Michael L. Sena works for his clients to bring clarity to the often opaque and complex issues of vehicle telematics. He has not just studied the technologies and analyzed the services. He has developed and implemented them. He has shaped visions and followed through to delivering them.
The Dispatcher newsletter touches on the principal themes of the industry, highlighting what is happening and, even more importantly, how and why. Explaining and understanding the implications for your businesses and working with you to develop your own strategies, are what we do together.
The Dispatcher’s Manifesto
Transport cannot be viewed in isolation. Traffic congestion is not caused by cars. It is an effect of policy decisions about where people live, work, shop and recreate. Most people live where they can afford to live and work where they get a job; everything else follows. The numbers and types of cars and trucks that are sold are the results of political and business decisions that are made locally, nationally and globally. Most people don’t buy cars and trucks to just drive around. They buy them to take them where they need to go and to make their lives easier to live. Changes to the transport network that affect driving and owning cars and trucks motivated by environmental considerations should only be made after full consideration is given to all potential societal impacts and after evaluating all alternatives, including possible future technological breakthroughs, like hyperloops, hydrogen fuel cells and CO2 capture. If actions we take make life for humans not worth living, then what’s the point?
Contact me at ml.sena@mlscab.se with comments or thoughts on the material covered in The Dispatcher.
The Dispatcher_18 November 2013x
This is the first issue of The Dispatcher.
- Report from Telematics Update in Munich
- Call center services – What are the benefits
- What car companies are doing in telematics
- Insurance telematics
- V2V and V2I
- Split billing using a single SIM
- Big data
- What happens next
The Dispatcher_17 January 2014_V3x
- Report from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
- What to expect in 2014
- Trends affecting the automotive business
- Autonomous driving: Quo vadis? Where are we headed with self-driving cars.
- Third Party eCall Services (TPS)
The Dispatcher_17 March 2014_V2x
- Report from Telematics Fleet and Asset Management Conference in Amsterdam
- The Chauffeured Generation
- Specific solutions versus guidelines: Why standards groups and legislators should avoid pushing solutions on the automotive industry and offer guidelines instead
- More paint: What governments need to do to speed up autonomous driving
- European eCall law passed
The Dispatcher_17 June 2014_V2
- Report from ITS Europe 2014 held in Helsinki, Finland
- Future of Call Centers
- Automotive Eco-systems
- Cloud computing
- Personal Periscope – Why a more direct and personal approach to traffic information delivery is superior to the indirect methods that we have today
- Google shows its true colours
- Is the Connected Car too complex
The Dispatcher_17 September 2014_V2
- Testing self-driving cars
- The cybersecurity dilemma
- One (St)app too far
- Apple-Android-Genivi
- CEOs on electric cars
- Invest in infrastructure
The Dispatcher_21 November 2014_V2
- Telematics Update Munich 2015
- Standardization
- Next Phase for Maps
- Mobility Wishes
- The Newsletter
The Dispatcher_11 January 2015
- Consumer Electronics Show Las Vegas 2015
- Uber’s Valuation
- Self-driving Test Sites – Part I
- European eCall
- ERA-GLONASS – Russia
- Antediluvian just isn’t what it used to be: Immediate Threats
- What is Apple’s Core
- Self-driving Test Sites – Part II
- Macro Factors: Real Influences on Telematics
- Musings: It snows in Boston; don’t let that catch you by surprise
- The Future of Vehicle Navigation
- OnStar Returns to Europe
- Uber Buys deCarta
- Is this the last word on EU eCall?
- Parking in Cities: Time for Phase Three
- Musings: What’s happening at Verizon Telematics?
The Dispatcher_15 September 2015
- A Car Hacking in St. Louis
- Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs)
- National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS)
- Tesla: Disruptive Business Model or Business as (almost Usual)
- Vehicles as Robots
- Musings: Transport in a Digital Age: Reflections from a Summer School
The Dispatcher_11 October 2015
- What happens next with Here (better known as Navteq)?
- Telematics Valley: Past and Future
- ITS World Congress in Bordeaux, France
- The Future of Transport
- Musings: What’s in a name.
- WirelessCar: Past, Present and Future
- ADASIS Forum: Part One
- Big Data: Is it the OEM’s answer, or just another question?
- Management by rule-breaking is transforming the industry
- Where do new ideas come from?
- Unmanned Aircraft Systems That Fly–and Why are they called drones?
