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The Club PUBlication 6/24/2019

6/24/2019

High-tech systems prevent more and more crashes and injuries

By Mark Phelan Detroit Free Press

JUNE 18, 2019 — 10:41AM

Combining computer vision, machine learning and sensor fusion, a system by Caruma Technologies improves driver safety by monitoring specific details about the driver to detect fatigue, attentiveness and driver distraction.

Traffic accidents are down, and with them vehicle damage and presumably injuries, thanks to driver assistance systems that are increasingly common on new cars and trucks. That's the conclusion by a variety of experts.

Companies like Volvo and General Motors have gone public with goals of a world with zero automotive fatalities, but what nobody's saying is that features in today's vehicles are already preventing accidents. New pedestrian-detection systems will address the rise in pedestrian deaths.

More than half of owners of new cars with the systems said the features helped prevent a crash in the first 90 days they had the vehicle, according to a 2018 study by J.D. Power.

The study's results include:
• 49% of owners said blind spot alert helped avoid a crash.
• 42% said backup cameras and parking sensors did.
• 35% credited forward collision alert or automatic braking with preventing a crash.

"Driver assistance and safety systems will continue for the foreseeable future to be among the most important contributors to reducing crashes," MIT researcher and autonomous-vehicle expert Bryan Reimer said.

Features like blind spot alert, collision alert and autonomous emergency braking "provide the strongest near-term potential to enhancing safety on our roads," Reimer added.

The features, which automakers lump under the heading of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems or ADAS, are available everything from sub-$20,000 small cars and SUVs to six-figure luxury vehicles.

"Driver assistance technologies not only keep drivers and passengers safe, but they keep other drivers and pedestrians safe, too," according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), which sets standards and evaluates vehicle safety.

Automakers are increasingly offering various ADAS features on all or most models to keep up with safety regulations and demand from safety-conscious shoppers. Unfortunately, each automaker has its own name for the systems, complicating comparison shopping.

There's no hard data on ADAS benefits yet — at least in part because of the challenge of counting accidents that didn't happen — but off the record, one automaker said it's selling fewer repair parts for cars that do have the systems, and suspect the reason is that they're involved in fewer crashes.

Another reported a case where Michigan's official state fender-bender, a deer in the road, led to minimal damage to the grille, as opposed to the common vehicle write-off. The deer reportedly didn't fare as well.

AAA Michigan supports the systems, but with a Catch-22 that would make Yossarian wince: The systems reduce accidents, but those accidents that still happen are likely to be more expensive because of expensive sensors in vehicle bumpers, lights and grilles.

Lower accident rates may be built into the insurance cost for new cars with modern ADAS, but don't expect a checkbox discount when you shell out a couple of hundred bucks extra for blind-spot alert, one of the systems automakers continue to charge for, because people who've experienced it are willing to pay.

Advanced driver-assistance glossary

Blind spot and cross-traffic alerts: Sensors that let you know when a car approaches from behind to your right or left. Also alerts to oncoming traffic when you back out of a parking spot.
Forward collision warning: Lights and sounds that go off when you're approaching the vehicle ahead of you at a speed that suggests an accident could happen. The best systems are adjustable to accommodate people who brake late or want more notice.
Automatic braking: The brakes apply without the driver doing anything. May work in traffic, parking lots, or both.
Pedestrian detection and braking: Sensors that detect and recognize people on foot in the car's path. Some also recognize cyclists and large animals. No detection for dogs or cats yet.
Lane departure alert and assistance: Alerts if the car is about to cross the lane marker without indicating a lane change. Some systems try to steer the vehicle back into its lane (assistance). Others just tell the driver (alert).
Lane centering: Similar to lane departure assist, but centering more subtly keeps the vehicle in the middle of its lane, reducing the effort and attention required from the driver.
Adaptive cruise control: Braking and throttle control to keep the car at a set speed and distance behind other vehicles. The following distance can be adjusted for traffic conditions and driver preference.
Backup camera: Now required on all new vehicles. Thanks, NHTSA. Sometimes linked to sensors for automatic rear braking.

