“Safety First.” This is the mantra for any reputable company. It applies to the protection of staff as well as the operation of a product or service. In the realm of autonomous vehicles, is safety a unique selling proposition or is it a necessary condition? Professor Kornhauser and Michael Sena argue the latter in this spicy and entertaining Smart Driving Cars podcast.
Still, by being as good as the typical human driver, an autonomous vehicle has the potential to save society billions of dollars (Read Viodi’s comment below the Smart Driving Cars podcast for more details). That is, the autonomous driver doesn’t get tired, distracted, or misbehave. On the other hand, an autonomous driver that is too cautious, might frustrate human drivers and cause different problems. See the Korner to read more on the inspiration for this thought.
Thanks to the Broadband Forum, my employer, for supporting this newsletter. The content, views, and opinions expressed herein are not those of the Broadband Forum.
The AI-Driven Intersection
A pleasant surprise at CES 2026 was catching up with Jeff Brandes of the Florida Policy Project. The discussion included a recap of his concept of “Insurance as a Regulator”, the AI-Intersection & his impressions of CES. These topics were timely because of this week’s announcement from Lemonade, as well as the advancement of legislation promoted by the Florida Policy Project.
Gadzooks – A Brief View of a Las Vegas Driverless Shuttle
This is a tough love article, as this author wants to see mobility services like Zoox succeed. That bias started with a 2014 Viodi fictional story about the wide-ranging impact of an affordable, accessible driverless ride-share service. Purpose-built, autonomous electric vehicles, like what Zoox is testing in Las Vegas are central to such a future. Unfortunately, this ride came with an unexpected second-order cost.
Some Chirps and Short Thoughts
- The agenda is published! Join host NBN and fellow Broadband Forum members in Melbourne for a great week of thought leadership and action on the latest developments in the broadband ecosystem.
- There are so many good things going on at the Broadband Forum. It is difficult to choose one thing to point out. This video and blog on energy saving stand out. It discusses a feature hidden in the latest release of the TR-181 Data Model. The potential power savings are relative large; the equivalent of 70 data centers of savings.
- The idea of generative AI for video compression or, in this case, signal enhancement continues to evolve. Bouygues Telecom announced the integration of an NPU in its set-top. This is in line with Viodi’s speculative February 2025 article on the topic.
- This is an important and thought-provoking article for anyone involved in automation, whether in aviation, ground-based vehicles, or even broadband. Transitioning between being “on” or “in” the automation loop is a challenge. Deploying such a safety feature occurs only in a rare edge case.
The Korner – Reluctant Robots Stuck in Traffic
The intent was to gather 10 seconds of broll of an autonomous pod. This would reinforce the recurring CES2026 theme around physical AI. Ten plus minutes later, there was loads of footage and an epiphany or two about autonomous vehicles. That is, can an autonomous vehicle be too cautious? Secondly, should they have to pass a driver’s test with a human examiner, just like any new driver would?
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