Driverless Cars

[3930dave]

30 or so years from now, this may look like the debates about Horseless Carriages.....

Closer to now, this article raises some key points:

Will we ever be able to trust driverless cars? - BBC News

Until I can crawl in the back and sleep while "driving", this doesn't hold much interest for me.....

Rgds, D.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I think what we'll be seeing in a lot of fields before full automation is remote presence -- things that can be piloted by someone at a distance. Kind of like how drones over the Middle East are piloted by a bunch of guys in an office park in Nevada.

It's a lot easier to make a car that can handle 99% of driving than one that handles 100%. If you make a car that can handle 99% -- and crucially, can tell when it's in a situation it can't handle -- you can have it flip to manual control when it realizes it's over its head. With remote presence that doesn't have to mean a driver in the car -- it can be a person in a service center. Imagine a giant call center* where all they do all day long is take over cars that have gotten into a situation they can't figure out, and getting them out of it. Probably a lot of the time that will just mean parking and calling for a tow. So yeah, you'd be able to sleep in the back.

(*In India, I'd imagine.)

 

[/pine]

One thing processor driven cars can offer is fluidity and efficiency...no driver lag, hesitation, indecision etc., etc...not to mention rubbernecking and other distractions...

On the other hand...I tend to think that driverless cars would be taken advantage of by most aggressive drivers and would constantly be having to react...

 

[John Fitzgerald]

What happens in the remote but eventually sure chance that there is a flare off the sun that at least temporarily disrupts GPS signals? Does everything instantly stop in signal absence or are there 100 car pile ups on every busy road?

 

[/pine]

What happens in the remote but eventually sure chance that there is a flare off the sun that at least temporarily disrupts GPS signals? Does everything instantly stop in signal absence or are there 100 car pile ups on every busy road?

I would assume there would be redundant inertial or another type of navigation systems in place...maybe something like virtual dead reckoning etc...

If the driverless car scenario were to play out like the OP suggested a possibility of...logically there would also be sensors either in the traffic lanes themselves or along a route's right of way...similar technologies already exist and are in use in the trucking industry...

IMO one of the biggest issues facing driverless cars/trucks is cars and trucks with human drivers trying to use the same lanes etc...

 

[3930dave]

These systems are definitely coming, and probably faster than we think. A lot of the driver (pun intended) for this is eliminating labour in commercial applications.

That Tesla driver died in 2016 mostly because they put too much faith in the technology - a quote from the BBC article touches on why I think this is going to be a continuing problem in the short-term:

"But while there's no doubt that fully autonomous self-driving cars are on their way, there are concerns that many of us may confuse assisted driving technologies - cruise control, lane keeping, automatic braking, collision avoidance systems and so on - with full autonomy.

And this could make us dangerously complacent."

Human nature..... the same complacency that I see here in Winter that puts 4x4 vehicles (unintentionally) 100 yards off the side of a major highway will create "issues", up until these systems reliably hit full autonomy.

There's an ancient joke about the guy who bought a new Winnebago, then crashed it the first time out because he put it on cruise-control then went in back to lie down. Today, that just sounds like a stupid joke, but does illustrate the perils of not understanding the limits of technology.

Rgds, D.

 

[JPRambo]

Here in SW Florida is a full solar city on the rise. It was announced recently that they are beginning to use driver less cars to circle the city for the perspective buyers to tour the grounds. Check out Babcock Ranch Village.
Autonomous Vehicles at Babcock Ranch | Webinar | Babcock Ranch

 

[sandman2234]

What about 80,000 pounds being driver less? Currently happening, but a driver still has to sit behind the wheel to keep mere mortals happy!
David from jax

 

[jcmaurice6]

And what about tractor driverless?

CASE all ready have one on the market!

 

[quicksandfarmer]

These systems are definitely coming, and probably faster than we think. A lot of the driver (pun intended) for this is eliminating labour in commercial applications.

That Tesla driver died in 2016 mostly because they put too much faith in the technology - a quote from the BBC article touches on why I think this is going to be a continuing problem in the short-term:

"But while there's no doubt that fully autonomous self-driving cars are on their way, there are concerns that many of us may confuse assisted driving technologies - cruise control, lane keeping, automatic braking, collision avoidance systems and so on - with full autonomy.

And this could make us dangerously complacent."

Human nature..... the same complacency that I see here in Winter that puts 4x4 vehicles (unintentionally) 100 yards off the side of a major highway will create "issues", up until these systems reliably hit full autonomy.

There's an ancient joke about the guy who bought a new Winnebago, then crashed it the first time out because he put it on cruise-control then went in back to lie down. Today, that just sounds like a stupid joke, but does illustrate the perils of not understanding the limits of technology.

Rgds, D.

I feel the current Tesla model is fatally flawed. The machine does all the driving -- except for the most challenging parts, where a human needs to be able to take over? Humans aren't built that way. The machine needs to be all or nothing.