[DemonRaven]

Humans Are Slamming Into Driverless Cars and Exposing a Key Flaw

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-18/humans-are-slamming-into-driverless-cars-and-exposing-a-key-flaw

The self-driving car, that cutting-edge creation that’s supposed to lead to a world without accidents, is achieving the exact opposite right now: The vehicles have racked up a crash rate double that of those with human drivers.
The glitch?
They obey the law all the time, as in, without exception. This may sound like the right way to program a robot to drive a car, but good luck trying to merge onto a chaotic, jam-packed highway with traffic flying along well above the speed limit. It tends not to work out well. As the accidents have piled up -- all minor scrape-ups for now -- the arguments among programmers at places like Google Inc. and Carnegie Mellon University are heating up: Should they teach the cars how to commit infractions from time to time to stay out of trouble?

Is it bad that I am taking a perverse satisfaction out of the problem lol.

[Art]

I read somewhere today actually that lawmakers in CA are trying to make it mandatory for ANY car to have a (supposedly conscious) human in the car when moving / in operation.

I guess that's to keep the lazy of society from sending their car and robot shopping assistant out for more chips and beer while the owner(s) stays home watching the game on the weekend!!  Just a thought...

[8pla.net]

Translation:  Why we need a driver in a driverless car.

[infurl]

This could be a backward step because even the most conservative red flag laws did not require horseless carriages to carry a horse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_traffic_laws

[DemonRaven]

I disagree. Machines especially computers are far from being flawless and error free. Even planes which do have autopilot need a licensed pilot. Why should cars be any different? There needs to be a human to be able to back it up in case of errors.

[Art]

Yes and besides, Horses didn't drive carriages, they pulled them (think power train / motor / "horse power").