- Electrical Car Charging – There’s a lot to think about
- Over-the-Air Updates of Firmware and Software
- Lyft and Sidecar in the GM Sphere
- Toyota and Kymeta Team Up On Satellite Connectivity
- Saab Says No to NEVS on Name
- Data Privacy and Connected Vehicles
- EU/US Safe Harbor for Data Agreement
- EU General Data Protection Regulation
- Customer Choice of Service Providers and C-ITS
- G7 and EU on Autonomous Driving
- Inrix
- 5G and ITS G5
- GM Buys Cruise Automation
- Report from Dispatch Central – What General Motors is up to; ACEA on connectivity strategy
- Third Party Automotive Services – What is the future of roadside assistance
- Mobile Apps and roadside assistance
- Insuring the Connected Car
- The Future of Automotive Navigation – What types of maps will self-driving cars need to have
- Vehicle Data Issues – Who owns the data from vehicles
- Autonomous Driving News
- Musings of a Dispatcher
the-dispatcher_7-september-2016
- What does BREXIT mean for the UK auto industry
- Will the UK do EU eCall and will EU Member States be ready when the EU eCall buttons are pushed on 1 April 2018
- What is Ford’s connected car strategy, really
- URGENT.LY and Allianz Global Assistance Australia cooperate
- Why isn’t usage based insurance taking hold
- Car manufacturer associations want governments to cooperate on automotive safety regulations
- Who will drive future automotive navigation developments
- What’s the big deal with BIG DATA
- Tesla Autopilot is not ready for the road
- Musings of a Dispatcher
the-dispatcher_4-october_-2016_v2
- Advice to the new U.S. President for keeping transport policy moving forward
- U.S. DOT and NHTSA issue the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy
- The Open AutoDrive Forum looks to expand the mission of NDS
- To have a steering wheel, or not to have a steering wheel: that is the question
- Who are your customers for your cars and trucks and what do they need?
- Another personal periscope is introduced
- Professor Amnon Shashua, Chairman and CTO of Mobileye, gives his views on the company’s differences with former customer, Tesla
- Google and Uber have fallen out: Why is that not surprising?
- Oxbotica, the new kid on the autonomous driving block
- Musing of a Dispatcher
the-dispatcher_15_november-2016
- Report from Dispatch Central – Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW are taking a leadership role
- Autonomous Driving News – Why not let all cars be driven by robots?
- What the car companies are doing – Toyota, Volvo and Geely produce a new car, Carlos Ghosn of Renault/Nissan
- Are governments using regulations as tools as weapons?
- HERE and the future of automotive navigation
- Musing of a Dispatcher
- Report from Dispatch Central – Will JLR build a new electric car manufacturing plant in the UK?
- Autonomous Driving News – Apple wrote a letter to NHTSA
- What the car companies are doing – Is Uber a good partner for Volvo?
- Cabman’s Shelters in London
- Reubanizing or Spreading the Sprawl – Cities are becoming livelier and business are moving back the the urban centers, but the suburbs continue to grow as well
- The Future of Automotive Navigation – The future of traffic information and the standards that support it
- Musings of a Dispatcher – When companies in different companies merge, there are always winners and losers
- Report from Dispatch Central – This is not an easy time to be in the transport-related business
- Automated Driving News – Robot-driven cars need a backup, a lifeline if they get themselves into trouble. Remote drivers is the answer
- The Future Networked Car Symposium in Geneva
- NHTSA on the Tesla Crash – Current laws are not up to the task enforcing accountability
- Cars can now talk to each other, but the question is what is the best way for them to do so. Cellular-V2X vs. WAVE
- The Future of Automotive Navigation – New owners for HERE
- TomTom Today and Tomorrow
- Musing of a Dispatcher – Self-driving cars are not the answer to traffic congestion
- Report from Dispatch Central – OnStar’s future in Europe following sale of Opel/Vauxhall to PSA
- Reality Check – How many readers own an electric vehicle or walk to work
- Automated Driving News – Intel buys Mobileye and the HERE ecosystem
- What the Car companies Are Doing – Ford and its F-150 money machine; European 112 eCall in Sweden
