Mobility – Page 6983 – I wish I had more to offer

Uber launches boat service in notoriously congested megacity – Metro.co.uk

Uber is piloting its first-ever boat service in Lagos, Nigeria October 11, 2019 (Picture: Reuters) Uber is now piloting a boat service in one of the world’s busiest cities to attract commuters desperate to avoid its notoriously congested roads. Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, is home to some 20 million people and is built on a… Continue reading Uber launches boat service in notoriously congested megacity – Metro.co.uk

Why Smart Summon Matters

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Published on October 12th, 2019 |

by Frugal Moogal

Why Smart Summon Matters

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October 12th, 2019 by Frugal Moogal

I mentioned in a recent article that I added to my stock position in Tesla for a variety of reasons. Before I go on to discuss Smart Summon, I wanted to address a complaint in the comment section of that article.

It’s true — I tend to write Tesla articles. I use my business experience to examine stock price, public statements, press releases, and the health of the company. As I try to state in every article I write, I am a random voice on the internet under a pseudonym and you shouldn’t trust me without researching and verifying what I am saying with other facts — just like any investment you’re making. In fact, one of my first articles highlighted who writes Tesla articles and why they are published.

I do follow other clean technology companies, with my largest stock holding being Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP). I’ll write about them sometime, but they aren’t doing anything like Tesla is with Smart Summon, so let’s get to that!

Smart Summon
After my most recent article, and the article before noting that Smart Summon is actually doing a great job, I started emailing back and forth with CleanTechnica’s Director, Zach, who noted that he thought that I was overlooking the marketing aspect of Smart Summon.

And, if you have a car that can Smart Summon, you know Zach is totally right. I’ve mentioned it to a few friends, and was then met by disbelief, and requests to see the feature at some point in the future. It makes people hear about Tesla as a company and get more interested in Tesla’s products.

I think that it is also doing a few other things that are perhaps even more important — a few things being overlooked by those who are making comparisons to the chairs carrying humans in Wall-E — and I think those are the things that matter the most. The truth is, the success of Smart Summon was the biggest factor to me in deciding it would be worth investing more in Tesla, beyond just the marketing. I’ll explain why.

Robotaxi Fleet
The first major factor is that if Tesla can get to the point of turning its vehicles into a robotaxi fleet — and I believe Tesla can — the thing those vehicles need to do the absolute best is pick people up. Let’s put it like this — if you for the first time summon a robotaxi and it drives to pick you up in a parking lot while looking like it’s going to crash into a curb, are you going to trust getting in that vehicle and taking it for a ride? Smart Summon will help refine what is ultimately the most important key to getting people into robotaxis in the future — the first impression.

Normalizing Autonomous Cars
As all of the articles declaring that Smart Summon was causing panic and hysteria proved, people aren’t yet really ready for this. Some people are certain that Teslas using Smart Summon are running people over left and right — yet, amazingly, two weeks after release, I haven’t heard of any additional issues beyond the initial three that all the “CHAOS!” articles linked two, none of which were the vehicle’s fault.

That’s a huge win, and rather amazing by itself. Tesla weathered the expected “sky-is-falling” phase of Smart Summon, and the feature is still working. As it gets better, and as Tesla produces more vehicles, more and more people will see the feature in use, and at some point in the relatively near future, cars driving around in parking lots without people sitting in them won’t be surprising. Which will make acceptance of a car driving on the highway without a driver a lot more acceptable when that starts to occur.

Parking Lots Are Hard
This isn’t just Musk saying this. Parking lots are a very difficult problem. There are often islands, different cement colors, shadows, parking spaces that may or may not be angled, people, curbs, and many other factors in parking lots. They are significantly more complex than an average road. While the car cannot currently park itself, navigating a parking lot autonomously — with a human watching it and holding a button down — is a huge accomplishment.

