The future of personal mobility looks more and more “connected” as the two economic forces, technology and automobiles, are colliding at a far greater velocity.  This paves way for a landscape that is expected to feature unprecedented levels of connectivity (i.e, tethered vehicles). Here is a neat infograph from Statista that shows the landscape of connected cars and what’s ahead.

That said, one big question that looms large in my mind is this – how are going to manage all that troves of data from these connected cars? How are we going to parse/analyze and make sense out the digital mess that is ready to flood our roads? Only time will tell (or the app developers?).

Image Courtesy: Statista via Forbes

Image courtesy: via BusinessInsider

Given the great amount of public interest in automated vehicles, global automakers are no longer kidding around. Off late, they are investing a great amount of  time and resources, particularly in the research shops at Hyundai, GM and Toyota, in developing technologies to support this ambitious agenda. The chart below shows the spike in number of patents related to autonomous driving from the auto OEMs. The chart was part of a survey report by Thomson Reuters IP & Science, “The State of Innovation in the Automotive Industry 2015,” which analyzed patent applications and mapped trends in five key areas: Propulsion, navigation, handling, safety and security, and entertainment.

Image Courtesy: Businessinsider.com

According to Reuters, Overall, Asians and Germans dominated the top 10 companies for patent applications, while GM, ranked seventh, was the only U.S. company making the list. The automotive sector saw the number of patent filings around the world grow by double-digits year-on-year over the past five years, the Thomson Reuters report said. While Google Inc has dominated headlines in self-driving cars, Toyota, GM and Hyundai received the most patents in this area, said Bob Stembridge, one of the report’s authors.

This chart comes from a report titled “The state of clean transport policy: A 2014 synthesis of vehicle and fuel policy developments” published by the International Council on Clean Transportation.

Air-pollutant emissions and public health

Exposure to outdoor air pollution resulted in 3.2 million early deaths worldwide in 2010 and ranks among the top ten health risks. Motorized transport is a major contributor to outdoor air pollution, particularly near major roadways and in urban areas with a high concentration of vehicle activity. The vast majority of health impacts from vehicle activity occur in India, China, Brazil, Mexico, and the countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Implementing world-class vehicle emissions standards would reduce transport air pollution-related mortality from approximately 270,000 deaths to 71,000 deaths in 2030 globally, with benefits that are greatly concentrated in major cities. These estimates are limited strictly to exhaust emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from light- and heavy-duty on-road vehicles in urban areas and thus represent a conservative estimate of health impacts from transport.

Image courtesy: theICCT.org

This report summarizes advances in national and international regulations intended to reduce energy use, mitigate climate change, and control air pollution from motor vehicles and fuels across eleven major vehicle markets from January 2013 through August 2014. These eleven vehicle markets—China, the U.S., the European Union, Japan, Brazil, India, Russia, Canada, South Korea, Australia, and Mexico—represented 85% of total vehicle sales in 2013. Click here to access the report and the presser.

The dependence on a car for making a decent living in the United States is quite pronounced, particularly in the poor neighborhoods of the United States.

NPR’s recent “Guilty and Charged” investigation shows how rising court fines and fees — often reaching hundreds or even thousands of dollars per person — often hurt poor people the most. “Two out of three African-American men in this neighborhood, of working age, don’t have a driver’s license,” he says while walking down Martin Luther King Avenue in Milwaukee. “And are consequently unable to access the jobs that are beyond the bus lines.”

Not sure where to begin.  Years of bad landuse and legal policies have created a system that is not equal to all.  In a nutshell, if you don’t have a driving license, you’ll be relegated to looking for jobs only accessible by a bus/transit system (or if you are lucky, you may find something within walkable distance from your neighborhood). Even these transit accessible jobs become more difficult to sustain for these residents when the transit funding runs into trouble, leading to service & route cuts. Until we fix this mess, we can’t expect social upward mobility for many of the poor citizens of the US. Listen to the audio below or you can click here to read the article.

There is so much confusion and variation in the estimates/predictions when you hear the industry experts and forecasters talk about automated vehicles. Despite the challenges, there has been significant progress in the recent years and it is only getting more intense as the auto OEMs as well the tech geeks in Silicon Valley ramp up their investments and the research in the race to reach the holy grail.. Amidst all this chaos, comes this bold prediction.. 180,000 self-driving cars will be shipped globally by 2020.

Based on Frost & Sullivan estimates charted for us by BI Intelligence, there will be about 180,000 self-driving cars shipped globally by 2020. The market research firm adds that “you are likely to commute in autonomous cars” by 2025, which is a pretty bold statement considering that’s only a decade from now. 

And of course the source article doesn’t clearly articulate whether it is all Level 4 autonomy (no human input needed for operation)?  Do you agree with this prediction? Click here to read the article

Image Courtesy: Business Insider

via USDOT/ITS JPO

The USDOT’s connected vehicle program has identified many safety applications and here is an important one – curve speed warning. This application warns a truck driver if the truck is traveling too fast for an approaching curve and potentially avoid a rollover. To learn more about connected vehicles click here.