- Feature Article: The Issue of Ethics and Self-driving Vehicles
- Travis’s Travails – What business should Uber be in? Not the self-driving car and map business
- Musings of a Dispatcher – Let’s pull together on connected vehicle technology
- Report from Dispatch Central – Trucks as Weapons
- TomTom and Its Sphere
- Car Makers: Don’t Forget the Other Half – Not everyone lives in San Francisco, Boston and New York City
- Planet Labs: The Swarming Satellite Company
- Blockchain Beyond Bitcoin: Is there a life for the concept
- Blockchain Basics
- Princeton University SmartDrivingCars Summit to be held on 17-18 May 2017
- Musings of a Dispatcher: The car, once a miracle and considered the saviour of the city when it was introduced, is now considered a problem. It’s the city planners who are the problem, not the cars
- Spotlight on Sweden
- Lindholmen Science Park
- Vision Zero
- Connected Car Sphere
- Drive Sweden Forum
- Dispatch Central
- Tesla Lawsuit
- Swedish Unicorns: Skype and Spotify
- Amazon’s Servers to Sweden
- The End of Mobility: It’s Amazon that is the car killer
- Musings: Pick up those cones
- Real Driverless Cars are Not Just Around the Corner
- Identifying hype
- SAE Levels of Driving Automation
- Dispatch Central
- For the Record
- NHTSA update on Automated Vehicles Policy
- The Paris Agreement
- It’s not really the real deal for climate change
- Car and Truck Business
- It’s a high stakes game
- Musings
- Normative Ethics
- The World and Transport in 2030
Will it really be all electric robot cars delivering mobility as a service? - Dispatch Central
- Volvo Cars Electrifying
- NEVS and Microsoft
- NHTSA update on Automated Vehicles Policy
- Volvo Cars Electrifying
- Sensoris: Making sense of sensor data
- Zenuity: A Swedish OEM and Tier One team up
- Are BEV Owners Getting a Free Ride
- Musings: Robotic buses and trams don’t go out on strike
- Automated Vehicles
Are we moving too fast or too slow? - Dispatch Central
- No ICE on Our Streets
- Charge ‘er up – Charging Stations Needed
- GM Maven Offers Gig
- No ICE on Our Streets
- The AV Industry Needs an Asilomar Conference
- ISO/TC 204 WG3 and OADF: How do they fit together?
- Lithium-Ion Batteries: Are They Really the Answer
- To Share or Not to Share
- Musings: Plausible Deniability Does Not Result in Better Transport
- Work in the Future
What it will be and how we will get to it - Dispatch Central
- Future Quotes
- Move to the Right
- IKEA Moves to Town
- China’s New Silk Road
- Ford Delivers Pizza
- Future Quotes
- Cybersecurity: The Achilles Heel of Automated Vehicles
- Change of Plans: NavInfo and Tencent will not invest in HERE
- Report on the European Commission: Access to In-vehicle Data
- European Parliament: Why isn’t one house enough
- Musings: Food and Driving Memories
- NHTSA on AVs
Version 2 provides guidance not regulation - Dispatch Central
- Distracted drivers
- Electric outages
- The Serge on BEVs
- PSA Free2Move in US
- Toyota’s two wheeler
- Mercedes mit drone
- Shell game
- The Dispatcher’s office
- Distracted drivers
- SoftBank: Investment vision
- Cybersecurity Part 2: The Achilles Heel of Automated Vehicles
- London’s Congestion: What did you expect?
- What3Words: Will it replace your street address, or?
- Location Referencing: A short primer
- Musings: Global Warming will get you
When Accidents Weren’t the Drivers’ Fault
The Nader effect
Dispatch Central
GM Abandons Lyft
Mark Fields’ New Job
Tesla keeps losing money
Bob Lutz on the future of the automobile
Ford’s Stay Awake Hat
Mediamobile
Safety Related Content
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Vehicles
Are they the answer or a diversion?
Has DSRC Reached the End of the Road?
Not the WAVE of the future
Eye in the Sky
Traffic UAVs
Musings
A Friendly Wave
The Bus to Utopia 1-2
Who gets to ride it
Dispatch Central 1-3
Tim O’Reilly
Electric Uniti
Geely flying high
Electric Volocopter
BMW in South Carolina 2
New factory brings jobs and growth to region
Car Insurance 3
Don’t look for carrots
Do-it-yourself Maps 4
From Rudbeckius to LIDAR
Calculating the Value of Humanless-driven MRTVs 5
What are we gaining?
Musings 6
Finding another sun
Note: There are two files. The first is standard newsletter format that I have used since I began writing The Dispatcher. The second is a format optimized for reading on a digital e-reader. Take you pick.