It also allows for the user to help Tesla teach the neural network. During Tesla’s Autonomy Day presentation, Andrej Karpathy noted that they would search for particular images to denote what was going on in them to better train the neural net. Parking lots are similar to roads, and it may be difficult for the car to learn which is which. Every time you press Smart Summon, though, I’m sure your vehicle is noting that data as parking lot data, so it can use that to learn about the different edge cases within parking lots.

As an aside — I heard about Smart Summon, read about it in the test fleet, and figured that the earliest it would really be pushed to the fleet as a whole would be in the spring of 2020. I figured those early vehicles would need to keep training the neural net to look for the huge number of edge cases out there and to solve them, a task I expected would take much longer than the optimistic time frames Musk and Tesla had given us. But, not just did it come out, the lack of videos of Tesla vehicles crashing into things is a huge sign that they can train the network faster than I predicted could be done.

Smart Summon is not perfect, but it works significantly better than I expected, and that has given me considerable faith that they are moving into fully autonomous driving at a pace so much faster than anyone else.

In Conclusion
Smart Summon to me proves just how much further along Tesla is than anyone else in all aspects of self-driving vehicles. It may seem like a relatively useless gimmick right now, but it is one that I feel is critical to the future of autonomous driving and the future of Tesla as a company.

About the Author

Frugal Moogal A businessman first, the Frugal Moogal looks at EVs from the perspective of a business. Having worked in multiple industries and in roles that managed significant money, he believes that the way to convince people that the EV revolution is here is by looking at the vehicles like a business would.

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Lyft follows Uber in suing NYC over cruising time caps

FILE PHOTO: A Lyft bicycle is shown at the Lyft listing on the Nasdaq during an IPO event in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo (Reuters) – Lyft Inc (LYFT.O), following its rival Uber’s (UBER.N) move, has sued New York City seeking to nullify a new rule limiting the time its… Continue reading Lyft follows Uber in suing NYC over cruising time caps

GM Delivers 689,531 Vehicles in China in the Third Quarter

GM Delivers 689,531 Vehicles in China in the Third Quarter 2019-10-10 SHANGHAI – General Motors’ joint ventures delivered 689,531 vehicles in China in the third quarter. Sales declined in the midst of the continued soft vehicle market. GM is in the process of introducing a record of about 20 new and refreshed models in China this… Continue reading GM Delivers 689,531 Vehicles in China in the Third Quarter

GM to Highlight a Dynamic Vehicle Lifestyle at 2019 China International Import Expo

GM to Highlight a Dynamic Vehicle Lifestyle at 2019 China International Import Expo 2019-10-09 SHANGHAI – General Motors will have a lineup of models that showcase utility, versatility and luxury to highlight a dynamic vehicle lifestyle on display at the 2019 China International Import Expo (CIIE) from November 5-10 in Shanghai. At GM’s stand, visitors… Continue reading GM to Highlight a Dynamic Vehicle Lifestyle at 2019 China International Import Expo

‘Link On Demand’ Popularity Surges as Colorado Commuters Turn to On-Demand Public Transit

Published September 17, 2019 5:03 pm, Via NYC
‘Link On Demand’ Popularity Surges as Colorado Commuters Turn to On-Demand Public Transit
The on-demand service draws hundreds of customers every week, letting riders leave their cars at home during daily commutes.

September 17, 2019 (LONE TREE, COLORADO) — Via, the world’s leading provider and developer of on-demand public mobility solutions, today released milestone metrics for the City of Lone Tree’s Link On Demand transportation system, which launched in partnership with Via in February 2019. In the last six months, residents and area commuters have taken tens of thousands of rides, with vehicle utilization well beyond projected goals.

“Expanded transportation options and congestion relief are top priorities for Lone Tree residents and businesses. Link On Demand allowed the City to optimize its transportation infrastructure investments and improve access and mobility throughout Lone Tree,” said Lone Tree Mayor Jackie Millet. “Demand for the service continues to grow and our partnership with Via has resulted in improved customer service, ridership and data collection.”