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The Club PUBlication 06/17/2019

6/17/2019

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BUSINESS 51110198
Tesla Model 3 riding a bumpy road. Sluggish demand leads to price cuts, stock warnings.
By Neal E. Boudette New York Times

JUNE 10, 2019 — 9:00PM

Last week, the stock of Tesla, once the darling of the electric car market, was at a three-year low. It has rallied since then.

Tesla's Model 3 electric sedan was heralded this year by Consumer Reports as the most satisfying car on the market. Then owners started to complain that cars had arrived with cracked windows, leaks or unreliable video screens. In some places, Tesla turned to outside body shops to repair scratches and other paint defects before cars were delivered to customers.

In Rocklin, Calif., near Sacramento, Kniesel's Collision has a steady business touching up unsold cars for the nearby Tesla delivery center.

"Sometimes transport damages the paint," said Justin Kniesel, the chain's director of operations. "Sometimes there are issues from the factory."

Tesla said it has made design and manufacturing improvements in recent months that have significantly reduced quality problems. But the company and its chief executive, Elon Musk, are contending with some more fundamental blemishes.

Demand for the Model S luxury sedan and Model X SUV is so sluggish that the automaker recently cut prices to lure buyers. New questions have arisen about Tesla's self-driving technology. And some of the company's staunchest backers have turned bearish. In the first three months of the year, T. Rowe Price, once one of its biggest shareholders, sold off 80% of its shares in the company, according to regulatory filings.

By the start of last week, Tesla's stock was at a three-year low. It rallied after reports in two online publications lifted hopes for a sales rebound in the second quarter, a prospect that Musk cited in an e-mail to employees in May. Even so, the shares are down more than 40% in the past six months, wiping out almost $30 billion in value.

One sign of Wall Street's ebbing confidence came from Adam Jonas, a Morgan Stanley analyst who long held high expectations for Tesla as an investment. In a recent report, he set his target price for the stock — now trading around $200 a share — at $230 and said it could go to $391 if the company achieved robust sales in China and advances in self-driving technology and ride services. But he also warned that the share price could fall to $10 if Tesla's strategies did not pan out.

Rather than a fast-growing tech company, he told clients in a conference call, Tesla now looks like a "distressed credit and restructuring story."

Tesla remains a force in the industry. The Model 3, on the market only about a year, is the top-selling midsize luxury car, outpacing popular gas-powered models like the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar have produced electric models, but none have matched Tesla's in battery range.

And as the year began, the company's toughest problems seemed to be in the past. After initial production troubles with the Model 3, its assembly line in Fremont, Calif., was churning out the new sedan, and customers were flocking to its stores. It reported profits for both the third and fourth quarters of 2018. Musk felt confident enough to predict the company would remain profitable "every quarter going forward."

But its business has gotten off track. On Jan. 1, the federal tax credit available to Tesla customers fell to $3,750 from $7,500. That effectively increased the cost of its cars and caused sales to slow in the United States. Sales of the Model 3 in Europe and China got off to a bumpy start. After laying off 7% of its workforce, Tesla reported a first-quarter loss of $702 million. The company expects to lose money again in the second quarter.

The recent concerns go beyond Tesla's bottom line. Its autopilot driver-assistance system has come under renewed scrutiny after a Model 3 hit a semitrailer truck in Florida, killing the driver. Autopilot was operating, and neither it nor the driver activated the brakes.

Still, the company said the system significantly reduced the likelihood of crashes. In the first quarter of the year, Tesla drivers using autopilot had one crash for every 2.87 million miles driven, the company said, while data from federal safety regulators shows that the national average for all vehicles is one every 436,000 miles.

Other hurdles lie ahead. On July 1, the tax credit for Tesla buyers will decline again, to $1,875, and that could further hamper sales in the United States, said Jeffrey Osborne of the investment bank Cowen & Co.

"Most people think that's when the rubber meets the road," he said.

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The Club PUBlication 06/10/2019

6/10/2019

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Apple previews new software as it diversifies beyond iPhones
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE Associated Press

JUNE 3, 2019 — 6:55PM

Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose on Monday.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Apple, beset by falling iPhone sales, announced upcoming changes to its phone and computer software intended to highlight its increasing emphasis on digital services and to further position it as a fierce guardian of personal privacy.