The Dispatcher_February 2018_Flowing
Artificial General Intelligence 1-3
Key for humanless driving
Dispatch Central 1-3
Passengerless buses
Cable cars over the river
Bosch and Conti buy into Here
WirelessCar on the move
Geely Buys into AB Volvo 4
That’s the Volvo that makes trucks, not cars
Drive Me 4
Volvo Cars resets
Electrified Roads 5
Hot roads
Musings 6
Why can’t afford it any longer
* Humanless-drive
This is a vehicle piloted by a non-human which is capable of taking itself and passangers anywhere a vehicle driven by a human can be taken at any time. I use this term instead of ‘driverless’ since driverless connotes the absence of a driver, human or otherwise. The terms ‘self-driving’ and ‘autonomous’ can imply varying degrees of mechanical or software assistance to a human driver.
The Dispatcher_March 2018_Flowing
GEAR 2030 1-3
Latest attempt by the EC to steer the competitiveness bus
Dispatch Central 1-3
2017 Car Sales Winner
U.S. Recalls
AutoPilot Redux
More Musk
Stuck in Traffic
U.S. DOT Summit
ITU-T in Geneva
The Cycle of Cities 3
Depopulation and Concentration
Edge Computing 4
Power Where It’s Needed
Marketplace Platform 5
Here delivers
Drive Sweden 5
Annual Meeting
Musings 6
Too many red herrings
The Dispatcher_April 2018_Flowing
In this issue:
The Future Networked Car – Geneva 1-3
Notes from the Future Networked Car Symposium
Dispatch Central 1-5
Geneva Motor Show
European Car of the Year
VW’s CEO on Diesels
Broadcom Broadsided
Zetsche’s Photo Op
Dissent and a Death
Another Geely Deal 4
What is Geely’s Chairman up to?
Are We Ready to Fly? 5
Options for Personal Aerial Transport
Musings 6
Do we really need to choose between diesel engines and tofu?
The Dispatcher_May 2018 The Dispatcher_May 2018_Flowing
In this issue:
EU 112eCall Begins 1
Better late than never
Dispatch Central 1-3
Tesla X fatal crash
No furs in San Francisco
Merging sharing
Numbers of things
Virtual feelings
China’s One Belt One Road 2
No more slow boats
High-speed Rail 3
Clipping wings
Beating Traffic Ten Years Later 4
Can robots get us unstuck?
Mapbox 5
What is it really?
Musings 6
Who washes a rental car?
The Dispatcher_June 2018_Flowing
In this issue:
Princeton SmartDrivingCars Summit 2018 1
2nd Annual Summit on making cars smarter and safer for everyone
Dispatch Central 1-5
GM expands OnStar
Safe testing by Toyota
Blockchain for autos
Delivery to cars and homes: Is it secure?
High-speed Rail 4
Luxury or Necessity
Musings 6
There is no free lunch
The Dispatcher_July 2018_Flowing
In this issue:
GM’s OnStar 1-2
An experimental work in progress
Dispatch Central 1-5
Future of auto shows
Top car brands
Veoneer spins out from Autoliv
German numbers
Over-the-Air Updates 3-4
Absolutely indispensable
EU on Mobility 5
An updated strategy document
Musings 6
What have we done to our postal services?
August 2018 – Volume 5, Issue 10
In this issue:
Roboticized Vehicles Viewed in the Wider Context 2
Death of the Suburbs Is Greatly Over Exaggerated 5
To Buy or Use: These Are the Today’s Car Questions 9
EC Proposal for New Type Approval Regulation 13
Dispatch Central 15
The Last Great Market for Paid Chauffeurs Falls 15
It’s Human Nature Not to be Bored 15
Stockholm Parking Agency Didn’t Get the GDPR Memo 16
Musings of a Dispatcher: Train Stations of Dreams 17
September 2018 – Volume 5, Issue 11
In This Issue
Data Control Is the Key to the Future of Transport 2
Bicycles: Are They Good or Bad for Cities?. 7
Robot Drivers Need to Navigate More Like Humans. 11
SOCRATES 2.0: Interactive Traffic Management 15
Dispatch Central 17
FAA: It’s My Ball so I Make the Rules of the Game. 17
Uber Autonomous Truck Project: Otto-ejected. 17
…and will Uber sell its self-driving car division?. 18
Volvo Cars Announces It Will List on Stockholm Exchange. 18
Musings of a Dispatcher: Car Company Leadership. 19
October 2018 – Volume 5, Issue 12
In This Issue
Where Are We Going with Our Road Infrastructure. 2
Radical Chic: The Automotive Experience House. 7
