The Best Cheap Car Insurance Companies in Washington D.C. 2019

Our nation’s capital isn’t the most driver-friendly, as Washington D.C. is second in the country in longest commute times with drivers spending 155 hours in traffic every year. Not surprisingly, the sheer volume of traffic makes D.C. car insurance more expensive. On average, the annual premium in Washington D.C. is $1,876, eclipsing the national average of $1,502 by a significant amount.

That said, there are many reputable car insurance providers where you might find cheap car insurance in D.C.

Our top picks for cheap car insurance in Washington D.C.

To find the best car insurance providers, we examined many options including AM Best ratings—this signifies a provider’s financial strength and ability to pay claims. We also examined the price, diversity of policy offerings and customer ratings. Below are some of the most affordable and best car insurance providers in the District of Columbia:

• Allstate
• Geico
• Progressive
• State Farm
• USAA

Along with excellent service, these providers tout affordability. On average, State Farm, Geico and Progressive sell policies that are among the least expensive, and USAA continues to earn high marks for its outstanding rates and customer service.

Minimum coverage requirements in Washington D.C.

The minimum coverage requirements in Washington D.C. are the following:

• Bodily injury liability of $25,000 per person and up to $50,000 per accident
• Uninsured motorist bodily injury of $5,000 per person, up to $25,000 per accident
• Property liability of $10,000 per accident
• Underinsured motorist bodily injury of $25,000 per person, up to $50,000 per accident
• Underinsured motorist property damage of $5,000 per accident and a deductible of $200

Keep in mind this is the minimum coverage required in Washington D.C. It’s a good idea to have more coverage on hand to help you offset the costs of any medical or legal bills that might come from a serious accident, which can far exceed the benefit limits.

How to save on your car insurance

One of the easiest ways to save on car insurance is to comparison shop among different car insurance companies. This gives you insight into which ones offer the best protection at the lowest cost. To find cheap car insurance in D.C., you can use our comparison tool. It provides the best options relative to your age, zip code and other underwriting factors.

When you comparison shop, study which discounts the provider offers you. Many will do bundling discounts if you move your home or renters insurance over to them. Some insurance providers also offer discounts such as for safe driving, good grades (if you’re a student) and military service.

Frequently asked questions

Does Washington D.C. require car insurance?

Yes, drivers must have car insurance from the moment they register their car through the life of ownership, according to the District of Columbia’s Compulsory/No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act. If you don’t maintain coverage, you could get fines.

Is car insurance more or less expensive in Washington D.C.?

Washington D.C. is among the most expensive areas for car insurance in the country. Most of this has to do with the influx of traffic, which increases the risk ratios.

Who offers cheap D.C. car insurance?

State Farm, Geico and Progressive are three of the least expensive options available. If you qualify for USAA, check it out because its rates are low and the company delivers outstanding customer service.

Which factors influence the costs of car insurance?

Your age, driving history, the car you drive, your annual mileage and where you live are some of the many factors that car insurance companies use to determine your risk profile and premium.

Are there other options if my credit isn’t the greatest or if I’ve had driving problems in the past?

The District of Columbia Automobile Insurance Plan is available for drivers who might not qualify for insurance coverage through a traditional provider. To join this plan, you must have a District of Columbia driver’s license and a vehicle registered within Washington D.C.

The post The Best Cheap Car Insurance Companies in Washington D.C. 2019 appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar https://ift.tt/2QHefvA

Got a Product to Pitch? A Walmart Buying Manager Told Us How to Do It Right

Every entrepreneur in the world thinks they have a great idea. But how do you convince other people? By delivering a stellar business pitch, of course.

A great business pitch is essential to building valuable partnerships and ensuring financial backing that will take your product from conception to the shelves.

When it comes to pitching, you’re going to have a short amount of time to get your idea across, so you have to use that time effectively. But it can be easy to get so caught up in the excitement or confidence in your product that you fail to fully express its value to a buyer.

We decided to ask a professional for some tips on how to pitch an idea. Here’s the inside scoop.

Tips for Pitching a Great Idea

We sat down with Kinna Thomas, a senior buying manager for Walmart who also helped create the famous Patti Labelle Sweet Potato Pie.

Thomas has a lot of experience listening to product pitches, thanks to Walmart’s annual Open Call event, where hundreds of entrepreneurs turn out with hopes of getting their products on the retail giant’s shelves.

Here are the five tips she gave us to better your chances of nailing a pitch.

Focus on the Customer

You might think your product is the best thing in the world, but it doesn’t really matter what you think — it’s what the customer thinks.

And really, customers don’t care about the product itself — they care about what the product can do for them.

Maybe it will make their day-to-day life easier or maybe it will save them money. Get the message across that your product is an actual benefit to a consumer and that it’s something the buyer doesn’t already offer.

“We want you to make sure that you are definitely locked and loaded on understanding the assortment that we need to carry,” says Thomas.

Nail Down Your Product

You’ve got this amazing idea! Everyone spills stuff, right? Well, what if when you made a big mess… you could just suck it right up? Genius!

A vacuum. You just pitched a vacuum. Unless your vacuum is state-of-the-art and can promise that the user will never have dog hair in their carpet again, your idea is not going to be received well.

“The product needs to be exciting, invigorating, innovative and different from what’s out in the market,” says Thomas.

Make sure you can explain what you’re selling quickly and efficiently.

And while you might be tempted to claim your product has zero competition, that’s most likely not the case. Show that the product or idea deserves to be backed by pointing out what makes it different from competitors.

Don’t Forget About the Cost

This one really shouldn’t be a surprise: Buyers want to make sure the price is right.

Where your product is on the timeline will mean a lot to an investor or buyer. Is it a newly formed idea that hasn’t been tested and sold? Or have you already moved forward with manufacturing and set up a cost model?

Proving you can create a product and sell it at a profit — without breaking the consumer’s bank — goes a long way. Go to your pitch with numbers that validate why it would be beneficial for the buyer to back you.

