Black Box Books

Fatal Exit: The Automotive Black Box Debate
Thomas M. Kowalick
ISBN: 0-471-69807-5
October 2004, Wiley-IEEE Press 479 pages

Hardcover and E-Book at www.wiley.com

FATAL EXIT: The Automotive Black Box Debate is the first and only book documenting the decades-long debate among the automotive industry, government regulators, and safety and privacy advocates over what the public terms "automobile black boxes". The book briefly traces the history of the debate from 1974 to 2004, and then clearly presents opposing viewpoints for and against the widespread use of emerging Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder (MVEDR) technology.

The arguments are followed by proposals to proceed with developing and utilizing the technology in ways that are both effective and respectful of individual privacy. The reader of this book will be able to develop an informed opinion as to the usefulness of MVEDRs and thus contribute intelligently to the debate as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) considers legislation that mandates this technology.

In the United States 220,935,000 registered owners of motor vehicles are becoming aware of black box technology through newspaper and magazine articles, and television news stories. Many understand that these boxes already exist in 40 million cars. Yet motorists still have many questions and concerns about widespread use of the technology. As the only book of its kind, written by an insider and expert on the subject, FATAL EXIT provides an invaluable resource for anyone interested in why these devices have caused such international controversy.

Black Box: What’s under Your Hood?
Thomas M. Kowalick
MICAH, April 2005
508 6 X 9 pages

ISBN: 0-9746556-3-5 Hardcover at www.barnesnoble.com and www.amazon.com

Millions of motorists’ crash – few realize that most vehicles record crash data! This is the first and only book that explains what on-board “black box” technologies actually do during a crash.

BLACK BOX: What's Under Your Hood? Describes in simple everyday language, the newest accessory on-board passenger motor vehicles - the Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder (MVEDR). This automotive equivalent of an airplane's flight recorder or "black box" is intended to solve the mysteries of car crashes and improve the safety of our roads. How we came to have them on-board our vehicles and how it actually works may amaze you. There's no need to be an electronics engineer or automotive technician to understand current and future plans for black boxes.

The reader is taken inside the automotive industry and the government highway safety establishment to foster an understanding of the politics and the positions on all sides of this safety debate. The author takes an unbiased approach, topically presenting each argument and uncovering the agendas and mandates of each of the stakeholders. Kowalick, an expert on automotive EDR technologies, discloses where to find data recorders in your vehicle. He explains how events are triggered and which data gets captured to provide a post-crash analysis.

The book is useful to attorneys, public safety advocates, public policy administrators, engineers, automotive professionals, journalists, insurance executives, and consumers. The twelve chapters cover background and evolution of on-board vehicle devices, the USDOT/NHTSA Regulatory proposal, and responses from the world's leading Automakers, Alliances and Associations, Safety and Privacy Advocates, Insurance Industry, Global Standards Developers, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the public.

The information needed to understand the technology and to answer motorists' questions and concerns about the widespread use of MVEDRs are provided, including:

Black Boxes Even Data Recorders
Black Boxes: Event Data Recorders
Thomas M. Kowalick
MICAH, Summer 2005
394 6 X 9 pages

ISBN: 0-946556-5-1 Hardcover at www.barnesnoble.com and www.amazon.com

ISBN: 0-946556-4-3 E-Book at www.amazon.com

Full Cover Photo

BLACK BOXES: Event Data Recorders updates important developments and activities in 2005, and continues to describe in simple everyday language, the newest accessory on-board passenger motor vehicles – the Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder (MVEDR). This automotive equivalent of an airplane's flight recorder or “black box” is intended to solve the mysteries of car crashes and improve the safety of our roads. As follow-up to the authors' earlier books on the topic, once again the reader is taken inside the automotive industry and the government highway safety establishment to foster an understanding of the politics and the positions on all sides of this safety debate.

This book details the end-process of the regulatory initiatives. The author takes an unbiased approach, topically presenting each argument and uncovering the agendas and mandates of each of the stakeholders. Kowalick, an expert on automotive EDR technologies, discloses where to find data recorders in your vehicle.

It is useful to attorneys, public safety advocates, public policy administrators, engineers, automotive professionals, journalists, insurance executives, and consumers. The chapters cover background and evolution of on-board vehicle devices, the USDOT/NHTSA Regulatory proposal, and responses from the world’s leading Automakers, Alliances and Associations, Safety and Privacy Advocates, Insurance Industry, Global Standards Developers, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the public.

This book offers new research material about EDR crash test evaluations and accuracy as presented at the 2005 Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference (ESV).

The information needed to: debunk myths, mysteries and misinformation; understand the technolog; and answer motorists' questions and concerns about the widespread use of MVEDRs are provided, including:

Millions of motorists’ crash – few realize that vehicles record crash data! This book picks up where the others left off and covers history, legislation and regulation.

