Moving Us Beyond How We Move Us

By Evan Kirstel @evankirstel

Historically, carriages, trains, buses, planes and taxis have all moved us in way we really didn’t have to think about. We just got in and went on our way with someone else doing the driving at the wheel. Now there are new ways to think about who is at the driving us. Today, Panasonic and EasyMile are moving us in ways without having anyone “at the wheel.” As such, I would like to congratulate Panasonic on their cutting-edge solutions, moving us in ways that enrich our lives and brings people home safe and today. I would also like to celebrate their efforts with the state of Colorado on “Autonomous and Connected Vehicle Day,” a day dedicated to reinforcing initiatives like Panasonic’s connected vehicle partnership with CDOT’s RoadX program as well as acknowledge EasyMile, a leader in autonomous technology, for the company’s North American headquarters grand opening co-located within the Panasonic building.

This exciting new approach is being not just tested, but in use throughout the world and now coming to Colorado. “Colorado’s reputation as a hub for advanced technologies takes a significant step forward today with Easy Mile’s opening of their North American headquarters and aligning with the state's partner Panasonic," said Governor John Hickenlooper. “We are proud to be called the home to one of the world's leading autonomous transportation firms. By launching this first-of-its-kind connected vehicle program, we are rapidly leveraging transportation technology to improve safety and mobility on our roadways.”

This collaboration and confluence of ideas, needs, plans and technology means that together governmental organizations can work with technology partners, like Panasonic, to bring integrated solutions and improvement to their citizenry faster and at a lower cost. In addition, the mix of these ideas can also lead to additional advances in a time where pressure to reduce government spending, lower taxes and improve public services is at an all-time high. If you think about it, you can conceive of many more applications for “driver-less” vehicles such as package delivery, campuses, convention centers, senior transportation and more.  

Learn more about Panasonic’s work building smart roads and smart cars. 

Panasonic has already been working along I-70 in Colorado where they are “rolling out an integrated software platform in partnership with the state Department of Transportation.” Embedded, connected roadway sensors have the potential to quadruple road capacity and greatly reduce accidents along this challenging corridor. Panasonic marked the milestone in its alliance with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), by highlighting its connected vehicle operations center (see Figure 2). Governor Hickenlooper, civic leaders and select corporate executives were invited to experience an exclusive demonstration of Colorado’s first connected transportation program that shares real-time data across vehicles, infrastructure and people in order to improve safety and mobility on the road. Panasonic and CDOT have committed to preparing the statewide deployment of an eco-system of connected cars and autonomous vehicles. This effort, which is already underway, is expected to significantly reduce crashes and injuries, improve traffic flow and increase capacity of the highway. 

Figure 2 – Panasonic Operations Center or here https://panasonicmovesus.com/blog/2017-year-smart-highway/

“We are excited to show Governor Hickenlooper our V2V and V2I technologies that connect critical information with travelers,” said Jarrett Wendt, EVP Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Company. “Connected vehicles on Smart Highways provide the most advanced safety and mobility capabilities, which can directly impact the safety and security of drivers in Denver and throughout Colorado,” he added. In addition, an innovative Panasonic onboard infotainment and vehicle-to-vehicle communication protocol allows cars to share information with each other and with roadway infrastructure. There is much more to explore as Panasonic is working on changing the way we drive our vehicles like this Panasonic self-driving effort “as we move into precognitive systems, which enable vehicles to cooperate with the environment, the infrastructure, the other vehicles, and reduce cognitive load on the driver, we can start to relieve the amount of attention needed by the driver. Because we know the vehicle, passengers and environment, we can better understand how to enable these technologies for an improved experience.” This really means that Panasonic is working on saving lives and bring people home safe.  

I would like to congratulate Panasonic on their forward-thinking moving us in ways that enrich our lives and brings people home safe and today, celebrate their efforts with the state of Colorado on “Autonomous and Connected Vehicle Day.”

About Panasonic Corporation of North America   

Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America is a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers across the region. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and leverages its strengths in Immersive Entertainment, Sustainable Energy, Automated Supply Chains and Connected Solutions to provide secure and resilient integrated solutions for B2B customers. Panasonic was highlighted in Forbes Magazine’s Global 2000 ranking as one of the Top Ten Best Regarded Companies for 2017. The ranking is based on outstanding scores for trustworthiness, honesty with the public and superior performance of products and solutions. Learn more about Panasonic’s ideas and innovations at PanasonicMovesUs.com.

About EasyMile

Founded in 2014, EasyMile has a global reach with headquarters in Toulouse (France) and regional offices in Denver (USA), Berlin (Germany) and Singapore. The company has a workforce of 100 highly-skilled and passionate employees with expertise in robotics, computer vision and vehicle dynamics. EasyMile provides autonomous driving software and technologies for the first and last mile transportation of passengers and goods in various application sites: private areas, urban, suburban and rural environments. The driverless EZ10 shuttle has been deployed in 20 countries, including Asia-Pacific, North America, the Middle East and Europe.