Autonomous Vehicle Consultant

According to a RAND Corporation study, “Self-driving vehicles offer the promise of significant benefits to society, but raise several policy challenges, including the need to update insurance liability regulations…”

A major benefit of driverless vehicles pertains to a potentially massive reduction in traffic accidents. For example, “In 2012, 33,561 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States…In 2012, an estimated 2.36 million people were injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes…”

“The highest price we pay for car crashes is in the loss of human lives, however society also bears the brunt of the many costs associated with motor vehicle accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. motor vehicle crashes in 2010 cost almost $1 trillion in loss of productivity and loss of life.”

Given these statistics, it may be concluded that humans are atrocious drivers. Driverless vehicles could conceivably reverse this terrible situation. However, this all encompassing societal benefit due to driverless vehicles may lead to a significant loss of revenue by the automobile insurance industry. Thus, this group may interject significant ‘road blocks’ to curtail regulatory acceptance of the driverless vehicle industry by Congress.

The insurance industry holds considerable influence over Congress by means of political campaign contribution given by them. For example, “In the 2012 election cycle, the insurance industry contributed a record $58.7 million to federal parties and candidates as well as outside spending groups.”

It remains to be seen whether the American political system is more interested in saving lives or the insurance industry.

J. H. Everson SBIR Consultant

Considerable media buzz is heralding the arrival of driverless vehicles. Most major auto manufactures are proceeding ‘full throttle’ to make driverless vehicles a reality. Google and Tesla are at the forefront of this charge. The hardware on a driverless vehicle could include GPS, a laser, visible/infrared videos, and acoustic sensors. This hardware and their vehicle locations are illustrated in the following link.

Potential advantages of self-driving vehicles include improved safety, shorter commuting times and reduced fuel consumption. However, what about safety? At some point, a driverless vehicle might suffer hardware breakdowns, software glitches, or undertake wrong turns to avoid hitting non-existent objects, etc. These and other issues are described elsewhere.

A worrisome factor is the possible erosion of driving skills upon prolonged use of a driverless vehicle. This effect has been a subject of much study by the airline industry where pilots have little to do in the cockpit of advanced aircraft. This has been noted by several sources (refs. 1, 2).

Issues: The use of self-driving vehicles implies that a ‘driver’ is free to do other things (i.e., read, gaze out the window, etc.) while motoring. However, common sense (i.e., sometimes a rare commodity) requires that a driver should be vigilant about possible system failures, and be prepared to take control. This nebulous, gray area about level of driving awareness is totally distinct from the binary cases of either full driving attention at all times or completely disengaged from navigating due to travel in other modalities (i.e., trains, planes). How can ‘drivers’ in self-driving vehicles be trained to deal with this confusion? How would such training be different for age and gender variations?

J. H. Everson SBIR Consultant

SBIR CONSULTANT BULLETIN – SBIR Proposal Intelligence Resource by JHEverson

Improved chance of writing an award-winning proposal is critically dependent on knowing and evaluating the competition. I have developed a process for this evaluation as illustrated below based on a specific DOD SBIR proposal topic. This topic was taken from the third SBIR DOD solicitation in 2014.

DOD SBIR SOLICITATION TOPIC OF INTEREST TO MY CLIENT

Quantitative Infrared (IR) Thermal Image Comparison Software Tool: Navy N143-126

OBJECTIVE: To develop analytical software that will provide the capability to quantitatively evaluate and compare infrared images. The resulting software should be capable of interfacing with existing hardware while providing quantitative data, but not limited to graphs and charts.

INTELLIGENCE PROVIDED BY J. H. CONSULTING

SBIR Technical Contacts for above Topic

1. Cleveland Heath, Navy

2. Jeffrey Perry, Navy

Possible Client Competition for above Topic

1. Physical Optics Corp. Previous SBIR awards related to above topic to be discussed with client

2. Nyx Illuminated Clothing Company. Previous SBIR awards related to above topic to be discussed with client

3. Lynntech, Inc. Previous SBIR awards related to above topic to be discussed with client

J. H. EVERSON CONSULTING VALUE ADDED Compare and contrast client competition versus client innovation offering to determine client competitive advantage regarding technology, market need and commercialization path. My client will be able to make an informed bid/no bid decision based on this work.

SBIR CONSULTANT BULLETIN – Issues on Unsolicited Proposals

There may be merit in submitting an unsolicited proposal only if you have made previous contact with someone that understands your innovation, seriously wants to promote it and has available funding to do so. I suggest that you check the website of the Government agency of interest, locate an organizational chart, and find out what programs key individuals have funded. If any of these individuals have awarded contracts to develop technology that resembles yours, then give them a call with a few prepared “talking points.” Find out if they have funding. If the answer is yes, then prepare a 6-7 page White Paper that explains why your innovation is useful, what kind of R&D program you would recommend, along with a milestone chart. If the response to your White Paper is positive, then you might be asked to submit a full proposal.

As for solicited proposals, you have two options for, say, SBIR proposals. Check the latest solicitation and look for problem topics that resemble your innovation and consider writing a proposal based on that topic. The second option is to visit someone in, say, the Army, establish a relationship with this person and convince him/her to insert a problem topic in the next solicitation that closely resembles your innovation (i.e., otherwise known as ‘wiring’).

SBIR CONSULTING BULLETIN

J. H. Everson Consulting

Engaging with a client for R&D proposal support

www.JHEversonConsulting.com