Be open and honest about the costs your product will require, as well as the sales numbers and future projections.

Think About the Logistics

You might think your product is the absolute bee’s knees and everyone in the world will want it, but consider the reality of who will actually buy it.

Yeah, your Do-It-Yourself Ice Sculpture Kit is pretty cool (see what I did there?), but try selling that product in a Walmart in South Florida. It just doesn’t work — you’re in the wrong market.

This point goes back to knowing your product. Consider where it would sell best and include that in your pitch.

“We want to know scalability,” says Thomas. “Whether or not you should be in a hundred stores or thousands of stores.”

Be Prepared

One thing you shouldn’t lose sight of is that buyers are looking to back not only your product but also you — that is, they are investing in you as much as in the product itself.

“Doug McMillon tells us all the time ‘Be prepared,’” says Thomas, referring to Walmart’s CEO. “So that’s exactly what we want for you.”

You could have the best idea in the world, but if you walk into a meeting without presenting yourself as a prepared, collected and efficient individual, it could ruin the whole pitch.

Think about it from a buyer’s point of view: If you were risking your hard earned money, why would you give it to someone who doesn’t inspire confidence and assure you that they will handle your investment wisely?

“Practice makes perfect” is a well-known mantra for a reason. Rehearse your pitch in front of real people beforehand. That way, you can walk into a meeting confident that you can nail your pitch.

Kaitlyn Blount is a former staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. 

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

source The Penny Hoarder https://ift.tt/338CTrE

Make Better Spending Choices With Negative and Positive Visualization

One of the big unspoken elements of improving one’s personal finance situation is the “why” element. Why are you doing this?

It’s easy to understand the “why” when you’re looking at digging out of a really bad financial situation. You don’t want your car repossessed. You don’t want to be paying 10% of your paycheck each month to a payday lender. You don’t want to be kicked out of your apartment. You don’t want to damage your credit because that leads to high interest rate loans or even refusal of loans. Those are very visceral things, things where it is extremely obvious why, if you don’t make some good financial moves and cut your spending right now, there are going to be some really negative consequences to your daily life.

But what about if you’re beyond that point? You’re able to pay the bills every month and you’re not behind on anything. You’ve got a job, you go to work whenever you’re supposed to and you’re in good standing there. You keep yourself and the people you’re responsible for fed, keep a roof over their head and keep clothes on their back.

Why? Why push yourself to get further ahead financially? What’s the benefit in doing so, particularly when doing so will take away trappings from your current life? After all, every dollar you put in the bank is a dollar that you can’t spend on things today. Why do that to yourself?

There are a lot of easy answers to that question. You should do it to save for retirement. You should do it to save for big expenses you know are coming, like replacing your car.

Those answers are absolutely spot on, but there’s a problem with them: they don’t mean anything in your life today, not in any tangible way. Your long term future is rarely front and center in your mind.

The reason so many people live paycheck to paycheck and choose to spend money today rather than save for the future is because spending today is a much more direct path to feeling happy today than saving for the future is. What’s going to make you feel that immediate burst of pleasure more: a cup of delicious sweet coffee from a coffee shop or $5 more in your savings account? For a lot of people, it’s the former. For almost everyone, there’s something you can substitute for “coffee” that elicits the same short term response — a new cell phone or a new book or a new shirt or whatever. Those things bring a burst of pleasure right now, whereas money in the bank really doesn’t do that.

From a short-term perspective, spending money now makes complete sense. It’s only from a long-term perspective that it seems silly. Unfortunately, humans are wired for mostly short-term behavior — that’s just how we’re made.

To me, this is the key conundrum of personal finance: we’re wired for the short term and spending money now is more happy to bring happiness in the short term, but over the course of our lives, avoiding frivolous expenses and saving for the future brings much more happiness — we just don’t see it in our moment-to-moment spending decisions.

As soon as we step back from the moment-to-moment and look at the broader scale of our life, it becomes much more clear why we save for the future. The problem is that, in the moment-to-moment, those reasons are a lot more vague because they don’t bring immediate happiness in the way that a momentary indulgence does. As I noted earlier, $5 in savings doesn’t make you feel the way a $5 coffee does.

So, how do we break out of this? When our finances are stable enough that imminent collapse is no longer a threat, how do we continue to value at least some level of long term financial success as strongly as we value our momentary pleasures?

I think it comes back to “why.”

You have to bring the “why” front and center.

The reason we so often choose to spend money in the moment is that the “why” for spending the money is front and center and obvious — it brings a burst of pleasure, it’s something we want — but the “why” for not spending the money isn’t front and center at all. This is particularly true for people who have achieved some degree of financial stability and have a solid income. In those reasons, the financial reason for not spending the money isn’t front and center at all.

I speak from experience here. For years, our life was one where we had at least minimal financial stability and a decent income, and during those years the financial reasons for not spending money were rarely on our minds when we were spending money. I didn’t think about retirement when I was spending money. I didn’t think about college savings. Instead, my mind was focused on what particular item to choose from the menu or which books to grab at the bookstore, not whether I should be doing this at all.

Contrast that to now, when I often say “no” to frivolous purchases. The thought of retirement instinctively springs to mind. The thought of college savings does, too. The thought of many of my longer term goals jumps right into my mind.

What’s the difference? I think there are two things.

One, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the future I want for myself and my kids in a very deep way. I don’t just stop with a vague vision of that future. I fill it in with a lot of detail, even if some of those details won’t turn out to be perfectly accurate.

Two, I intentionally tie those visions of the future to what I’m doing today. I’ve got this detailed vision of the future that I love and another vision that I don’t like as much, but the difference between those two visions is the spending choices I’m making right now.

Let’s look at those two tools and how they work together.

Visualizing the future is the most powerful tool we have for making the future feel more urgent.

The first strategy I use is that I spend quite a bit of time visualizing the future. By “visualizing,” I don’t mean vague daydreaming; rather, I try to visualize with a lot of detail what my life will be like if I continue to make good choices in the areas I care about, finances being one of them.

