Driverless cars.

[ZRod]

My opinion of this isn't just based on this one incident.  I shudder at the thought of semis driving down the road at 65 miles per hour in the winter with icy roads and constantly changing conditions.  That's just one fear.

IF we ever get to autonomous transportation, I believe our transportation systems (roads) will need to be very very different than they are right now.  That is a huge huge huge investment.

And that's why the engineers thoroughly test and evaluate these systems. Every car is already physically winter tested for traction control and anti-lock brake calibration. This is just a new system that will require the same or similar evaluations. It's not terribly difficult, all things considered, to program the computer to adjust it's driving characteristics for temperature and weather conditions.

 

[huKSer]

Saturday at the St Patrick's Parade I was thinking about how bad a driver-less car in a parade would be

 

[JJ Husker]

I don't think there is any avoiding autonomous driving being the thing of the future but I do have one little anecdote about how some of these systems aren't quite that reliable yet. My truck has front end collision and lane departure sensors and warnings. I've turned off the lane departure because it's a pain in the a$$. But the front collision warning scares the sh#t out of me on a regular basis. Two basic conditions cause it to go off when it shouldn't. 1- when the sun is just right and I'm driving down a tree lined Street or under an overpass it will beep and flash for no good reason. It sees shadows and misinterprets them. 2- when going around a curve and there are cars parked on the side of the road, same thing. Really gets the blood flowing when that warning goes off and there really is no danger. I will say that it has probably saved me from rear ending somebody a couple times. But I'd hate to see what an autonomous vehicle would do reacting to those same sensors.

 

[knapplc]

One thought I've often had is that almost everyone drives.

We all went to high school and played sports at least in gym. Not everyone has good hand-eye coordination. There's no way everyone should drive (I feel the same way about raising children). Given how many dumbos and crazies I see in the road, I'm gonna throw up a made up number of 60%. That's what % of people who drive I think should actually be allowed out there on the road.

I think automated cars should definitely improve things in the long run.

I've been using this analogy for more than two decades to b!^@h about other drivers. 

I'm a pretty decent driver.  Intuitive, skilled, safe, bap bap bap.  So I can drive, and do it well and safely. 

I have a horrible jump shot. I cannot dribble.  I, therefore, don't play basketball.  I suck at it. 

But the people who suck at driving the way I suck at basketball still drive.  And that is 90% of the problem on the road today. 

Driverless cars take the human out of the equation and make that all much, much better.  In fact, the more driverless cars there are the better we'll be.  All those cars flowing together, with traffic controlled, are going to get me to my destination much more safely, much quicker, and with much less bitching.  Road rage will go down because nobody will cut each other off, nobody will cut in front of someone and slow down on purpose, they'll all be going the same reasonable speed. 

As much as I enjoy the task of driving, I pray for the day when we're all on that grid. 

 

[ZRod]

I don't think there is any avoiding autonomous driving being the thing of the future but I do have one little anecdote about how some of these systems aren't quite that reliable yet. My truck has front end collision and lane departure sensors and warnings. I've turned off the lane departure because it's a pain in the a$$. But the front collision warning scares the sh#t out of me on a regular basis. Two basic conditions cause it to go off when it shouldn't. 1- when the sun is just right and I'm driving down a tree lined Street or under an overpass it will beep and flash for no good reason. It sees shadows and misinterprets them. 2- when going around a curve and there are cars parked on the side of the road, same thing. Really gets the blood flowing when that warning goes off and there really is no danger. I will say that it has probably saved me from rear ending somebody a couple times. But I'd hate to see what an autonomous vehicle would do reacting to those same sensors.

There is a newer generation of systems on cars now with all kinds of radar and lidar. If you see cars with a big flat stylized plate in the front grill (think the new Genesis cars) that is for the newest generation of system. Collusion avoidance and lane departure was just the very beginning. The requirements for autonomy are way more now and so there are way more refined gadgets to assist. Obviously there will be bugs and hicups. Some systems will be better than others, but trust me when I say that this isn't a half a$$ attempt by a few OEMs. Everyone is planning and working on this as the future. Just like hybrids and electrification.

 

[Nebfanatic]

I had read somewhere there was a driver behind the wheel during the testing and it was perhaps somewhat the pedestrians fault. One thing I will say about autonomous driving is self driving cars have already clocked millions of miles on public roadways. The accident rate for these vehichles is extremely low. 

