March 30, 2017
THE WITNESS
March 30, 2017
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• Tomorrow to Friday: National Cross Country Car, Mototcycle & Quad Championships. • April 1: Western Cape Regional Rally Championship in Malmesbury. • April 1: Mayfair Gearbox MX Series at Terra Topia. • April 1: Rok Cup at Zwartkops Kart circuit. • April 1: WC Karting Regionals and CHD Oval Club Championship at Killarney Raceway. • April 1: EP Motocross Club Championship at Rover Raceway. • April 8: WPMC Powerseries Circuit Cars & Motorcycles Regional at Killarney Raceway. • April 8: Circuit Motorcycles & Cars at Dezzi Raceway. • April 8: Fourhour endurance and club event at Redstar Raceway.
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Robot cars by 2021? Challenges include legal liabilities, high costs of sensors and hacking Mike Song, head of Hyundai in Africa and the Middle East. PHOTO: QUICKPICK
Competition on to build the world’s safest car THE next five years will bring a revolu tion in car safety as a wave of massmar ket models that can predict and auto matically respond to danger arrive in showrooms, predicts Mike Song, head of Hyundai in Africa and the Middle East. Today’s new cars already rate highly for protecting drivers and passengers in a collision — what is called “passive safety”. Song, the Korean carmaker’s head of operations in the region, says we are now entering a new era of “active safety”, as carmakers race to offer the best possible collision avoidance tech nology in forthcoming models. “There has never been so much com petition to build the safest car. “When you think of the basic crash protection equipment — seat belts, head restraints, crumple zones, air bags and so on — these things arrived very gradually over decades. We are now see ing this level of innovation in the space of five or six years, and new features are moving from the luxury segment into massmarket cars incredibly fast.” Current models already include active safety features such as antilock braking systems (ABS) and electronic stability control (ESC) to reduce the risk of the car skidding or spinning in an emergen cy. They help drivers keep the car under control, but still rely on the driver to re spond. “Many accidents happen because drivers are too slow to react, and that is true even for good, careful drivers,” said Song. “By the time we see the danger, we don’t have time to brake or turn the steering wheel, and we do not instinc tively understand the way the car be haves when we brake or swerve.” Carmakers want to overcome this hu man factor. At Hyundai alone, the most recent new models — the newgenera tion i30 in Europe and Azera in Korea — combine a package of innovations as “Hyundai Smart Sense”, which includes Autonomous Emergency Braking, Lane Keeping Assist, Active Blind Spot Detec tion, Driver Attention Alert, Advanced Smart Cruise Control and Around View Monitor. Many of the building blocks of Hyundai Smart Sense come from the company’s research and development programme for driverless vehicles. “In its most simple terms, by combin ing a frontmounted sensor with the ABS and cruisecontrol systems, the car can detect danger and apply the brakes automatically, either stopping or slow ing down,” said Song. “Sidemounted sensors can detect when the car is wandering across a white line or there is a car next to you, and tell the power steering to keep you in your lane. Because of how we can con nect all these systems, and the process ing power now available, the car can see and respond to danger much faster than a human.” Being able to offer this level of safety is an important selling point, with inde pendent tests such as the NCAP (new car assessment programmes) giving consumers a benchmark for making an informed decision. The United States introduced the first NCAP crash tests in the late seventies, and most highincome countries had in troduced similar assessments by the end of the nineties. The past decade has seen programmes for a growing number of developing economies, with testing ei ther in place or being planned for most major car markets. “NCAP testing constantly pushes us to build safer cars, to make each new gen eration safer than the last, and tells buy ers whether we succeed or fail,” said Song. “For a new model to achieve a five star safety rating is a source of pride and helps increase sales.” EU countries introduced their version of the programme in 1997, and several topselling small cars achieved only two stars out of a possible four for the level of protection. Most cars now achieve ei ther four or five stars. “In five years’ time, a car that doesn’t respond to danger won’t be considered completely safe any more,” he said. — WR.