Perhaps once a month, I’ll spend some time actually thinking in detail what my life will be like 10 years from now if I make good choices in various areas of my life and move forward in a reasonable way. I’ll envision myself on the cusp of retiring early. I’ll imagine what my marriage will be like, what my children might be doing, and so on.

I usually like to walk myself through a day in that life, just so that I can really grasp what things are like. What do I do when I wake up? What does a good day really look like?

At the same time, I visualize what my life will be like in ten years if I don’t make good financial decisions along the way and spend every dime I have, along with other bad choices in other areas of my life. This picture is usually pretty miserable. I’m often alone, with no money, and in bad physical shape.

Again, I’ll walk myself through a day in that life, just so I can really grasp how bad that image is.

Often, the simple act of visualizing those two distinct futures makes me realize how important my goals are and how important a continuous effort to improve myself really is. However, it doesn’t really hit home until I visualize it in detail. The more detail I add, the more real it becomes. I find that “walking through” a day in that future really makes it come home, and visualizing a negative future is just as powerful as visualizing a positive future, particularly when you’re doing both.

The choice between the good future and the bad future is decided today.

Hand in hand with visualizing a positive and a negative future comes the realization that the difference between those two futures comes down to daily choices. The decisions I make today really are the difference between those two futures. Yesterday doesn’t matter. Tomorrow doesn’t matter. What matters is today, because today’s choices are the only ones I can really control.

In that sense, that choice as to whether to spend $5 frivolously or not really is a choice between those two outcomes, because it is the only choice I can control right now. Once I get past this little burst of pleasure, which path is this purchase going to send me down?

Most of the time, those little frivolous expenses obviously are choices that lead toward the future I don’t want, so I pass by them. This leaves me feeling good that I’m heading toward the future I do want.

For me, this pops up again and again and again throughout a given day. It helps guide what I eat, whether I exercise, how diligently I work, how I relate to my family and close friends, how I spend my money and so on. I almost always make the choice now that points me toward the better future because the only thing I can control is that choice. I can’t control the past. I can’t control the decisions I make in the future. All I can control is that decision in front of me right now.

Isn’t that a life without spontaneity?

One might look at this as a path to a life devoid of short term pleasures, but after a while, I stopped seeing it like that at all, for several reasons.

First, I pretty quickly stopped even putting myself in positions to make those choices. If you’re not seriously intent on buying a specific book, why go to a bookstore? Why not just go home and read what’s on your shelf? If you’re not going out for an exceptional meal and social experience you can’t have at home, why eat out? Why not just go home and make something quick and simple that’s healthier, a lot cheaper and easier?

Because of that, I often don’t even bother going to places where I’d be forced to make those kinds of decisions. Why go to a bookstore if I’m just going to be faced with that question when, unless I’m going there to specifically buy a book, I already know the answer? I just don’t go. I find somewhere else to go. I find something else to do.

That’s really the key of it. When you start couching your daily decisions in that gap between your positive and negative futures, you start to not only make different decisions, but you put yourself in situations where the decisions before you are different. If you don’t stop at a fast food restaurant, you don’t have to decide between the dollar menu and that tasty $5 item. If you don’t stop at a coffee kiosk, you don’t have to decide whether to buy that $5 coffee or not.

Spontaneity then finds other channels, ones that don’t involve undermining the things I want out of life. I’m not spontaneous in the stuff that I buy very often, but I’m spontaneous in the ways I interact with others. I’m spontaneous in the things I choose to do with my time. Rather than being spontaneous by stopping at a coffee shop for fifteen minutes, I’ll find something else to do with that time that doesn’t involve spending money.

Furthermore, I do actually budget in advance with my pocket money. I’ll put a certain amount of cash in my pocket each month and that money can be used for purely spontaneous things. However, when that money is gone, those choices are simply off the table. It’s not as if I never buy a coffee — it’s just that when I do, it comes out of that “spontaneity” money and there’s a limited amount of it.

That’s because I do actually view spontaneity is a valuable part of life. Those unplanned moments do add a lot of spice. It’s just that they don’t all have to be about spending money and by putting a gentle money constraint on it, I can sometimes spend spontaneously while also realizing it’s a bad idea to choose to go into situations where I might be tempted to spend spontaneously.

To put it really simply, don’t go shopping or out to eat for entertainment’s sake. Find other ways to be spontaneous. It’s fine to go out to eat and go shopping sometimes, but have an actual reason for it beyond “I’m bored” or “I’m too lazy to fix supper.”

Here’s how this actually works in my own life.

Let’s say I need to go shopping for some groceries and some household supplies. I make a list and head out to buy the stuff.

On the way, I drive by the bookstore. I think about a book series I’ve been reading and wonder whether I should stop in and pick up the next one — but I recognize that the library probably has it. I don’t even go in there. Stopping and buying books I haven’t read isn’t in line with the financial and material life I want going forward.

I stop at the store and go inside. There’s a coffee kiosk right by the entrance and boy it smells good. Do I go over there? Eh. I don’t really need the calories and don’t need to spend the cash, either. Doing so with any frequency isn’t really in line with the life I want in terms of health or finances. I can just make some coffee when I get home if I want some.

However, when I’m shopping, I do decide to buy one spontaneous item that I see on the shelves, something I often do when shopping because it lets me be a little spontaneous without derailing my financial future. I usually choose something I can share in some way with people in my life so that it bolsters my relationships. I end up grabbing a half-gallon of chocolate almond milk, which I quite like and my two youngest children absolutely love. We’ll share a glass of it after school and talk about their day.

As I’m leaving the store lot, I spy a fast food restaurant nearby … and I am a little hungry. I could drive through there and get something to eat on the way home. Alternately, I could go home, make a healthier sandwich, and eat it in the amount of time I’d be sitting in that drive-through, plus it’s a lot less expensive and almost exactly what I like. So, I choose to drive home instead — it’s more in line with the health and financial future I want for myself.

