Autonomous Automobiles

 And VERY BIG Rigs

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
  The juxtaposition of the titles of the two articles on the left above, next to the picture of a driverless truck on a major highway is interesting. Among the problems noticed now with driverless taxis is the one mentioned in the top article. If you are alone in a car without a driver, a pedestrian can essentially keep the vehicle from moving. More from that article:
   "In January, Doug Fulop was riding home from a night out in San Francisco when a man crossed the street in front of his car, doubled back and began screaming at him. The man punched the car’s windows and tried lifting up the vehicle. He then yelled that he wanted to kill Mr. Fulop and the other two passengers for giving money to a robot.
   A taxi driver would have simply driven away. But Mr. Fulop’s vehicle had no driver — it was a self-driving Waymo. “We felt helpless,” said Mr. Fulop, 37, who works in the tech industry.
   Self-driving cars are designed to stop moving if a person is nearby. People can take advantage of that function to harass and threaten their passengers. In 2024, a San Francisco man tried covering the sensors of a self-driving car that had stopped, effectively disabling it, while passengers were inside. Another video from that year showed three women screaming as a group of vandals tagged their autonomous taxi with spray paint.
   Handing the keys to a robot has added bizarre and, at times, worrisome new quirks to car travel. Passengers have shared videos of their autonomous cars getting stuck driving in circles or becoming lost in a parking garage. Last week, a video showed a Waymo in Austin, Texas, that had stopped under a railroad crossing gate just short of the tracks before a train sped past. There were no riders in the car, Waymo said."

    One wonders what "worrisome new quirks" will be found when more big semis are moving very fast on our freeways. One already noticed is "phantom braking -- the problem of autonomous systems, particularly those driven solely by cameras, “seeing” nonexistent obstacles, leading them to stop abruptly and potentially cause an accident. And given the size and the weight of the trucks, the impact of such collisions could be quite severe."
   You are likely thinking this a problem you do not have to worry about, but in the "progressive" state of Texas, the future has arrived. 
   "The operator, Aurora Innovation, said it was the first fully autonomous commercial trucking operation of its kind on U.S. highways. The company’s runs between Dallas and Houston on the I-45 corridor quickly racked up 1,200 miles on the road for customers including FedEx and Uber Freight.

There’s no question that finally putting driverless semi trucks into regular interstate runs will be a turning point for the industry....

   A consensus is emerging that fully autonomous Class 8 trucking on major highways will arrive in 2027, with multiple companies prepared to roll out fleets, mostly in Texas, beginning later this year. (Trucks are classified from 1 to 8 and 8 is the biggest.)"
   It's coming because it is cheaper. Drivers cost money and are limited in the number of hours and miles they can drive without stopping. A truck without a driver can keep on barreling through.

  Over in Sweden, driverless trucks are being used in mining operations and in remote places without much traffic. A company there, Einride, has created a cabless rig that is already being used to move cargo around in Tennessee.

Sources: 
  The titles of both articles are provided above and both were in the NYT on March 17, 2026. Erin Griffin authored the first and Jim Motavalli, the one about the trucks. 

   

   

News From Elsewhere

  The weather has turned and I am back at the terminal, for now. While I think of something to write about, I will update you on some stories you may have missed while dealing with the death of the Queen.

Let's Start With Leicester

    Leicester is a city in the country where the Queen reigned. Recently it has experienced some riots and those rioting were primarily Muslims and Hindus. It’s not cricket to suggest that the riots were caused by the cricket match between India and Pakistan, but that appears to have been the catalyst for the violence that began on August 28th and which continued into September. Some have blamed the Hindus, some the Muslims and all have blamed the Internet since misinformation can be shared as quickly as a virus. 

  A source-or-two will be provided below, but the headline in this one suggests that even Canadians should be interested in the local Leicester punch-up: "Leicester Riots a Warning That Violence in UK Can Be Sparked by Global Events, Experts Say Calls for New Measures to Prevent Sectarian Troubles in Other Countries Seeping into Neighbourhoods Here," 

Independent, Sept. 22, 2022

And Then There is Sweden

   Even here in Canada, or at least in southern Ontario, we tend to look up to Sweden, so this headline was surprising: "Gun Violence Epidemic Looms Large Over a Swedish Election." The results of the election were even more surprising: "Anti-immigrant Party Helps Defeat Sweden’s Government." 

Giorgia Meloni

And Now There is Italy

   This news has not happened yet, but it likely will as this headline indicates: 

"Italy Election Set to Crown Meloni Head of Most Right-wing Govt Since WW2," By Crispian Balmer, Reuters, Sept. 22, 2022.

ROME, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Italy's parliamentary election on Sunday could make history, giving the country its first female prime minister at the head of its most right-wing government since World War Two.

What About Canada?

   Although Pierre Poilievre  is now the Leader of the Official Opposition and there is some evidence that Canada is heading in the same direction rightward as the countries mentioned above, the headline attracting my notice was this one: "Worse Air Quality on Earth Recorded in Parts of B.C." which appeared atop the Weather Channel on August 11, and which was followed by this sentence:

"Around 3:00 pm ET on Sunday afternoon Vancouver had an air quality ranking of 199, which is the most severe ranking of all major cities on this day. Lahore, Pakistan came in second with a ranking of 161 and Dubai, United Arab Emirates came in third with a ranking of 158."

The U.S.?

  The only news of note  I could find was this:

The Bonus:

   Climate is of concern everywhere on the planet (except for Texas) and immigration is an issue in most countries. In Canada the focus now is on the potential that immigrants bring, not the potential problems that may come along as baggage.  Perhaps it is worth considering this comment by someone from south of our border, since it may apply here:

"At a time when Americans are already at odds with one another over what we might call core values — the cultural beliefs that glue our country together — it’s reasonable to worry about whether adding newcomers to the mix will complicate the task of forging a common future." From: "The Martha’s Vineyard Migrant Stunt Is Making One Truth About This Country Clear," Farah Stockman,  New York Times,  Sept. 16, 2022.

Sources:

  The headline from LeicestershireLive: 

“What Led to the Ugly Scenes of Violence and Disorder in Leicester?” Adam Moss, Sept. 19, 2022. 

"The issues behind the unrest in the east of the city are far more complex than just a cricket match....

As the country was in a period of official mourning and preparing for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, something very different was going on in one part of Leicester.

Tensions had been rising between different minority communities for quite some time, but were then brought into sharp focus after violence broke out following the India v Pakistan cricket match on Sunday, August 28. Further disorder involving members of Hindu and Muslim communities followed over the next fortnight, leading police to launch a major operation in a bid to restore calm."

Such ugly scenes are undoubtedly a mark of shame for Leicester, which is famed around the world for its diversity and regularly celebrates its multicultural nature as a source of strength and pride.

The tensions then continued into Sunday, when the city was suddenly hitting national and international headlines which had previously been dominated by the passing of the monarch. Police officers even had to be diverted from covering the funeral in London to ensure the force in Leicestershire had enough resources to cope with any situation which came their way.

   For more about the Swedish situation see: "Anti-immigrant Party Helps Defeat Sweden’s Government," David Crouch and Emily Rauhala, Washington Post, Sept. 14, 2022.

"The closely watched election has already reshaped Sweden’s political discourse, pushing anti-immigrant and tough-on-crime rhetoric into the political mainstream and deepening fears here about the polarization — or “Americanization” — of Swedish politics."

  

  The photo above does show a hazy Vancouver back in 2020 and the accompanying headline was, "Air Quality Not a Top Concern For Metro Residents, Says Survey," in the appropriately titled Delta Optimist.