Slashdot Mirror
Feds Shut Down Self-Driving School Bus Pilot In Florida
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday ordered the French transportation company Transdev to stop transporting schoolchildren in a self-driving vehicle in Florida. Ars Technica reports: Transdev's pilot project in Babcock Ranch, a planned community, was quite modest. On Fridays, Transdev's electric shuttle would take a group of elementary-aged children to school, then take them home later in the day. The vehicle had a safety driver on board. The route was short enough that kids walked or rode their bikes to school the other four days of the week, according to a spokeswoman for Babcock Ranch. "The shuttle travels at a top speed of 8mph, with the potential to reach speeds of 30mph once the necessary infrastructure is complete," an August press release stated.
So why did the feds shut down this project while allowing lots of others to continue with minimal oversight? NHTSA points to two factors. One is that Transdev is a French company. Different countries have different safety standards, so vehicles designed overseas often can't be used in the U.S. without special permission from U.S. regulators. NHTSA granted Transdev a temporary importation authorization to test its driverless shuttle in the United States. "Transdev requested permission to use the shuttle for a specific demonstration project, not as a school bus," NHTSA said in its Friday statement. "Transdev failed to disclose or receive approval for this use." The other issue, of course, is that the project involves kids. For obvious reasons, federal regulators are going to be extra wary of testing experimental technology on schoolchildren.
So why did the feds shut down this project while allowing lots of others to continue with minimal oversight? NHTSA points to two factors. One is that Transdev is a French company. Different countries have different safety standards, so vehicles designed overseas often can't be used in the U.S. without special permission from U.S. regulators. NHTSA granted Transdev a temporary importation authorization to test its driverless shuttle in the United States. "Transdev requested permission to use the shuttle for a specific demonstration project, not as a school bus," NHTSA said in its Friday statement. "Transdev failed to disclose or receive approval for this use." The other issue, of course, is that the project involves kids. For obvious reasons, federal regulators are going to be extra wary of testing experimental technology on schoolchildren.
"So why did the feds shut down this project while allowing lots of others to continue...?"
Why are the feds even involved? This isn't a issue regarding interstate commerce, which is the most disingenuous excuse they have.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
The testing of self driving buses, shuttles, etc should only be conducted with the employee buses/shuttles to the google and facebook campuses
Kids will be running for the bus, crossing streets in front of it, etc. .
Part of the school bus driver's job is to keep kids safe both inside and outside the bus. This takes experience and awareness. I have no doubt the self driving bus can drive from point A to B. I have no confidence in it's ability to anticipate all the dumb things kids do.
Being Trump admin I'm surprised it wasn't shut down due to the bus not being the oldest and most polluting bus available.
Define "safer." Kids getting exercise and being able to be kids is healthier than being in a rolling sensory deprivation cage.
US is pretty strict (overly so in some ways) on auto safety. Though in the end, US safety regulations are more DIFFERENT, rather than better than EU rules. They're kept different for protectionist reasons.
A gasoline tanker with a cab full of renaissance paintings and panda cubs.
LOL, right, then kids should be walking or cycling to school. If it's planned to be environmentally sound, ample space for pedestrians and cyclists should be designed in.
IDK if you're being sarcastic, but the European cars in the US are built to US rules, and are somewhat different than their local-market models.
Self driving is in its infancy (no pun intended) - too early to use school children as test subjects. NHTSA probably doesn't want headlines which some politicians and social outrage leaders could use to stir up public paranoia to get votes for fear-driven legislature in the name of "think of the children!".
European cars in the US are built to US rules, and are somewhat different than their local-market models.
Indeed. Some of the differences can include: ... and commonly softer suspension and wider seats.
- No differentiated fuel tank holes to only fit nozzles giving the right fuel.
- No key lock on the fuel cap.
- Rear fog lights are usually disconnected, because Americans have no restraint and think they should be used when visibility is more than 10m/30ft.
- No splash guards.
- No knock-off safety mirrors, hood ornaments or antennas.
- No way to manually disable airbags (like for transporting elderly or backward facing child seats)
- No orange rear blinkers.