The thing to note is that these decisions are almost instinctive. I don’t consciously sit around and think like that; rather, my time spent doing negative and positive visualization of my future (as well as thinking about common situations that come up in my life) nudge me toward an instinct where I make much better decisions then I would otherwise.

Negative and positive visualization are both valuable. Use them.

It is well worth your time to regularly visualize your future, both negatively and positively.

Imagine what your future will look like in ten years if you make positive steps in all of the things you’re working on in your life. Don’t imagine radical success, just reasonable success. What does a day in that life look like?

Then, imagine what your future will look like in ten years if you just don’t bother and make sideways or negative steps in all of the things you want to improve in your life. What does a day in that life look like?

The stark difference should be enough to shock you.

Then, remember that the only decision you have any control over in your life is the one you’re making right now, and it can lead to one of those two futures.

Which one do you choose?

Do that often enough and you’ll be walking a path toward a wonderful future for yourself and your family.

Good luck!

The post Make Better Spending Choices With Negative and Positive Visualization appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar https://ift.tt/2KJa9iV

Morrisons customers slam supermarket after seeing their loyalty card points vanish

Morrisons customers slam supermarket after seeing their loyalty card points vanish

Shoppers have complained about the security of the supermarket’s reward scheme and the lack of customer support

Stephen Little Thu, 11/21/2019 - 11:53

Image

Morrisons customers are up in arms after seeing hundreds of pounds worth of points disappear from their loyalty card accounts.

The Morrisons More loyalty scheme is free to sign up to and gives you five points for every £1 spent in-store, online or at one of its cafes. You also get five points when you buy a litre of fuel at Morrisons and 25 points for every £1 spent on gift cards.

Shoppers have been left fuming after saving up their points all year for their Christmas shop only to see them vanish with some threatening to boycott the supermarket.

One frustrated customer wrote on twitter: “I have to say I am very disappointed and angered at the way your customer services dealt with my complaint. I have been a victim of fraud and £50 [in] points has been taken out of my account right before Christmas.”

Customers have complained about the security of the supermarket’s reward scheme and the lack of customer support.

Another unhappy customer wrote on Facebook: “£60 of points gone missing here too. Shocked and saddened by appalling attitude to customer services.

“After changing my password to my more account, a week later I can still access the app without logging back in. How many customers does this need to happen to until Morrisons does something to improve their security?”

Several customers have claimed on social media that their accounts have been hacked after seeing their points being spent in other parts of the country.

One customer says: “So, I’ve had £50 of vouchers taken from my Morrisons More account...And spent in their Hunslet store in Leeds!! Wouldn’t mind but I’ve never even been there Emailed and called them and they won’t refund me so I’ve essentially lost £50! Swapping to ASDA now.”

Another says: "My points were stolen too...the points were used hundreds of miles away...and like everyone else they took no responsibility for it."

Image

Image

Image

Why has this happened?

Morrisons says that it has not suffered a data breach and that the problem has occurred because customers use the same usernames and passwords across different sites.

A Morrisons spokesperson says: "Online hackers target people who use the same username and password across multiple sites.

“We regularly remind our customers about the importance of using a unique password. We take online security very seriously and our customer data has not been breached."

What can you do?

Make sure you change the passwords on all your accounts. Be sure to use a strong password that is unique and contains letters, numbers and symbols. Morrisons has not said how many customers have been affected or what you can do to get your points refunded.

You can contact Morrisons by phone on 0345 322 0000 or you can email fresh@morrisons.com.

If you are worried that your email has been compromised you can check on the website haveibeenpawned.com.

Source Moneywise - 29 years of helping you with your finances https://ift.tt/348ORCY

How Do Self-Driving Cars Work and What Problems Remain?

Are you ready for your car to become a self-driving chauffeur? 

Progress in the field of self-driving cars has been enormous over the last decade. Waymo and Uber, both top contenders in the race for an autonomous driving future, weren’t even incorporated before 2009. 

Between 2015 and 2019, Tesla’s autopilot achieved more than 1 billion miles of total use. And between January of 2019 and January of 2020, Tesla’s autopilot is expected to more than double to more than 2.3 billion miles of use.

Even with all this progress, accidents and deaths from self-driving cars still pose a very real threat. In this article, we cover the ins and outs of the autonomous vehicle industry, the technology driving the progress and what problems threaten public safety as the technology is rolled out (all puns intended).  

What is a self-driving car? 

A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous vehicle, is a connected car that relies on a combination of hardware, software and machine learning to navigate various weather, obstacles and road conditions using real-time sensory data. 

People commonly associate self-driving cars with artificial intelligence, but many cars today have achieved multiple levels of autonomy without artificial intelligence. Features such as brake assist, lane assist, and adaptive cruise control, for example, can be considered autonomous driving to some degree. 

Self-driving cars do not rely on advances in artificial intelligence to move the industry forward, though the level of autonomy depends on the sophistication of the deep learning models used to control the car. In theory, there are 5 levels of autonomy that define a self-driving car. 

The 5 levels of autonomous vehicles

These 5 levels of autonomous vehicles were outlined by SAE International in 2014 to have a common point of reference for the industry. Each level depends on the level of automation and how much human involvement is required. 

Level 0

Okay, so there are technically 6 levels of self-driving cars, starting with absolutely no automation. 

In this level, humans control every aspect of the driving environment from acceleration, shifting gears, steering, navigation, weather, and more. An example of a vehicle in the Level 0 phase is the Ford Model T, because it doesn’t have any features that reduce the car’s reliance on humans, such as cruise control and even automatic windows. 

In Level 0, the human is responsible for executing maneuvers, monitoring the environment, and fall back performance in the event of an error with the car (flat tire, loss of brakes, etc.). There is no aspect of automation in this level.  

Level 1

The first step towards self-driving cars is basic driver assistance. Your car may actually fall within this spectrum of self-driving if it has lane assist, brake assist, or cruise control. 

