Time for U.S. Fatality Reduction Targets

Time for U.S. Fatality Reduction Targets
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-01-2016 at 12:00 pm

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a blog implicating the insurance industry in the high level of highway fatalities in the U.S. As part of that blog (“The Insurance Industry Has Blood on Its Hands”) I suggested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ought to look into developing a fatality-reduction… Read More


Apple, Alphabet, AT&T – We Have a Problem

Apple, Alphabet, AT&T – We Have a Problem
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-10-2016 at 12:00 pm

Poor Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Emmy award-winning chief medical correspondent for CNN, a neurosurgeon and professor and now an explainer of distracted driving as part of CNN’s weeklong report on Driving While Distracted which concluded last Saturday. He offers a detailed medical explanation of driver distraction as only a neurosurgeon… Read More


Car Theft Making a Comeback

Car Theft Making a Comeback
by Roger C. Lanctot on 07-24-2016 at 4:00 pm

In the U.K., where vehicle theft has been in a steep decline for the past 20 years, the most widespread advice given by police to car owners is: keep your car keys in your freezer. The most common source of vulnerability these days is the interception of RF signals between keyfobs and cars. For a time, several years ago, there was a rash… Read More


NTSB Entry Raises the Stakes of Tesla Probe

NTSB Entry Raises the Stakes of Tesla Probe
by Roger C. Lanctot on 07-10-2016 at 12:00 pm

The National Transportation Safety Board’s entry into the investigation of the first fatal crash of a Tesla Model S is a monumental turning point in the autonomous driving movement. While long-time observers of the NTSB note that it only gets involved in investigations where broader implications exist, the agency’s interest… Read More


Of Steering Wheels and Buggy Whips

Of Steering Wheels and Buggy Whips
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-21-2016 at 12:00 pm

At the heart of automated driving is control of the steering wheel, gas and brake pedals in the car. Based on NHTSA’s recently negotiated agreement with car makers, those selling cars in the U.S. will add automatic emergency braking to their cars by 2022. So it seems that we humans are already ceding control of the brake pedal.… Read More


NHTSA and Google’s War on Drivers

NHTSA and Google’s War on Drivers
by Roger C. Lanctot on 02-15-2016 at 4:00 pm

Google and the National Highway Traffic Safety Admnistration (NHTSA) have recently joined forces in a battle against drivers. It is an unusual alliance and one with significant implications for the future of automotive safety in the U.S. and globally.

That alliance was manifest this week in a letter sent by NHTSA to Chris Urmson… Read More


Automotive Deaths and Big Data

Automotive Deaths and Big Data
by Roger C. Lanctot on 02-07-2016 at 8:00 pm

Nothing focuses peoples’ attention quite as effectively as death and there’s been a lot of it on U.S. highways lately. Preliminary figures released this week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveal that for the first nine months of 2015 traffic fatalities increased 9.3%.… Read More


Your Car Will Never be Secure

Your Car Will Never be Secure
by Roger C. Lanctot on 01-24-2016 at 4:00 pm

The automotive cybersecurity forum put on by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) yesterday in Washington, DC, surfaced a wide range of issues and conflicts at the heart of the connected car industry. One clear takeaway from the event was that cars will never be secure.
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2015’s Unfinished Automotive Business

2015’s Unfinished Automotive Business
by Roger C. Lanctot on 01-02-2016 at 4:00 pm

The farther we come, the farther we have to go. While progress in advancing personal transportation was made in 2015, the year closes with glaring elements of unfinished business threatening to impede further progress toward mitigating highway fatalities and reducing emissions and congestion. These areas of unfinished business… Read More