Posted on 08/29/2013 10:09:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Yes, electronic systems never ever fail.
If they want to put these things out on the road they had better be prepared to pay the politicians BIG TIME to get the immunity from lawsuits that they will need.
The lawyers who be after their neck the first time someone gets killed either in or out one of their vehicles.
I suggest some large donations to Jerry Brown just to get things started. It’s never too early to start buying your own politician.
I find this technology rather amazing and am all for it. I can see a ton of uses that will be beneficial to many people. However, I find it difficult to believe that states and localities will allow it. If there isn’t human control, then the revenues of those localities will suffer greatly.
RE: If there isn’t human control, then the revenues of those localities will suffer greatly.
There WILL BE BOTH Human AND electronic control. You can switch from one mode to the other.
My point is that “self driving” cars will necessarily “obey” all traffic laws, therefore eliminating the revenues brought it with traffic tickets. That is a lot of cash lost for many municipalities!
I think it could make some sense if limited to interstate highway use outside of cities and in sunny weather.
Beyond that, frankly most municipalities do a pretty poor job with road maintenance, construction areas, and signage.
Be interesting to see how such a vehicle would deal with things like that.
Mostly interesting would be dealing with lose-lose choices.
Say your’re driving along a city street with parked cars on your right. Someone opens a door into your path - there’s no time to stop, and there is oncoming traffic in the opposite lane.
Do you take off the door or collide with the oncoming vehicle? Doing the former risks killing the occupant if they happen to step out. Doing the latter might result in less injury, but also violates the law by crossing the center line.
A human (assuming they were paying attention) might be able to ascertain if the oncoming driver was paying attention and take a gamble that they’ll also take evasive measures, or observe the occupant who opened the door and be able to tell if they’re going to hop out. Humans often make the wrong choice, but they often make a better choice than I suspect a machine would with less data.
For how long will we be able to drive our own cars, once there is an alternative that is statistically safer? How long after that will it be that the cars will determine where we are allowed to go, and how far, in the interest of the greater public good? What happens when the technology fails and no one has current driving skills?
RE: That is a lot of cash lost for many municipalities!
Which brings us to the PURPOSE of traffic laws.
Why do you have them? Do you “hope” that people obey them in order to avoid accidents, or do you “hope” that people get caught disobeying them in order to raise revenue?
We have now forgotten the purpose of laws.
As long as that future includes me still retaining my choice to drive my own self piloted vehicle, then I'm ok with it.
If the godless Commies want to take that freedom of mobility away from me, they can stick that car where the sun don't shine.
Don't let the door hit ya.....
It will all be done with economics. Obviously they can't convert the entire fleet very quickly. But they will gradually make it prohibitively expensive to operate an "old" vehicle.
There’s a market for freedom of choice and mobility. Not to mention the fact that most Americans will likely break something if anyone ever attempts to take away that fundamental right.
There’s a zone across which a nominally free people cannot be pushed, and this is one of them.
The technologists know nothing about cars.
Cars are 1/2 the business of what makes them work and 1/2 the driving experience.
If I want/wanted someone/something else to “drive” me somewhere, I’d take some form of “mass” transportion; that and THAT alone is the only worthwhile “driverless” vehicles for humans.
The rest is technological arrogance and lack of understanding of human nature, which prefers to be independent and in control, not “driven” by someone or something else.
It will occur over time.
We’re already seeing a much smaller % of the teen population obtaining driver licenses compared to historical norms.
Most under 30 now aspire to live the “life of Julia” as govt serfs.
It’s only a matter of years, unfortunately.
I don't agree with the future you envision for me, and I will do everything I can to resist the brave new world you've accepted, til my dying day.
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