December 2017

Volume 5, Issue 2 The Dispatcher

In this issue: Telematics Industry Insights by Michael L. Sena

When Accidents Weren’t When Accidents Weren’t the Drivers’ Fault the Drivers’ Fault 1-3 HOW MANY TIMES during the past week have you heard or read that Dispatch Central The Nader effect 95% of all vehicular accidents are the result of the drivers and only GM Abandons Lyft Dispatch Central 1-2 5% are caused by some fault with the car or truck? If only we could “O, swear not by the moon, the GM Abandons Lyft remove the driver from the equation, we would save a million lives fickle moon, the inconstant moon, Mark Fields’ New Job per year globally. Whether it’s 95% or 90% or 80% of the acci- that monthly changes in her circle Tesla keeps losing money dents that are cause by driver error matters little. Motorized vehi- orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.” Bob Lutz on the future of cles are a lot safer today than they were in 1965 when the book, William Shakespeare the automobile Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the Amer- Romeo and Juliet Ford’s Stay Awake Hat ican Automobile by , was published. The book ac- Lyft only has itself to blame cused car manufacturers of resisting the introduction of safety fea- Mediamobile 3 if the relationship with GM is

Safety Related Content tures and their general reluctance to spend money on improving cooling off as reported. GM safety. invested $500 million in Lyft Hydrogen Fuel Cell Pow- for 9% of the company and a ered Vehicles 4 board seat. Dan Ammann, Are they the answer or a GM’s president, said that diversion? when they made the invest- Has DSRC Reached the ment, “a key goal was to cre- End of the Road? 5 ate an autonomous, on-de- mand vehicle network.” The Not the WAVE of the fu- idea was that GM, its Cruise ture division and Lyft would work

Eye in the Sky 5 together. It was never meant to be exclusive, said both Traffic UAVs companies, but it seems that

Musings 6 when Lyft invited Ford into A Friendly Wave Nader’s 1965 book focused on the , which three its living room, that was just years earlier became notorious as the car in which Ernie Kovacs one too many suitors for GM.

died. Kovacs was, at the time, one of the more popular TV enter-  tainers in the U.S. He was married to Edie Adams, an equally Greener Pastures: Fields talented and popular actress and entertainer. The pair were on Finds New Home their way home from a Hollywood party—it was actually a baby Ford replaced ‘car guy’ Mark shower for Billy Wilder’s newly adopted child—Kovacs in his Cor- Fields with ‘furniture guy’ Jim vair station wagon, and Adams following in their chauffeur-driven Hackett’ in May of this year. Rolls-Royce. Accident reports state that Kovacs turned onto The jury is still out on this exchange, but Fields has Santa Monica Boulevard travelling at low speed, but made a sharp moved on. He joined TPG turn when he entered the road. He lost control of the vehicle (pic- Capital, a private equity firm, tured above) and it slid sideways into a light pole. His rib cage was as a senior advisor. He will crushed and his aorta was severed. He died instantly. work with the firm’s industri- als team looking for ways to The Corvair was an oddity at the time it was first sold in 1959. “create change and innova- Gone were the fins and chrome and fighter plane noses. It was tion.” That’s what he was do- ing at Ford when he sat in small with soft lines. It had the lines of a BMW, as I pointed out in front of his boss, Bill Ford, my November 2016 issue of The Dispatcher. However, unlike the who pushed a button and the BMW, the Corvair had a balance problem. Its rear-engine design trap door opened. Good luck, made it heavier in the rear than in the front. In addition, its motor Mark. was too strong in proportion to the car’s size. The major problem 

was the car’s swing axel suspension, which was prone to tuck un- Continued next page Continued next page

