Michigan Senate Committee Approves Autonomous Vehicle Legislation
Posted on Sep 6, 2016
Michigan may soon pass a law that would allow autonomous vehicles on Michigan roads for any reason. A set of four bills regulating autonomous vehicles received has passed committee, and may move to the Senate for a vote in the next week. Several states permit driver less cars on the road for testing purposes only. The bill also creates a council within the Michigan Department of Transportation to recommend policy on autonomous vehicles.
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Driverless Taxis Coming to Singapore?
Posted on Aug 25, 2016
NuTonomy, a company in Singapore, began testing a taxi-hailing service using self-driving vehicles this week. Certain members of the public can use a smartphone app to hail an autonomous vehicle (with a computer engineer and a backup human driver) within a small business district in Singapore. These are the first public road tests of autonomous vehicles, although other companies such as Uber also expect to soon begin trials of driverless taxis.
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Honolulu Regulates Ride-Sharing
Posted on Aug 25, 2016
A new law in Honolulu will require taxi drivers and drivers for ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft to obtain a certificate, hold a Hawaii driver’s license, and pass background checks in order to operate. The City Council passed the bill earlier this month, and the mayor recently returned it without a signature, which allowed the bill to become law. The new regulations will take effect in January, but the mayor raised concerns that this timing would not give the city sufficient time to develop and complete administrative rules. The mayor also raised concerns that the bill creates an...
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FORD ANNOUNCES COMMERCIAL ROLLOUT OF DRIVERLESS CARS BY 2021
Posted on Aug 19, 2016
Ford recently announced plans to mass produce driverless cars for commercial operation in ride-hailing services by 2021. Ford further stated that these new vehicles will vary significantly from vehicles on the road today by omitting steering wheels, gas pedals and brake pedals. As part of its plan, Ford said that it would expand the company’s research center in Palo Alto, California, increasing the 130 employees who work there by 100 percent over the next year. Ford also announced the acquisition of Saips, an Israeli start-up that specializes in computer vision, a key technology for...
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 5: With the Finish Line in Sight
Posted on Aug 16, 2016
“3:52PM Lincoln Tunnel, New York City. Not a lot more to be said…” Mike Nelson is embarking on a cross-country road trip from Orange County, California to New York City in a Tesla 90D Model S. The Model S is equipped with autopilot and electric all-wheel drive. Mike will share his experiences on the road with autonomous technology with Up to Speed readers in a series of posts.
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Rethinking the Term “Autopilot” in the Wake of Chinese Crash
Posted on Aug 16, 2016
A recent car crash in Beijing has caused Tesla to reconsider the use of the word “autopilot” for its Model S sedan. The driver, who had activated the autopilot feature at the time of the crash, complained that the company had misled them about its capabilities. Following this complaint, the company removed references to the phrase “zidong jiashi,” or “self-driving,” from its website and replaced those references with a phrase that translates to “self-assisted driving.” Tesla’s China staff have also undergone training to ensure that salespersons keep both hands on the wheel while...
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 4: The Charging Process
Posted on Aug 15, 2016
2:40 P.M., Terre Haute Indiana. Here are a couple of photos to illustrate the charging process. Mike Nelson is embarking on a cross-country road trip from Orange County, California to New York City in a Tesla 90D Model S. The Model S is equipped with autopilot and electric all-wheel drive. Mike will share his experiences on the road with autonomous technology with Up to Speed readers in a series of posts.
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 4: Rain and Road Work
Posted on Aug 15, 2016
9:54 A.M., St. Charles, Missouri. About 13 hours of drive time to go. I hit rain for the first time during the trip, and the windshield wipers activate without my touching any of the controls. While this is not that unique as new cars go, the wipers not only turn on but completely adjust based on rain volume. Again, many cars have this feature too. But the simplicity of having the car manage all issues with windshield wipers and rain is a great convenience. The technology has not been developed as it concerns road work. If no lane markings exist, no Autopilot. Temporary work force...
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 4: Trouble with the GPS
Posted on Aug 15, 2016
12:00 P.M. Looks like there is something wrong with the GPS and map function. Oddly, I can see where the car is vis-a-vis the next Tesla charging station but Google Map is fading in and out and the clock is stuck on the Mountain Time Zone. The Internet connectivity problems do not appear to be affecting Autopilot. And the car is running on the road great! Mike Nelson is embarking on a cross-country road trip from Orange County, California to New York City in a Tesla 90D Model S. The Model S is equipped with autopilot and electric all-wheel drive. Mike will share his experiences on the...
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 3: Goodland, Kansas – Charley meets Adrian
Posted on Aug 14, 2016
When we arrived at this charging station today we met the owner of a 2015 Tesla S. While chatting about how much she loves her car, the owner talked about “him” and what “he” thinks. At first I thought she was referring to someone at Tesla and the owner later clarified that Adrian was the name of her car. As for Charley, we had a busy day. We still have a day’s worth of driving. Today the only complication arose when we came upon road work in Kansas. A new roadway without lines causes the Autopilot to send a warning that it cannot function. There is no...
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 3: There’s an App for That
Posted on Aug 14, 2016
Starting off just outside of Denver. 42 degrees. I am charging while Charley and Drew are getting a few last winks in. With Tesla Motors’ application you can do a number of things remotely. I am in a Starbucks tanking myself up but can watch the battery charge from here. The app allows me to turn the car on, unlock it, set the internal temperature, use my iPad and iPhone as wireless entry devices, and summon the car in its valet mode. Mike Nelson is embarking on a cross-country road trip from Orange County, California to New York City in a Tesla 90D Model S. The Model S is equipped...
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 2: Utah Colorado Line
Posted on Aug 13, 2016
7:25 PM. Not sure we will make the Colorado Kansas line today but we will give it a fighting chance. The Tesla’s lane keeping automation utilizes the road lines to center the car. But the center of the lane does not always look like the center to the driver, or better said, the driver probably does not know where the true center of the lane is. That is a good example of learning to trust the technology. We did notice that when the painted lines on a roadway disappear, Autopilot struggles. But what is neat is when it’s in Autopilot, the dash displays an icon right behind dash...
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 2: Changing Lanes
Posted on Aug 13, 2016
2:47, P.M. Richland, Utah. We are about 1/5 the way across the country. It’s a big place! Automated features do decrease driver fatigue but using new technology and of course driving in new territories add to the effort. A couple observations about some automated features… When the driver puts the turn signal on for change lanes, the vehicle evaluates the risks. If it senses a safe lane change, it changes lanes. This differs from the learned driver behavior which is to look, signal, look again especially by turning ones head to look through what is otherwise a blind spot,...
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Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 2: Pit stop
Posted on Aug 13, 2016
11:07 A.M. What is a little bit of an unexpected pleasure is the rest stops to charge the battery. The Tesla charge last about 300 miles but the Tesla real charging stations are about 100 miles apart so you have to stop more frequently than you would for a gas station. This charging station is in the town of Saint George, Utah and is located behind a Starbucks. So while we wait 30 minutes for the recharge, I sneak in a coffee mocha w/ whipped cream and banana bread. If it was a gas station, ya fill the tank, hit the rest room, and rush back out on the road to catch the traffic that...
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