Agero, Inc.: An Automotive Call Center Case Study. 11
JRC Science for Policy Report: CCAM in Europe. 14
Dispatch Central 16
Tesla will not, after all, delist itself from Nasdaq. 16
Do we need continuous education for drivers. 16
If I only had a chauffeur. 17
Time to close your social media accounts?. 17
Not yet ready to ring the stock market bell for Volvo Cars. 17
Next Issue of The Dispatcher. 18
5G: It’s Show Time. 18
Tesla: “You don’t understand me.”. 18
Musings of a Dispatcher: Car Collecting Fervor. 19
November 2018 – Volume 6, Issue 1
In This Issue
Ready or Not, Here Comes the Waymo Taxi Robot 2
Tesla Inc.: The Most Misunderstood Car Company. 7
United Nations Climate Panel Issues Its Report 13
Dispatch Central 16
U.S. DOT Issues Automated Vehicles 3.0. 16
Senator says BEV’s not paying fair share. 16
Stockholm unwelcomes dockless bicycles. 16
Driving with one hand tied behind your back. 17
The first experience house was in Paris. 17
IKEA Imagines Roaming Rooms for Its Furniture. 18
Musings of a Dispatcher: Pollyanna Predictions. 20
The Dispatcher_December 2018
December 2018 – Volume 6, Issue 2
In This Issue
The 5th Generation of Mobile Wireless is Arriving. 2
5G for the auto industry. 5
Results of a field test of ITS-G5 versus C-V2X. 6
U.S. DOT Issues Its Report on Automated Vehicles. 7
Dispatch Central 11
Daimler and Geely set up JV taxi service. 11
AAA says ADAS adds both safety and cost 11
Who makes the most reliable cars?. 11
Digital license plates in California. 12
Are Tesla’s October sales a one-off event?. 13
Is It Time to Throw the Bus Under the Bus?. 14
A Dispatcher’s Musings: The End of History – Part II 17
The Dispatcher_January 2019
January 2019 – Volume 6, Issue 3
In This Issue
Amaz’n Amazon: Making Hay While the Sun Shines. 2
Dispatch Central 7
At opposite ends of the climate spectrum.. 7
WirelessCar turning twenty. 7
Ever wonder what happened to Segway?. 8
Tesla and U.S. November sales. 9
1H = 2X Range + ½ Cost + 0 Tailpipe Emissions. 9
Carlos Ghosn: Fallen Hero or Betrayed Emperor?. 10
A Dispatcher’s Musings: Whose City Is It Anyway?. 15
The Dispatcher_February 2019
February 2019 – Volume 6, Issue 4
In This Issue
OEM De-fossilization and Automation Programs. 2
Dispatch Central 10
China car sales drop; the world reacts. 10
Tesla joins the big league. 11
Waymo gets stoned in Arizona. 11
Venice entry fee: pedestrian congestion charge. 12
How do I get to mum’s for Christmas dinner?. 12
TomTom Telematics sold to Bridgestone. 13
May I drive without a driver? Yes you may. 13
Hard to put a price tag on a sustainable climate. 14
A Dispatcher’s Musings: Can Time be Wasted?. 16
The Dispatcher_March 2019
March 2019 – Volume 6, Issue 5
In This Issue
OEM De-fossilization and Automation Programs II 2
General Motors Company. 2
Ford Motor Company. 6
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) 9
Dispatch Central 12
Where public transport will be free. 12
Driving for knowledge and pleasure. 13
Amazon’s Scout delivers, but why?. 14
Nevs, Koenigsegg and Faraday Future. 14
Drive Sweden’s Annual Meeting: A Day Well Spent 16
A Dispatcher’s Musings: Hitting Home Runs. 18
The Dispatcher_March 2019_Musings
The Dispatcher_April 2019_Dispatch Central
The Dispatcher_April 2019
April 2019 – Volume 6, Issue 6
In this issue
The Symposium on the Future Networked Car 2019. 2
Session One: Connected and automated vehicles at the cross-roads to success. 3
Session Two: Cybersecurity impact and outlook for automotive systems. 4
Session Three: Automated capabilities and AI in the vehicle: status and expectations. 6
Session Four: The deployment of automated mobility services. 7
Driverless Power to the Geezers. 9
This is serious; we have to do something. 10
When is a Mustang not a Mustang?. 11
An OEM blinks (sort of) on speed. 12
…while another OEM blinks on sales. 12
Veoneer: After the hype, reality hits—and bites. 13
EU CAD and CCAM Policy and Regulation Initiatives. 14
Dispatcher’s Musings: Control and Impact 16