Telematics Industry Insights Page 2 of 6

Dispatch Central (cont.) When Accidents Weren’t the Drivers’ Fault: (cont. from p .1) Tesla Tanks in Q3 ner in certain situations, particularly in very evidence that deaths can be prevented by ap- The stock market darling reported a curvy motorway ramps. The more Corvairs plying the science that is well-known to the ve- $671 million loss for the third quar- ter, compared to a $22 million profit that were sold, the more accidents of this type hicle industry. in the same quarter in 2016. It was occurred. By the time the Ernie Kovacs acci- Nader and Unsafe received little attention the company’s largest ever loss for a dent happened, GM had sold 1.1 million of the from the public when the book first came out. quarter. “Totally my fault!” claimed little darlings. Wrongful death suits began to Musk. Well, since you take all the But then GM did what companies should not pour in. GM, as car companies are want to do, credit for everything else, it’s only do: counterattack. It hired private investigators blamed the drivers. The fine print read that fair that you didn’t claim your dog ate to look into Nader’s financial and private life in all the profits. “To restore some level pressure in the front should be 12 psi lower hopes of smearing his reputation. According of investor confidence, Tesla needs to than in the rear, rather than being the same produce and sell 5,000 Model 3 units to court reports, Nader discovered the investi- front-to-back or little higher in the front. The per week by the end of the first quar- gation and publicly denounced GM’s tactics, manufacturer also offered an option, which ap- ter of 2018 and achieve this target alleging that the “investigators” had even hired without an increase in cash con- parently was not well advertised, consisting of several young women to lure him (unsuccess- sumption in order to move the stock upgraded springs and dampers, front anti-roll fully) into sexual liaisons.” Nader sued GM for "materially higher," said Morgan bars and rear-axle-rebound straps to prevent Stanley's Adam Jonas in a note to in- harassment, and GM settled the court case for the tuck-under. vestors. Or else what, Adam, your in- $425,000. That money went toward funding vestors will lose their shirts? Tesla’s Enter Nader. He was then, and continues to be the establishment of his consumer rights or- stock price turned up a day later after dropping 4% on the not-so-pretty today at the age of 83, a bull terrier dressed in ganizations for the past fifty-two years. news. a cocker spaniel costume. He has been from GM stopped manufacturing Corvairs in 1969.  the time he graduated from Harvard Law It was too late for Ernie Kovacs and all the oth- Lots of Lutz School a tireless consumer advocate and a ers who were killed as a result of the poor “We are approaching the end of the huge pain in the butt for any company or public safety design of the vehicle, but Nader's ad- automotive era,” predicts Bob Lutz. agency that he believes isn’t doing right by “Human driven vehicles will be legis- vocacy of automobile safety and the publicity consumers. A documentary film about him de- lated off the highways in 15-20 generated by the publication of Unsafe at buted in 2006. It was titled An Unreasonable years. Big fleets will own all cars. Any Speed, along with concern over escalat- Dealers will be o.k. for next 10-15 Man. years, but then they will be margin- ing nationwide traffic fatalities, contributed to alized,” says Lutz. I have found there Nader’s book takes on GM and the entire car Congress' unanimous passage of the 1966 is a correlation between peoples’ pre- industry in a methodical manner. He begins National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety dictions and either the number of with all of the Corvair’s problems and then Act.1 The Act established the National High- years until retirement or until they expect not to be around. Lutz is 85. moves to the total lack of safety considerations way Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), He’ll be happily driving his Chevy Volt given to design of interiors, lack of standards and it was claimed that this marked “an his- Aston Martin until they take away the for the placement of gears on automatic gear toric shift in responsibility for automobile keys. Thanks for your parting words, shifts and the fact that the impact of an acci- safety from the consumer to the government.” Bob. I’ll see your 15 and raise you 15. dent on the driver and passengers had been The legislation mandated a series of safety  completely ignored, even though there was features for automobiles, beginning with Ford is commemorating sixty years of plenty of good research available at the time. safety belts and stronger . producing trucks in Brazil with a hat Light poles simply pushed their way through for truckers, called SafeCap. The hat the sides the doors, and wheels is designed to keep drivers from fall- ing asleep at the wheel, which is the ended up as far back in the vehicle as the im- principal reason for truck crashes. pact thrust them. He devoted one chapter of The hat senses head movements as- the book to the automobile’s impact on air pol- sociated with drowsiness then uses lution, a subject that was not widely discussed lights, vibrations, and sounds to alert at the time. He spent another chapter on pe- the driver. destrian safety, and how all of the aggressive chrome details functioned as murder weap- ons. Finally, he skewered the federal govern- ment for spending hundreds of millions on highway beautification, but peanuts on high- way safety measures. What was the situation back in 1965 when Nader wrote his book? Traffic fatalities in the The book ends with a call for the government Continued next page to “pay greater attention to safety in the face of Continued next page

