Prospectus Blog

Originally published at My Northwest. You typically see two types of lines on the freeway as you drive: yellow stripes along the shoulder, and reflective white stripes separating the lanes. You might not think much about them, but a self-driving car does. If state planners start now, modifying those lines will be just one aspect of serving a self-driving future on I-5, replacing human drivers. “For the next 20 years, you get to coexist with these automated vehicles, so we want the human driver to see better performance from pavement marking and signing, while at the same time we want to make sure that machine-vision systems — that autonomous vehicles are using — also can see those pavement markings and Read More ›

SEATTLE — A venture capital group introduced a proposal Tuesday that could revolutionize the future of a major freeway in our area. The Madrona Venture Group sees self-driving cars as the future of commuting, and they believe a section of Interstate 5 is the place for it to evolve. The idea is to have a special corridor just for self-driving cars. This corridor would be on I-5 between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

Originally published at KUOW. Self-driving cars would one day take over Interstate 5 to the exclusion of human drivers under a proposal aired out before Washington state transportation advisors Tuesday. High tech investors in the Seattle area hatched the idea to gradually convert Interstate 5 into a corridor for autonomous vehicles. Their proposal envisions smoother, safer travel between Seattle and Vancouver, BC, with the possibility to expand south to Portland later. Consultant Scott Kuznicki of the Transpo Group and Cascadia Center think tank Director Bruce Agnew on behalf of Madrona Venture Group Managing Director Tom Alberg presented a tentative timeline to the Washington State Transportation Commission. They said autonomous cars should first get to use the carpool lane and then Read More ›

Originally published at King 5 News. I-5 could have autonomous lanes by 2040, according to a pitch from the Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute. The Washington State Transportation Commission will hear a new pitch for reducing congestion – building out autonomous vehicle lanes on Interstate 5. Bruce Agnew, director of the Cascadia Center at Discovery Institute, will make the pitch in Olympia, following a study by his Seattle-based think tank. He believes the state could transition existing HOV lanes to handle autonomous vehicles within the next eight to 10 years and says it would be more cost effective than other ideas of the past. “Basically striping and the condition of the pavement, we need to make sure the pavement is Read More ›

Originally published at the Puget Sound Business Journal. Bellevue real estate developer Kemper Freeman, Madrona Venture Group Founder and Managing Director Tom Alberg and representatives from companies including Microsoft, Google, ReachNow and Uber met Thursday to discuss ways to make the region — specifically Bellevue — a leader in autonomous vehicles. Bellevue was built as a car city and its infrastructure is better equipped for self-driving cars than Seattle. Bellevue is set up to manipulate traffic lights remotely, for example, meaning self-driving cars could sync with that system instead of having to develop technology that could determine the color of the lights, Alberg said. "We’re working on putting together a coalition of interested partners and companies in the area to Read More ›

Passed with bipartisan support, the SELF DRIVE Act, lays out a basic federal framework for autonomous vehicle regulation, signaling that federal lawmakers are finally ready to think seriously about self-driving cars and what they mean for the future of the country.

Tom Alberg, co-chair of the ACES Northwest Network, offers the following statement in support of Governor Jay Inslee‘s executive order on autonomous vehicles: “I welcome Governor’s Inslee’s actions, since these will accelerate the introduction of autonomous and shared vehicles to our region, which will do so much to reduce traffic deaths and accidents, improve the environment, reduce congestion and lower the cost of transportation for everyone. As a leading technology region, it is important that we be a leader in the development of these technologies.  Over the last 12 months, we have seen tremendous progress on the technologies supporting autonomous vehicles, and most of the leading automotive and technology companies expect to release fully autonomous vehicles to consumers in the next 3 Read More ›

The Cascadia Innovation Network, spearheaded by the Canadian Consulate General in Seattle, would unite startup incubators and accelerators from across the region in an effort to improve access to funding and support services.