- No warning triangle or safety vests.
- Yellow headlights (which penetrate fog better) are not allowed.
- For older cars, no longwave radio.
- For newer cars, no DAB+ radio.
- For FM, only bands 9 kHz apart are available, not switchable to 10 kHz.
- No Galileo satellites on the nav system, only GPS and GLONASS. Galileo has too good resolution to have been approved.
- For cars with hotspot functionality, no WiFi channels 12-14 on the 2.4 GHz band.
- Voice assistants are female sounding, not male.
Cars sold in the US also require at least 1 big gulp sized cup holder per seat.
Additionally, in the US, airbags have to be dimensioned for drivers and passengers not wearing seatbelts, while in Europe and elsewhere, they are required to be dimensioned for drivers and passengers who do.
European cars in the US are built to US rules, and are somewhat different than their local-market models.
Indeed. Some of the differences can include: - No differentiated fuel tank holes to only fit nozzles giving the right fuel. - No key lock on the fuel cap. - Rear fog lights are usually disconnected, because Americans have no restraint and think they should be used when visibility is more than 10m/30ft. - No splash guards. - No knock-off safety mirrors, hood ornaments or antennas. - No way to manually disable airbags (like for transporting elderly or backward facing child seats) - No orange rear blinkers. - No warning triangle or safety vests. - Yellow headlights (which penetrate fog better) are not allowed. - For older cars, no longwave radio. - For newer cars, no DAB+ radio. - For FM, only bands 9 kHz apart are available, not switchable to 10 kHz. - No Galileo satellites on the nav system, only GPS and GLONASS. Galileo has too good resolution to have been approved. - For cars with hotspot functionality, no WiFi channels 12-14 on the 2.4 GHz band. - Voice assistants are female sounding, not male. ... and commonly softer suspension and wider seats.
That just gives you a frisson of excitement to type that, doesn't it?
WCPGW: As the feds dug into it, the What Could Possibly Go Wrong operating system was found to be inadequate.
*** Don't be dull.***
No differentiated fuel tank holes to only fit nozzles giving the right fuel.
We don't have that either. You can get the gasoline nozzle into the diesel tank. It is physically possible to do, though. You'd have to make the nozzles different shapes, not just different sizes. Round for gasoline, square for diesel, and triangular for ethanol fuels. If you make them all the right size, then none of them can fit into one another's ports. Sadly, they didn't do this anywhere in the world that I know of.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
BeauHD included a link to a TransDev press release, https://globenewswire.com/news... ,which evidently took the NHTSA two months to read. It clearly states, "Transdev is starting the autonomous school shuttle service this fall to transport students living within the new community to Babcock Neighborhood School."
What am I missing here? I have not seen the "agreement" between NHTSA & TransDev. Without viewing the agreement, all this noise is simply bureaucratic posturing.
Fred
Throughout the entire second half of the 20th Century, we were promised "picture phones" -- you'd be able to SEE the person you were talking to! Self-driving cars are going to be the same way. It's going to take 50 years for it to truly arrive in a usable fashion, and when it does, it's not going to look anything like they predicted.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Text in the mirror explaining how a mirror works.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Why are you listing radio frequencies and other things that wouldn't make any sense in the US?
Because on European cars, you are generally allowed to make a choice (either through menu choices or dip switches), and it only defaults to the local configuration. But if the same car is shipped to the US, that choice has to be removed. You cannot have a car-installed receiver that can receive a 87.5 FM station, even if you drive to somewhere where there is such a station.
On my BMW, the overlay text now says "Objects in the mirror are losing"...
We did at one time. Nozzles that dispensed leaded gasoline were larger than those that dispensed unleaded. Vehicles built for unleaded fuel only had a smaller hole that wouldn't accept the larger nozzle. Even though leaded fuel hasn't been sold here for decades (think it was phased out sometime in the mid-'80s), smog-check technicians still check for the nozzle restrictor on 1975 and newer vehicles, and will fail your vehicle if it doesn't have one.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
I wish I had points :-)
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.