“Most

Page 3 of 6 Telematics Industry Insights

When Accidents Weren’t the Drivers’ Fault: (cont. from p .2) Mediamobile U.S. were rising quickly to their highest level 8. Collapsible steering wheel (U.S. DOT mandated Safety related content ever. As the chart above shows, they peaked them in 1968, but Formula 1 did not make them SAFETY CAN MEAN many different standard until after Aryton Senna’s tragic death in in 1972 and have been falling ever since. things for each of us. How do we ap- 1994. proach safety when we prepare to There are groups who are proud to take a por- 9. Electronic Stability Program (ESP) travel somewhere by car. We may tion of the credit for the drop in deaths, includ- Refresher Course check the and clean the win- dows from ice and snow, but how do ing people against drunk driving because their Thirty-two years after Nader’s book was pub- we prepare ourselves for the actual protests have had a positive effect and road lished, when significant progress had been trip, in particular, the driving condi- authorities who have added safety to beautifi- made by the auto manufacturers on safety im- tions and weather along the way or cation. Not unsurprisingly, the car industry has provements, a test in an unused airfield close at the destination? What if I could been subdued in seeking the limelight. If they find this information in the car, al- to central Stockholm of a new small car devel- ways up-to-date and for free? take the credit for the reduction, they are, in a oped by Mercedes-Benz showed that it was V-Traffic’s Road Weather warning sense, admitting that they were culpable for the still possible to produce an unsafe car. The system has been developed in coop- rise. They talk about seat belts and air bags, Mercedes-Benz A-Class was being introduced eration with the Finnish Meteorologi- but putting the crumple zone in front of the as the company’s smallest model. It didn’t look cal Institute starting in 2006. It is in dashboard instead of inside the passenger like a Mercedes-Benz, and, as it turned out, it use today in all Nordic countries and Poland. Warnings are sent for the compartment has saved many, many lives. didn’t act like one either. road segments where a significant Here are photos of a crash test of a 1959 Swedish magazine, Teknikens Värld, decided change will occur within the next Chevy Bel Air compared to a 2009 Chevy Mal- to perform its own set of standard tests before hour. Originally, there were different ibu provided by the Insurance Institute for writing about the new car. One of them was the types of winter weather warnings Highway Safety. A would not have (e.g., icy road, heavy snowfall), but evasive maneuver test, which became known kept the steering column from crushing the in the last few years the product has as the ‘moose test’ after Süddeutsche Zeitung, been developed further and delivers driver’s chest in the Bel Air. reporting on the results, gave it the name. It is all types of weather warnings twelve a misnomer because the test is intended to months a year, not only winter sea- avoid a backing vehicle or a child running into sons. The latest development is cross wind warning where both di- the road; a moose will always continue across, rection of the road and the wind is so the best maneuver brake hard or to turn to taken account. Road Weather warn- the right if possible. In any case, the MB A- ings are sent now over 550,000 Class flipped. MB was shocked and, at first times a year in the Nordics. (yes, you guessed it) counterattacked. It Large animals (e.g., moose, wild claimed the test was rigged and there was boar) are plentiful in the Nordic countries and pose a severe traffic nothing wrong with the car. There was. Ger- risk. Encounters with moose occur man testers reproduced the same results. 10 000 times a year. V-Traffic Dy- namic Animal Warning divides ani- MB recalled the few thousand cars that were mal warnings in two levels: high risk on the roads and stopped all sales until they based on accident statistics and ani- fixed the problems. The fixes have made all mal behavior analyses; and, very cars better with electronic stability control, high risk based on online data or real stiffer chassis, modified shock absorbers and road level observations. Moose and reindeer warnings are now opera- a lower center of gravity. tional in Sweden and Finland. In 2016, Ralph Nader took his place beside Both Road Weather and Animal Warnings are based on widely used I’ve done some hunting to find the most im- other Automotive Hall of Fame inductees when he accepted its invitation to join them. Appar- standards (RDS-TMC, DAB TPEG and portant safety improvements, and here is my Connected Http/ TPEG). All animal list in order of the most important:2 ently, his reaction when being told of the honor and road weather incidents have 1. Three point safety belt, introduced by Volvo in was to ask if they had called the wrong person. their own global TMC or TPEG codes. 1959. Fifty years later, studies showed that at least a Bob Lutz, a Hall of Famer since 2013, said of Mediamobile believes that safety be- million lives had been saved as a result. Nader: “I don’t like Ralph Nader and I didn’t like longs to everyone. Nearly 80% of the 2. Crumple zone the book, but there was definitely a role for cars in the Nordic markets are more than four years old and have no or 3. High-strength steel (not fiberglass) government in .” Indeed. very limited modern connectivity 4. Does that mean if Nader had not written his That is why it uses the robust and re- 5. Anti-locking Braking Systems (ABS) book, we would still be driving cars that are un- liable broadcasted network offered 6. Safety glass safe at any speed? by TMC/TPEG). 7. Disc brakes www.mediamobile.com / www.v-traffic.fi