A feature as small as side-mirror indicator lights to alert the driver when a car is in the next lane can be considered Level 1 driver assistance. Other common driver assistance features include a vibrating steering wheel when an unsignaled lane departure occurs and a self-parallel parking feature.  

In Level 1, there are some aspects of automation in the execution of driving functions such as steering, accelerating, and decelerating.

Level 2

The next rung on the self-driving ladder is Level 2 autonomy and is actually a big step up from Level 1.

In Level 2, the automated system finally takes control of the functional aspects of driving such as steering, acceleration and deceleration, among others. The human driver, however, is still responsible for monitoring the driving environment.

Examples of cars currently in Level 2 autonomy include Tesla’s vehicles with autopilot enabled and Nissan’s ProPilot assist.

Level 3

Level 3 autonomy is when self-driving cars cross the chasm into monitoring the driving environment conditionally. The conditional caveat is that a human driver is still the fallback redundancy when dynamic driving is required. 

If a car with Level 3 autonomy cannot adequately navigate an obstacle in the road or dangerous weather conditions, it will require the human driver to intervene. 

Uber’s self-driving car is an example of Level 3 because while the car controls most of the navigation, the human is still needed for edge-case scenarios the system has not been trained on. 

Level 4

This is currently the highest level attained by the autonomous vehicle industry. Level 4 is defined as high automation. The self-driving system is responsible for all execution, monitoring, and fall back, but is not 100% effective in all driving modes.

This means that the car will not understand how to perform in extremely rare scenarios that the models have not been trained to recognize. 

Waymo the autonomous vehicle company being created by Google, is currently in Level 4 autonomy. Its cars are currently testing self-driving ridesharing in major U.S. cities without human drivers. But there are still rare cases where the self-driving car is implicated in a situation that extends beyond the model’s understanding and ability to avoid an accident. 

Level 5

Level 5 is the goal of self-driving characterized by full automation. 

Full automation means a human being never has to intervene and the car can adequately handle every road (or off-road), weather, obstacle or any other condition, it faces. A world of Level 5 would work best as a network of only other Level 5 autonomous vehicles. If human error is involved, the system is vulnerable to failure. 

Since training machine learning models is essential to handle Level 5 driverless scenarios, some believe whoever has the most data has the most autonomy. George Hotz, the founder of self-driving startup Comma.ai, believes Tesla will be the first to reach Level 5 autonomy based entirely on the amount of data they collect. 

Technology inside self-driving vehicles

While the body of a self-driving car isn’t a reinvention, companies creating self-driving technologies have had to reinvent the way in which the car interfaces with the world around it. A combination of hardware, software and machine learning are needed to have the abilities and redundancy of a self-driving car Level 3 and above. 

Radar 

Radar, or Radio Detection and Ranging, is what self-driving cars use to supplement higher resolution sensors when visibility is low, such as in a storm or at night. 

Radar works by continuously emitting radio waves that reflect back to the source to provide information on the distance, direction and speed of objects. Although Radar is accurate in all visibility conditions and is relatively inexpensive, it does not have the most detailed information about the objects being detected. 

LiDAR

LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, is what self-driving cars use to model their surroundings and provide highly accurate geographical data in a 3D map. 

Compared to Radar, LiDAR has much higher resolution. This is because LiDAR sensors emit lasers — instead of radio waves — to detect, track and map the car’s surroundings with data being transmitted at the speed of light, literally. 

Unfortunately, laser beams do not perform as accurately in weather conditions such as snow, fog, smoke or smog. 

But even a small object like a child’s ball rolling into the street can be recognized by LiDAR sensors. LiDAR not only tracks the ball’s position, but also the speed and direction, which allows the car to yield or stop if the object presents danger to passengers or pedestrians. 

Cameras and computer vision

Cameras used in self-driving cars have the highest resolution of any sensor. The data processed by cameras and computer vision software can help identify edge-case scenarios and detailed information of the car’s surroundings. 

All Tesla vehicles with autopilot capabilities, for example, have 8 external facing cameras which help them understand the world around their cars and train their models for future scenarios. 

Unfortunately, cameras don’t work as well when visibility is low, such as in a storm, fog or even dense smog. Thankfully self-driving cars have been built with redundant systems to fall back on when one or more systems aren’t functioning properly. 

Complementary sensors 

Self-driving cars today also have hardware to enable GPS tracking, ultrasonic sensors for object detection, and IMU (inertial measurement unit) to measure the car’s velocity. 

An often overlooked but important sensor for self-driving cars is a microphone to process audio information. This becomes vitally important when detecting the need to yield to an emergency vehicle or detecting a nearby accident that could be hazardous to the car. 

Computation

In order for self-driving software to interface with the hardware components in real-time, processing all sensor data efficiently, it needs a computer with the processing power to handle this amount of data. 

The computer chips in your standard computer or smartphone are known as Central Processing Units (CPU) but when you consider how much computational power is needed for a self driving car, a CPU does not have anywhere near the bandwidth to handle the number of operations — measured in GOPS, or giga (billion) operations per second. 

Graphical Processing Units (GPU) have become the de facto chip for many self-driving car companies. But even GPUs are not the ideal solution when you consider how much data needs to be processed by autonomous vehicles. 

Neural network accelerators (NNA), introduced in Tesla’s FSD chip in 2019, have far superior computing power for processing real-time data from the various cameras and sensors within their self-driving car. 

According to Tesla, here is how these chips compare when processing the frames per second for 35 billion GOPS (giga operations per second):

• CPU: 1.5
• GPU: 17
• NNA: 2100

As you can see, Tesla’s NNAs are a breakthrough technology in self-driving car computation. 

Software technology of self-driving cars

When self-driving cars reach Level 5 autonomy, they will almost certainly use a combination of three distinct components: hardware, data and neural network algorithms. 

We’ve already touched on the hardware component, which is currently the one component with the most achievement. The algorithms and data components have a long way to come before we reach Level 5 autonomy.

Neural network algorithms 

A neural network is a sophisticated algorithm based on complex matrices designed to recognize patterns without being programmed to do so specifically. Neural network algorithms are actually trained using the labeled data to become adept at analyzing dynamic situations and acting on their decisions. 