The revisions previewed Monday during a conference in San Jose, California, included a new feature that will let people log into apps and other services with an Apple ID instead of relying on similar sign-in options from Facebook and Google — two companies that mine data to sell advertising. Apple said it won't collect tracking information about users from that service.

As part of that feature, Apple will also let users mask their true email addresses when signing into apps and services. That will involve faux email addresses that automatically forward to the user's personal email. When the next version of the iPhone software comes out this fall, Apple is also promising to give people the option of limiting the time apps can follow their locations and prevent tracking through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals.

The revisions are part of Apple's ongoing attempts to differentiate itself from other technology giants, many of whom offer free services in exchange for personal data such as whereabouts and personal interests, which in turn fuels the advertising that generates most of their revenue. Apple, by contrast, makes virtually all its money selling devices and services, making it easier for CEO Tim Cook to embrace "privacy is a fundamental human right" as one of the company's battle cries in an age of increasingly intrusive technology.

Monday's software showcase is an annual rite that Apple holds for thousands of programmers at the end of spring. This year, however, Apple is grappling with its biggest challenge since its visionary co-founder, Steve Jobs, died nearly eight years ago.

Although still popular, the iPhone is no longer reliably driving Apple's profits the way it has for the past decade. Sales have fallen sharply for the past two quarters, and could suffer another blow if China's government targets the iPhone in retaliation for the trade war being waged by Another potential problem looms for Apple. Regulatory complaints and a consumer lawsuit both question whether Apple has been abusing the power of its iPhone app store to thwart competition and gouge smaller technology companies that rely on it to attract users and sell their services.

A crowd waits in line before an announcement at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif.,

Apple is trying to adapt by squeezing money from digital services tailored for the more than 900 million iPhones currently in use. The transition includes a Netflix-like video service that Apple teased in March and thrust to center stage again Monday with a preview of one of the new series due out this fall, "For All Mankind."

But the iPhone remains Apple's marquee attraction. The next version of its iPhone operating software, iOS 13, manages to offer both privacy features and an aesthetic "dark mode" for the screen — a feature already available on Macs.

Apple executives also claimed that iOS 13 will open apps faster and features a new version of the Face ID system will unlock your phone 30 percent faster. The software also will introduce more artificial intelligence to enable Apple's digital assistant, Sir, to speak more like a human and, if so assigned, automatically tackle even more tasks, such as reading incoming messages out loud as Apple tries to catch up to the digital assistants made by Google and Amazon. Apple's improvements in artificial intelligence also hatched a new photo-management tool that picks out the best photos taken on a certain day or in an entire month or year.

Apple Maps will get the biggest makeover of any of the company's built-in apps. Beginning with iOS 13 the maps will include granular street and place data that Apple says it collected with street and aerial footage — tactics its largest mobile app rival Google has been using for years.

Apple also unveiled several new apps for its smartwatch, including independent apps that don't rely on the iPhone in another sign of the company's determination to lessen its dependence on that product. The App Store will be available on the watch, making it possible for people to find and download apps right on their watch — expanding the availability of purchases that generate commissions for Apple.

The iPad will also get its own operating system instead of piggybacking on the iPhone software as Apple tries to cater to consumers who would like the tablet to be able to do more of the things a laptop computer can do.

In its laptop and desktop businesses, Apple is breaking up its iTunes software for computers into three apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV. Apple debuted iTunes 16 years ago to sell and manage digital music for the iPod, which paved the way for the iPhone.

Apple has already de-emphasized iTunes on the iPhone and iPad, but now it will do the same on the Mac as well later this year. ITunes will still be available on Macs using older versions of the operating system, as well on all machines running on Microsoft's Windows.

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The Club PUBlication 06/03/2019

6/3/2019

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Tornadoes carve a path through Ohio and Indiana; 1 killed
By ANGIE WANG , JOHN MINCHILLO and KANTELE FRANKO Associated Press
MAY 28, 2019 — 1:20PM

DORAL CHENOWETH III – ASSOCIATED PRESS This aerial photo shows tornado damage at the Westbrooke Village Apartment complex in Trotwood, Ohio, Tuesday, May 28, 2019.