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Telematics Industry Insights Page 4 of 6

Hydrogen Fuel Cells Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Vehicles The Basics Hydrogen I THOUGHT THAT some of my readers might be must be separated from the compounds that as much in the dark about hydrogen fuel cell contain it before it can be used in vehicles. Hy- powered vehicles as I was, so I decided to help drogen is produced from fossil fuels (natural us all out. If you are already an expert, you can gas or coal), biomass (ethanol) or with water read this with a critical eye and offer your sug- electrolysis (i.e., zapping water with electric- gestions for improvements. The first thing I ity). The least expensive, most efficient and learned was there are three points of view on most common method is natural gas reforming the subject. There is an extremely small group in which natural gas is reacted with high-tem-

Hydrogen (Latin: Hydrogenium) is of enthusiastic supporters led by Toyota. perature steam. Electrolysis using renewable the simplest, lightest, most com- There is a slightly larger group who see fuel energy sources, such as solar or wind, has the mon and earliest-built element in cells as a threat to their beloved battery elec- potential to make the hydrogen production the universe. At standard pressure tric vehicles. There then there are the rest of process renewable, but producing enough and temperature, hydrogen is a us, comprising about 99.9999% of the world electricity in order to produce enough hydro- two-atom, odorless, colorless and who either don’t know or don’t care. gen requires a technological breakthrough that tasteless gas, but it is extremely flammable. Hydrogen gas was first The sidebar provides the basics. Fuel cells has not yet been achieved. We have the same artificially produced in the early were invented in 1838. There are a number of problem with BEVs because most of the elec- 16th century by the reaction of ac- tricity used to charge their batteries is not com- ids on metals. In 1766–81, Henry different types that are in active use for both ing from renewable sources. Cavendish was the first to recog- primary and backup power for commercial and nize that hydrogen gas was a dis- residential applications. Fuel Cell Electric Ve- Another problem with hydrogen is getting it crete substance. When burned it hicles (FCEVs) are one of these applications. from where it is produced to the pumps that will produces water, the property for Three automotive OEMs are currently selling fill up the cars’ tanks. In the U.S., hydrogen is which it was later named: in Greek, hydrogen means "water-former". or leasing FCEVs: Toyota, Honda and Hyun- produced in quantity in three states, California, dai. Pictured below is the Toyota Mirai, which Fuel Cell Louisiana and Texas, and it is used for petro- means ‘future’ in Japanese. leum refining, treating metals, producing ferti- A Fuel Cell is a device that continu- ously changes the chemical energy lizer and processing foods. Hydrogen pipe- of a fuel (such as hydrogen) and an lines would be the least expensive distribution oxidant (such as oxygen) into elec- method, but the current network is very limited trical energy.3 Fuel cells can pro- and it will be expensive to build out. High-pres- duce electricity continuously for as long as fuel (hydrogen) and oxygen sure tube trailers for transporting the com- are supplied. Fuel cells consist of an pressed gas (like the tankers that transport anode, a cathode, and an electro- petrol and diesel) are expensive, principally lyte that allows positively charged because hydrogen gas is extremely flamma- hydrogen ions (protons) to move ble. Another breakthrough is needed to be between the two sides of the fuel cell. At the anode, a catalyst causes able to build many hydrogen production facili- the fuel to undergo oxidation reac- ties. tions that generate protons (posi- tively charged hydrogen ions) and When you read about the advantages of Then there is the cost of the fuel cells and the electrons. The protons flow from FCEVs, it seems like it’s no brainer. You take cars that use them. A Toyota Mirai costs over the anode to the cathode through the most common element on earth, combine twice that of a Toyota Prius. Currently, the the electrolyte after the reaction. it with air, and generate electricity that powers most efficient catalyst used in hydrogen fuel Electrons are drawn from the anode cells is made of platinum. This precious metal to the cathode through an external a motor that drives a vehicle. Refilling the tank circuit, producing direct current with hydrogen gas takes the same amount of is ten times rarer than gold and trades at electricity. This drives a motor. time as filling up with petrol or diesel, and one around the same price per ounce. 80% of it is tank takes you 480-650 km, twice as far as mined in South Africa, which has most of the most BEVs. The best part is there are zero world’s deposits. emissions from the vehicle except water. Finally, there is ‘Hydrogen Anxiety’. In 2017, So what’s the catch? For one, producing the there are 39 hydrogen gas fueling stations in hydrogen. The U.S. Department of Energy Al- the U.S. of which 35 are in California.4 Europe ternative Fuels Data Center says the following: had 25 stations at the end of 2016. Germany Although abundant on earth as an element, has a goal of having 100 hydrogen stations by hydrogen is almost always found as part of an- 2018. other compound, such as water (H2O), and With FCEVs, we are definitely not there yet.

