Volvo Designs Magnetic Roads For Cheaper, Simpler Self-Driving Cars

As reported by Extreme Tech: There are myriad visions for a future filled with self-driving cars. For example, there’s Google’s experimental driverless car bristling with sensors, as well as more modest systems that would only take over from drivers for short periods. The problem with more ambitious self-driving car technologies is the considerably higher cost, whether in public infrastructure (networked roads) or the smarts built into the vehicles themselves. Volvo thinks it has an idea that could make self-driving cars work with much less hassle. All we need is a bunch of magnets embedded in the road.

Volvo began developing its magnet-based smart car system after looking long and hard at the other proposals on the table. It’s not just the cost of advanced sensors, cameras, GPS, and LIDAR that make self-driving cars tricky, the reliability is also questionable. Electronic solutions are more prone to failure in general, but even more so when inclement weather strikes. A magnet? Well, that’s always a magnet, and it can be paired with other automated technologies to make a fully driverless car.

In order to test the idea of using magnetic roadways, Volvo actually built a 100-meter test track in Hällered, Sweden and raced a specially modified S60 down it at over 90 mph. Engineers lined the road with neodymium magnets (20mm x 10mm) and ferrite magnets (30mm x 5mm) in lines down the edges and middle of the lane. The company tested both embedded and surface installation, finding that magnets on the surface would be effective and easier to install. Although, either option is sure to cause headaches in the case of roadwork.

Magnetic sensors are nothing new, but at the speeds we busy humans often need to drive, existing hardware wasn’t sensitive or fast enough. Volvo engineers calculated a car would require at least 400 magnetic samples per second to remain on the straight and narrow — a regular magnetic sensor can only do about three readings per second, and even then only when it is within a few centimeters of the magnet. So Volvo decided to roll its own magnetic sensor rig with five sensor modules, each with 15 smaller Honeywell magnetic sensor pods. This rig was attached to the bottom of the car and was able to pull in 500 readings per second.

The system was able to monitor the car’s location to within 10 cm at 45 mph when telemetry factors such as speed and acceleration were figured in. You’d probably want the precision to be a little higher before taking your hands off the wheel, but you get a lot for your money here. The advanced sensor package on Google’s self-driving car has about $150,000 worth of sensors, but Volvo estimates its magnetic sensor package will add only $109 to the cost of a car when produced in large quantities. Volvo also claims installing magnets in typical two-lane roadways would cost an average of $24,405 per kilometer. If that sounds like a lot, it’s not actually bad in the context of self-driving technology. Of course, you could only use this system where the magnets had been laid down — Google’s car works almost anywhere right now.

As the technology for self-driving cars becomes a reality, we need to ask ourselves how smart the cars should be. Expensive sensor packages are great for completely controlling a vehicle so you can take a nap, but only in good conditions. A bit of ice or some fog could make things awfully sketchy. If we rely on magnets in the road (or some other passive tech) everything is more reliable, but possibly not as convenient. A networked on-board system can respond to traffic dynamically and provide detailed analytics. Magnets — they just keep you on the road. However, it might end up being more important to focus on what’s feasible than what’s clever in the end. Magnets could end up as part of a more advanced system that at least has a basic fallback mode when things go wrong.

Truckers Reviewing Proposed ELD Rule

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association issued the following statement on the proposed rule by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that would mandate electronic on board recorders, or electronic logging devices (ELD).

“The Association is currently reviewing the proposed rule. Congress and the courts have set the standard of requirements high for FMCSA. The agency must address the serious safety issue of how EOBRs are used to harass and coerce truck drivers into continuing to drive regardless of driving conditions, such as bad weather, congested traffic or simply if the driver is too tired (or sick) to drive. 

Plus, there is no known device that is capable of automatically recording a driver’s duty status throughout a work day, not just when they are driving, and this is also a requirement from Congress.  We will examine the proposal in detail to see how the agency has attempted to meet these requirements, especially considering that an important study on the harassment issue is still listed as “ongoing” on the FMCSA website.  Further, the issue of cost to truckers and what specific technical requirements are called for, especially when FMCSA has yet to show any direct safety benefit between ELD/EOBR use and reduced crashes, will be a critical focus of our review of the proposal.  

This is the first stage in the regulatory process for the agency’s latest attempt to craft a rule on this topic, and OOIDA and small business truckers will certainly be weighing in and providing comments.”

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the largest national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers. The Association currently has more than 150,000 members nationwide. OOIDA was established in 1973 and is headquartered in the Greater Kansas City, Mo., area.

Paris Pollution Leads To Gasoline Engine Car Ban

As reported by KRDO: The air pollution in Paris has become so bad that the French government has introduced a temporary driving ban.  

The new rules, which went into effect Monday morning, aim to cut back Parisian traffic by roughly 50% in order to help clear the air.  

Drivers with license plates ending in even numbers are banned from the roads Monday, while cars bearing odd-numbered license plates will be banned Tuesday.

