[onoway]

Just listened to an interview about self driving cars. The thought is that human drivers will eventually be limited in the roads they are allowed to drive on so they don't damage the autonomous cars which would be the only ones allowed in heavy traffic areas such as downtown areas or freeways.

I tend to be distrustful and prefer to control my own vehicle, thanks very much. Engineers just completed a billion dollar bridge in BC which in the month it has been open has been directly responsible for multiple accidents, apparently more than 70 in one day last week. Building bridges is NOT a new concept and they clearly didn't get it even remotely right, although it is a most attractive structure. The idea of riding in an autonomous vehicle charging down the road at 100 KPH 10 meters from the bumper of the car ahead of it doesn't inspire.

OTOH it would be a boon for people who cannot drive for one reason or another, and allow people to live where they preferred to live instead of being restricted by access to transportation.

Are autonomous cars inevitable? If so, to what degree?

[Fluffy]

autonomous cars on their ultimate implementation would save a lot of energy and time, and they would let the driver (now peasenger) do something while being transported to his destiny (have breakfast or maybe start working directly from laptop in the mornings)

people do much more dangerous things than letting a computer drive a car, they let computers pilot aircrafts, control lights, and many more. But it will always be possible to drive a car yourself as a sport.


Do you really prefer a drunk driver than a fully predictable computer driving at your side?

[onoway]

Fluffy, on 2013-January-05, 10:52, said:

autonomous cars on their ultimate implementation would save a lot of energy and time, and they would let the driver (now peasenger) do something while being transported to his destiny (have breakfast or maybe start working directly from laptop in the mornings)

people do much more dangerous things than letting a computer drive a car, they let computers pilot aircrafts, control lights, and many more. But it will always be possible to drive a car yourself as a sport.


Do you really prefer a drunk driver than a fully predictable computer driving at your side?

My experience with computers is not that they are fully predictable..I Have had them turn themselves on for no particular reason, freeze up, relay me into places I didn't intend or ask for. People have demonstrated it is already relatively simple for people to shanghai cars with just the computers already in them..they can make them speed up, brake, turn, stop suddenly etc., indeed take over complete control of a vehicle they are not even in. It's probable nobody would ever want to do that to the car you or I are in, at least intentionally. Does that give you a sense of security?

Also, it is hardly reasonable to take the worst of one scenario and the best of the other and compare. Most of us fortunately don't ever have to contend with drunk drivers. Perhaps part of the solution is to make driving drunk carry such penalties that it simply stops being an issue. A drunk who kills someone should perhaps be automatically convicted of murder, for example, and no tolerance for people trying to offload responsibility onto hapless bar waitresses.

[kenberg]

I suppose autonomous cars will arrive, and I expect that they will be mostly ok. We recently buried the 2001 Honda and bought a 2013. Good God but it has gadgetry. It might require a computer to understand it all. It beeps at me if i cross lanes w/o signalling. It lights up a screen on the dash when I turn right or back up. It has seat warmers, individually controlled for passenger and driver. I don't need to use a key to open it or start it. It insists that I put the car in Park and then turn it off, if I do it in the other order it objects. It has settings for driver 1 (me) and driver 2 (Becky) The drivng manual has five hundred and some pages. I began my driving career with a 47 Plymouth, and I don't think that the repair manual had 500 pages. The world has changed. I expect it will tell me any day now that it has decided I don't drive well enough and it is taking over.

[ggwhiz]

A New Zealand shelter is teaching dogs to drive cars. What happens if they see a cat?

[jjbrr]

http://en.wikipedia...._driverless_car

Quote

In August 2011, a human-controlled Google driverless car was involved in the project's first crash near Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Google has stated that the car was being driven manually at the time of the accident.[9] A second incident involved a Google driverless car being rear-ended while stopped at a stoplight.[10]

it seems a logistical nightmare until the proper infrastructure is built to separate human drivers from autonomous drivers just because human drivers are so bad at driving

[Rain]

I am a very nervous driver. Self driving cars can't arrive soon enough for me, but can't see roads that are 100% autonomous car only (like Minority Report) in USA for the next 100 years. I expect the human will be able to override in emergencies anyway but the less I have to be aware of the better.

Ken my Honda doesn't do anything close to what yours does. Wish it did!

[helene_t]

The technlogy is clearly not ripe now. I think it will take several decades before we will see computer-driven cars communicate effectively with human fellow drivers. The first step will probably be to get them working in restricted environments where they can avoid contact with human drivers. For example buses that drive on bus lanes only (there was an experiment with that in Eindhoven, Netherlands, not sure what the current status of the project is).