GPS World

Tag: President Obama

  • US government says it will invest $4B in self-driving cars

    In his final State of the Union address, delivered Jan. 12, President Obama signaled his intent to invest in a 21st century transportation system.

    U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has revealed part of the president’s proposal: a 10-year, nearly $4 billion investment to accelerate the development and adoption of safe vehicle automation through real-world pilot projects.

    Secretary Foxx also announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) is removing potential roadblocks to the integration of innovative, transformational automotive technology that can significantly improve safety, mobility and sustainability.

    Secretary Foxx made the announcement at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, where he was joined by leaders in technology, executives of traditional auto manufacturers, and newcomers to the industry.

    “We are on the cusp of a new era in automotive technology with enormous potential to save lives, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and transform mobility for the American people,” said Secretary Foxx. “Today’s actions and those we will pursue in the coming months will provide the foundation and the path forward for manufacturers, state officials, and consumers to use new technologies and achieve their full safety potential.”

    The president’s FY17 budget proposal would provide nearly $4 billion over 10 years for pilot programs to test connected vehicle systems in designated corridors throughout the country, and work with industry leaders to ensure a common multistate framework for connected and autonomous vehicles.

    Secretary Foxx also unveiled policy guidance that updates the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) 2013 preliminary policy statement on autonomous vehicles. The new guidance, just released, reflects the reality that the widespread deployment of fully autonomous vehicles is now feasible.

    “NHTSA is using all of its available tools to accelerate the deployment of technologies that can eliminate 94 percent of fatal crashes involving human error,” said NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind. “We will work with state partners toward creating a consistent national policy on these innovations, provide options now and into the future for manufacturers seeking to deploy autonomous vehicles, and keep our safety mission paramount at every stage.”

    DOT is committing to the following milestones in 2016:

    • Within six months, NHTSA will work with industry and other stakeholders to develop guidance on the safe deployment and operation of autonomous vehicles, providing a common understanding of the performance characteristics necessary for fully autonomous vehicles and the testing and analysis methods needed to assess them.
    • Within six months, NHTSA will work with state partners, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and other stakeholders to develop a model state policy on automated vehicles that offers a path to consistent national policy.
    • Secretary Foxx encouraged manufacturers to submit rule interpretation requests where appropriate to help enable technology innovation. For example, NHTSA responded to an interpretation request from BMW confirming that the company’s remote self-parking system meets federal safety standards. Click here to read this interpretation.
    • When interpretation authority is not sufficient, Secretary Foxx further encouraged manufacturers to submit requests for use of the agency’s exemption authority to allow the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles. Exemption authority allows NHTSA to enable the deployment of up to 2,500 vehicles for up to two years if the agency determines that an exemption would ease development of new safety features.
    • DOT and NHTSA will develop the new tools necessary for this new era of vehicle safety and mobility, and will consider seeking new authorities when they are necessary to ensure that fully autonomous vehicles, including those designed without a human driver in mind, are deployable in large numbers when they are demonstrated to provide an equivalent or higher level of safety than is now available.

    In 2015, Secretary Foxx refocused the national dialogue about the future needs of our transportation infrastructure by releasing Beyond Traffic, a report examining the challenges facing America’s infrastructure over the next three decades. This draft framework has already influenced decisions by elected officials, planners and stakeholders nationwide, the DOT said.

    In December 2015, the Secretary launched the Smart City Challenge, a national competition to implement bold, data-driven ideas that make transportation safer, easier and more reliable. He also worked to accelerate the DOT’s efforts to incorporate vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology into new vehicles.

  • Signed budget includes full GPS funding, except for $2M IIF reduction

    On Nov. 25, 2015, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016, after vetoing a previous version. The enacted NDAA complies with the two-year budget agreement, which called for a reduction in defense spending.

    The act reduces the GPS IIF line item by $2 million, citing “unjustified support growth” from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, but otherwise recommends full funding for the Air Force GPS program ($936.775 million).

    The NDAA also includes three GPS-related policy provisions: Reporting Requirement (Section 1621), Oversight Council (Section 1603), and M-Code Equipage (Section 1605).

    New Space Law Mentions PNT Coordination Office

    On Nov. 25, the president also signed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. Title III of the act codifies the support that the Department of Commerce (DOC) provides to the National Coordination Office for Space-Based PNT.

    Specifically, it tasks DOC’s Office of Space Commerce “to provide support to federal government organizations working on Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing policy, including the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Position, Navigation, and Timing.”

