Driverless Cars

[/pine]

According to this man's imagination...the reality is there could be personal pilot-less flying vehicles as soon as there are autonomous wheeled vehicles...

Self-driving car experts offer online degree in 'flying cars' | Reuters

 

[John Fitzgerald]

I think the whole concept is unworkable except in designated routes in or near large cities and not going to happen for most of us.

 

[3930dave]

Given that the new Onstar app can let you remote start your car from your phone, I would be surprised if any Onstar equipped vehicle that still talks to the cell network COULDNT do that.

Aaron Z

I've been hanging around TBN long enough to keep in mind there are often factory engineers about.... So statements like Anything Onstar can lead to corrections like "except early production MYr 2014 Cruze without software patch XYZ+" etc...... so I'm generally loathe to make blanket statements about systems I don't know intimately.....

But yes, today, that telemetry is trivial. Heck, Google (or for that matter, just a top San Jose high-school geek club) probably has a secret Bagged-Bogey list of all the cars they can shut down remotely.....

Vehicle non-physical security is an issue, but that also applies to regular new vehicles.... Probably a good business to get into, crack-proofing the IT on high-end vehicles.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Mace Canute]

Why Tesla'''s Autopilot Can'''t See a Stopped Firetruck | WIRED

 

[Raspy]

Why Tesla'''s Autopilot Can'''t See a Stopped Firetruck | WIRED

Very interesting article. I'm suddenly much less trusting of this technology. Thanks Mace

 

[3930dave]

Why Tesla'''s Autopilot Can'''t See a Stopped Firetruck | WIRED

Yikes. Good article - well illustrates part of why I started this thread..... I'm a firm believer that if you are going to bet your life on a technology, it's a really good idea to completely understand the limitations.....

What's one of the first things covered in defensive driving..... Scan at least 1 mile down the road !

You won't see that traffic scenario every day, but it's not one in a million either.....

Rgds, D.

 

[cqaigy2]

Yikes. Good article - well illustrates part of why I started this thread..... I'm a firm believer that if you are going to bet your life on a technology, it's a really good idea to completely understand the limitations.....

What's one of the first things covered in defensive driving..... Scan at least 1 mile down the road !

You won't see that traffic scenario every day, but it's not one in a million either.....

Rgds, D.

True, and you only have to mess up one time.

 

[rd_macgregor]

This technology still has a long way to go. The rudimentary first steps clearly show that it encourages complacency in drivers. After the system successfully maneuvers a little ways, the "driver" starts to lose focus and gets distracted into other activities. Being perpetually ready to second-guess and override the self-driver just isn't going to happen, so the systems need to be more nearly foolproof than they are now.

 

[3930dave]

This technology still has a long way to go. The rudimentary first steps clearly show that it encourages complacency in drivers. After the system successfully maneuvers a little ways, the "driver" starts to lose focus and gets distracted into other activities. Being perpetually ready to second-guess and override the self-driver just isn't going to happen, so the systems need to be more nearly foolproof than they are now.

One thing I will be looking for is market acceptance in Germany, on the tech side of things.

Not really apples/apples to here though, as driving trainer is reportedly much higher in Germany.

Rgds, D.

 

[NorTracNY]

As long as sensors fail, there will be major challenges to this. I don't understand how the companies will be able to handle the lawsuits that will results. There is a younger generation that is working on this. So there is a lot of thought and energy going in, but my experience says it's a LONG way off for fully automated. How much sensor redundancy will you need? How much road salt, snow covering, and dirt before the car can't function? Living in NY tells me no way will this be workable. Most sensors can't work through snow.

I was shocked when a friend told me his F350 cut out on him when he was on a one lane bridge last year. He luckily was able to glide off the bridge to the side of the road with the momentum his truck had. The truck would not restart and needed to be towed. The problem was an oxygen senor in the engine. There was NOTHING wrong with the engine. Just the senor stopped working. The geniuses decided that if this senor goes off or fails, the truck should immediately stop! I certainly don't trust a company that fails here to be successful at fully automating a car.