BERLIN — Automakers and suppliers gave widely differing timelines for the introduction of selfdriving vehicles on March 16 at Bosch Connected World conference in Berlin, Germany. Audi, BMW, Ford and Volvo said they can do it in four years, by 2021. Chipmaker Nvidia’s chief executive JenHsun Huang predicts carmakers may speed up their plans given techno logical advances and that fully self driving cars could be on the road by 2025. Nvidia, facing direct competition from the world’s top chipmaker after Intel’s $15 billion deal to buy autono mous driving technology firm Mo bileye this week, gave the most opti mistic predictions. “Because of deep learning, because of AI computing, we’ve really super charged our roadmap to autonomous vehicles,” he said in a keynote speech. Germany’s Bosch, however, the world’s biggest automotive supplier, gave a timetable as much as six years longer to get to the final stage before fully autonomous vehicles, and de clined even to forecast when a totally selfdriving car might take to the streets. Progress is fraught by issues includ ing who is liable when a selfdriving car has an accident, bringing down the costs of sensor technology and guard ing against hacking. “Of course, we still have to prove that an autonomous car does better in driving and has fewer accidents than a human being,” Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner told a news conference. Nvidia has applied its marketlead ing expertise in highend computer graphics to the intense visualisation and simulation needs of autonomous cars, and has been working on artificial intelligence — teaching computers to learn to write their own software code — for a decade. “No human could write enough code to capture the vast diver sity and complexity that we do so easi ly, called driving,” said Huang.
While estimates differ widely, this type of hands free driving will be commonplace by 2025, During the eight years in between, car builders expect deep learning and artificial intelligence to speed up the launch of robot car. Whether anyone would want to read ye olde book in a car presumably able to play audio books remains to be seen. PHOTO: VOLVO Together with Bosch executives, Hu ang presented a prototype AI onboard computer that is expected to go into production by the beginning of the next decade. The computer will use Nvidia’s processing power to interpret data gathered by Bosch sensors. DEGREES OF AUTONOMY On the way to fully selfdriving cars, levels of autonomy have been defined, with most cars on the road today at level two and Tesla ready to switch from level four to five — full autonomy — as soon as it is permitted to do so. Level three means drivers can turn away in wellunderstood environments such as motorway driving but must be
ready to take back control, while level four means the automated system can control the vehicle in most environ ments. Independent technology analyst Richard Windsor wrote in a note this week he doubted automakers would have autonomous vehicles leaving fac tories by a typical selfimposed dead line of 2020, mainly because the liabili ty issue was unresolved. “This is good news for the automo tive industry which is notoriously slow to adapt to and implement new tech nology as it will have more time to de fend its position against the new en trants,” he wrote. But Nvidia’s Huang said he expected
Four steps to get a vanity plate KWAZULUNATAL has over twice as many per sonalised number plates as Gauteng does. Per sonalised or “vanity” number plates are big busi ness, according to Jeff Osborne, head of Gumtree Automotive. “KwaZuluNatal’s Department of Transport announced that they’ve seen a 39% increase in the number of vanity plates created over the last few years, earning the province a cool R2,3 mil lion per year!” he said. Generally considered a luxury accessory, they may or may not be for you, but if you would like to make use of one, here’s what to do: 1. Pick a name or number with seven or fewer characters. “This will have to be unique and not in use by anyone else,” says Osborne. It also cannot be of fensive in nature. But don’t worry, there are over 70 billion different combinations you can try. And if your desired name is not available, you can use a Personal Registration Number broker age that buys and resells popular vanity plate reg istrations for you … Pricing can be as high as R20 000 though! 2. Go to your nearest local traffic registry office and complete the application form (SLN1) You will also need to submit: • A certified copy of your ID document
• A vehicle registration certificate • Proof of postal/residential address such as a utility bill There will be a fee that needs to be paid. The plates cost around about R1 500, but the fee dif fers between provinces. 3. Once approved, you will receive the necessary documents This will include: • An order letter for the manufacturer giving them permission to make the number plate • A licensing letter • An SLN2 form to complete • A PLN2 certificate stating that you are able to get your desired number plate 4. Register your car and fit the plate Using the certificate and licensing letter, you can now license your car using your new number plate at the local motor vehicle registering office. An official manufacturer must then create and fit your new number plate. “In addition to expressing your individuality (and letting the world know that you are a SEXY MOM WP or SHARK KZN), these plates are a great way to advertise a business. And you’ll be doing your bit for our roads too … KwaZulu Natal has managed to build 55 bridges and 14 schools with the cash from vanity plates alone!” says Osborne. — Supplied.
