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.

Image: Eyes of a Car via Wall Street Journal.

via Autoblog

The innovators at Solar Roadways have pulled together a demonstration site (i.e., parking lot) to showcase how their technology works – it’s got a textured glass surface that can (among many other things) generate low-carbon electricity, melt snow, and throw up safety warnings with its integrated LED lighting system. Pretty cool, right? 

Their vision for smarter roads has grown considerably from conception to an award-winning early prototype to a test deployment.  It is poised to take the next logical step forward – manufacturing, which usually costs a ton of money. So they have put together a nice campaign video and lauched the fundraising efforts over at IndieGoGo for helping move this audacious vision to an everyday reality.

Autoblog notes that if successful, the concept will next start appearing in parking lots, driveways and sidewalks before taking that final leap toward paving the way to a solar-powered paradise. Let’s hope it does succeed.  Show your support over at their IndieGoGo campaign site.   

Note: As of this minute, the campaign has raised $4,712 (in just a day) and they have about 39 days left to reach the $1million goal (by May 31 @ 11:59PM).

Related articles

• Solar Roadways to build solar-powered parking lot
• solar powered roadways by scott brusaw
• In Focus: Solar Roadways
• Solar Roadways (the company) to Build Solar Panel Parking Lot (+ Top Transportation Stories)
• Solar Roadways: The Prototype – an interesting idea to contemplate

Thank god this guy chose to focus his energy and investments on transportation, one of the most-neglected fields from an investment perspective.  Elon Musk’s interview is a testament to what one man can aspire and do to inspire a generation with his ideas.

via Bloomberg TV

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk discusses autonomous driving and how it will be available in cars in only a few years. He is confident that Tesla has the best collection of experts and would be the first company to launch a vehicle with significant ‘auto pilot” capabilities. As far as proliferation goes, Mr. Musk says we may be about 10 years away from widespread adoption of autonomous vehicle technology. Do you agree? Listen to his interview with Bloomberg Television.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Intel Futurist Steve Brown discusses the future of driverless cars and cities on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.” Transportation and City planners better start thinking already because we know your long-range plans drafted a decade or so ago is rendered useless by the fast paced evolution of computing and automobile technology (agree with Steve that the technology is coming but it may be more than a decade away). It is time to think different and act fast!

Who knew this happened at traffic lights.. a great way to inspire social interaction..

via Mashable

• Tech startup NeXt built a product called HeadsUP!, a visual display that projects often-used cellphone features, such as texting, voice calls, and email, onto the windshield of a car. This allows users to engage with their smartphones without needing to look down, or fumbling with them while driving.
• HeadsUP! enables voice dictation and touch-free swiping to let users interact with the screen.
• NeXt is seeking a patent for the technology, and is asking donors on Indiegogo to pay $299 for the earliest version of its HeadsUP! device.

Click here to read more.

Of course, the biggest question is how much of this new tech will add to driver distraction, a hot topic that often pits tech/gadget makers against the regulators and policy-makers who fret about road safety.

Happy to be invited as a speaker for this event.  Hope you, my readers and followers, can tune in and learn from some of the best folks in the business about the impact of social media on ITS.

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The 10th Positive Thinking webinar takes place on Wednesday 20 November at 9am Pacific, noon EST, 5pm UK, 6pm Central Europe and focuses on Social Media and ITS.

How has social media affected the way the transportation industry does business? Are we using it properly? Do we fully understand the benefits? The latest in our series of POSITIVE THINKING webinars will attempt to answer these questions (and many more) and provide some fascinating insights into this new facet of the ITS sector.

Expert panellists Andy Palanisamy (TransportGooru), Lloyd Brown (AASHTO), Larry Ehl (Transportation Issues Daily), Ayelet Gal Tzur (Technion University, Israel) and Susan Grant-Muller (University of Leeds, UK) join regular presenters Kevin Borras and Bob McQueen to consider the likely undesirable side effects, how to best harness the value of a social media network and explain how the likes of Twitter and Facebook fit within a more integrated approach to outreach and marketing for transportation agency.

