Intel Says it Will Build a Fleet of 100 Fully Autonomous Vehicles
Fresh off its acquisition of auto-visual company Mobileye, Intel announced today that it will build a fleet of Level 4, fully self-driving vehicles for testing in the US, Israel, and Europe.
The first vehicles will hit the road later this year, and the fleet will eventually scale to more than 100 automobiles.
The cars will be Level 4 autonomous, meaning that they will be capable of handing most driving situations themselves, whereas Level 5 is largely theoretical and covers complete automation in any condition.
2017’s Strictest & Most Lenient States on DUI
With drunk driving resulting in roughly 1 million arrests, 10,000 deaths and $44 billion in economic damage each year, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released an in-depth report on 2017’s Strictest & Most Lenient States on DUI.
In the interest of underscoring the financial downsides of driving drunk, WalletHub compared the penalties in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 15 key metrics, ranging from fines and minimum jail time to “ignition interlock device” requirements. Below, you can find an overview of the strictest and most lenient states, followed by some additional highlights from the report.
Driverless-Car Outlook Shifts as Intel Takes Over Mobileye
About three years ago, the chip giant Intel seemed like a bystander in Silicon Valley's race to develop self-driving cars.
Google was zooming ahead, producing and testing autonomous cars of its own design and racking up millions of miles in test drives. Uber, the ride-hailing service, was close behind. Tesla introduced its Autopilot feature to its electric cars, using technology from the Israeli firm Mobileye.
Self-Driving Cars Are Confusing Drivers—And Spooking Insurers
The great promise of autonomous vehicles, aside from saving you from the tyranny of commuting, is their ability to save lives by replacing stupid humans with intelligent computers.
But these cars, at least in the short-term, could make driving riskier because people don't yet understand the technology or just how it works.
British auto insurance companies call this "autonomous ambiguity," and it is not an abstract issue. Automakers like Audi, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, and Volvo already or will very soon offer vehicles that do some of the driving for you.
Steering Clear of the Impaired ‘Other Driver’
According to the New York Times, in 2016, opioid deaths in America likely exceeded 59,000 and that heartbreaking statistic is expected to rise in 2017 as the epidemic worsens.
In Safety & Risk this week, Art Liggio, president and CEO of Driving Dynamics, has written an eye-opening article about this national emergency. Liggio says, “The latest research shows a seven-fold increase since 1995 in the number of drivers killed while under the influence of prescription opioids.”
He answers the question: So, what should you be communicating to your fleet to steer clear of the oncoming danger? Even if you don't manage a fleet, I urge you to download Driving Dynamics' free safety bulletin: The Other Driver -- 10 Warning Signs.
Enjoy this issue and please check in with FleetManagementWeekly.com for daily updates!
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