The City of Lone Tree originally piloted Link On Demand in 2018 and transitioned to its current partnership with Via earlier this year. The on-demand transportation system serves as a free shuttle anywhere within the city limits, providing riders with a convenient and comfortable way to access anything in Lone Tree while reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions caused by single-occupancy vehicles.

Since partnering with Via, however, residents have proved their eagerness to leave their private vehicles at home and take public transportation. Riders took more than 28,000 trips on Link On Demand in less than six months, with ridership demand actually increasing after the Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) southeast rail extension in Lone Tree in May 2019. It now averages more than 1,000 rides per week in a city with fewer than 15,000 residents.

And while Link On Demand serves as a connection to anywhere within the city limits, the service is most popular with daily commuters getting to and from the office. In fact, the Charles Schwab and Kaiser Permanente’s corporate campuses account for 25 percent of all pick-ups since launching in February, and 24.8 percent of all drop-offs.

What’s more is that ridership to and from those corporate campuses actually increased in the 12 weeks after the RTD extended its E, F and R light-rail service into Lone Tree. The volume of pick-ups increased by 18.2% and drop-offs by 15.2%, with Link On Demand likely acting as a first- and last-mile connection for the increasing volume of commuters taking the train.

This all accounts for the on-demand network’s significant utilization rate, as the number of people requesting rides more than triples during the morning and evening commuting hours. Because of its high utilization rate, Link On Demand has now saved nearly 35,000 vehicle miles by sharing a ride compared to driving a private vehicle, equivalent to eliminating more than 11 tons of CO2 vehicle emissions.

“Via’s technology is redefining mobility across the globe, and we’re thrilled to see such a positive reaction from Lone Tree Link riders since launching the new on-demand service,” Daniel Ramot, co-founder and CEO of Via, said. “This project proves that the easier it is to take public transport, the more people will reliably choose it over their private vehicle.”

To date, the Link On Demand app has been downloaded more than 3,400 times. This equates to nearly a quarter of Lone Tree’s population having the app.

Commuters can use the service by downloading the Link On Demand smartphone app powered by Via, available on iOS and Android. Link On Demand operates Monday to Thursday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.; Friday from 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.; and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.

About Via

Via is re-engineering public transit, from a regulated system of rigid routes and schedules to a fully dynamic, on-demand network. Via’s mobile app connects multiple passengers who are headed the same way, allowing riders to seamlessly share a premium vehicle. First launched in New York City in September 2013, the Via platform operates in the United States and in Europe through its joint venture with Mercedes-Benz Vans, ViaVan. Via’s technology is also deployed worldwide through dozens of partner projects with public transportation agencies, private transit operators, taxi fleets, private companies, and universities, seamlessly integrating with public transit infrastructure to power cutting-edge on-demand mobility. For more information, visit www.platform.ridewithvia.com.

Dyson EV’s demise, Mirai’s radical remake, Audi’s plug-in hybrids: The Week in Reverse

Which automaker partnered with Boeing for a personal luxury aircraft?

What brand priced its Tesla Model 3 rival for Europe?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending October 11, 2019.

One of the much-discussed pieces of news of the week came from the UK, and a well-funded long-shot project aiming to make an high-efficiency electric car. Dyson said that its electric-car program is done—although it will continue work on some of the ancillary tech, including solid-state batteries.

Patent drawing for Dyson electric car due in 2021

Several important pieces of news came from Toyota. It revealed that the next-generation version of its Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car is a sport sedan. Although the radical remake is officially called a concept car, the future is suddenly looking much better for that model, as well as the Prius. Toyota also confirmed that a 2021 RAV4 plug-in hybrid is on the way—although it will be some time before we get range and mpg. And its luxury brand, Lexus, teased the design of a production-bound electric city car, set to bow at the Tokyo show.

A new Honda Fit hybrid has been confirmed for a Tokyo show debut and is a critical model for Europe—although chances are slim that the model will arrive in the U.S.

