Technology Review -- “Where would you like to go?” Siri asked.

It was a sunny, slightly dreamy morning in the heart of Silicon Valley, and I was sitting in the passenger seat of what seemed like a perfectly ordinary new car. There was something strangely Apple-like about it, though. There was no mistaking the apps arranged across the console screen, nor the deadpan voice of Apple’s virtual assistant, who, as backseat drivers go, was pretty helpful. Summoned via a button on the steering wheel and asked to find sushi nearby, Siri read off the names of a few restaurants in the area, waited for me to pick one, and then showed the way on a map that appeared on the screen.

The vehicle was, in fact, a Hyundai Sonata. The Apple-like interface was coming from an iPhone connected by a cable. Most carmakers have agreed to support software from Apple called CarPlay, as well as a competing product from Google, called Android Auto, in part to address a troubling trend: according to research from the National Safety Council, a nonprofit group, more than 25 percent of road accidents are a result of a driver’s fiddling with a phone. Hyundai’s car, which goes on sale this summer, will be one of the first to support CarPlay, and the carmaker had made the Sonata available so I could see how the software works.

CarPlay certainly seemed more intuitive and less distracting than fiddling with a smartphone behind the wheel. Siri felt like a better way to send texts, place calls, or find directions. The system has obvious limitations: if a phone loses the signal or its battery dies, for example, it will stop working fully. And Siri can’t always be relied upon to hear you correctly. Still, I would’ve gladly used CarPlay in the rental car I’d picked up at the San Francisco airport: a 2013 Volkswagen Jetta. There was little inside besides an air-conditioning unit and a radio. The one technological luxury, ironically, was a 30-pin cable for an outdated iPhone. To use my smartphone for navigation, I needed a suction mount, an adapter for charging through the cigarette lighter, and good eyesight. More than once as I drove around, my iPhone came unstuck from the windshield and bounced under the passenger seat.

Android Auto also seemed like a huge improvement. When a Google product manager, Daniel Holle, took me for a ride in another Hyundai Sonata, he plugged his Nexus smartphone into the car and the touch screen was immediately taken over by Google Now, a kind of super-app that provides recommendations based on your location, your Web searches, your Gmail messages, and so on. In our case it was showing directions to a Starbucks because Holle had searched for coffee just before leaving his office. Had a ticket for an upcoming flight been in his in-box, Holle explained, Google Now would’ve automatically shown directions to the airport. “A big part of why we’re doing it is driver safety,” he said. “But there’s also this huge opportunity for digital experience in the car. This is a smart driving assistant.”

CarPlay and Android Auto not only give Apple and Google a foothold in the automobile but may signal the start of a more significant effort by these companies to reinvent the car. If they could tap into the many different computers that control car systems, they could use their software expertise to reimagine functions such as steering or collision avoidance. They could create operating systems for cars.

Google has already built its own self-driving cars, using a combination of advanced sensors, mapping data, and clever navigation and control software. There are indications that Apple is now working on a car too: though the company won’t comment on what it terms “rumors and speculation,” it is hiring dozens of people with expertise in automotive design, engineering, and strategy. Vans that belong to Apple, fitted with sensors that might be useful for automated driving, have been spotted cruising around California.

Read the rest of the story here:

http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/538446/rebooting-the-automobile/

2/22/2016, CRN -- The future of autonomous, self-driving vehicles may lie in the technology of vehicle-to-vehicle communications, according to one expert.

National Highway Traffic Safety Association administrator Mark Rosekind spoke at MIT on the realities of self-reliant vehicles, and said the ability for vehicles to communicate with one another in an instantaneous fashion is crucial to ensuring the safety of passengers.

 “Connected vehicles give you further lines of safety that you couldn’t get from an independent, autonomous vehicle,” Rosekind said.

For example, before all vehicles become self-reliant, a self-reliant smarter car could communicate to other vehicles about what may lie around a corner or three football field lengths ahead in traffic. That sort of communication can extend to an entire smart city Internet-of-Things (IoT) ecosystem.

“It’s not just talking to cars, it’s talking to the infrastructure, it’s talking to pedestrians. There’s just a lot of opportunity there,” he said.

However, that sort of innovation can only happen if cars from different brands can communicate with one another, so the technology may need to come from government policy.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.crn.com/news/networking/video/300079657/self-driving-cars-will-rely-on-vehicle-to-vehicle-communication-technology-first.htm

Automotive IT -- Despite greater focus on digital technologies throughout the auto industry, carmakers are  still struggling with digitalization, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by management consultants Batten & Company, found that the auto industry lags behind most other industry sectors in the implementation of digital technologies.

For their research, the consultants developed a so-called “digital automotive index” that measures 70 factors. They then compared the pressure from customers, suppliers and competitors to digitize with the actual degree of digitalization in the industry.