 

[JJ Husker]

There is a newer generation of systems on cars now with all kinds of radar and lidar. If you see cars with a big flat stylized plate in the front grill (think the new Genesis cars) that is for the newest generation of system. Collusion avoidance and lane departure was just the very beginning. The requirements for autonomy are way more now and so there are way more refined gadgets to assist. Obviously there will be bugs and hicups. Some systems will be better than others, but trust me when I say that this isn't a half a$$ attempt by a few OEMs. Everyone is planning and working on this as the future. Just like hybrids and electrification.

I sort of figured there was better stuff for the self driving vehicles. I've got a 2016 Canyon and it is quite a ways from being self driving but it does have some of the precursor tech. I just had to push back a bit on the notion that everything is refined and good to go as is. I'm guessing the technology is making leaps and bounds every day now.

Being an old guy I'm naturally resistant to change but as others have said, I've witnessed enough poor drivers that I'm all for this eventuality. I would concur that about 40% of current drivers suck at driving so anything that gets these morons away from operating a motor vehicle the better.

 

[RedDenver]

I sort of figured there was better stuff for the self driving vehicles. I've got a 2016 Canyon and it is quite a ways from being self driving but it does have some of the precursor tech. I just had to push back a bit on the notion that everything is refined and good to go as is. I'm guessing the technology is making leaps and bounds every day now.

Being an old guy I'm naturally resistant to change but as others have said, I've witnessed enough poor drivers that I'm all for this eventuality. I would concur that about 40% of current drivers suck at driving so anything that gets these morons away from operating a motor vehicle the better.

As an FYI, lane assist and braking assist and such aren't pre-cursors, they are actually off-shoots from fully autonomous systems. If you want to see what autonomous cars can really do, watch Tesla's autopilot or Waymo's (aka Google's) driverless cars.

 

[ZRod]

I sort of figured there was better stuff for the self driving vehicles. I've got a 2016 Canyon and it is quite a ways from being self driving but it does have some of the precursor tech. I just had to push back a bit on the notion that everything is refined and good to go as is. I'm guessing the technology is making leaps and bounds every day now.

Being an old guy I'm naturally resistant to change but as others have said, I've witnessed enough poor drivers that I'm all for this eventuality. I would concur that about 40% of current drivers suck at driving so anything that gets these morons away from operating a motor vehicle the better.

I'm a bit of a driving purist, so all this new technology kinda makes me sad. I have the old guy mentality of not liking all the new technology as well. The of driving was lost long ago. There are too many dummy controls on a car now for people who can't drive well (Lane departure, blind spot monitos, backup sensors, stability control, traction control, etc.) Yes, they make it safer, but they also give a false sense of security, and people think that they don't need to keep alert at all times. 

That being said, I realize the only way to get safer is to push forward into full automation. Which makes me sad...

 

[RedDenver]

I'm a bit of a driving purist, so all this new technology kinda makes me sad. I have the old guy mentality of not liking all the new technology as well. The of driving was lost long ago. There are too many dummy controls on a car now for people who can't drive well (Lane departure, blind spot monitos, backup sensors, stability control, traction control, etc.) Yes, they make it safer, but they also give a false sense of security, and people think that they don't need to keep alert at all times. 

That being said, I realize the only way to get safer is to push forward into full automation. Which makes me sad...

I don't think autonomous driving will ever fully replace human driving. Some people just like to go for a drive. It's why I think Tesla's autopilot will be successful for car owners/renters and Waymo's driverless cars will only succeed for fleet vehicles like taxis.

 

[ZRod]

I don't think autonomous driving will ever fully replace human driving. Some people just like to go for a drive. It's why I think Tesla's autopilot will be successful for car owners/renters and Waymo's driverless cars will only succeed for fleet vehicles like taxis.

In the distant future it will. The drive based car will become like the horse, something recreational for collectors or enthusiasts.

 

[commando]

it's a good thing computers never get any glitches in them.   never any blue screen shutdowns, bugs, hacked into, or otherwise compromised with any another problems.

 

[Nebfanatic]

it's a good thing computers never get any glitches in them.   never any blue screen shutdowns, bugs, hacked into, or otherwise compromised with any another problems.

No system is perfect, but computer systems can run very reliably now adays. The safety provided by automation far outweighs the potential issues. Computer systems run so much now, alot of damage could be done  from a widespread crash or malfuntion to large servers today. So this is a risk we already deal with as a society daily. We rely on computers as is.

 

[RedDenver]

it's a good thing computers never get any glitches in them.   never any blue screen shutdowns, bugs, hacked into, or otherwise compromised with any another problems.

And people have heart attacks, strokes, siezures, etc. It's not about attaining no risk, it's about reducing risk and autonomous vehicles can do that.

 

[Mierin]

My car's a 2003. I can still parallel park all by myself and use my rearview mirror. I haven't even run 1 person over yet.