Porsche Boeing premium urban air mobility vehicle

Porsche and Boeing are involved in a premium personal aircraft project—not a shared air taxi, but something aiming for private ownership.

Volkswagen is hoping its owners see the light—with a new light-based communications feature in its ID 3 urban electric car. We would presume it’s also headed to the other ID models that are U.S.-bound.

Volvo announced that it’s merging engine development into a new joint venture with parent Geely—so it can focus efforts on EV development. And as we eagerly await the introduction of the Volvo brand’s first fully electric model next week, pricing was detailed for the related Polestar 2—including its Performance Pack version—in several of its European launch markets.

Polestar 2

In the issues and policy department, U.S. commute times reached a new high in 2018, a cloud that hangs over us even as vehicles continue to get cleaner and more efficient. And Denmark and the UK were among the nations looking to tighten the timeline for phasing out internal combustion engines.

India is very much seen as an emerging (and important) market for EVs, with some challenges. Tata will be targeting its own domestic market with a vehicle called the Tata Nexon EV. This model could be seen as a serious rival to models coming from both European automakers, Japan, and China.

Volta free DC fast charging

The charging-network news keeps flowing, as infrastructure takes form in Europe and North America. Volta readied its ad-supported free DC fast charging network in the U.S. and announced its first station starting later this month. The energy company Repsol claimed the highest power passenger-vehicle DC fast-charging station in Europe. And Electrify Canada announced that it’s pushing ahead this year with more than 20 fast-charging stations—enabled for a future-leaning 350 kw—at Canadian Tire locations across the country.

We learned that Tesla has quietly acquired the Canadian battery maker Hibar. Could it mean the automaker is setting up to make its own proprietary cells?

At the start of the week we rounded up a list of the most important electric cars for 2020.

2020 Audi Q5 plug-in hybrid (Euro-spec) – first drive, October 2019

Back on Monday and Tuesday, we also brought you two sets of first drive impressions on Audi’s upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicles—in the Q5 crossover and the A8 flagship sedan—to see how they fit into a lineup that’s rapidly going electric.

And as you head out this weekend to go watch the game, you might remember some news we reported at the start of the week: that Anheuser-Busch and Frito-Lay are expanding plans—in California—to deliver their beer and snacks with electric trucks.

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Consumer Reports Calls Tesla Smart Summon “A Science Experiment”

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Published on October 12th, 2019 |

by Steve Hanley

Consumer Reports Calls Tesla Smart Summon “A Science Experiment”

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October 12th, 2019 by Steve Hanley

It is fair to say the rollout of Tesla’s Smart Summon feature has not been an unqualified success. Reports have filtered in over the days since the feature was installed via an over the air update of Teslas lurching through parking lots like zombies, getting lost, and struggling to achieve their mission, which is to unpark themselves and drive slowly to wherever the smartphone is that controls them. A few fender benders have been reported as well, but without any clear evidence they were caused by Smart Summon.

Smart Summon is supposed to be a step forward on the road to fully self-driving cars, but if that is so, it seems to some onlookers there is still a long way to go. As the Chinese proverb suggests, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.”

Consumer Reports, which always seems to have a love/hate affair with Tesla automobiles, has tested Smart Summon at its facility in Connecticut. It’s fair to say the new technology was weighed in the balance and found wanting.

Jake Fisher, CR’s senior director of auto testing, says consumers are not getting technology that has been fully tested and ready to meet their expectations. He suggests Tesla owners are little more than unpaid beta testers who are volunteering to help Tesla fine tune the Smart Summon technology — even though they are paying $6,000 up front for the autonomous Full Self Driving package. (Not many Tesla owners with Full Self Driving are complaining, while thousands or tens of thousands seem to be thrilled about the opportunity.)

“What consumers are really getting is the chance to participate in a kind of science experiment,” Fisher says. “This is a work in progress.” Ouch!

Consumer Reports says it attempted to contact Tesla several times but never got a response from the company.

