Self drivers are here......

[JustRalph]

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/7/16615290/waymo-self-driving-safety-driver-chandler-autonomous

Google has them running the roads of Arizona

[thaskalos]

If there is no human behind the wheel, who gets the ticket in the event of a traffic violation? The owner of the car...or the manufacturer?

[PaceAdvantage]

What could go wrong? :eek:

[_______]

Sometime in the future, it will be noted that the 30% of cars still driven by humans are involved in 99% of accidents. It won’t be long after that before human controlled driving on public roads isn’t an option.

Driving a car will become a rich persons hobby that’s conducted on closed courses.

Websites like this will be full of outraged opinion and the rare examples where an algo f’d up as proof that machines can’t do the job a human does. But they can. They already do. And there is no doubt they will drive safer than a human can.

[PaceAdvantage]

Again, what could go wrong?

[jimmyb]

Again, what could go wrong?
Insurance premiums will go down.

[woodtoo]

and lawsuits?

[JustRalph]

Vegas baby!

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/6/16614388/las-vegas-self-driving-shuttle-navya-keolis-aaa

[FantasticDan]

Again, what could go wrong?

https://youtu.be/zNSDAaeIh7U

[jimmyb]

Crash!!!

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41923814

[Tom]

At one time, there were only two motor cars in the state of Ohio.
And one day, they ran into each other.:lol:

[Clocker]

An interesting article in National Review on the subject (and some others). It says that the big revolution will not come from the cars, but from the network in which they operate.

Having an autonomous car that knows exactly where it is (Lutz says GM’s current standard is down to four inches) is a big step forward, but having an autonomous car that knows where it is, where every other car is in a thousand-mile radius, and where all of them are going — that’s a giant leap.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453738/bob-lutz-future-economy-optimistic-technology-pessimistic-labor

[Jeff P]

Agree with the article.

Imo, I see the network as having way more potential than the on-board computers and sensors that (within 3-5 years) will start showing up in individual cars.

Fyi, the accident in Vegas mentioned in post #10 of this thread?

Caused by the human driver of the semi that bumped into the autonomous shuttle.


-jp

.

[Parkview_Pirate]

The technology required for this purpose is pretty complex, and it remains to be seen if it's economically viable long-term and across all "silos" of drivers today. Like electric cars, just because it's possible, doesn't mean 100% replacement of gas/diesel vehicles, or in this case human drivers.

I hate to think what happens in the event of an EMP or bad solar flare with millions of self-driving vehicles in motion.....

[davew]

Insurance premiums will go down.

but there will be a tax mandate that everyone has it (passenger/pedestrian injury insurance) or else tax penalty. Low income people will get theirs' subsidized.

[PaceAdvantage]

I hate to think what happens in the event of an EMP or bad solar flare with millions of self-driving vehicles in motion.....Self-driving vehicles will be the least of our concerns...

[Actor]

If there is no human behind the wheel, who gets the ticket in the event of a traffic violation? The owner of the car...or the manufacturer?Will the car pull over when being pursued? Will the car sign the ticket?

[Actor]

How long before human drivers get pulled over by Robocop?

[JustRalph]

My new truck has these safety features

Pre collision warning system. It will actually stop the truck for you if you are going to rear end something/someone. You can adjust the sensitivity. It scares the hell out of you the first time it "assists you"

Lane control, maintains your lane by sounding an alarm and flashing a light. I had to turn it off.....it’s too sensitive for me. I weave a little too much, even in my own lane.

Adaptive cruise. Works really well.

Automatic high beams. I figured this was a gimmick. But I’ve grown to really like it. Driving the rural areas here in Texas, this thing works great.

All of these things can be turned off. I think that’s the key to getting people used to this stuff. Phase it in slowly. If you want it....great. If you don’t.....being able to turn it off is nice.

I know the new safety stuff is not the same as driverless cars.....but I think it could bridge the gap towards acceptance

[Tom]

How long before human drivers get pulled over by Robocop?

How long before Robocop pulls over a robo-car?
No humans involved.:headbanger:

[Parkview_Pirate]

Self-driving vehicles will be the least of our concerns...

