Automated vehicle pilot projects will roll out in the U.K. and in six to 10 U.S. cities this year, with the first unveiling projected to be in Tampa, Fla. as soon as late spring. The following year, trial programs will launch in 12 to 20 more U.S. locations, which means driverless cars will be on roads in up to 30 U.S. cities by the end of 2016. The trials will be run by Comet LLC, a consulting firm focused on automated vehicle commercialization.
“We’re looking at college campuses, theme parks, airports, downtown areas—places like that,” Corey Clothier, a strategist for automated transportation systems who runs the firm told, The New York Observer.
At the first test site in Tampa, the plan is to start with public transit around the Museum of Science and Industry and eventually expand to the University of Southern Florida campus, as well as the neighboring City of Temple Terrace. The Comet team is also planning trials in two other Florida cities, in Greenville, S.C. and in Seattle, where the 70-person buses will be used in public transit.
At 25 to 40 percent cheaper, the cost to ride the driverless public transit vehicles will be significantly less expensive than traditional buses and trains, according to Mr. Clothier. They’ll also be far less expensive to operate. The vehicles are electric, rechargeable and could cost as low as $1 to $3 to run per day.
“You can imagine a lot of the journalists wanted to see this thing run into pedestrians, so they were almost jumping in front of it,” Mr. Reed said laughing. “But it was doing what it was supposed to do and stopping.”
He described his first experience in a driverless vehicle as feeling “vulnerable at first,” but said that it quickly became very comfortable.
“It’s a bit unnerving to begin with because you realize the system is in control and you’re relying on the sensors and brakes to keep you safe, but very quickly after seeing it respond to pedestrians and such, you see it work and become very comfortable. I became relaxed even,” he said, adding how happy we’ll all be able to just watch Netflix while our cars drive us around.
DYI Comments: Driverless vehicles will be arriving much faster than expected. This change is being propelled to save on mountainous labor costs in our transportation industry. Closed type circuits for hotels, hospitals, universities, etc. will be the first to switch. This will serve as a test bed for the new technology which will provide the base such as city bus services. The big labor reducer is long haul trucking. Once that is in place then driverless cars and trucks for individuals will quickly fall into place.
Irving Kahn, the world's oldest investor, dies at 109
The investment veteran, who doubled his money by predicting the 1929 crash, was a disciple of Benjamin Graham. He spoke to the Telegraph last summer about how he picked winners
Irving Kahn, feted as the world's oldest professional investor, has died aged 109.Just six months ago he told the Telegraph, in one of his last interviews, how he doubled his money by side-stepping the 1929 Wall Street crash.
Co-founder and chairman of Kahn Brothers Group Inc, Mr Kahn was a disciple and colleague of Benjamin Graham, Columbia Business School professor and arguably the most influential investment expert of the 20th Century.
Mr Kahn said: “In the Thirties Ben Graham and others developed security analysis and the concept of value investing, which has been the focus of my life ever since. Value investing was the blueprint for analytical investing, as opposed to speculation.”
Graham was a lecturer at Columbia University in New York, where his pupils included Warren Buffett, and Mr Kahn was his teaching assistant. “They’d take the subway to Columbia together,” said Tom Kahn, Irving Kahn’s son, who also works for the family investment firm.
What he said about the market last summerMr Kahn said he was finding few bargains after the S&P 500 index had hit repeated record highs.
“I try not to pontificate about the market, but I can say that my son and I find very few instances of value when we look at the market today. That is usually a sign of widespread speculation,” he said.
US Stock Market: Is the Bell Finally Ringing Loudly Enough?
When do retail investors and corporations usually agree to such an extent that there was never a better time to buy stocks than now? As a rule, they are only doing so after the market has risen for several years. Needless to say, they also agreed that the absolute worst time to buy equities was when the S&P 500 traded below 700 points in early 2009. Stock buybacks collapsed at the time and retail investors yanked record amounts from stocks. The Daily Sentiment Index showed a mere 3% of S&P futures traders were bullish at the March 2009 low.
The caveat mentioned above that when buyback records were broken in 2006, the market still kept rising for a while before entering the twilight zone of the financial crisis should of course not be dismissed out of hand. However, no two periods of market history are exactly the same. What worked last time, may not work in the same manner this time. There is another parallel with 2006, and that is the fact that the market was overvalued on both occasions – only, it is a lot more overvalued now. As we have previously pointed out, in terms of the median stock, the stock market is actually at its most overvalued level in history.
DYI
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