Join us on Wednesday 20 November and participate in this fascinating event. If you can’t listen live then register anyway as we will send you a link to the recording and slides a couple of days after the event. We look forward to you hearing us…

Click HERE to register.

Please note that in order to join the webinar, ‘Go To Webinar’ requires users to download some software. If your firewall may prevent this, please check with your IT department.

Image Courtesy: www.usajobs.gov

The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) is looking for experienced Technology Policy Analysts to support the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center’s  Advanced Transportation Technologies Center.   RITA coordinates the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) research programs and is charged with advancing rigorous analysis and the deployment of cross-cutting technologies to improve our Nation’s transportation system.  The positions are located in the Kendall Square area in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Volpe Center seeks multiple Technology Policy Analysts, GS-0101-11/12 and GS-0101-13 in the Technology Innovation and Policy Division, (RVT-91) within the Advanced Transportation Technologies Technical Center.   This division provides the technical and analytical support for research initiatives and decision-making at all levels of government and industry supporting all modes of transportation.  The Technology Policy Analysts primary duty is to participate as a member of a team that conducts research and applies analytical methodologies on a broad set of topics as a means of developing, comparing, and evaluating policy options in support of successful transition of technologies (e.g., connected vehicles, automated vehicles, new transportation applications, or vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, among others) from research into adoption and use.

The ideal candidate will have experience working in an environment with little policy precedence and where policy options have to be developed and created concurrently and iteratively with transportation related technology development.  This position is not focused on application of existing policies to IT or other systems, but is focused on the objective and rigorous development of new policies for new and emerging transportation technologies.

If you know someone interested in this position with relevant experience and a demonstrable record of proven results please encourage them to apply.  We are looking for a diverse pool of qualified candidates.

The announcement is posted to the Public and to Merit Promotion eligible applicants onhttp://www.usajobs.gov/.   Please know that Merit Promotion announcements are the vehicle through which Federal employees generally apply for Federal positions.

Application deadline:  July 11, 2013

GS-13-Open to Public:    https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/346367000

GS-13 Open to Status: (Merit Promotion) https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/346367700

GS-11/12 Open to Public:  https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/346366700

GS-11/12 Open to Status: (Merit Promotion) https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/346366200

Informational briefing: Friday, June 28, 2013, from 11:00-11:30  in conference room 1-4-33A at the Volpe Center, Cambridge MA (conference call no. 1-877-336-1839/access code 6481986).  Ryan Harrington, Chief, Technology Innovation and Policy Division will hold an information session at this time to describe the job and to answer any questions interested candidates may have.  Mary Hughes from Human Resources will be there to answer questions about the application process.

Please direct any questions to Mary Hughes, Volpe Human Resources, at 617-494-2526.

Apart from the ability to show how cool you are, this new innovation from Monkey Light Pros (currently in Kickstarter), will make you  quite visible to motorists and other road users during the night time.. That said, I’m really not looking forward to the possibility of too many Nyan cats flooding our city streets..Hey, as long as it saves lives and gives you a reason to get on the bike, I’m all for it :)

Image via Gizmodo

Gadget/tech stuff blog Gizmodo offers the following details:

• It utilizes a quartet of LED-impregnated bars that fit along the the spokes inside of your wheel. As the wheel spins, the bars rotate and generate the 256-color animated GIFs by exploiting the persistence of vision effect.
• Each unit weighs just 500 grams and fits on a 26 to 29 inch rim using the standard 32 or 36 spoke pattern.
• The system can load up to 1000 frames in a variety of media formats (JPG, GIF, PNG, AVI, MPEG, MOV, QT, FLV) onto a web-based playlist for display (think about blitzing around the town with a different GIF every day! AWESOME!)
• Users can also download the Mac/Linux API to create custom light shows though the system comes preloaded with 10 animations.
• The integrated 7000mAh Li-ion battery supplies 3 – 8 hours of power at full brightness (up to 48 hours on lower settings).
• Cost: a single light system with a $700 and a pair for $1400. They’ll retail for $895 a pop if and when the program funds