There Auto Be A Law

This is a rerun. In this episode guests Dr. Jeff Wishart and Phil Koopman explain the history of autonomous vehicles, why safety is really really hard, that human drivers are not bad and that it is pure speculation if a self driving car will ever be safer than a human.

The Auto Industry is once again against safety and is fighting NHTSA on Automatic Emergency Braking rules. Specifically the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and John Bozzella, for claiming new AEB rules are 'impossible' to implement while also admitting that they are in use today. Michael takes apart ARK Investments for their ridiculous take on Telsa and we delve into recalls with another entry...

Waymo issued a recall after a RoboTaxi crash into a telephone pole. We delve into the complexity of validating software updates for autonomous cars and how Waymo is gaslighting us. IISH has a survey showing driver support for anti-speeding technologies. Fred shares safety tips for proper seating in vehicles, emphasizing the importance of seatbelt use and correct seating positions. Plus self drivin...

This weeks we start with rising trends in high-speed police chases resulting in crashes and deaths, emphasizing the need for stricter regulations on when such pursuits should occur. We critique European vs. U.S. safety standards and explore advanced technology such as 'license plate trackers' and police tools for remotely stopping cars. Gaslight section covers criticisms of companies like GM Cruis...

Mississippian Michael Brooks faces the fact that more car crashes happen in the South. But the data is a bit suspect as Massachusetts seems not to live up to it's reputation. Also Japanese automakers Toyota, Mazda, and Honda mishandling vehicle safety tests. This week Fred examines Tesla’s ambitious yet problematic GigaCasting manufacturing process and its implications on vehicle safety and repair...

California is proposing a bill to alert drivers to their speeding. Anthony suggests automatic tickets. Elon doesn't understand data or is flat out lying about the safety of Autopilot. Remote controlled trains remind us of GM Cruise. Miles per Gallon is not as helpful a measure as gallons per 100 miles and we discuss why AV companies don't follow the Department of Transportation's Technology Readin...

Artificial Intelligence is the pet rock of today... if the pet rock could hallucinate a term paper. Or in the case of auto safety cause stockholders to hallucinate a future where Tesla creates a robotaxi. This week Tesla is sued for fraud (clutches pearls) and a Waymo drives drunk through Phoenix. Congress goes after auto makers for handing over all of your data without a subpoena and using slave...

Waymo keeps running into things and now NHTSA is investigating. Fred proposes a graduated licensing process for autonomous vehicles. 60 minutes Australia compiles a list of Elon Musk stating how self driving is ready next year but that next year never comes... maybe he's just a salesman? Tesla's automation software has been involved in 467 crashes, 13 of them fatal... and that is just in a 15 mont...

That scrappy Tesla is still in the news for safety issues. NHTSA has requested more data about their Autopilot recall from December. With over 20 crashes since then there are some questions that need to be answered. And the DOJ and SEC are investigating them about their self driving claims. Drunk driving has been increasing but enforcement has declined. We discuss solutions that are available toda...

NHTSA has finally released a rule for Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). We've been asking for one since 2015 so... 3 cheers for NHTSA? But the rules don't go into effect until 2029. Ugh. On the plus side IIHS updated their AEB tests and car makers have a lot of work to do. We dive deep into AEB. And will 2024 be the year of the Tesla lawsuits? Maybe they shouldn't sell things with aspirational na...

The autonomous vehicle industry has their own PR team that is trying to compete with our Consumer Autonomous Vehicle Bill of Rights. It's a bunch of hogwash that they regurgitate every few years. A few Senators that can see through this have written a nice letter to NHTSA telling them to regulate AV's, British Columbia bans AV's and another Tesla driver makes the fatal mistake that his car is an A...

Could your road go on a diet? Maybe it should as it could make it safer. Did you spend too much money on a stainless tank and are now suffering from unintended acceleration? Contact Tesla and ask if you've been Cyber Trucked. Turbo roundabouts, bad Tesla software updates, daylight savings time and car crashes an update on the Consumer Autonomous Vehicle Bill of Rights and lots of recalls. This wee...