Page 5 of 6 Telematics Industry Insights

Eye in the Sky Has DSRC Reached the End of the Road? YOU’RE DRIVING ALONG and suddenly a jerk in a white van appears from no- ONE YEAR AGO I began work on a survey and DOT for each new term of an Administration.” where, cuts you off and starts weav- report for the International Telecommunication It presents “the long-term objectives the ing through the lanes ahead. Where’s Union (ITU) on the roadblocks to implementing agency hopes to accomplish at the beginning a cop when you need one, you say to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. I of each new term, and includes the actions the yourself. Catching one of these driv- reported on the results in the March 2017 is- agency will take to achieve those objectives.” ers in the act is very difficult, and sue of The Dispatcher. When I began the The White House Office of Management and they know it—which is why it hap- pens so often. Well, it’s not so diffi- Budget prepared a list of regulations that are study, the U.S. Department of Transportation cult anymore. was still under the direction of the Obama ad- actively under consideration, and mandating Police in the south of France are test- ministration, and it was preparing to recom- V2X is not among them. The topic has been ing the use of unmanned aerial vehi- mend in the second quarter of 2017 that relegated to a long-term agenda list. cles (aka drones) to spot the scoff- WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environ- There has been a strong lobbying effort by the laws and take a photo of them that will be used in court.6 The police ments), a DSRC-based solution using the information/entertainment industry to kill monitor the UAV from a hidden posi- same standards as products marked as Wi-Fi, WAVE so that all or at least part of the dedi- tion and relay a message to a motor- be made mandatory in all new vehicles in a cated 5.9 GHz spectrum set aside for trans- cycle patrol further along the road phase-in schedule beginning in 2019.5 portation technologies could instead by used who pull over the offender and direct for wireless applications. The Federal Com- them into an off-road control lane The study’s principal findings were: where tickets are issued and fines munications Commission has been conduct- paid. After four months of operation,  A slight majority of the respondents ing tests on sharing the spectrum, but so far the police report they have issued stated that WAVE is a known quantity, that it these have not been conclusive. ‘hundreds’ of fines for tailgating, has been proven in multiple tests over a dec- Automotive OEMs do not like mandates from passing in no-passing zones, danger- ade to deliver dependable connectivity be- ous driving. They have not yet been government because mandates always end tween vehicles and to and from infrastructure, able to figure out a way to use the up adding costs to their vehicles, which then UAVs to gauge speed, but if they can and that it is ready for deployment. These have to be passed on to consumers or result stop one head-on collision all their ef- same respondents understood and accepted in reducing their already thin margins even forts will be well worth it. the shortcomings (i.e., limited range, restricted further. However, OEMs dislike uncertainty There are people who are objecting bandwidth and potential security issues), but even more than mandates because in order to to this initiative as just one more felt that its proven advantages outweighed the government effort to spy on them. A be prepared for a possible mandate, the possible disadvantages. Japan had already lobby group called Forty Million Driv- OEMs need to modify their new platforms to deployed a DSRC-based solution, Europe’s ers calls it an “unwelcome escala- accommodate possible additions. This adds tion”, referring to speed cameras as CAR 2 CAR Communications Consortium had cost without any functionality attached to one step too far. The head of the committed to do so and the U.S. government those costs. OEMs who are in favor of V2X group, Pierre Chasseray, complains would mandate it—barring a complete change that “…instead of encouraging drivers can always incorporate the technology in their of direction by the incoming administration. to keep their eyes on the road, we vehicles, but the results would be limited. GM  A slight minority stated that cellular now have to look at the side of the has incorporated V2V in its Cadillac CTS road for speed cameras and in the air V2X is close to being ready now for implemen- brand, but how often to two of them meet? for drones.” tation, and that it has significant advantages Laws or regulations are usually accompanied Well, no Pierre! Drivers who obey the over the DSRC-based alternative in communi- by a standard, and standards would allow all speed limits and don’t drive danger- cations range, bandwidth and types of ser- cars to communicate with each other. ously, imperiling other drivers, pe- vices that can be offered. Most importantly, destrians, poodles and property, can they felt that it solves the security issue in a When asked for a comment on whether these keep their eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead and don’t have to worry more reliable fashion without the need for a moves indicate that mandating WAVE is off the table, Secretary Chao’s office issued a about where the speed cameras or new road-side infrastructure. eyes in the sky are located. statement that NHTSA is “still reviewing more Secretary of Transportation, Elain Chao, has than 460 comments on the proposed mandate Here is a photo of a drone in highway been very quiet on the topic of mandating patrol action taken by another drone before deciding its next step, and that no final at a higher elevation. The image is of WAVE since taking over from former Secre- decision has been made.” What can we make a highway in China. The surveilling tary Anthony Foxx at the beginning of this of this? To paraphrase Mark Twain when he drone is low enough to read the ve- year. Then, in October, her department issued learned there were rumors he had died: The hicles’ license plate numbers. the Strategic Plan for FY 2018-2022, and it report of WAVE’s death is an exaggeration. contained no mention of vehicle-to-vehicle So don’t uncork the champagne if you are communication or vehicle connectivity. Why is among those who want to celebrate, and don’t this important? The Strategic Plan “estab- send sympathy cards if you are an admirer. It lishes the strategic goals and objectives for the ain’t over ‘till it’s over.