Some of the algorithms that have been built using neural networks and used in self-driving cars are:

Neural networks must be trained with data about the task they are expected to perform. When Google trains image recognition neural networks, for example, they must train the model with millions upon millions of labeled images. 

Data

Data is one of the most important components for fully autonomous vehicles (Level 5) to become a reality. 

Large amounts of data are the raw materials for deep learning models to become finished products, in this case, fully autonomous vehicles. 

Tesla currently has the largest source of data with more than 400,000 vehicles on the road transmitting data from their fleet of sensors. By January 2019, Tesla had 1 billion miles of autopilot usage data. Compare this to Waymo who only passed 10 million autonomous miles by October 2018. 

According to Rand, in order for an autonomous vehicle to demonstrate a higher level of reliability than humans, the autonomous technology would need to be 100% in control for 275 million miles before it can be proven safer than humans with a 95% confidence level. 

Points of failure for self-driving vehicles 

In engineering, a single point of failure is one that will cause the entire system to stop working if it fails. One of the key tenets of engineering is redundancy, or a secondary system that acts as a failsafe in case one stops working. This is why airplanes have more than one engine, because if one fails, the plane can still fly. 

Since self-driving cars use cameras, Radar, LiDAR and other sensors to understand its surroundings, the likelihood of a single point of failure leaving the car inoperable is extremely low. 

When Tesla designed their FSD (fully self driving) chip, they put in two independent and identical computers, not only for redundancy in case one fails, but for communication between the two to validate decisions. 

But even with all this redundancy, the main point of failure for self-driving cars is in the software. 

Deep learning models are trained using real-world driving and simulations, but even after billions of miles of experience, there are still rare edge cases these learning models won’t understand how to handle. 

These edge cases are a major point of failure for self-driving cars since deep learning models do not equate to intelligence. Some of the looming problems threatening the future of self-driving cars are:

1. Predicting agent behavior: It’s currently difficult to entirely understand the semantics of a scene, the behavior of other agents on the road and appearance cues such as blinkers and brake lights. Not to mention, predicting human error such as when a person signals a left turn but actually turns right.
2. Understanding perception complexity: Self-driving vehicles fail when objects are blocked from view such as during snowstorms, objects viewed in a reflection, fast moving objects around a blind spot and other long-tail scenarios.  
3. Cybersecurity threats: Software is written by humans, and humans write code with vulnerabilities. Although very few people understand neural networks well enough to exploit these vulnerabilities, it can and will be done.
4. Continuous development and deployment: One problem facing self-driving vehicles is the process of re-validating changes to the software. If and when the code base changes, does this require testing for another 275 million miles to validate performance?

Real-world examples of self-driving system failure

On March 18, 2018, Uber’s self-driving car killed a pedestrian who was crossing the street illegally. Uber’s Level 3 autonomy likely failed in the machine learning model’s ability to make a decision based on the sensory detection of a pedestrian. 

Not to mention the failure on behalf of the fallback system in the event of an imminent accident: the human. The Uber safety driver behind the wheel failed to take action to prevent the accident.

Only 5 days later, on March 23, 2018, Tesla’s Level 2 autonomy vehicle hit a median divider head-on, killing the driver. 

Tesla confirmed autopilot mode was engaged and that the system failed because the lane divider lines were not clearly defined. 

The future of self-driving cars

Despite the definite problems outlined above, self-driving car companies are moving forward and improving every day. 

Considering an estimated 93% of car accidents are caused by human error, the opportunity for self-driving cars to remove a major threat in the daily lives of billions of humans is too great to pass up. There will be many debates over the efficacy of self-driving cars as well as regulatory hurdles before we see Level 5 autonomy deployed globally.

Related artciles:

• How Do Self-Driving Safety Features Affect Your Car Insurance?
• Tesla Car Insurance Review
• 60+ Texting and Driving Statistics 2019

The post How Do Self-Driving Cars Work and What Problems Remain? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar https://ift.tt/32YYnqU

What Are the Toughest States on Felony Speeding Offenses?

We’ve all seen it — law enforcement hidden from the roadway to catch an unexpected driver traveling over the posted speed limit. In worse circumstances, perhaps you were the one who wasn’t watching your speed and ended up with the red and blue lights behind you.

Depending on which state you’re pulled over in, the penalty for driving too fast could cost a pretty penny, or worse, time in jail. 

The economic cost of speeding-related crashes in the U.S. is $40 billion annually and that’s not to mention the 9,378 fatalities it caused in 2018 alone. So, it’s no wonder why some states are cracking down on the consequences of speeding on their roadways. 

With that, we had to know: what are the worst states to get a speeding violation?

States with the most jail time for speeding

Did you know you could get jail time for a first offense speeding ticket?

On the first speeding offense in Georgia and Illinois, violators can get a maximum of one year behind bars. However, even though it is the law, many speeding tickets don’t typically result in jail time. 

As you can imagine, the potential for jail time varies depending on the driver’s speed and circumstances. For example, if a driver is in a school or construction zone, the punishment in some states may be harsher.

Once a driver gets into reckless driving territory, which is defined differently in each state, the consequences get much higher. In Massachusetts for example, reckless or negligent operation could land drivers in jail for 2 weeks to as long as 2 years. 

Other states that carry up to a year in jail for reckless driving are Alaska, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Washington.

Second and third offenses also come with harsher lower limits and higher consequences. In New York, for example, a judge can sentence someone to jail for 15 days for going 11-30 MPH over the speed limit and 30 days for going 31 MPH or more over the limit. But a second or third offense within 18 months can result in 30 days of jail time for 11 or more miles per hour over the limit. 

Does that make you think twice about driving over the speed limit?

States with the highest fines for speeding

Speaking of the consequences for reckless driving, getting hit with a speeding ticket can weigh heavily on the wallet in some states. In fact, a whopping $6 billion is paid out in speeding tickets every year in the U.S.