Steps and Instructions: 

1. Technical Papers

   Papers should address technical subjects as well as the institutional, policy, business and economic aspects of ITS. All papers must be original and report on recent, significant and substantive achievements. All papers must relate to one of the eight main topics provided.

   Papers must be submitted as final, be at least six pages and no longer than 12 pages single spaced. Technical papers will be reviewed by a peer panel that will look for quality, relevance, and significance of the findings.

2. Guidelines for Paper Submission

   • The deadline for submitting papers is Friday, February 6, 2015. Papers will not be accepted after this date. This deadline will not be extended.
   • Submitted papers must be in final form and follow the formatting instructions outlined here.
   • Papers must be submitted as final, be at least six pages and no longer than 12 pages single spaced.
   • Graphics are encouraged to enhance the presentation of the technical material.
   • Authors may submit up to three papers.
   • Papers may have up to five listed authors. Please note only the presenting author will be listed in the 2015 ITS America Annual Meeting and Exposition Final Program.
   • To help organize the technical sessions, please accurately specify the topic area that best describes the subject of your paper.
   • Upon submission, the primary author will receive a confirmation email.
   • If a paper is accepted, the primary author will be informed by mid-March 2015.
   • If the paper is conditionally accepted, the author must make sufficient changes to the paper, suggested by the reviewer, and resubmit the revised paper through the online portal by April 3, 2015.
   • Papers of a predominantly commercial nature will not be selected for presentation.
   • Presenting Authors must be registered for the 2015 ITS America Annual Meeting and Exposition by April 24, 2015 or their paper will be withdrawn from the program.
   • Please note that English is the official language of ITS America’s Annual Meetings. Papers not submitted in English will be automatically rejected.

   For more detailed information on submissions, see the Call For Papers brochure.

   For complete 25th Annual Meeting Paper Formatting Instructions, see
   Formatting Instructions.

3. Technical Support

For help in submitting an abstract online, Contact technical support.

TECHNICAL PAPERS

Image courtesy: IEA.org

Some interesting nuggets from IEA:

• Since 1990, the domestic transport sector has accounted for the largest share of total final energy consumption, more than 30%, in the 24 OECD countries.
• Within the sector, road transport dominates energy consumption, at 90% in 2011, as shown in this chart above based on the IEA energy efficiency indicators database.
• Further disaggregated data by segment and vehicle type indicate that consumption by passenger cars is a key driver (64%) for road transport, and thus for global energy consumption trends.

Click here to learn more.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council—a private, nonprofit institution that is the principal operating agency of the National Academies in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Board’s mission is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal.

JOB SUMMARY:

Coordinates and oversees the work of support staff handling clerical, administrative, and logistical aspects of meetings. Compiles and summarizes information for the development/revision of a variety of documents. Participates in research efforts. Serves as liaison between program or board and related external customers, members, sponsors, and organizations on clerical and administrative matters.

Proceeds on own initiative in compliance with policies, procedures, and practices, but receives guidance or expertise from supervisor or higher-level staff when needed. Incumbent may establish processes/procedures to ensure the effective and efficient operation of routine clerical and administrative functions.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES:

1. Organizes and coordinates overall administrative facets of programs/projects, including identifying workflow needs, developing procedures and recordkeeping systems, and ensuring administrative aspects of programs/projects are successfully executed.

2. Oversees logistical arrangements for meetings, including compilation and production of agenda books and briefing materials, coordination of travel and lodging arrangements, and selection of venue, menu, and support services. Invites presenters and participants. Oversees support and administrative activities during meetings, including providing assistance and resolving issues. Prepares written summaries.

3. Communicates with committee, forum, and workshop members and other external program or project contacts. Facilitates the flow of information among members, consultants, program or project sponsors, and staff. Researches and responds to inquiries from staff, members, sponsors, etc.

4. Performs literature searches. Gathers references. Participates in research efforts including collection, assembly, and tabulation of data and summarizing literature.

5. Compiles and summarizes information for the development/revision of a variety of documents. Performs administrative tasks including writing and editing correspondence, coordinating mailings, and creating and maintaining records and databases. May serve as Timesheet Coordinator.

6. Provides assistance to senior staff in the response to review and participates in dissemination activities.

7. Formats text and publications and enters revisions into text. Collaborates with printers/publishers on the publication and distribution of materials.

8. Performs administrative-related Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) compliance tasks and ensures administrative activities are in compliance.

9. Performs financial tasks related to assigned programs/projects. Prepares vouchers and reviews and approves travel expense reports. Tracks and monitors spending.

10. Updates applicable databases and systems on a timely basis and ensures documents and files are accurately maintained and archived. Maintains email and distribution lists.

11. Updates and maintains web pages and prepares newsletters and other promotional materials.

Click here to learn more and to apply