

Getting to a safer future will require winning over Americans with concerns about the potential intrusiveness of technology. If the government is watching street corners with cameras, can it point its cameras into yards or even windows of homes? If the government can listen for gunshots, could it eavesdrop on private conversations?
“What city administration will be able to resist using these technologies to detect citizens infringing rules and regulations; jaywalkers where that is illegal for example; invalid vehicle parking; vehicle speeding; citizens entering prohibited areas; illegal gatherings; crowd control; and so forth,” wrote Chris Mellor in The Register, a London-based technology news and opinion website. “All of these things can be justified by the individual administrative and security functions, but, taken as a whole, the citizenry are surveilled constantly and increasingly and the boundary between their private activities and public presence moves to reduce their privacy and anonymity.”
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Florida seniors could hold the future of driverless cars

2018-01-16T16:42:00.001-05:00

As supporters and critics debate self-driving vehicles, 125,000 senior citizens who live in a central Florida retirement community will take them for a ride in the world's largest self-driving experiment. They'll travel 750 miles of roads in The Villages retirement community near Orlando.
Voyage, an autonomous vehicle (AV) startup specializing in a robo-taxi service, will pick them up at their homes and drive them free of charge to and from grocery stores, theaters, pools, golf and tennis with only a "technician" on board to monitor the system -- and take the wheel if necessary. Later on, the technician will be dropped and a transportation fee added.
If this rollout proves successful, it could pave the way for AVs to assist seniors nationwide with needed services.
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Chao Says Revised Fed Guidelines on Self-Driving Cars Are Coming

2018-01-16T16:39:00.002-05:00

The Trump administration is working to rewrite regulations that present hurdles to autonomous vehicles, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Sunday.
In remarks prepared for delivery at the Detroit Auto Show, Chao said coming revised guidelines would consider more than self-driving cars but include "barriers to the safe integration of autonomous technology for motor carriers, transit, trucks, infrastructure and other modes.”...
"A key part of DOT’s mission is to cultivate and encourage innovation in safety by eliminating unnecessary obstacles to the development and integration of new technology. Our approach will be tech neutral and flexible—not top-down, or command and control," she said.
In addition, Chao stressed the administration's concern that rural needs are addressed along with urban. "We hear a lot about Smart Cities. And that’s great, but not everyone lives downtown," said Chao.
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Eugene company imports electric-powered motorcycles

2018-01-16T16:28:00.002-05:00

Speed demons may want to look elsewhere. The Ubco 2018 2x2 is classified as a moped by the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles. It has a top speed of 30 miles an hour on a level road.
The motorbikes aren’t suitable for highways, but they are ideal for in-town trips and for off-road use, said Ethan Ralston, the president and chief executive of Ubco Bikes US. “We are definitely breaking ground for a new type of vehicle in the U.S.,” he said. With its moped classification in Oregon and other states, people only need a driver’s license to operate the new Ubcos on streets.
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These flying robots can self-assemble in flight

2018-01-16T16:18:00.001-05:00

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a series of modular flying robots that can autonomously assemble themselves in midair and fly.
In the video above, the robots can be seen hovering near one another and then slowly moving close until magnets attached to each corner of a vehicle’s cage quickly snaps them together.
The system, called ModQuad, is just in its early stage of development, but the researchers say they can imagine scenarios where much larger drone systems with such autonomous capability might actually be able to self-assemble over an impassable chasm and create a bridge, for example.
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Panasonic is building a 'smart city' in Colorado with high-tech highways, autonomous vehicles, and free WiFi

2018-01-16T16:10:00.002-05:00

Panasonic may be best known for consumer electronics, but it has started moving into high-tech urban design in recent years.
The company is now building "smart city" infrastructure near Denver, Colorado, with the goal of turning the area into a "smart city" by 2026. The initiative is part of a larger Panasonic program Panasonic called CityNow. Although the definition of a "smart city" varies depending on who you ask, the term typically describes a metro area that prioritizes the use of technology in its infrastructure.
On a 400-acre swath of empty land near the Denver Airport, the company has installed free WiFi, LED street lights, pollution sensors, a solar-powered microgrid, and security cameras.
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Americans still deeply skeptical about driverless cars: poll

2018-01-16T16:06:00.004-05:00

Amid the daily cacophony of news and announcements about self-driving cars — Have you heard? They’re coming! — it’s easy to lose sight of a fundamental truth: most people still don’t know what to think about this new technology. What they do feel, however, is that Congress and the federal government should impose minimum safety requirements on these vehicles before they hit the road in mass numbers. But lawmakers and regulators in Washington appear poised to do just the opposite, and that has safety advocates up in arms.
A new poll was released today basically repeats data that we’ve seen in previous surveys: Americans still don’t trust self-driving cars, and are nervous about the coming onslaught. Asked how concerned they’d be to share the road with a driverless car, 31 percent said they’d be “very concerned,” while 33 percent said “somewhat concerned,” according to the poll which was just released by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
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Howes: Detroit, Silicon Valley meld in next-gen vehicle