Pollution levels in Paris have reportedly intensified in recent days due to a combination of warm, sunny days and cold nights, which keeps pollutants from dissipating.

According to some reports, parts of Paris at certain times of the day have had worse air quality than Beijing. But environmental data from the European Union and other online tracking systems show the air quality in Paris is generally significantly better than Beijing and other Chinese cities that have recently reported high levels of pollution.

The French government said the alternating car ban was agreed upon after Prime Minister Francois Hollande consulted with ministers responsible for the interior, environment, health and transportation.

"The Prime Minister is aware of the difficulties this could create for Parisians, but this extra step is required," the government said in a release.

Public transport in the city has been free over the last few days as officials try to encourage environmentally friendly travel.

Canadian tourist Jon Ward visited Paris over the weekend and said the city looked smoggy and hazy, but he didn't notice any problems with his breathing. "Then again I'm from Toronto so I'm used to terrible air quality and smog!" he said.

Ignoring the car ban will cost Parisians, who could face a fine of €75 ($104) and possibly have their vehicle impounded.

The alternating car ban also applies to scooters and motorcycles, though electric and hybrid vehicles won't be affected. Carpool cars containing at least three people will be exempt.

Government officials said they will evaluate on Monday evening how long the traffic ban could be in effect.

Harsh Wireless Conditions? Send In The Drone Hot Spot

As reported by Network World: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has moved along a project it says would use hot-spot enabled drones to bring bring wireless communications to even the most distant and harsh  environment.

The project known as Fixed Wireless at a Distance is designed specifically to overcome the challenge inherent with cell communication in remote areas and this week the agency awarded L-3 $16.4 million to support the next iteration of the system.

The award announcement states: If successful, the phase 2 effort is expected to deliver a package consisting of radio and router pods that can be mounted on Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles, with all mobile hotspots subsystems wholly contained within the pods.

According to DARPA, the program looks to address the challenge of data transmission in remote areas and envisions a gigabit-per-second tactical backbone network extending to all soldiers in a hostile location.

"To achieve this, the program seeks to develop advanced pointing, acquisition and tracking (PAT) technologies, not commercially available, needed to provide high connectivity to the forward-located mobile hotspots. Advanced PAT technology is key for connectivity to small UAVs, for example, enabling them to serve as flying nodes on the mobile high-speed backbone."

"While some advanced commercial millimeter-wave components can be leveraged for this program, the technical challenge is more complex given the infrastructure and terrain challenges of a forward-operating locations," DARPA stated. "Mobile Hotspots will require the development of steerable antennas, efficient millimeter-wave power amplifiers, and dynamic networking to establish and maintain the mobile data backhaul network. We anticipate using commercial radio protocols, such as WiFi, WiMax or LTE [Long Term Evolution], as a cost-effective demonstration of the high-capacity backbone.  However, the millimeter-wave mobile backbone developed during this program will be compatible with other military radios and protocols."

Could The Next Presidential Limo Be A Tesla?

As reported by Motor Authority: The Secret Service is gearing up for an all-new presidential limo, to replace the venerable but sometimes challenged Beast. 

There are a number of requirements placed on those wishing to build the next limo, not least of which is that it must be an American company. Tesla Motors is an American company--but could it, should it, supply the next limo for the President?

While there's no indication that Elon Musk has any such desire, we think it's an interesting idea--one that would fit with government incentives for electric cars, give a nice green image to whomever might hold the office next time around, and conveniently side-step the issue of the automotive bailouts.

So what might a Tesla presidential limo (the Model P, perhaps?) look like? It might look something like this, based loosely on the Model X, just as the Beast is based on a GM heavy truck platform, but styled to look like a car.

Features you might find in a Tesla designed to protect the (nominally, at least) most powerful person in the world?

• Better armor plating under the battery pack, for one, to prevent any chance of a road-debris- (or IED-) induced battery pack fire.

• The Model X's upcoming all-wheel-drive system might also find use, enabling better traction and handling for the large, heavy vehicle.

• An air suspension system adapted from Tesla's production design could prevent any future high-centering issues like those faced by the Beast's predecessor.

• Tesla's always-on 4G internet connection could also be used, but would have to be upgraded to presidential status, including heavy encryption and firewalling.

• A charge-on-the-fly port at the nose and tail to hook up to a battery-extending black SUV, a la in-flight refueling, could help make sure the president can escape from emergencies without having to exit the car--or find a Supercharger.

Okay, so this is mostly in jest, but the core idea itself may have merit--if not now, then in a decade's time.

Russia Says Intercepted US Drone Over Crimea: Arms Group

As reported by Yahoo News: A United States surveillance drone has been intercepted above the Ukranian region of Crimea, a Russian state arms and technology group said Friday.

"The drone was flying at about 4,000 metres (12,000 feet) and was virtually invisible from the ground. It was possible to break the link with US operators with complex radio-electronic" technology, said Rostec in a statement.