to have chips available for level three automated driving by the end of this year and in customers’ cars on the road by the end of 2018, with level four chips following the same pattern a year later. That is at least a year ahead of the plans of most carmakers that have an autonomousdriving strategy. The head of autonomous driving at BMW, Elmar Frickenstein, told the conference the luxury carmaker was on its way to deliver a level three autono mous car in 2021, but could produce level four or five autonomous cars in the same year. “We believe we have the chance to make level three, level four and level five doable,” Frickenstein said. He told Reu
ters the decision on which levels to re lease would depend in part on the mar ket, and that cars with more autonomy might first be produced in small batch es for single fleets. Bosch said it saw level three vehicles being released with its onboard com puter at the end of the decade, and level four driving not before 2025. Uber, Baidu and Google spinoff Waymo are testing selfdriving taxis, while carmakers including Volvo, Audi and Ford expect to have level four cars on the road by 2020 or 2021. Nvidia’s Huang predicted those plans would speed up: “In the near fu ture, you’re going to see these sched ules pull in.” — Reuters.
Automobile Association calls for end to TelkomeNatis spat THE Automobile Association (AA) hopes the le gal spat that has stopped the electronic National Traffic Information System (eNatis) will be re solved today. The AA warned last week eNatis transactions to renew vehicle licence discs and drivers’ licen ces or pay traffic fines may not be rendered. This stems from an urgent action brought on March 24 in the Pretoria high court by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) which sought to stop Telkom from cutting servi ces to eNatis. Telkom said it would suspend servi ces to eNatis as it was owed R8 million. The company currently in possession of eNa tis, Tasima, said the RTMC must pay the money, leading to an impasse between the RTMC, Tasi ma, and Telkom. The Constitutional Court ruled that the current contract between the Depart ment of Transport and Tasima be declared in valid, and the eNatis system be handed over to the RTMC. Tasima and the RTMC have failed to reach an agreement on this handover. “In all of this, the interests of the motoring public in South Africa seems to have been lost. “This matter has been dragging on for years,
and, now, finally, we are seeing the potential dev asting effects on motorists. We urge all people who want to either renew their driver’s or vehicle licences to check ahead to see if they are able to do it, before wasting time in what may be a fruitless endeavour,” the AA said. According to reports, Judge Hans Fabricius ruled that, because of the complexity of the mat ter, he could not issue an order today. He ordered the RTMC and Tasima to finalise the handover of eNatis today. “While we certainly hope this matter is brought to a swift conclusion, we can not help but be concerned about the fallout from this debacle. Lawabiding citizens are going to be the hardest hit, and, on top of everything, are paying the legal costs of the RTMC in the proc ess. Who is responsible for this mess is a debate for another day; what is important now is that it is resolved quickly,” the AA noted. The association said it would monitor devel opments closely over the next few days, and pro vide as much clarity on the matter as it could, as it appeared neither Tasima, the RTMC, or Telkom were informing the public directly on what was going on. — Supplied.
PENSIONERS GET DISCOUNTS TO STOP DRIVING IMAGINE the uproar in Howick if local funeral homes try to apply the Japanese solution to re move sometimes scatterbrained older drivers from the road with discounts on funerals. But that is exactly what a Japanese company in Japan is doing. Kydo News last week reported that the Heiankaku funeral service company in Ai chi Prefecture has started a 15% discount from March 1 at all 89 of its funeral homes for people who hold proof, issued by police, that they have returned their licences. The discount applies to their family members and close relatives as well, according to the company, which has teamed up with a local police station to promote the initia tive. As marketing incentives go, it is a good bet. Apart from making it in The Witness in far away Africa, older drivers who don’t drive live longer.