“CR’s experience with the system shows that Smart Summon can exit a parking space, turn and start moving toward the vehicle owner, and negotiate around stationary objects. It also can detect and stop for pedestrians and slow down if it senses cross traffic.

“But we found that the system works only intermittently, depending on the car’s reading of the surroundings. The system is designed to work only in private parking lots, but sometimes it seemed confused about where it was. In one case, the system worked in one section of a private lot, but in another part of the lot it mistakenly detected that it was on a public road and shut itself down. At various times, our Model 3 would suddenly stop for no obvious reason.

“When it did work, the Model 3 appeared to move cautiously, which could be a positive from a safety perspective. But it also meant the vehicle took a long time to reach its driver. The Model 3 also didn’t always stay on its side of the lane in the parking lots.”

The vehicles sometimes drove in the middle of two traffic lanes or wandered left and right like a drunk or distracted driver. One car drove the wrong way in a one-way traffic lane, requiring the tester to run to the car and move it manually so traffic could begin flowing again.

“Under the right circumstances, our Model 3, with Smart Summon activated, would slowly and successfully make its way to the person summoning it with a smartphone — and in those cases, the car was indeed controlling itself, steering, braking, and making decisions about its route. But the person operating the app still has the responsibility to monitor the car and keep it out of trouble,” says Consumer Reports.

The system requires the operator to continuously hold down a button on the smartphone, a fail-safe procedure recommended by CR. If the button is released, the car will bring itself to a full stop to await further instructions.

Tesla Warnings Are Confusing
The testing service says Tesla’s warnings about using the feature in a controlled setting are confusing. The company says to use Smart Summon only in “private” parking lots, but many consumers consider shopping centers parking lots to be public areas, which raises the question of where exactly it can be used.

“Tesla once again is promising ‘full self-driving’ but delivering far less, and now we’re seeing collisions,” says Ethan Douglas, a senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports in Washington, D.C. “Tesla should stop beta testing its cars on the general public by pushing out experimental features before they’re ready.”

NHTSA told Consumer Reports in a comment that it is aware of the safety concerns related to Smart Summon. It says it has ongoing contact with the company and will continue to gather information. Consumers are encouraged to report any concerns to NHTSA online.

Beta Testing
CleanTechnica is often accused of being a Tesla fanboy site. It is true that we publish a lot of stories about Tesla, most of them favorable. But Tesla has a habit of putting new software in the hands of customers and gathering feedback from their experiences to improve it. That process began when the company began installing the “Hardware 1” self-driving suite of sensors 3 years ago, or even earlier when Autopilot came out 5 years ago.

It continued before the Model 3 was released to the general public when the company delivered early production cars to employees with the understanding that they would uncover any defects and report them when they came to work the next day. What better way to address customer complaints than at the factory where the cars were built?

The argument is that the early release testers are volunteers. The flaw in that argument is that the cars involved in the beta testing are driving on public streets (or parking lots) in the presence of other drivers who are not volunteers and who have no idea beta testing is taking place around them.

It’s like taking a group photograph with the consent of the person in the middle without getting consent from the others. It raises a number of privacy and legal issues that Tesla seems (to some of us) to ignore, claiming its interest in providing cutting-edge technology supersedes such mundane concerns. Regulators may not see things quite the same way.

About the Author

Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may lead him. His motto is, “Life is not measured by how many breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away!” You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter.