In Washington, the state with the highest fine for speeding, reckless driving is classified as a misdemeanor, and anyone convicted is looking at coughing up $5,250 in fines and penalty assessments. Not to mention up to 364 days in jail and a possible 30-day license suspension. 

Here are the states with the harshest fines for speeding: 

Beyond these states with high fines, there are 12 other states that have fines up to $1,000 for speeding tickets including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.

States with the strictest license suspension laws

Some states have laws that take their drivers off the road if they violate the speed limits. First time speed violators in Rhode Island, Hawaii and Virginia face up to one year of a license suspension for traveling faster than the posted speed limits. 

The consequences of speeding go beyond a violation enforced by the police. Consider that speeding vehicles have a greater potential to lose control of the vehicle, inability to stop in time, increased severity of a crash and more.

If you want to avoid the burden of some harsh consequences, keep an eye on your speedometer. 

Sources: NHTSA 

Related articles:

• How Much Does Car Insurance Go Up After An Accident?
• 60+ Texting and Driving Statistics 2019
• Liability vs Full Coverage Car Insurance: Which Is Right for Me?

The post What Are the Toughest States on Felony Speeding Offenses? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar https://ift.tt/2XvXwNe

American Express and Vitality launch a credit card that helps you earn cashback as you get fit

American Express and Vitality launch a credit card that helps you earn cashback as you get fit

The more physical activity you do, the more cashback you earn – but is it any good?

Stephen Little Wed, 11/20/2019 - 14:10

Image

American Express and insurer Vitality have launched a new cashback card that helps you make cash as you get fit.

The total amount of cashback you earn depends on how physically active you are in any given month.

To earn points, Vitality members track their activity on a compatible device, which then syncs with their Vitality app.

You can earn points for activities such as completing 7,000 steps in a day, visiting the gym or taking part in a run.

The more physical activity you record, the more cashback you can earn.

The credit card offers members 0.5% cashback on the first £5,000 spent and 1% above this

You can also earn up to 2% cashback if you do enough physical activity and have a health and life plan.

The card comes with an APR of 36.7%. It has a credit limit of £1,200 and a purchase rate of 22.9%.

Neville Koopowitz, chief executive at Vitality, says: “Health and wellbeing sit at the very core of our business, and time and time again we have seen the power of incentives in driving positive behaviour change around physical activity and making people healthier.”  

Is the card worth it?

While this is a novel way to earn cashback, the card comes with a hefty 36.7% APR charge.

So if you want to avoid this charge make sure you pay off your card each month.

Getting cashback could also prove a chore as to get the full 2% you need to earn 160 exercise points a month.

With 7,000 steps a day equalling three Vitality points, this could prove difficult for some people.

You will also need to spend over £5,000 a year and have two additional plans with Vitality. There is also a £6 monthly fee paid for the Vitality programme.

Andrew Hagger, a personal finance expert at Moneycomms, says: “The appeal will be limited as you have to jump through a lot of hoops to qualify for the cashback plus it seems there's a £6 per month fee payable for the Vitality programme.

“Cashback and rewards cards can give you something in return for your loyalty to a certain store or brand but only consider one if you know you will repay your card in full each month otherwise the interest costs will wipe out any benefits earned.”

Best credit cards for cashback

The current Moneywise best buy is the American Express Platinum Cashback Everyday credit card which has 22.9% APR variable. It offers 0.5% on spending up to £5,000 and 1% above this amount.

This card has no annual fee and an introductory offer of 5% cashback on spending for the first three months, up to a £100 limit. Bear in mind that American Express is less widely accepted than other types of credit card. You will also need to spend a minimum of £3,000 a year to get any cashback.

The Tandem Cashback credit card offers 0.5% cashback on all spending. You can also use it abroad and it has no limit on how much cashback you can earn.

While you won’t pay cash machine fees for withdrawals or spending around the world, you will be charged interest from the day of the transaction. The Tandem Cashback credit card has an 18.9% APR on spending or cash withdrawals.

An alternative is the Aqua Reward credit card which gives you 0.5% cashback on all spending up to a limit of £100 per year. As this card is designed for those with a poor credit history (although anyone can apply) it comes with a higher APR of 34.9%. Pay this card off in full every month to avoid paying a high rate of interest on your balance.

Source Moneywise - 29 years of helping you with your finances https://ift.tt/2D07E7F

Better health means 70 is the new 65, says government report

Better health means 70 is the new 65, says government report

A new report from the Office for National Statistics says that as people are living longer we need to rethink the retirement age

Stephen Little Wed, 11/20/2019 - 11:04

Image

The marker for the start of older age in the UK has traditionally been 65, most likely because it was the official retirement age for men and when they could draw their state pension.

However, a new report from the Office for National Statistics says that because of improving health and life expectancy this is looking increasingly “out of date”.

“There is no longer an official retirement age, state pension age is rising, and increasing numbers of people work past the age of 65 years,” the report says.

As people are living longer and healthier lives the report suggests it is time rethink old age and asks whether 70 is the new 65.

The number of people aged over 65 has grown from 5.3 million people, or 10.8% of the population, in 1950, to 11.9 million, or 18% of the total population, in 2018.

By 2050, there are projected to be 17.7 million people aged 65 years and over, or 24.8% of the population.

The ONS says that as people are living longer they can continue to contribute more to society through retiring later, volunteering, and providing care for family members.

The report suggests that rather than shifting the start of older age from 65 to 70, we should instead think of aging in terms of remaining life expectancy of around 15 years.

Using this system would mean that that old age started at 70 for men and 72 for women. By 2066 it will be 75 for men and 77 for women.

The report says: “Our findings indicate that health status by chronological age has improved over time while health status at prospective ages shows more stability.

“This means that measuring population ageing in terms of the proportion of people in the population of a set chronological age may not be the most appropriate measure to use when considering the health of our ageing population. Prospective measures, based on years of life remaining, may provide a more consistent indication and as such may be a more appropriate measure to use when planning for current and future health and social care needs and demand.”