Plugin hybrid black cabs for London The London Taxi Company recently completed a UK factory that will build a new version of the taxi with a plugin hybrid powertrain. Located in Ansty Park in Coventry, the plant cost £300 million, and will create more than 1 000 new jobs, according to the BBC. The new plant will be devoted entirely to production of the new plugin hybrid taxi — called the TX5, which is expected to begin rolling off the assembly line before the end of the year, with production scheduled to ramp up fully in 2018. London is one of the cities in the world that is increasing fees on diesel cars, moving to an outright ban on diesel engines. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Japan’s statistics show drivers aged 75 or older accounted for 13,2% of fatal traffic accidents in Aichi in 2016, up from 7,7% in 2007, according to the prefectural police. Some of those accidents involved elderly driv ers confusing the accelerator and brake pedals or mistakenly putting the vehicle into reverse. The return rate of driver’s licences for elderly drivers was 2,15% in 2015 in Aichi, the 32nd lowest among Japan’s 47 prefectures. Similar efforts are under way in Osaka Prefec ture, western Japan, where elderly drivers who re turn their licences are receiving discounts for goods and services at local shops and funeral homes. Such measures appear to be having an effect, with Osaka having the highest return rate for licences at 5,41% in 2015. — WR.
Neil Woolridge of Neil Woolridge Motorsport is sending three Made inMaritzburg Ford Rangers backed by Puma Lubricants to compete in the cross country racing in the North West this weekend. PHOTO: QUICKPIC
New teams to spice up offroad race DRIVERS expect a dramatic first race in opening round of the South African Cross Country Championship in Lich tenburg tomorrow. New teams and driver/codriver com binations, old and new faces and the hype that goes with the start of a new season will all be grist to the mill at the Lichtenburg 400 as drivers vie for the first points in the Cross Country Series. At the sharp end of the championship are the two factory Toyota Gazoo Racing SA entries that will contest the FIA Class. South African champions Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie will again be paired together, with former Dakar win ner Giniel de Villiers sitting alongside Dennis Murphy. De Villiers replaces former champion Anthony Taylor, who has given Toyota yeoman service down the years, with the two teams set to dominate the overall championship in vehicles that meet Da kar specifications. It is a completely different kettle of fish in Class T — for cars above four litres with solid axle rear suspension — and here battle will be resumed with some highly talented privateers stacked up against an assault from the Ford Per formance Neil Woolridge Motorsport Puma Lubricants team running a trio of factorybacked Ford Rangers. Reigning champions Jason Venter and Vince van Allemann (4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) may find that winning backtoback championships is more difficult than landing the first title. The Ford squad offers a balance of youth and experience with Lance Wool ridge reunited with Ward Huxtable with whom he started his career. Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer also now fit into the “seasoned campaigners” cate gory, with the team completed by rook ies Henk Lategan and Barry White, who have plenty of national and international rally experience. The reshuffle in the Ford Performance NWM Puma Lubricants lineup means there is no place for Chris Visser — but the former South African champion re mains among the serious challengers in Class T. Japie Badenhorst returns after a season on the sidelines to rejoin Visser in the rebuilt ex Gary Bertholdt Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux, and the pair bring to the table experience and pace. All things considered Class T adds up to an ultracompetitive category, and when it comes to picking winners the pin and blindfold method is as good as any. As always consistency and reliability — with a dollop of luck thrown in — will be key championship ingredients. Class S, for cars up to four litres with solid axle rear suspension, also has a competitive look and feel about it but with reigning champions Otto Graven/ Bobby Brewis missing the Lichtenburg race, the smart money is on the father/ son combination of former South Afri can champion Jannie Visser and Chris junior, in another Toyota Hilux, to win in Visser’s backyard. Enthusiasts can follow the race via the RallySafe app, which tracks the cars on a detailed map with access to split times and results. — Witness Reporter.
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