Turbo Diesel Registry
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/594528
60 www.turbodieselregister.com TDR 90 TDReview . . . . Continued Details, Details, Details (Liability?) Yep, we knew the subject of liability would come up. It is difficult for me to believe what I just read, that Volvo will assume the liability for an accident. However, the 2017 project is a pledge to sell only 100 cars and my bet is that they'll be sold to 100 Volvo employees that would be covered under a Volvo corporate insurance umbrella. Seriously, "my bet" is only pure speculation, but I cannot imagine that future liability would be assumed by the vehicle manufacturer. Just remember, insurance companies and lawyers are prime political lobbyists. Or am I just too cynical? This is a truck/truck industry magazine. I'll stay away from topics I don't understand. However, to clear-up the liability question, I would reflect back to the opening remarks from the NHTSB's Mark Rosekind, "But we already know what's involved (from aviation precedent); we already know what the risks are. Driver education and human behavior and responsibility are not going to go away, even when we get self-driving vehicles." Details, Details, Details (Now!) All rightee then, Volvo is going to release 100 cars in 2017. How is the rest of the industry positioned? Insight comes to us from Automotive News, July 21, 2015, in an article titled, "The Vision for Self-Driving Cars? 2020." "The self-driving car is moving from research lab to product plan, with a wave of advanced features due to hit the market by 2020, automakers and suppliers say. "Automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Nissan Motor Corp. have made big promises about autonomous driving since 2010, when Google Inc. surprised the world by revealing it was developing vehicles that use sensors and software to drive themselves. "'Our milestones are coming from our customers,' said Steffen Linkenback, director of engineering systems and technology for North America at supplier Continental AG. 'Everybody is asking us to be ready to introduce this technology in 2020, so it's clear that this technology will be on our road map for this time frame.' "Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced that the company will offer traffic-jam assist and an automatic parking system by the end of 2016, followed by an automatic lane changing feature in 2018. Then, by 2020, the company plans to offer a more advanced system that can navigate city streets without relying on the driver. "To that end, Ghosn outlined a step-by-step product pipeline that will bring the Nissan and Infiniti fleets closer to the 2020 goal. Nissan did not say what nameplates will get the new technologies first. But the Leaf and Infiniti models are expected to be early showcases. "Nissan will deploy two new technologies—a traffic-jam pilot that will allow autonomous driving on congested highways and an automatic parking system—by the end of 2016, according to Ghosn. "'They are suitable only for tightly controlled road environments, at slow speeds, and face a regulatory minefield,' he said. 'That is why Nissan is focused on autonomous-drive technologies that we know will work and can be introduced over the next four to five years.' "Ghosn said it is natural for automakers to collaborate with Google in its project to develop self-driving cars and that the industry benefits from Google's breakthroughs. But he warned that automakers must keep a tight grip on the wheel and not surrender the technology running tomorrow's cars to industry interlopers. "'I think all carmakers are extremely cautious about maintaining the control of their own cars. This is a kind of cautious collaboration,' Ghosn said. 'We obviously don't want to become just a kind of simple common hardware. We want to keep the attractiveness of the product and the control of the product.'" The corporate game of winners and losers will have all kinds of intrigue. The twists and turns of the legal and political systems (worldwide, too) will add to the game of winner and loser. CONCLUSION Details, Details, Details and the Future of the 5P [ Personal Prius Pod Painted Pink ( or Purple )] Hey, the "Bottom Line" by three industry experts was presented back at the beginning of this article (page 55) just after I introduced the cutesy 5P jargon. Flip back several pages and read their forecast. Seriously, putting this article together was a lot like a research assignment for a technology or writing class you had back in your younger years. If you are like me, I am enamored by the autonomous concept. The corporate game of winners and losers will have all kinds of intrigue. The twists and turns of the legal and political systems (worldwide, too) will add to the game of winner and loser. For now, like Kevin Cameron, "this is giving me a headache, so I'd better stop here." Robert Patton TDR Staff