Today the British government has announced that testing of automated cars will be allowed on public roads from January next year. The tests are then intended to run for between 18 to 36 months. What more innovative is the approach they have taken to doing this. The government has invited cities to compete to host one of three trials, which would start at the same time. Cities interested in hosting the trials have until early October to declare their interest and the Department for Transport has created a £10m fund to cover their costs (BBC says the sum to be divided between the three winners but not sure what the criteria would be for this split). Quite novel! Good to see the British government pushing the envelope on its road safety agenda using the driverless cars. Hope this nudges other EU countries (and the rest of the world) to get their act together and pave way for the automated vehicles.
via WSJ Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal has an interesting article that explores the roadblock posed by sky-high prices of the LiDAR units, which offer the vehicles’ “seeing” and “navigating” capabilities , in the widespread adoption automated vehicles. That pesky little roof mounted LiDAR unit atop the Google’s prototype vehicle apparently cost between $75,000 and $85,000, which explains why it will be a problem for mass market. Click here to read the entire article. What caught me is this simple infographic that accompanied the article. It nicely explains how the LiDAR works.
SALARY RANGE: $89,924.00 to $138,136.00 / Per Year OPEN PERIOD: Friday, July 11, 2014 to Sunday, July 20, 2014
This position is located in the Office of Innovative Program Delivery (HIN), Project Delivery Team, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in Washington, D.C. The Office of Innovative Program Delivery, an organizational element within the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), provides national leadership, direction, and consulting services in new approaches for project finance, procurement (e.g., public-private partnerships (P3s)), and revenue generation (e.g., congestion pricing). The office also provides for the oversight and stewardship of projects with a total cost in excess of $500 million. HIN brings together experts on transportation credit assistance; project cost estimating and financial plan development; innovative finance; policy development; P3s; and tolling.
This position is for the implementation of stewardship and oversight activities to monitor the cost, schedule, and performance of Federal-aid transportation infrastructure projects, especially major projects (those costing over $500 million) to identify problems and initiate action to mitigate implementation risks. This position provides technical assistance and authoritative consultant services to FHWA field offices, State agencies, and other Federal agencies to assure that Federal regulations and policies are met in the development and delivery of major highway projects.
The ideal candidate will be a mid-career transportation specialist with a specialty in the stewardship and oversight of the major highway project delivery process.
The TIFIA Office is recruiting financial analysts to work on the Credit and Budget Team. The individual(s) will review credit requests submitted to the TIFIA Office and analyze cashflows for the purposes of quantifying the assessed risk of the loan and calculating the subsidy cost to the Government as well as support budgetary, contracting, and audit related work performed by the Credit and Budget Team.
The ideal candidate is experienced in analyzing cash flows and revenue projections, and understands how to apply the principles and practices from transportation planning, economics, and finance to estimate and quantify risk. The individual has experience with or can learn how to implement this skill set to work on Federal credit programs operating under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990.
The new infograph published by SafeCar.Info. offers some good insights into the real cost of owning a vehicle. To put it simply, owning a car these days is not easy on any wallet. the infograph provides a clear guide to the issues which everyone should consider before they make their final decision.
The long and crazy winter is finally nearing its end but then the impact of this prolonged bad weather can be felt even after that last speck of snow is gone.. As shown in this below video by a Michigan driver, the potholes resulting from the winter weather are ridiculously deep and rattles your vehicles pretty badly..
These tire-munching monsters are not only wrecking the vehicles that go over them but they also cause severe damages to your wallet as well. If that is not enough, swerving drivers who intend to avoid these ginormous potholes pose serious road safety challenges to oncoming vehicles, especially in the night.. Plight of road surfaces, particularly in rural areas, is the same in many parts of the country where mother nature showed wrath.. It only means one thing – the tax payers can expect some seriously high “patching” bills along with the vehicle repair bills as the spring blooms. With many states already way deep in the red after exhausting their winter maintenance budgets (spent on salt, ice removal, etc), this is going to be really hard to digest.. The American Automobile Association (AAA) warns that the annual tab for motorists in the USA dinged by potholes is nearly $6.4 billion. Nearly $4.8 billion is spent each year to repair damage to cars resulting from Americans ‘run-ins with potholes, utility cuts and other dangerous road conditions—almost four times the $1.3 billion a year spent on road repairs by state highway departments.”
So, how bad is it for the Washington, DC metro area? Listen to the AAA on these astronomical numbers: “Driving on roads sorely in need of repair costs Maryland motorists $1.598 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs, or ‘$422 per motorist,'” according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. In Virginia, drivers spend $1.344 billion a year, or $254 per motorist, while It costs District of Columbia drivers $311 million a year, or $833 per motorists, according to ASCE. Aside from the direct cost of repairs, don’t forget to factor in the time wasted on negotiating the workzones when the pothole crew work hard to fix the mess. In all, it is safe to say we are screwed!
This neat infograph from Cheapflight.ca (H/T Business Insider) shows how much lighter your wallet will be when you have to hitch a ride from the airport to your destination in the city (downtown/CBD/etc).. Could definitely come in handy when you are planning that next vacation abroad.. Strangely, Asia is the home to both the cheapest (Delhi, India) and highest (Tokyo, Japan) taxi fare in the world. It will be awesome if someone compiled a list that shows the cost of public transportation to the airport (such a linkage may be non-existent in some parts of the globe but I’m hoping the metropolitan cities listed below would definitely offer that connectivity).
If you ever hear someone say that bicyclists get a “free ride”, share this infograph below that explains why people on bikes not only pay more than their share of road costs, but save everyone money whenever they ride.
A simple infograph that explains the nexus between bicycles and their economic value to the communities.. While you are checking out the infograph below, you might also read up on this Momentum Mag piece from April 2013: How Bicycles Bring Business
