Newly Reported Developments: Hitachi’s Self-driving Robotic Car ROPITS “Car” is pretty much a stretch. While it does demonstrate automated collision-avoidance control in a mixed (sidewalk) environment it is largely a toy because its top speed is 6 mph! (one always has to read the fine print) It does begin to test the concepts of summoning as vehicle, automatic control and collision avoidance on sidewalks. ++++++++++++++ Even Newt wants to get on the Driverless Car bandwagon; can Al Gore be far behind? It is time for autonomous cars to be invented. Eric Schmidt’s recent comments on the Google Car, Joann Muller’s Ride in a Google Car, an initial union perspective from Joshua Jacobs and the beginning of a series in San Jose’s Examiner.com. Calendar of Events: Is Technology Making Us Safer? Friday, April 5, 8:30am-noon, Javitz Center NYC. Free Admission. Register with [email protected] Leading traffic experts will share their perspectives and forecasts for future in-car technology and autonmous vehicles including NHTSA Chief David L. Strickland. ++++++++++++++ On Wednesday, April 10 @ 14:15 I will be speaking on “ Impact of Driverless Cars on the Future of Airports”, and on Thursday, April 11 @ 16:00 I will be making a presentation in 101 Sherrered to the ITE Met section on “Smart Driving Cars: Where Are We Going? Why Are We Going? Where Are We Now? How Might We Get There? Where might We End Up? Implications for ITE and how it can help.” ++++++++++++++ TRB Webinar: Guidelines for the Use of Mobile LIDAR in Transportation Applications, April 11, 2013. http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/168636.aspx?utm_medium=etmail&utm_source=Transportation%20Research%20Boa rd&utm_campaign=TRB+E-Newsletter+-+03-19-2013&utm_content=Web&utm_term= ++++++++++++++ 2013 Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, April 22-24. Amazing little about SafeDrivingCars. Don’t seem to be on board. From the Public Sector: Request for Information (RfI) from US DoT on Surface Transportation System Automation is a request for “curb-side” responses to many very deep research questions. Deadline for submittal of responses has been extended to Tuesday April 23 @ noon. My response will be at http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/SmartDrivingCars/Kornhauser_%20Response2AutomationRfI.pdf