need

Musings of a Dispatcher: A Friendly Wave Page 6 of 6 TelematicsTelematics Industry Industry Insights Insights Page 8 of 8 Michael L. Sena T HE BUS RIDE from Göteborg Cen- The trolleys were retired around contact with the driver approach- Editor tral Railroad Station to Lind- 1951, but the Scranton Transit ing to my left (to my right when I’m holmen Science Park takes about buses continued until the early in the U.K., Japan or Down Un- SUNDBYVÄGEN 38 ten minutes. Crossing the Göte 70s, eventually replaced by a der), and make sure they are go- SE -64551 River Bridge is the slowest part of public service called COLTS ing to stop. I give them a wave as STRÄNGNÄS the journey because the buses (County of Lackawanna Transit I cross just to thank them for do- SWEDEN and trolleys that share the two System). I’m sure the trolley driv- ing the right thing. Then I repeat P HONE: dedicated lanes in the middle of ers waved to each other. I can the practice to cross the other +46 733 961 341 the roadway have to slow down to vouch for the fact that The Scran- lane of traffic. E-MAIL: a crawl as they trundle over the ton Transit bus drivers always [email protected] Where we live, there are a num- section of the bridge that opens waved, and the COLTS drivers www.michaellsena.com ber of schools and so-called ‘traf- for the big freighters to pass un- still do, without fail. fic calming’ places where one der. One of the advantages of the According to Västtrafik in Göte- driver must stop to allow the other Footnotes: slow speed is that those few pas- borg and COLTS in Scranton, to pass. It’s voluntary, so we both 1. The National Traffic and Motor sengers who are not mesmerized there is no official policy on wav- stop and one waves to the other Vehicle Safety Act was enacted in by what is flashing on their mobile the U.S. in 1966 to empower the fed- ing. No one receives credits for a to pass, and then we wave to eral government to set and adminis- phones have a wonderful view up wave, nor gets extra-degree-of- thank each other. I wave to every ter new safety standards for motor and down the river. Another is vehicles and . It difficulty points for making an car I meet when I am taking my was the first to establish mandatory that the drivers of the buses and over-the-top gesture. There are long walks along roads in the federal safety standards for motor trolleys have extra time to wave to also no demerits for demurring. farmlands surrounding our little vehicles. each other as they steer their 2. Ezra Dyer. Why Cars Are Safer Everyone has an off day. city of Strängnäs. The drivers public transport vehicles in op- Than They’ve Ever Been. Popular I’ve done a lot of searching to find usually wave back. When I am on Mechanics (11 Sept. 2014) posing directions. As I stood right out when and why the practice a highway and find myself ap- 3. Fuel Cell definition by Merriam- behind the driver during a rush Webster started. It seems to have begun proaching a slow moving truck hour ride across the span, I 4. U.S. Dept. of Energy, Alternative at a time when both vehicles and and put on my turn signal to pass, Fuels Data Center (Nov. 12, 2017) counted nine waves from my roads were not all that dependa- and a car that is already in the 5. WAVE is an approved amend- driver, and not a single passing passing lane slows down to allow ment to the IEEE 802.11 standard. ble, and a wave signaled that for driver did not return the gesture. WAVE is also known as IEEE now, everything’s alright. Deana me to enter, I definitely give him a 802.11p. Halhead on Answers.com pro- wave as a gesture of thanks. 