Category: Safety Topics

  • January 31st, 2017

Robotic cars are great at monitoring other cars, and they’re getting better at noticing pedestrians, squirrels, and birds. The main challenge, though, is posed by the lightest, quietest, swerviest vehicles on the road. “Bicycles are probably the most difficult detection problem that autonomous vehicle systems face,” says UC Berkeley research engineer Steven Shladover. Nuno Vasconcelos, […]

  • January 19th, 2017

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced ten automated vehicle proving ground test sites that will form a Community of Practice with the goal of advancing autonomous and connected vehicle technology. The proving ground designees were announced Jan. 19 and include: Pittsburgh and the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute Texas AV Proving Grounds […]

  • January 4th, 2017

During the last year alone, a self-driving truck has completed a commercial beer run, two automotive giants have spun out new divisions focused on “smart mobility,” and one of the world’s biggest car companies unveiled a new electric vehicle amid Tesla-level intrigue. Not since the days of Henry Ford’s first mass market family cars has the […]

  • January 4th, 2017

The DoT has been tasked with coming up with a marijuana intoxication limit. Last month, President Obama signed the $305 billion Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act into law, providing funding and new regulations for the country’s aging highways. This law has special significance for medical and recreational pot users, as it requires the government to […]

  • January 1st, 2017

If commuters only understood. That is the prevailing mentality of truck drivers when it comes to courtesy, and the lack thereof, on Florida’s highways. Jacksonville-based truckers say if people better understood the challenges of driving 18-wheelers, they’d be less inclined to spar with them on the roads. Lane changes and merging trigger the vast majority […]

  • December 29th, 2016

When it comes to the fledgling world of self-driving cars, most of the country exists in a legal gray area that is unlikely to change in 2017. Nine states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that address the cars, some of which lay out clear ground rules for permits and where […]

  • December 12th, 2016

FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency’s administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA’s drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).