Robocars
The future of computer-driven cars and deliverbots
Will people with robocars hire them out as taxis when they are not using them?
Submitted by brad on Fri, 2018-09-21 12:24Update 2019: New research suggests the incremental cost per mile of electric robocars is low enough to alter some of the logic below. An update is in the works.
Transit driver union leader calls for strike if drivers are removed from buses
Submitted by brad on Thu, 2018-09-20 13:10Using cars for backup grid energy probably doesn't work
Submitted by brad on Wed, 2018-09-19 13:08In the world of electric cars, some people talk about an idea called "vehicle to grid" or V2G. Renewable energy's biggest challenge is storage -- wind and solar only come at certain times of the day, but we need electricity all day. The V2G hope is to use all the batteries in electric cars as a means of grid storage.
The future timeline of robocars -- 2020s land rush, 2030s maturity
Submitted by brad on Tue, 2018-09-18 12:38The dance between pedestrians and robocars
Submitted by brad on Mon, 2018-09-17 13:04How will robocars and pedestrians interact?
Surges and fleets, and whether your robotaxi ride will be cheap in the off peak
Submitted by brad on Thu, 2018-09-13 12:49Uber changes prices with demand
Sleeper cars and the unexpected efficiency of solo transport
Submitted by brad on Sun, 2018-09-09 23:02My article last week on Sleeper cars generated lots of interest, and Volvo's concept car generated lots of press too. Some of it was quite negative, including a article provocatively calling them the dystopian future we must prevent. I thought I would revisit some of the things about such vehicles that run quite counter to the intuitions of those used to 20th century transportation and transit.
Sleeper cars
Submitted by brad on Thu, 2018-09-06 13:26Yesterday, Volvo got some good buzz for a concept car which included a bed for sleeping and asking the question "why fly when you can be driven?". I've written about sleeper cars before, as well as the full robo-RV, but let's put all the issues together.
FMCW LIDAR is coming, what does it mean?
Submitted by brad on Wed, 2018-09-05 12:57Aurora's manifesto is worth a read
Submitted by brad on Tue, 2018-09-04 17:13I rarely just link to another story, but today I will point all to Aurora's post on its development philosophy. I think it contains some important lessons for all in the field.
What does airline competition tell us about robotaxi competition?
Submitted by brad on Thu, 2018-08-30 12:14A couple of years ago I released my list of factors by which robotaxi companies might compete. Many people wonder if there will be a natural monopoly, limiting us to one or two companies per city, or if we might get more.
Waymo's left turns frustrate other drivers
Submitted by brad on Wed, 2018-08-29 14:22This week's hot story was again from Amir at The Information and there is even more detail in the author's Twitter thread.
The short summary: Amir was able to find a fair number of Waymo's neighbours in Chandler, Arizona who are getting frustrated by the over-cautious drive patterns of the Waymo vans. Several used the words, "I hate them."
Tim Kentley-Klay suddenly ousted from Zoox
Submitted by brad on Mon, 2018-08-27 13:07A few weeks ago, I published an analysis of the Zoox strategy to produce a custom car. Last week, Zoox decided to fire its founder and CEO, Tim Kentley-Klay, with no warning. Very little has been said, other than:
Cars will go to the chargers, you don't need to bring the chargers to the cars
Submitted by brad on Thu, 2018-08-23 12:37Many of us believe that there's a natural fit between electric drive trains and robocars. It's not required -- you can certainly make robocars driven by gasoline, natural gas, hydrogen or anything else.
Electric has several advantages:
Google gets a bunch of news -- and that is news. Also, contract manufacturing
Submitted by brad on Wed, 2018-08-22 13:44There have been recently a few news announcements and in depth coverage of Waymo.
Uber might sell its robocar division, Nuro opens first delivery pilot in Scottsdale
Submitted by brad on Thu, 2018-08-16 12:39Uber might sell self-drive division
The newsletter The Information reports Uber's investors are pushing Uber to sell its self-drive division to some other large player. The division has, of course, been nothing but trouble for Uber, and as I have noted several times, Uber is one of the few large players in this space that doesn't have to build their own tech. They have the #1 brand in selling rides, and selling rides is what the robotaxi business is all about.
The Spot Market in Parking
Submitted by brad on Tue, 2018-08-14 15:08There are a lot of parking apps out there. There are apps that:
Calculating all the externalities of driving
Submitted by brad on Mon, 2018-08-13 14:23I and many others feel the best way to set urban and transportation policy is to properly price in the "externalities" into our travel, and to remove all other penalties and subsidies. If you can do this, then everybody is incentivized to improve the public good. In particular, entrepreneurs and companies are motivated this way, and it's their job to think of the new things nobody else thought of.
The death of parking services has already begun
Submitted by brad on Wed, 2018-08-08 13:40I've written a lot about parking, most notably my