6. https://www.market- vides a good explanation to why place.org/2017/11/13/world/france- drones the practice has continued: In a sea of fast paced, high volume,

rain and shine traffic situations, it’s comforting to get a little wave of recognition from a fellow who We humans have different ways Driving in the Future shares your outlook on safety and of communicating with each We had trolleys and buses in defensive driving. A wave says, other, both verbal and nonverbal. Scranton, PA where I grew up. “I’m with ya, buddy!” The wave is one of the most ver- Scranton is known as Electric satile nonverbal forms of commu- City, in part because it had the I have thought about my daily nication, and acknowledging an- first electric street car system in journeys, the number of times I other individual’s presence with a the country that ran exclusively wave and the reasons I do so. wave is one of the most important on electric power. It was intro- When I am about to enter a tools we have for the safe opera- Instead of getting into the car and duced by E.B. Sturges in 1886. ‘zebra’ crosswalk, I make eye driving to the store to pick up a loaf tion of motorized vehicles, both of bread and a container of milk (or inside and outside of them. tofu slices and seaweed juice) Joe About Michael L. Sena and Josephine will sit at their com- Michael Sena works hard for his clients to bring clarity to an often opaque fortable control consoles and watch world of vehicle telematics. He has not just studied the technologies and their robot cars make the journey, ready to take over if James or Julie analyzed the services. He has developed and implemented them. He has gets in trouble along the way. How shaped visions and followed through to delivering them. What drives much safer can driving be? But then, a bit further into the future, since him—why he does what he does—is his desire to move the industry for- everything will be delivered to every- ward: to see accident statistics fall because of safety improvements re- one’s home, there won’t be any need for James or Julie or their robot lated to advanced driver assistance systems; to see congestion on all car friends to drive to the local store. roads reduced because of better traffic information and improved route Maybe we should start planning for a guaranteed minimum wage for re- selection; to see global emissions from transport eliminated because of dundant robot cars as well as for hu- designing the most fuel efficient vehicles. mans. Something more to think about. This newsletter touches on the principal themes of the industry, highlight- Download your copy of Beating Traffic ing what is happening. Explaining and understanding the how and why, by visiting and developing your own strategies, are what we do together. www.michaellsena.com/books