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Thursday Morning Auto News, Oct 10, 2019

Nissan says European operations unsustainable with no-deal Brexit tariffs – Reuters: Nissan’s European operations, which include plants in Britain and Spain, will not be sustainable if Britain’s departure from the European Union leads to 10% tariffs on vehicles, the firm’s European Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy told reporters on Thursday.
Indicted FCA manager circulated press release about prior diesel emissions settlement – Freep: Experts say Fiat Chrysler could face more trouble because of emails that were shared among those connected to diesel emissions cheating.
BYD NEV sales volume up 34 pct in Jan-Sept – Xinhua | English.news.cn – Xinhuanet: BYD NEV sales volume up 34 pct in Jan-Sept
GM Factory Hands Making 40% Less Than Their Co-Workers Are Fed Up – Bloomberg: GM Factory Hands Making 40% Less Than Their Co-Workers Are Fed Up
Nissan to start building new Juke car at UK plant as Brexit looms – Reuters: Nissan said it will begin making the next-generation Juke vehicle at Britain’s biggest car plant on Monday, just over two weeks before a possible no-deal Brexit which the industry has warned could bring production to a halt.
BMW bets on doubling of luxury car sales to boost margins – Reuters: To lower development costs for electric and driverless cars, BMW will pursue alliances, such as a plan to make a low-cost electric car with Chinese …
BMW to Boost Sales of Gas-Guzzling SUVs to Cover Electric Shift – Bloomberg: BMW to Boost Sales of Gas-Guzzling SUVs to Cover Electric Shift

GM’s Q3 China sales slip 18% – Automotive News: The drop marks the fifth straight quarterly decline for GM in China as U.S. automakers continue to lose market share while Japanese and German automakers gain ground in the largest light-vehicle market.
Uber’s UK VAT liability confirmed – FT: Earlier this week Uber London Ltd filed its full accounts up until December 2018 at Companies House. The big news wasn’t that the division made a …
NASA boss to tour SpaceX factory after feud over capsule delays – Reuters: SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk opened up his private rocket factory to the top official of NASA on Thursday for a tour and progress report on the company’s long-delayed Crew Dragon astronaut capsule.
Nissan cuts role of former Ghosn aide – Nikkei:
Italdesign names Audi veteran as design chief – Automotive News: Italdesign has appointed veteran Audi executive Carsten Monnerjan as head of design. Monnerjan succeeds Filippo Perini who joined Hyundai’s …
Volvo embeds Android on its new EV – Automotive News: Volvo embeds Android on its new EV
GM’s Q3 China vehicle sales down 17.5%, as U.S. automakers cede ground – Reuters: General Motors Co’s July to September vehicle sales in China fell 17.5%, as the U.S. automaker was hurt by a slowing economy amid the Sino-U.S. trade war and by heightened competition in its key mid-priced SUV segment.
The Radical Manifesto Embraced by Google Workers and Uber Drivers – New York Times: Just before 20,000 Google employees left their desks last fall to protest the company’s handling of sexual harassment, a debate broke out among the …
Automakers, suppliers, tech companies form AV computing consortium – Automotive News: GM has invested heavily in autonomous vehicle development, especially through its Cruise unit. Toyota has also started to form alliances for …
Strengthening Renault-Nissan alliance is crucial: French minister – Reuters: Strengthening the alliance between car makers Renault and Nissan is crucial, said French junior economy minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher on Thursday, amid signs of a possible management shake-up at Renault.
Nissan Plans Shareholders’ Meeting to Vote In New Top Management – Bloomberg: Nissan Motor Co. is considering holding an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting early next year following the recent adoption of a new management …
New Volkswagen Golf design shown in official sketches – Autocar: Volkswagen Golf Mk8 sketch Eighth iteration of popular hatchback will be unveiled later
Champagne! Fur! Caviar! How St. Moritz’s Snow Polo Lures the Jet Set – Bloomberg: Photographers hoping to score a celebrity shot mill around on the edge of the runway, where a vintage Rolls-Royce and a racing-green Porsche …

Dyson scraps plan to build electric vehicle | Article – AutomotiveIT International

In a statement posted on the company’s website, founder James Dyson said that ”the Dyson Board has taken the very difficult decision to propose the closure of our automotive project.” The company had failed to make the project “commercially viable”, the statement explained, and attempts to find a buyer had proven unsuccessful. Dyson announced its plans for an… Continue reading Dyson scraps plan to build electric vehicle | Article – AutomotiveIT International