Crash Avoidance Features: Safety Improved, Repairs Complicated
Crash avoidance features have proven safety benefits, but some vehicle owners report problems with the technology following repairs.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
surveyed owners of vehicles equipped with front crash prevention, blind spot detection or rearview or other visibility-enhancing cameras.
Under normal circumstances, these features are quite resilient. But vehicle repairs can make it necessary to calibrate the cameras and sensors that the features rely on to ensure they work properly — a process that can be complicated and expensive.
“Most of the more than 3,000 owners we contacted said they had never needed to have their crash avoidance features repaired, but for the minority of owners who did, the problems weren’t always resolved easily,” said IIHS Senior Research Scientist Alexandra Mueller, who designed the survey.
Republic Services Unveils First Fully Integrated Electric Recycle and Waste Truck
Republic Services unveiled the first fully integrated electric recycling and waste collection truck. It will begin operating two fully integrated electric recycling and waste truck prototypes this fall and expects EVs to represent half of its new truck purchases in the next five years.
Republic provided insights to Oshkosh engineers regarding operational, safety and ergonomic features for the truck. The chassis and body are designed as a single unit, maximizing interior space and creating a unique, streamlined exterior. Safety features include an enlarged windshield for improved visibility, 360-degree cameras, lane-departure sensors and automated braking.
FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse: What You Need to Know
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires that individuals who hold a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and their employers follow alcohol and drug testing rules.
The FMCSA Clearinghouse contains records of violations, including positive drug or alcohol test results and test refusals. It is the responsibility of employers to query the FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse database.
To help make this process easier, we’ve launched a new solution to help automate the query process. Supervision’s Clearinghouse Monitoring service is integrated with our Continuous License Monitoring program and works with your existing active driver roster.
The Unexpected Green Consequences of Self-Driving Cars
Research out of MIT seems to suggest that self-driving vehicles may detract from the low-emissions aspirations of EVs, thanks to the high energy demands of the on-board computers used to compute self-driving data.
The MIT study found that 90% of the time, unless computational power usage is kept under 1.2 kW, the emissions of autonomous driving would dramatically exceed that of data centers. The researchers found that "1 billion autonomous vehicles, each driving for one hour per day with a computer consuming 840 watts, would consume enough energy to generate about the same amount of emissions as data centers currently do."
Traffic Lights Could Have a 4th Color in The Future. Here’s Why.
Researchers at North Carolina State University are proposing an additional white traffic light that would signal to drivers autonomous vehicles (AVs) are managing the upcoming intersection of traffic flow intelligently. The thinking is that both traffic congestion levels and overall fuel consumption could be reduced.
The cars and trucks that are driving themselves won't need to 'look' at the white traffic light, because they'll be communicating with it wirelessly. However, it will act as a sign to human drivers and passengers that they should follow the lead of the self-driving vehicles moving through the intersection.
