Monthly Archives: July 2017

Anatomy of a MultiState Connected Car Coalition. 3 Policy Areas of Focus.

Michigan, Ohio & Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation have joined forces with universities to focus on automated and connected vehicle initiative.

3 Target Research Areas to Guide Policy Decisions:

  • Connected and automated applications in work zones
  • Commercial freight opportunities in testing, including platooning (connecting more than one vehicle) and potential coordination on interstates. (
    • Bonjour, TAMU’s freight project at the Houston Port.
  • Incident management to improve…

Legal Trend. Cabbies lose in Court. Louisiana edition.

Cab drivers in the City of Kenner, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana sued to level the playing field in Kenner and at its airport.

The cab drivers ultimately want ride share drivers to maintain the same occupational license as cab drivers. Teh city of Kenner said it didn’t have the resources or revenue for enforcement. The cab drivers suggested the city put up checkpoints to check licenses.

The Kenner court saw it differently. 

WWLTV Louisiana | Judge rules against Kenner cabbies

+1 Palmetto State Raises the Gas Tax.

South Carolina’s gas tax increase, the first in 30 years, went into effect on July 1, 2017. 

Revenues will be dedicated and prioritized including these qualifications for projects:

  • Roughly 1/2 of funds will go to prioritized SC DOT projects
  • The remainder will go to Country Transportation Committees projects

Equipment World | South Carolina DOT awards first projects from new roads bill

State Reg. Trend. Smart Roads. The Numbers behind the trend.

Delaware DOT is partnering with agencies, automobile manufacturers and technology companies, and network segmentation to fine tune smart roads. The test road- a restretch of I-95.

Why the rush to start testing smart roads?

  • 220 million connected cars will be on the road by 2020
  • 3/4 of the 92 million cars shipped globally with have connectivity
  • 62% of consumers say hackers will breach connected cars

State Tech | The Connected Vehicle Revolution Makes Cybersecurity Top of Mind

Researchers Say Policymakers Must Consider Bikes in Self Driving Car Laws. 3 reasons why:

  • bikes are the fastest growing mode of transportation in the US
  • bikes and cars share the road, and most self driving cars will pass a bike only when 3 feet clearance exists
  • Bikes more more erratically than cars, and self driving cars need to be programmed to predict the more nimble movements of bikes

NPR | Bikes May Have To Talk To Self-Driving Cars For Safety’s Sake

How Wine Country is Expediting EV Charging Station Permits via a statewide bill. Read the bill.

In 2015, California passed Assembly Bill 1236 that asks towns under 200,000 to provide for expedited permits for EV charging stations. 

What did AB 1236 require small cities to do to make more EV charging stations a reality?

  • provide a “submittal check list” for EV station applicants
  • applicant approval through the issuance of a non-discretionary permit such as a building permit
  • limit permit denials  to whether the EV station would have an “adverse impact upon the public health and safety.”

So…

LOCAL TREND. An Ordinance to Create Designated Lanes for Ride Share? Oui.

Miami, FL is considering allowing ride share cars to be able to use the left shoulder on busy freeways.

Ride share could share the left shoulder with buses.

Creative approach for transportation seeks to solve these policy issues:

  • how to avoid adding more toll lanes
  • to reduce traffic by encouraging people to leave their cars ar home and use a ride share service

AP | Forget Lexus Lanes, Miami Could Open Shoulders to Uber, Lyft

Business TREND. Ride Share Drivers Double Time By Working for Self Driving Car Mapping Companies.

Lvl5 is paying ride share drivers to mount a smart phone to their dash to film their routes. 

Lvl5 believes for self driving cars to work their best, they require data updates daily.

Lvl5 is building HD maps that update daily.

Where does policy, legislture, regulators fit in? Whether HD mapping or LIDAR are the primary opartaing system for self driving cars and the standards that will be required.

Verge | This startup is using Uber and Lyft drivers to bring self-driving cars to market…