The age when people start old age and retire has implications for a range of social policies, including health care and pensions.

The state pension age is rising, having previously been 60 for women and 65 for men.

The current state pension age for men and women is 65 and in 2020 will rise to 66. The state pension age is then due to increase to 67 by 2028 and 68 by 2039.

The report will add to fears that the state pension age could rise even further.

Earlier this year, a Conservative think tank led by former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith proposed the state pension age should rise to 70 by 2028 and 75 by 2035 because people are living longer.

Maike Currie, director for workplace investing at Fidelity International, says: “So-called retirees are now healthier, living longer, and retiring at different ages. We’re seeing a growing trend of people planning to continue working after they have retired, defying traditional expectations. 70 isn’t just the new 65, in reality it’s the new 40.

“As baby boomers reach their 60s, their approach to their working lives will transform the world of work and retirement as we know it. And how we plan our retirements will need to reflect this new reality. Longevity means that part of life is longer, but that retirement might be phased and that should remain a choice, rather than a necessity. The solution lies in having a plan and knowing the amount you need to put away each month to fund plans, and cover your lifestyle needs throughout your life.”

Source Moneywise - 29 years of helping you with your finances https://ift.tt/37xEECe

Fund Briefing: Is investing in India a route to riches?

Fund Briefing: Is investing in India a route to riches? Rob Griffin Mon, 11/18/2019 - 16:13

Share

Source Moneywise - 29 years of helping you with your finances https://ift.tt/2s3lLGX

How Nature Lovers Can Make Money With Hipcamp, the Airbnb of Camping

Get outside the 9 to 5.

San Francisco startup Hipcamp is adding ways to do just that. The platform, which is essentially Airbnb for camping, offers nature lovers soul-soothing side gigs and adventurers a convenient method to book outdoor accommodations.

In 2013, Alyssa Ravasio, the CEO and founder of Hipcamp, wanted to book a campsite on a California beach for New Year’s Day. After an exhausting search spread across scores of websites, she finally found one, but the experience left her frustrated. At the time, there was no better way to book camping experiences online.

So she set out to make one. She attended a coding bootcamp and designed a rudimentary version of what’s now Hipcamp.

Six years later, the website lists camping spots in all 50 states, including more than 9,000 parks, 18,000 campgrounds and 360,000 sites for the public to enjoy with the ethos that campers should leave the land in better shape than they found it.

The company’s rapid expansion of private and public land listings has opened up opportunities for landowners, photographers and everyday Mother Earth admirers to make a little money.

Hipcamp Jobs and Gigs

Here’s a snapshot of three moneymaking opportunities with the camping website. Side gigs are most popular, but the company offers some flexible career options, too.

Host Campers

Hipcamp isn’t another platform to list your vacation home on the water. The company’s niche is the great outdoors, so your property needs to be large and secluded to be a good fit. Campsites, farm lands, RVs, yurts and secluded cabins are all fair game.

A good rule of thumb is that your land should be at least two acres and your guests should be out of view and earshot of your neighbor’s property. Legally, properties under 20 acres need to offer bathroom accommodations. Boondock RV listings don’t need to offer toilets. (Again, the RV should be on a sizable plot – not, say, a suburban backyard.)

Pro Tip

Your listing may be subject to Hotel and Transient Occupancy Taxes. Check your county and state government’s websites to ensure you’re complying with local regulations.

Listings should be available throughout the year. One-time events or festivals aren’t allowed. 

Before creating an account, review the host standards for more specifics to see if your land qualifies. 

You’re not wrong to think it’s a little dangerous to allow strangers to occupy your land in the wild countryside. The good news is that Hipcamp covers hosts with a $1 million insurance policy and a $10,000 property protection plan.

Photograph Campsites

For hosts, it’s hard to give vast acreage a “lived in” feel for their new listing, especially when there aren’t any campers enjoying the property just yet. Grainy or unfocused photos of unoccupied land might give off… the wrong vibe.

Hipcamp has a clever solution for that. The company hires freelance photographers to stay at newly listed campsites – and waives the booking fee. As a photographer, you can camp overnight for free at any listing on Hipcamp’s assignment board, bring a few friends during the stay, and earn between $75 and $100 per shoot.

Hipcamp is looking for professional-level photos, with people and camping equipment in the frame, to give future campers an honest glimpse of the property. Each project requires 15 to 20 high-quality photos and one review of the listing. The gigs pay a minimum of $75. Depending on demand, you could earn up to $100.

Hipcamp encourages beginners and pros alike to apply to become a photographer, but high-quality equipment and photos are a must. Because of a large volume of submissions, the company says it could take more than two weeks to respond.

Once approved, you can skim through the assignment dashboard for the perfect gig. 

Work From Home for Hipcamp

Hipcamp employees can benefit from its mission to get more people outside. 

The company offers several types of remote jobs, meaning it is entirely possible to basque in nature while being on-the-clock, Wi-Fi permitting. (The Penny Hoarder can’t guarantee you won’t get fired for answering a conference call while hiking Yosemite.) Employees also get “Hipcash” to apply toward camping excursions on their own time.

The company isn’t entirely remote, however. Most of Hipcamp’s 45 full-timers work out of its San Francisco headquarters, but the company confirmed to The Penny Hoarder that it hires remote workers across all departments. Recent remote listings include customer service, engineering and marketing roles.

Numerous employee reviews on Glassdoor suggest the company’s culture is thriving. Overall ratings are 4.9 out of five stars. In addition to camping credits, a typical benefits package includes health, dental and vision care; a 401(k) retirement plan; professional growth stipends; paid time off and paternity leave.

Sorry in advance to remote workers. You won’t get to enjoy the kombucha on tap.

Adam Hardy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. He specializes in ways to make money that don’t involve stuffy corporate offices. Read his ​latest articles here, or say hi on Twitter @hardyjournalism.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

source The Penny Hoarder https://ift.tt/2Xu4oL9