According to the study, only Mercedes-Benz, VW and BMW scored well in the study. Land Rover and Kia were at the bottom of the 20-brand ranking.

“All are talking about digitalization, but many managers aren’t focusing on what is essential: What does an automaker need in concrete terms to address in a targeted and solution-oriented way the growing digitalization pressure ,” said Tobias Goebbel, Batten managing partner.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.automotiveit.com/study-automakers-struggle-with-digitalization/news/id-0049757

NBC News, 3/27/2016 -- As part of a unique industry-government consortium, American motorists will soon find virtually every car, truck and crossover on the market equipped with a breakthrough safety system called Automatic Emergency Braking.

But that's likely to be only the start. The same group of 20 automakers, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, plans to push even more advanced safety technology into tomorrow's cars faster than would normally be possible under the slow and cumbersome regulatory process.

Experts say such moves — which will help lead up to an era of fully autonomous vehicles — could yield huge benefits in terms of lives saved, as well property damage prevented.

Autonomous Emergency Braking, or AEB, alone has been shown to reduce the number of rear-end collisions by as much as 40 percent, according to a recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind earlier this year suggested it may be possible to bring the total number of U.S. highway fatalities — which topped 32,000 in 2014 — down to zero in the not-too-distant future.

To get there, automotive manufacturers and suppliers are taking a two-pronged approach, starting with improvements in passive safety — systems like seat belts and airbags designed to keep occupants safe in a crash. The latest vehicles are expanding the use of high-strength steel, carbon fiber and other materials which, along with new designs, absorb much of the energy of a crash before it reaches the passenger compartment. 

Read the rest here: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/technology-taking-auto-safety-next-level-n544841

World Highways -- A new study shows that the risk level of a driver’s likelihood of a crash can be determined accurately. An independent study carried out by driver behaviour specialist CAS for Risk Technology shows that data collected by automotive telematics devices can accurately predict the likelihood of a motorist having a crash. CAS carried out its research with 1,291 drivers who were insured by a leading UK firm and had telematics devices installed in their vehicles. The study examined how driver behaviour affects the chance of a driver being involved in an incident and the potential to make an insurance claim.
CAS concluded that the Risk Technology driver scoring methodology provides a good prediction of a driver’s potential to be involved in crashes. It takes several key factors into consideration and analyses this information more accurately than other technology.
The study investigated the accuracy of five key indicators used by Risk to predict driver behaviour, including: speed of driving, braking force, acceleration speed, whether or not the drive is taking place on an urban road, and or whether it is day or night time.
This information was collected from each driver’s telematics device and compared against the cause of any crashes or damages recorded by the insurer. The main reasons recorded for accidents included a lack of hazard perception, poor basic steering skills, loss of control of the vehicle, and not maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles.
Different crash types are best predicted by different combinations of factors. For example, driver’s braking score was shown to be a very good predictor of loss of control, and is currently the most useful indicator to insurers for predicting this type of crash.

4/7/2016, TechWorld -- Elon Musk predicts that fully autonomous cars will hit the road by 2023, while the British government is trying to figure out how safe driverless cars are going to be, and how they should be regulated. Being in the business of on-demand parking, we’re asking another question – how and where are they going to be parked?

According to a ParkAtMyHouse Survey, the average UK motorist spends a shocking 106 days of their life looking for a parking spot, and it takes 20 minutes to find a spot in London alone, thanks to restrictions like resident parking and yellow lines. Since parking space is limited in cities, private parking spots can sell for more than houses. Recently, a parking spot near Hyde Park in the capital was put on the market at £350,000 – more than the average house price.

Read the rest here: http://www.techworld.com/personal-tech/huge-impact-driverless-cars-will-have-on-parking-urban-landscapes-3637704/

Fleet Owner -- The trucking industry is expected to undergo significant and continued “transformation” due to ongoing incorporation of more active safety technologies, such as collision mitigation, and factory-installed telematics systems, according to a panel discussion at the 2015 Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference last week in Dallas, Texas.

Stephen Hampson, president and GM of Meritor WABCO, and Chris Hines, executive VP for Zonar Systems, both argued that various technologies will not only continue to make the industry safer – reducing crashes and helping identify bad driving habits – but also help boost fleet profitability as well, particularly via increased vehicle uptime.

“We’re witnessing an evolution of safety systems that integrate multiple technologies such as lane departure warning (LDW), electronic stability control (ESC), telematics and data/video capture devices,” Hampson said.

“We’re also now starting to share data through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology as well,” he added. “All of that will help improve vehicle and driver performance, not only to reduce crashes but to pave the way for semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles as well.”

Reducing the severity of crashes – if not eliminating them altogether – is what will help fleets achieve payback from their safety system investments, Hampson stressed.

For example, he pointed to the projected benefits from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) impending ESC mandate for tractor-trailers.