    Senator Franken Reintroduces GPS Data Privacy Bill

    On Nov. 10, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) reintroduced the Location Privacy Protection Act, which he also introduced during the 112th and 113th Congresses. According to the Senator, “The Location Privacy Protection Act of 2015 closes legal loopholes that allow stalking applications to exist on smartphones.

    Sen. Franken’s bill fixes this problem by requiring companies to get customers’ permission before collecting their location data or sharing it with third parties.” The bill joins several others in the 114th Congress that address geolocation privacy issues, including the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act (“GPS Act”) and the Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act.

    The summaries here are from the GPS Bulletin, which is available through the gps.gov website.

  • Esri Launches Climate and Human Health App Challenge

    Esri has unveiled a Human Health and Climate Change App Challenge, calling on the worldwide GIS community to create apps that help communities visualize, understand and combat the health impacts of climate change. Esri will award three winners more than $15,000 in cash prizes or the equivalent in software. The deadline to enter is August 14.

    The app challenge is part of Esri’s comprehensive effort in support of the White House Climate Data Initiative under President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. “Esri is committed to helping communities work smarter and more efficiently to become more livable and, as a result, more resilient to climate change,” said Esri president Jack Dangermond.

    Participants are encouraged to create apps using Esri’s ArcGIS platform that provide decision-making support for health professionals and empower the public to take action. Apps should help private and public organizations combine open data to gain new insights into the impacts of climate change on health.

    “Understanding the geography of climate change is critical to mitigating its health effects and creating a vibrant and sustainable future,” said Este Geraghty, Esri chief medical officer.

    The app challenge is open to everyone — including developers, start-ups, governments, academics and nongovernmental organizations. Participants are encouraged to use the growing pool of open data and Esri apps, maps, services and APIs to develop their app.

    Judges will select the top three apps to be highlighted at the Esri Health and Human Services GIS Conference in September. In addition to awarding prizes, Esri will feature the winning apps on its collaborative resource portal.

  • Out in Front: Complements of the Season

    Alan Cameron
    Alan Cameron

    In the wake of last month’s Expert Advice column on eLoran — “The Low Cost of Protecting America” by Dana Goward of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation —  come several positive comments and encouraging developments. Rather than rehearse all the arguments why we should care about this, I’ll repeat the one word that I heard most often in GNSS circles in 2013: jamming. Followed closely by: spoofing.

    “I have been advocating strongly for reconsideration of the government’s domestic Loran decision for the last year or so,” writes one reader positioned on Washington’s Beltway, “and specifically working within the Department of Defense (DoD) to ensure it is aware of international developments for eLoran in the UK and South Korea, and the possibilities inherent in other former Loran chains.

    “The DoD is beginning to recognize the value of eLoran as a complement to GPS, not only for international missions, but in cooperation with the departments of Transportation and Homeland Security for domestic critical infrastructure.”

    Last fall, Don Jewell’s Defense PNT newsletter on the same subject drew this reply from another well-known expert:

    “One of the key short-term actions is to prevent the decommissioned [Loran] sites from being sold off for subdivisions. These sites are a national treasure with unique properties: soil conductivity, water content, metal content, and more that are hugely important in siting low-frequency positioning systems. Those long-gone engineers of the 1940s and ’50s knew this and chose accordingly.”

    Before last month’s issue appeared but after it had gone to press, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2014.  It contained several favorable New Year’s auguries for positioners, navigators, and timers.The act evinced an acute awareness of the vulnerability of space systems to disruption. The act is also a law governing the land. Through it Congress requires the administration to, among other things, explain biennially in its “Space Protection Strategy” report exactly how, in the event space systems are disrupted, DOD and the intelligence community “plan to provide necessary national security capabilities through alternative space, airborne, or ground systems.”

    Since said administration acted early in its first term to decommission Loran-C, the congressional directive is pointed.

    The next big thing coming up on the GNSS international horizon takes place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, April 15–17: the European Navigation Conference, ENC-GNSS 2014. It includes a track session on “eLoran and other Low-Frequency Systems,” and I’ll be there with pencil sharpened.

    Brad Parkinson will give the ENC keynote, and he is on record as one of an august group of Institute for Defense Analyses experts who unanimously recommended that the existing Loran-C be greatly updated and modernized to eLoran. We should hear more from him on this subject amid the wharves, waterways, and docks of Europe’s largest port (world’s third busiest).

    There’s barely room left to report the successful tests of Enhanced Differential Loran (eDLoran) by Dutch specialists Reelektronika: absolute accuracy of 5 meters in the North Sea and in the Rotterdam Europort harbor area.