BROOKVILLE, Ohio — A swarm of apparent tornadoes so tightly packed that one may have crossed the path carved by another tore across Indiana and Ohio overnight, smashing homes and blowing out windows. One person was killed and dozens were injured.

The storms were among 53 twisters that forecasters said may have touched down Monday across eight states stretching eastward from Idaho and Colorado.

The winds knocked houses off their foundations, toppled trees and hurled so much debris that it could be seen on radar. Highway crews had to use snowplows to clear an Ohio interstate.

Some of the heaviest damage was reported just outside Dayton, Ohio.

"I just got down on all fours and covered my head with my hands," said Francis Dutmers, who with his wife headed for the basement of their home in Vandalia, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside Dayton, when the storm hit with a "very loud roar" Monday night. The winds blew out windows around his house, filled rooms with debris and took down most of his trees.

In Celina, Ohio, 81-year-old Melvin Dale Hannah was killed when winds blew a parked car into his house, Mayor Jeffrey Hazel said Tuesday.

"There's areas that truly look like a war zone," Hazel said.

Storm reports posted online by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center showed that 14 suspected tornadoes touched down in Indiana, 11 in Colorado and nine in Ohio. Six suspected tornadoes were reported in Iowa, five in Nebraska, four in Illinois, three in Minnesota and one in Idaho.

Thunderstorms that spun off the Colorado twisters dropped hail as large as tennis balls, with pea-size hail reported in the Denver area. In Nebraska, which was hit with hail more than 2 inches in diameter, dozens of drivers pulled off Interstate 80 with broken windshields.

Forecasters warned of the possibility of powerful thunderstorms during the Tuesday afternoon rush hour in the Kansas City area, as well as more bad weather in Ohio.

A tornado with winds up to 140 mph (225 kph) struck near Trotwood, Ohio, eight miles (12 kilometers) from Dayton, and Mayor Mary McDonald reported "catastrophic damage" in the community of 24,500 people. Several apartment buildings were damaged or destroyed, including one complex where the entire roof was torn away, and at least three dozen people were treated at emergency rooms for cuts, bumps and bruises.

"If I didn't move quick enough, what could have happened?" said Erica Bohannon of Trotwood, who hid in a closet with her son and their dog. She emerged to find itself looking at the sky. The roof had blown away.

The Trotwood mayor said five busloads of displaced residents were taken to a church that opened as a shelter.

Just before midnight, about 40 minutes after that tornado cut through, the weather service tweeted that another one was crossing its path, churning up enough debris to be visible on radar.

In Brookville, west of Dayton, the storm peeled roofs off schools, destroyed a barn and heavily damaged houses.

In Dayton, only a few minor injuries were reported. Fire Chief Jeffrey Payne called that "pretty miraculous," attributing it to people heeding early warnings. Sirens went off ahead of the storm.

Mayor Nan Whaley urged people to check on their neighbors, especially those who are housebound. A boil-water advisory was issued after the storms knocked out power to Dayton's pumping stations, and Dayton Power & Light said 64,000 customers were left without electricity.

Many roads in the Dayton area were impassable. A high school gymnasium in Dayton was designated an emergency shelter until authorities realized it was unusable.

In Indiana, a twister touched down Monday evening in Pendleton, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) from Indianapolis. At least 75 homes were damaged there and in nearby Huntsville, said Madison County Emergency Management spokesman Todd Harmeson. No serious injuries were reported.

Pendleton residents were urged to stay in their homes Tuesday morning because of downed trees, wires and utility poles.

"People are getting antsy. I know they want to get outdoors, and I know they want to see what's going on in the neighborhood," Harmeson said, "but we still have power lines down. We still have hazards out there."

Outbreaks of 50 or more tornadoes have happened 63 times in U.S. history, with three instances on record of more than 100 twisters, said Patrick Marsh of the Storm Prediction Center. That includes a deadly April 27, 2011, "super outbreak" of 173 tornadoes.

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