The drone fell "almost intact into the hands of self-defence forces" added Rostec, which said it had manufactured the equipment used to down the aircraft, but did not specify who was operating it.

"Judging by its identification number, UAV MQ-5B belonged to the 66th American Reconnaissance Brigade, based in Bavaria," Rostec said on its website, which also carried a picture of what it said was the captured drone.

The photograph appeared to show an apparently armed drone in flight, rather than debris.

The Crimean port of Sevastopol is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is believed to be equipped with detection equipment.

Crimea, where pro-Kremlin forces have control, is to hold a referendum on Sunday on the peninsula joining Russia, in what Moscow says is a fair expression of self identity but the West views as an illegal annexation of sovereign territory.

Smart Engines, New Data Strips, and a $40 Billion GPS System Make Air Travel Safer

As reported by FastCompany: The mysterious disappearance of Flight 370 has reignited public interest in airplane safety--and in the technology that keeps aluminum tubes safely flying through the skies at hundreds of miles per hour. 

As with many other things, there's a burgeoning cottage industry in aviation safety that even has its own trade shows (headline speaker: astronaut Chris Hadfield).

LAST YEAR HAD ONE OF THE LOWEST RATES OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION INCIDENTS IN HISTORY.

The intense interest in the ongoing mystery surrounding Flight 370 notwithstanding, the many organizations and corporations developing safety tools for passenger jets are doing their job: 2013 had one of the lowest rates of commercial aviation incidents in history.

Here are some of the most interesting products and tools making the overwhelming majority of flights safe:

NextGen: Described by the Federal Aviation Administration as “one of the biggest public works projects in our lifetime,” the over $40 billion NextGen is an ambitious effort to rebuild America's air traffic control systems. Despite the rise of GPS navigation in everyday life and the rise of computers, most airports in the United States still use sheets of paper in binders and radar to track air traffic. While paper makes air traffic controllers more secure from hacker attacks, it also slows response time, creates massive gridlock in the skies, and hampers response in emergency situations. The ambitious NextGen project is a government-funded attempt to switch air traffic control from ground-based radar systems to satellite-based GPS systems.

NextGen's goals consist of creating--for the first time ever--real-time displays of air traffic for both pilots and air traffic control, the introduction of digital communications between planes and air traffic control, the introduction of a single national reporting system, and replacing nearly 20 separate voice systems used across the United States with a single system. Originally scheduled to be fully implemented by 2025, NextGen keeps on getting delayed and having costs spiral out of control; a recent internal FAA paper said full implementation might be delayed by 10 years, and cost two or three times more than the original $40 billion estimate.

Electronic Data Strips: Air traffic controllers record flight information on paper strips in the United States; the small pieces of paper are used in the hectic control centers to quickly record necessary information. But in Canada and Europe, air traffic controllers have increasingly adopted electronic flight strips by manufacturers such as Frequentis and AviBit.

A NEW TECHNOLOGY USES SATELLITE UPLINKS TO SEND REAL-TIME DATA FROM THE AIRCRAFT.

A tablet-sized screen displays a series of tiles which visually resemble paper flight strips; these strips are then filled in via stylus, keyboard, or mouse. The main innovation here is the increase in speed for retrieval: Past records are electronically searchable, which cuts down on the considerable expense of searching through large quantities of paper records.

Satellite Radio for Pilots: When aircraft fly over oceans, they have traditionally used high-frequency radio to communicate. While this has been an accepted solution for a long time, radio also comes with considerable static. A new technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS), increasingly used by airlines, uses satellite uplinks to send real-time data from the aircraft instead. This allows for changes like aircraft being able to choose faster flight paths over the ocean and getting much more reliable information. ADS is part of the NextGen program and is also being adopted by the European Union. There's also an environmental bonus; ADS allows air traffic control to receive much more precise info on aircraft locations, which means planes can be spaced more closely together--saving considerable amounts of jet fuel.

Smart Engines: The much-heralded Internet of Things consists of putting sensors and data-collecting devices into every imaginable consumer and industrial good, which then pings far-away servers every so often with all sorts of information. Airplane engines are a part of that revolution too; Rolls-Royce's jet engines contain sensors which constantly send information about all sorts of engine performance to ground-based monitors. Boeing has an very similar system which Malaysia Airlines reportedly opted out of. (U.S. officials aren't so sure.)

THE SENSOR SYSTEMS IN BOEING AND ROLLS-ROYCE'S ENGINES CAN ALSO BE USED TO DIAGNOSE IN-AIR INCIDENTS.

The sensor systems in Boeing and Rolls-Royce's engines are primarily used for maintenance purposes; they detect when parts are failing or suffering wear before they impact aircraft performance, which saves airlines large sums of money. However, they can also be used to diagnose in-air incidents. U.S. officials believe smart-engine data from Boeing indicates Flight 370 flew for hours after it disappeared. Malaysian officials dispute the report.