Assuming that all existing 5-axle tractor-trailers operating on U.S. roads get fitted with ESC, the expected annual safety benefit is 4,659 fewer crashes, 126 fewer fatalities, and 5,909 fewer injuries, all while saving $1.5 billion a year in crash-related expenses.

Hampson also noted that the rapid changes occurring to newer safety technologies, such as Meritor WABCO’s OnGuard collision mitigation system, should further reduce accidents.

Reuters -- Car owners and security experts can tinker with automobile software without incurring some U.S. copyright liability, according to new guidelines issued this month that had been opposed by the auto industry.

The Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S. Copyright Office, agreed with fair use advocates who argued that vehicle owners are entitled to modify their cars, which often involves altering software.

Automakers including General Motors Co, and other vehicle manufacturers such as Deere & Co, opposed the rules. They said vehicle owners could visit authorized repair shops for changes they may need to undertake.

However, U.S. copyright officials decided that altering computer programs for vehicle repair or modification may not infringe a manufacturer's software copyright. A GM representative referred to a statement from an industry group that said the new rules would weaken safety innovation. 

Deere spokesman Ken Golden said the company stands by its earlier opposition. However, some systems that transmit data from the vehicle to Deere could still be protected by copyright, Golden said.

Security researchers also pushed for copyright liability protection because computer programs are "pervasive" in modern machines and devices, including vehicles, home appliances and medical devices.

"We are pleased that analysts will now be able to examine the software in the cars we drive without facing legal threats from car manufacturers," said Kit Wilson, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocated for the rule changes.

The new rules must be renewed in three years, Wilson said. Vehicle owners still cannot perform other activities that would violate an automaker's copyright, he said, like extracting code and selling it.

Some U.S. government agencies expressed serious reservations about the new rules, and the Environmental Protection Agency flatly opposed them.

"EPA explained that vehicle modifications are often performed to increase engine power or boost fuel economy, but that these modifications increase vehicle emissions and thus violate the Clean Air Act," the Library of Congress said in its final rule.

However, the new rules do not allow vehicle owners to break any other laws, the Library said, and will not take effect for a year so the EPA and other agencies have time to prepare.

March 9, 2016, Governing.com -- The storm that rolled through Ann Arbor, Mich., in late November brought nine inches of snow and an experimental opportunity too good to pass up. A team of Ford engineers working to develop self-driving vehicles decided it would be a good time to put their modified Ford Fusion sedans to the test.

Snow, like rain, can be especially tricky for automated vehicles. Precipitation makes it harder for driverless cars to know where they are. Their cameras can’t see lines on snow-covered pavement or in the reflections of puddles. Falling precipitation interferes with radar. Piles of snow make finding the curbs and road edges harder, even for the cars’ laser-powered mapping devices. On top of that, snow is something of a novelty for self-driving cars. Most of them have been confined to sunny locales in states like California, Nevada and Texas, where rain and snow are rarer.

So the Ford team jumped at the chance to test their vehicles in the Michigan winter. Rather than heading to Ford’s proving grounds in Dearborn, they went to Mcity, a 32-acre test track in north Ann Arbor. It’s a shared track that’s operated by the University of Michigan and used by automakers and the state transportation department to try out autonomous and connected cars. Mcity includes elements you wouldn’t expect to find on most test tracks, things like stoplights that broadcast information to vehicles, a railroad crossing, a bus stop, highway on-ramps and gantries, a small hill, gravel roads, sidewalk crossings, stop signs, a simulated tree canopy and overpass, roundabouts, vandalized traffic signs, and a mockup of downtown city blocks.

Next Avenue -- Sheryl Connelly is a futurist for Ford Motor Co., scanning the world for trends that will change the way we live and drive. She has been described as the Faith Popcorn of the auto industry and credited with keeping her company producing the right types of vehicles at just the right time.

The big trend happening before our eyes, she says, is the rise in the number of older people across the globe, which has major implications for getting around. “That’s ‘Trends 101,’” says Connelly, who studied finance before earning an MBA and a law degree.

MoreNew Auto Technology Helps Drivers With Limitation

For many who are elderly now, being able to drive is essential to remaining home and maintaining independence. Their kids — the boomers who are causing the global demographic shift — don’t relish having to take away the car keys. Nor do they want the keys taken from them in the future. “They’re not likely to give up their autonomy and independence easily,” Connelly notes.

So Ford, along with other car companies, has put millions of dollars and years of research into figuring out how to keep current and future populations of elderly people driving safely. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the risk of being hurt or killed in a car accident rises with age, and as the over-65 population rises, the problem will get worse. But t high-tech features that auto companies are developing counter physical and mental changes that can happen with aging.