2018-01-12T14:34:00.003-05:00

The chatter on Detroit and the opportunity its defining industry can offer is changing. Some of the nation’s leading engineering universities, from Michigan in Ann Arbor, to Stanford, Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are expected, too, signaling the auto industry’s shifting demands for talent.
That’s unambiguously good news. Change? Yes. Challenge? Yes. But it’s the makings of an all-new chapter for a city (and its hometown industry) whose name for too long has been synonymous with American industrial decline. The melding of automaking with advanced technology, on display next week, is opportunity.
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Argo AI resumes self-driving operations in Pittsburgh after Wednesday’s crash

2018-01-12T11:24:00.002-05:00

Argo AI has resumed self-driving car operations in Pittsburgh a day after three people were taken to the hospital following a crash involving one of the company’s autonomous vehicles.
In an email to The Incline, Alan Hall, communications manager with the Ford Motor Company, an Argo AI investor, said: “While the vehicle was being tested in autonomous mode, the driver resumed manual control prior to the collision. As part of our safety process, Argo grounded their fleet immediately after the collision to review the incident. Operations resumed today after it was clear from our video data that the other driver failed to stop for a red light.”
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Study Asks: How Will Driverless Cars Change Downtown Columbus?

2018-01-12T11:06:00.001-05:00

The 2016 Smart City Challenge win put Columbus at the forefront of a national conversation about autonomous vehicles, and plenty of people have since weighed in with opinions about what the technology will mean for the future of cities.
A group of City and Regional Planning students at OSU recently studied the issue for a studio class – specifically looking at how Downtown Columbus could be impacted by driverless vehicles – and presented their findings to the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District.
The students took a broad look at the many ways that even a partial transition to the new technology could transform Downtown.
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Would you move farther from work if you had a driverless car? D-FW builders want to know

2018-01-12T11:02:00.004-05:00

One surprise for the builders is the prospect of driverless cars. As major auto manufacturers and tech companies test automated vehicles, builders are thinking ahead.
"We asked adults if one was ever developed in their lifetime, would they consider buying one of these cars," Quint said. "Fifty-nine percent said they would consider it."
And that can have a direct impact on where people choose to buy a home. Sixty-three percent of potential buyers said they would move farther from work if they didn't have to drive a car.
"This represents a paradigm shift we need to prepare for," said Mark Boud, an economist with housing information and media firm Haley-Wood. "Automated cars have a big impact on our industry.
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DRIVERLESS CARS: GENERAL MOTORS DITCHES STEERING WHEEL AND PEDALS FOR NEW CAR

2018-01-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

Just as 1908 marked the end of the horse and buggy era with the introduction of the Ford Model T, 2018 may well be remembered as the end of the automotive era, as General Motors begins mass-production of a driverless car without steering wheels or pedals.
General Motors announced its self-driving Cruise AV—a modified electric Chevrolet Bolt—on Friday, January 12, following a petition submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to deploy a car that doesn’t comply with current safety standards...
As well as beating Google’s self-driving division Waymo to delivering a truly driverless production car, General Motors will also leap ahead of the original pioneer Ford, who plan to build a car without a steering wheel or pedals by 2021.More>>

TRB Picks New Leaders, Honors Others for Service, Achievements

2018-01-12T10:49:00.003-05:00

Heading up TRB’s activities as the newly appointed chair of the executive committee is Katie Turnbull, executive associate director of Texas A&M Transportation Institute and a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University in College Station...
The vice chair is Victoria Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center at Georgetown University in Washington...
Also newly appointed to the TRB executive committee is Ginger Evans, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Aviation, and Leslie Richard, secretary of transportation for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
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Rebar-tying robots on the horizon for construction industry

2018-01-11T15:55:00.001-05:00

Will construction companies of the future turn to robots to tie rebar on bridge projects? Carnegie Mellon University researchers and industry partners have developed such a robot.
Construction industry consultant Brian Moore, a speaker at the 2018 Minnesota Construction Summit, cited that research in an interview as an example of how technology may help contractors in the state and beyond deal with the ongoing shortage of qualified labor.
In October, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Carnegie Mellon Universitytechnology led to the creation of Advanced Construction Robotics Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company that’s going to market with a rebar-tying robot called “Tybot.”
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