BLACK BOXES: Event Data Recorder Rulemaking for Automobiles is the first and only book written about the United States Department of Transportation / National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (USDOT/NHTSA) final rulemaking for the most important safety counter-measure in vehicle and highway history – the event data recorder.

The author is widely recognized as a leading researcher on vehicle black box technologies. This book provides useful information for motorists, attorneys, public safety advocates, public policy administrators, engineers, automotive professionals, journalists, and insurance executives. To date, there have been hundreds of news and magazine articles, and numerous radio and television stories – but only three books written exclusively about how and why modern-day motor vehicles use on-board EDRs.

The information needed to understand the technology and to answer motorists' questions and concerns about the widespread use of EDRs are provided, including:

The book’s objective is to debunk myths, mystery and misinformation. You many wonder: • What is an Event Data Recorder (EDR)? • What is the difference between an EDR and a "black box" common to airplanes? • Why are automakers installing EDRs in modern vehicles? • Why do safety advocates believe we need these emerging technologies? • What do privacy advocates fear about them? • What are the positive and negative perceptions of EDRs to the public? • What types of crash data do EDRs record and for what duration? • Can the EDR record where a vehicle traveled or how fast it was going at any given time? • Under what circumstances will people have access to data? • How do professionals analyze data – what special equipment do they use? • How do EDRs function during pre-crash, crash and post-crash mode? • Under what circumstances can third parties, such as law enforcement or insurance companies, download data from the EDR? • How do third parties, such as insurance companies, collect and manage electronically recorded event data? • Who has access to crash data? • What is the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) regulation for EDRs? • What's in your vehicle? • What recording capability will be in the next new vehicle that you drive -- maybe a rental car? • How is it possible to balance safety and privacy? These are just a few of the important and timely questions affecting every motorist and passenger in the world - including you! This is a big deal issue – a matter of life and death for those involved in motor vehicle crashes.

The advantages of this technology are numerous, from providing a useful complement to subjective information from victims, eye witnesses, and police reports; improving vehicle and road design; and reducing fraudulent auto insurance claims to assisting medical personnel with on-scene triage of victims.

Despite the benefits offered by EDRs, this technology has been plagued by a series of private and public concerns from automotive manufacturers and consumers, including lack of public disclosure by manufacturers regarding the installment of the technology in certain models to issues involving privacy.

This is the first and only book written about the United States Department of Transportation / National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (USDOT/NHTSA) final rulemaking for the most important safety counter-measure in vehicle and highway history -- the event data recorder. The book provides useful information for motorists, attorneys, public safety advocates, public policy administrators, engineers, automotive professionals, journalists, and insurance executives.

This is useful information to anyone who drives or rides in motor vehicles and that includes almost everybody. This book picks up where the other books left off and covers history, research, legislation and regulation. The information needed to understand the technology and to answer motorists' questions and concerns about the widespread use of EDRs are provided, including:

Detailed bibliography and glossary
Examination of the unique legal and privacy issues
List of vehicles that have automatic recording
capabilities
Chronological summary of key events
Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations

Synopsis

This important compendium will be useful to anyone researching the history of automotive Event Data Recorder (EDR) technologies. The USDOT/NHTSA Federal dockets begin April, 1999 and conclude May, 2007 - eight years! The reader can easily identify any of the 1112 docket documents. This compendium gathers the Federal dockets that led to 49 CFR 563: Event Data Recorders into one document that could be used as a primary research resource. To appreciate the significance of these dockets one should have a basic understanding of the Federal regulatory process. The Federal Register or FR is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and other notices of Federal Departments and Agencies and organizations, as well other government documents. A regulation or rulemaking is the name given to the process followed by Federal Departments and Agencies to formulate, amend, or repeal a regulation. A Federal regulation is generally an authoritative requirement issued by a Federal Department and Agency that implements a statute and has the force of law. The rulemaking process generally consists of a proposed rule stage and a final rule stage. For most categories of rulemaking, the Department or Agency provides notice of a proposed regulation. Any person or organization may review this document and submit comments on it in writing. The period during which public comments are accepted varies, but is usually 30, 60, or 90 days. A docket is a collection or repository for documents or information related to an Agency's rulemaking activity. The docket generally consists of one or more Federal Register documents, the materials specifically referenced in those documents, any public commentsand submissions received, and other information used by decision-makers or otherwise related to the Agency rulemaking activity, such as supporting and related materials and analyses. When an Agency announces a rulemaking action in the Federal Register, the Agency may create a docket to accumulate materials throughout the rulemaking's lifecycle. Someday we may travel in crash-proof vehicles on intelligent highways. This book may speed-up the process.

Author Information: Thomas M. Kowalick, is widely recognized as a leading researcher on EDR technologies. He is president of Click, Inc.®—Transportation Safety Technologies, a member of the Author's Guild, and is a professor in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Kowalick served as Co-Chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) global project 1616® to create the world’s first automotive black box standard, contributed to the development of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) web site for EDR research, and is a panel member on the National Academies of Sciences project studying EDRs.