[OllieGee]

Not sure if anyone has discussed this in any detail on this forum (Maybe I haven't searched hard enough if there is other subjects on it)
But I am SO excited about autonomous vehicles and have amazing hopes for when it arrives.

1. No traffic jams (all vehicles going at the same speed)
2. Being able to do what you like in the car while you're being driven (watching a movie, working on your laptop, having a beer!)
3. Wherever you go to not having to be sober or be in charge of the vehicle
4. The list goes on...

[HS]

They should not have internet though. I think the virus/hacker risk is too high with a moving vehicle. So they would need to go off of what they see, no streams of incoming data that can be messed with.

[Art]

We don't even have "Stand-alone" laptops or cell phones. Everything is connected one way or another. The "Stand-alone" in this case, refers to not being reliant upon some connected server/service/corporation/Internet watchdog.

Linux computer? Umm...I really don't think so as much as we'd all like to believe. Too many ears are trying to listen in.

Driverless cars are dependant upon GPS and radar coordinates unless your car has opted to download and store local or regional maps for your area. We all know how accurate those can be as well.

Good luck with them.

[HS]

I'd be happy with a safety feature which would allow you to physically take control of the car, that is idependant of the computer. Might allow more accidents day to day, but we'll be thankful for it if there is a big hack/virus.

[OllieGee]

Well how about this.
The driverless car software/company could guarantee your journeys would be 98% safer (Even including the statistic percentage of any hacks) and you could override it at anytime, surely most would sign up to that.
It would be a big fat yes from me. (And remember there would not be the need for slowing down/speeding up, showing off, speeding and the reactions of the cars would essentially be so much higher and more accurate than that of a human...)

But again these are all if's.

[AndyGoode]

No, no, no. Driverless cars are an extremely bad idea. The technology required for safe, autonomous driving simply does not exist yet, there has already been one fatality from a driverless car, there will certainly be more, very questionable people are pushing this technology, and there is extensive evidence of people hacking into various car parts to monitor or even control a car while it's running. Everything about this technology screams 'No! Watch out!'

[HS]

Right. Something was telling me that. I can imagine many horror scenarios. It's a tricky thing, we need some more innovations in this area before I can trust it.

[Art]

For one thing, ALL of the car manufacturing companies would have to employ the same standards of connection or operation so that their Brand X doesn't do things so differently from the Brand Y company's car. Due to so many Proprietary concerns of Corporate Administrators, this might be wishful thinking.

That one incident was allegedly due to a woman pushing a bicycle across a crosswalk. It was actually a lack of Human Intervention that failed to react in time. The car was an Uber test vehicle.

Police:
Video released by the police on March 21 showed the safety driver was not watching the road moments before the vehicle struck Herzberg.

Car's onboard Safety Driver:
...it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway.

Uber: According to reporting by the Phoenix New Times, Mill Avenue contains what appears to be a brick-paved path in the median between the northbound and southbound lanes;[14] however, posted signs prohibit pedestrians from crossing in that location.

A full article can be read here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elaine_Herzberg

[AndyGoode]

That one incident was allegedly due to a woman pushing a bicycle across a crosswalk.

That makes two such fatalities. I was thinking of the crash in Florida in 2016:

https://www.livescience.com/55273-first-self-driving-car-fatality.html

[Art]

The only way I see to avoid such fatalities or human-related incidents is to Remove Humans from the equation. No human drivers and some other method of preventing pedestrians from being struck while crossing the street(s).

It goes back to there being a standardization of operational & safety protocols within the cars' software. Perhaps sending out an "alert" signal whenever the lights at the crosswalk changes.  Eventually, it will get resolved but again, as long as humans are not driving.

Just my $.02

[squarebear]

I can't ever see autonomous vehicles being popular on the road. I just see the problem as being too huge to solve. Sometimes, you need to be slightly aggressive when driving or be stuck at a junction forever. These cars won't edge their way into traffic and very few human drivers will allow them to.

1. No traffic jams (all vehicles going at the same speed)
2. Being able to do what you like in the car while you're being driven (watching a movie, working on your laptop, having a beer!)
3. Wherever you go to not having to be sober or be in charge of the vehicle
4. The list goes on...

I use this now. It's called a bus. 

[HS]

Autonomous car owners are going to get so mad when their car lets others merge. 

[Art]

I can't ever see autonomous vehicles being popular on the road. I just see the problem as being too huge to solve. Sometimes, you need to be slightly aggressive when driving or be stuck at a junction forever. These cars won't edge their way into traffic and very few human drivers will allow them to.

1. No traffic jams (all vehicles going at the same speed)
2. Being able to do what you like in the car while you're being driven (watching a movie, working on your laptop, having a beer!)
3. Wherever you go to not having to be sober or be in charge of the vehicle
4. The list goes on...

I use this now. It's called a bus. 

=============================
You see, that's part of the problem. You stated, "Sometimes, you need to be slightly aggressive when driving..."
Autonomous vehicles would eliminate that from even being a consideration.
Picture ALL vehicles being autonomous. Everyone will have a schedule or appointment and vehicle sharing will be ever more popular so as to avoid 5 cars to haul 5 riders as we do now. What about 100 cars transporting 100 individuals or more. See what ridesharing or car-sharing could do to help eliminate congestion. The autonomous vehicles would negotiate routes via the Network and time schedules. You would arrive safely at work and likewise get picked up and transported home in a safe and timely manner. No accidents, no aggressive drivers shouting obscenities or honking their horns, etc. Safe and timely travel.  There would be no need for human intervention since everything will be handled by the network and the system. In the event of mechanical failure, another vehicle would be quickly dispatched so as not to cause any passenger undue discomfort, stress or tardiness. A win-win situation.

Just saying...that's one possible scenario. You can still run your little go-carts in the dirt field on the weekend or after work, just to maintain that in-control feeling that humans desire.


 

[goaty]

I think its possible to make it work very well,   but how needlessly long its going to take is similar to the domestic robots in the home, and the agriculture ones.   As soon as one is solved they should all be,  but I guess the automonous car is the most risky one tho.

[OllieGee]

Art has hit the nail on the head with his last reply.
This is EXACTLY as I see it all running too, and this can ONLY be done with removing all human intervention.
And you will always know the exact time or each arrival due to the network of autonomy.

Ollie