Tell that to the people in the vehicle doing 70MPH on a turn.

Of course, they may be the lucky ones, as .gov estimates something like 90% of the population dies within one to three months or so of an EMP.

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-113hhrg89763/html/CHRG-113hhrg89763.htm

[Actor]

How long before Robocop pulls over a robo-car?
No humans involved.:headbanger:Should be interesting.

[tucker6]

Tell that to the people in the vehicle doing 70MPH on a turn.

Of course, they may be the lucky ones, as .gov estimates something like 90% of the population dies within one to three months or so of an EMP.

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-113hhrg89763/html/CHRG-113hhrg89763.htm
A govt overestimate to be sure, and just another hysteria piece. There's enough food and grain supplies to last many months, and with proper food distribution channels, you can mitigate the numbers substantially. EMP damage isn't permanent. It would be just like a hurricane on a vast scale. Not everything is destroyed. What is damaged gets fixed, while in the meantime you distribute what is needed until you get new supplies and equipment into the pipeline again.

[Parkview_Pirate]

A govt overestimate to be sure, and just another hysteria piece. There's enough food and grain supplies to last many months, and with proper food distribution channels, you can mitigate the numbers substantially. EMP damage isn't permanent. It would be just like a hurricane on a vast scale. Not everything is destroyed. What is damaged gets fixed, while in the meantime you distribute what is needed until you get new supplies and equipment into the pipeline again.

I'd agree that a government estimate is open for criticism, regardless of what it's about, but I don't know if it's an overestimate. Most of the supply chains in the country now are optimized for "just in time" deliveries, and items with small supplies (i.e., specialized medicines) could be unavailable for long periods of time. An EMP via solar flare would fry most electronics not in a Faraday cage, and that damage is permanent. Food supply chains in urban areas would break down quickly, and any stockpiles would soon be depleted.

Comparing an EMP event to a hurricane has limited similarities. There of course would be no physical damage (outside of crashed planes and self driving vehicles and some fires), but there would be no electricity, few vehicles running, no cell service, no internet, and few non-electronic backup systems available. It took 11 days for my dad's condo to get power back after "hurricane" Irma, and that was in the heart of Ft. Myers. Imagine every transformer whacked over a broad region - and with a two year backlog to get a new one today, getting new supplies and equipment in a the pipeline is going to take a while. We of course won't know until an event occurs, which according to the report happens every 150 to 200 years (solar flare at the "Carrington" event level).

For the preppers living an 1850s lifestyle already, there would be minimum impact - right until the hordes from urban areas showed up looking for food.

[Parkview_Pirate]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2017/11/23/self-driving-cars-programmed-decide-who-dies-crash/891493001/

And there is an existential question:

Who dies when the car is forced into a no-win situation?

“There will be crashes,” said Van Lindberg, an attorney in the Dykema law firm's San Antonio office who specializes in autonomous vehicle issues. “Unusual things will happen. Trees will fall. Animals, kids will dart out.” Even as self-driving cars save thousands of lives, he said, “anyone who gets the short end of that stick is going to be pretty unhappy about it.”

Good thing we got AI coming along to get existential for us....

[MONEY]

That crash in post #10 could have been prevented with a the horn, steering or by speeding up instead of stopping.

Self driving cars use GPS.
Did any of you ever have your GPS on while maneuvering through a parking lot.
It begins to rapidly give different instructions to drive in many directions.
The GPS instructing a computer driven car this way will certainly cause an accident.

My GPS has taken me to abandoned buildings and desolate backstreets and then announced
"You Have Arrived". We all know that people will be stupid enough to throw their kids into a self driven car and send them to grandma's house.
Also whenever I leave my neighborhood it directs me to go though a dead end street to reach the main road.

About a month ago there was an accident on Interstate 10 that had the highway closed in both directions. I had my GPS on and of course it instructed me to get onto the ramp for highway. Had I followed instructions I would have been stuck in traffic for hours.

Computer driven cars might be practical in the future, but for now drivers are needed to correct computer errors.