MoreWhat Pretending to Be an Older Driver Taught Me

Designed For Elderly And Working For Everyone

Since many of Ford’s engineers are young, to build their empathy as they build cars, these pros sometimes wear a Third Age Suit, a head-to-toe coverall that simulates what it’s like to be 60, 70 or 80.

The risk of being hurt or killed in a car accident rises with age, and as the over-65 population rises, the problem will get worse.

“It comes with glasses to mimic the effects of glaucoma, gloves that make you lose sensitivity and dexterity and braces around the neck, knees and elbow — you calibrate the tension and feel the restricted movement that comes with aging,” Connelly says. “Medical science tells us that aging brings slower response time, a limited range of motion and impaired vision. The suit tells us what that experience is like.”

Much of what automakers have already developed is being marketed for convenience. As with so many things meant to help the elderly, these solutions use universal design principles that help everyone.

Now, cars may come with voice-activation systems that let drivers keep their hands on the steering wheel; cameras to see behind the bumper; cross-traffic and blind-spot alerts or a steering wheel that vibrates if a driver crosses a lane. There are cars with parallel parking skills, laser headlights for optimal visibility and even sensors to measure if a parking slot is big enough for your vehicle before the car steers itself  in to it.

“These sensors and technology are all steps to get us closer to autonomous vehicles,” Connelly says. “Right now, all of the technology exists to make self-driving cars.”

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.nextavenue.org/why-boomers-will-push-for-self-driving-cars/

It’s been 20 years since the U.S. Air Force did the world a solid by granting full access to the Global Positioning System. In that time, motorists have moved from crude, monochrome line maps to 3-D topographic displays rendered with skies, buildings, and live traffic information. But even after the Defense Department agreed to stop scrambling civilian signals in 2000, GPS isn’t accurate enough for the next generation of drivers who won’t drive their cars at all. And all those assists that allow hands-free operation for a few amusing seconds also could use better information.

High-definition mapping is the core of tomorrow’s autonomous cars. Radar, LIDAR, and visual cameras are only feelers to a car’s immediate vicinity. Picture an ant crawling through grass, navigating blade by blade. HD maps would render every last strand of the entire lawn—and locate that hard, black surface where those giant wheeled death machines prey on tiny insects. Whereas a regular map can position a car’s location to within a meter, HD maps can do it to within as few as 10 centimeters. It’s why Audi, BMW, and Daimler purchased a Nokia spinoff, called Here, for $3.1 billion in August. The deal grants them navigation software to power their next autonomous prototypes and, once the lawyers sort it out, the real things.

“It started from us looking at how to move from representing the standard navigation map to how you present reality in 3-D,” said Here senior engineering director Vladimir Zhukov. “You need another order of magnitude in the precision.”

Nerdwallet -- Your official driving record tells insurance companies whether you’ve gotten any traffic tickets. But the ultimate tattletale could be your smartphone.

While insurance companies have been using plug-in telematics devices to track driving behavior for several years, smartphone apps promise to take it to the next level. Apps allow insurance companies to track driving behaviors without the consumer having to install an onboard telematics device.

New apps developed for insurers can detect when, where and how you drive. The technology captures data from the sensors and GPS in the phone, analyzes the information and produces a driving score. The results could affect your car insurance rates, depending on the insurer.

“We think of it as the Fitbit for driving,” says Kevin Farrell, president of Censio in Boston, which developed a mobile app for Progressive Insurance’s Snapshot program.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/insurance/your-cell-phone-can-tell-how-well-youre-driving/

4/7/2016, Euractiv -- The European Commission is pushing local authorities to digitise cities and make them more efficient—one radical plan bubbling up could minimise the number of cars on city streets.

The EU executive has funded research projects and set up a working group to pin down strategies that will help boost so-called smart cities in Europe, a term used to describe the move towards digital city infrastructure.

The Commission is especially encouraging cities to use technology to make energy and transport services more efficient.

A project slated to start later this year in Finland could create an app that would help Helsinki residents to map out routes using multiple modes of transport, including walking, public transport, taxis and bicycle and car sharing programmes. The app will also sell flat-rate subscriptions so that people can travel in the city with whatever combination of transport means they choose—and only pay once.

Sampo Hietanen, CEO of the MaaS app, or mobility as a service, calls the idea a kind of Netflix for transport and says it “could give a true alternative to owning a car”.

Hietanen wants the app to eventually work in cities across Europe so people can use it when they travel. The next cities he’s eyeing to get on the app include Manchester, Berlin, Antwerp and Ghent.

Legislation set to go into effect next year to slash roaming charges for mobile phone users within the EU could help the app draw users as it expands.

“I think that was one of the best decisions the EU ever did. So now you can start planning new types of services,” Hietanen said of the roaming regulation.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.euractiv.com/section/innovation-industry/news/netflix-like-city-transport-app-could-mean-people-buy-less-cars/