Tesla settles an Autopilot case before the trial starts which makes sense since Elon said they never fight true claims. Another Telsa case involving a 2 year that managed to start the car and crash into his mom has begun and Elon says that his robotaxi's will be announced real soon. Our expert opinion is that Tesla won't produce a robo-taxi within the next 5 years. Don't get high and drive because...

This week Dr. Emily Thomas from Consumer Reports joins us to discuss backseat safety. Did you know that there is technology to remind you not to leave your kids in the car? And it's not standardized or required, Dr. Thomas walks us through the tech, the safety of car seats and how Consumer Reports conducts testing for these items. It's a good one. This weeks links: https://www.noheatstroke.org/ ht...

Oh the joys of dash cams... remember just because you're the one filming doesn't mean that you're not int he wrong. Should you get one? Listen and find out. GM stops selling your data, Elon forces everyone to experience FSD, the solar eclipse might lead to more crashes, and New Jersey is trying to exempt all of their drivers from automated traffic enforcement. This weeks links: https://www.msn.com...

Apparently, if one were so inclined you could replace or reprogram your digital odometer fairly easily because security is not something that is built into car software. How was that for a sentence? 3 adverbs at once. Ouch. Know what else hurts? Drowsy driving. It's under-reported and dangerous. Autonomous driving modes also seem to be dangerous as we see in our Blue Cruise discussion. Maybe we sh...

Know the difference between laminated glass and tempered glass? Did you know that a laminated glass breaking tool for sale online will not actually break laminated glass? I answered no to both of these questions so it's a good thing I listened to this episode. Plus some cars are tracking your ever move and then selling the data to your insurance company... without your knowledge or consent. IIHS a...

Touch screen or physical buttons that go click? This is the new Pepsi challenge. Where are you? Odds are if you are here than you like the buttons. So do we. This week we start off with a story about how the Europeans are going to ding manufacturers for hiding features behind a touch screen. Telsa decided to go even further and remove turn signal stalks, the Biden administration talks about cyber...

This week Anthony deals with rental cars, the Washington Post investigates Tesla, Fred explains hybrids, Michael provides more detail about Ford airbag non fixes and more. This weeks links: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/02/28/greenest-cars-plug-in-hybrid/ https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/iihs-challenges-automakers-with-tougher-top-safety-pick-award-criteria https://arstechn...

Our guests stuck around for another episode. In this one Phil explains why "driving modes" make much more sense than SAE Levels and I have to agree. Levels are meaningless since every OEM seems to make them mean whatever they want. William explains more about liability and how the laws are not keeping up because there has not been a pressing issue from the public. Actually, the way he says is much...

This is the first of a two-part episode with Philip Koopman, Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and William H. Widen, Professor at University of Miami School of Law. The the two have been providing testimony to state legislatures about the safety of autonomous vehicles and authoring a bunch of articles. In this episode they walk us through the liability aspects of self driving cars...

In this episode guests Dr. Jeff Wishart and Phil Koopman explain the history of autonomous vehicles, why safety is really really hard, that human drivers are not bad and that it is pure speculation if a self driving car will ever be safer than a human.

No idea and we don't directly address that question. Instead we discuss how you'll never know what goes on inside the "mind" of the AI. Plus GM Cruise releases a report that says they failed because they think they are better than regulations and regulators, distracted driving is on the rise. elderly drivers consider signing advanced directives for their kids to take away their license and Telsa k...

Over a quarter or all motor vehicle deaths are due to excessive speed. Why are we in such a rush and where are we going? No idea. This week we dig into Intelligent Speed Assist and ponder the question if it's the consumer preventing solutions or the auto makers? If regulators got involved then we could save over 10,000 lives per year. Plus San Francisco sues the CPUC over self driving cars, taller...

You try to come up with clever titles each week. Sometime they work and sometime they are a, "smorgasbord of safety". We discuss some extra CES goodies, thermal cameras, AEB, driving simulators for teens and rats. Fred discusses a recent Microsoft paper(pr?) on using AI to find better battery chemistry. This weeks links: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/01/bmw-adds-a-human-touch-to-driverless-p h...