"Yes, we can finally feel safe having a computer take us to our destination"
"Wait - What's that on the console?...."
Posted on 01/24/2013 12:36:57 AM PST by Vince Ferrer
Much of the reporting about Google’s driverless car has mistakenly focused on its science-fiction feel. In fact, the driverless car has broad implications for society, for the economy and for individual businesses. Just in the U.S., the car puts up for grab some $2 trillion a year in revenue and even more market cap. It creates business opportunities that dwarf Google’s current search-based business and unleashes existential challenges to market leaders across numerous industries, including car makers, auto insurers, energy companies and others that share in car-related revenue.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The employment picture is far more than just getting rid of driver jobs. There are many secondary jobs which will drastically change, or even be eliminated. For example, do we need all the small town hotels and rest stops when we can sleep in our car as it drives across the country?
I don see this ever happening...the possibility of lawsuits from software or hardware crashes resulting in car crashes, property damage and deaths will never let this industry get off the ground
I don’t think you will get that much sleep as the car veers trying to avoid hitting deer running across the road, or tore up tractor trailer tires bouncing and flying towards the car, or just thinking about the possibility.
Considering that the car would have sensors, it could probably do a better job of avoiding the deer than you. I’d be more concerned about adverse road condittions, than anything else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AExusyOAD5s
What’s the point for a car to ride alone? Unless you can teach it to shop for you? I know I know I must be getting old but I sure don’t see why a car would just go around alone..hilarious.Can someone enlighten me please?
It'll happen. And sooner than you think.
The folks at google have undoubtedly thought of all of the potential gotchas, legal and otherwise. Production cars will probably contain redundant systems that will push reliability off the charts.
You can still be in the car, you just won’t be driving it.
Or more accurately, you won’t have to drive it if you don’t want to. Atleast in the beginning.
And commercial vehicles, like trucks, don’t need drivers at all to haul cargo. Or busdrivers, or taxis.
And then there will places you can’t go. Where you go will be recorded. Limits on the distance you can travel in a day
California will pass a law that nobody can leave the state unless they’ve paid their taxes a year in advance
I think it would need it’s own roads.
This is Google. If you tell the car to, say, go to the library, it will automatically stop at places that paid their fees and at places it thinks you want. It will drive you by the right billboards, and log all the places you go, in case its “needed” someday.
Legislatures can tackle the software defect problem ~ but remember how far the Democrats got with trying to scare us about 'a million lines of code'? Sorry ~ we are too sophisticated to worry that much about code ~ these systems will all have substantial redundancy.
Just give me a reliable targeting algorithm, some radar and infrared, an updated travel~pak and I'll be out there driving blind in no time.
The only problem I can see is the transition period where we have a mix of automated vehicles and those with nothing but a human being behind the wheel.
Your car becomes your robotic servant!
I am old enough to remember how xerox machines were supposed to relieve office support staff of the tedium of cutting stencils ~ and, besides they were much faster, and made far more efficient use of paper. Then somebody hooked the xerox machines up to the telephones and we were swamped by messages ~ and that was relieved only through the development of e-mail, and you all know where that went.
This technology will make travel more efficient, but it will also eliminate public transit, trains, and airplanes within 200 miles. Driving age restrictions will disappear and kids will swarm all over the highways. Blind people ~ among the first to be attracted to this new technology, will be showing up where they've simply not been common in the past ~ in your grocery store just to buy a loaf of bread!
Dr. Who, Star Wars, and a whole genre of Japanese sci-fi cartoons have played off that angle and shown us what a globe girdling traffic jam of automated flying cars would be like!
your car could be in communication with vehicles ahead gaining information about local road conditions ~ spot ice, water puddles, dead pedestrians in the roadway rather than in the median where they belong ~ in very short order the fully equipped stand alone models will become networked!
He didn't exactly lose his shirt on the truck ~ it made lots of money ~ but the snow blade just sat there in the garage year after year ~ then one day he made it all back!
The advent of the automated car will mean the conversion of most automobiles from expense items into potential investment opportunities just like dumptrucks ~ for one car up to large fleets of automobiles.
There's no sense having your car sit in the drive when it could be out on the road being rented out to travelers who don't have a place to park! There's no sense in buying such a vehicle if all you have to do is rent one for immediate use.
Google claims it can reduce the number of cars by 90%, since “a car sits unused some 95% of the time.”
While true, this is to a very considerable extent irrelevant. By the same token, office space could be reduced by 75% simply by optimizing its usage over a week.
But nobody wants to work the off-shifts necessary to make this work.
Similarly, not very many people want to do their shopping at 3 am.
Paranoia= ON
Driverless robotic car? Hmmm... Great idea until the Local/state Police or DHS decide that they want to talk to you.
Dispatcher/monitor: Mr. X has gotten into a vehicle at 23rd and Elm.
Shift Supervisor: Do you have the Number for that vehicle?
Dispatcher/monitor: Yes Sir we do.
Shift Supervisor: Excellent! Procedure 7 then, bring him in.
Paranoia=Off
It seems to me that sometimes these great ideas and inventions have very bad “Unintended Consequences” pre-loaded into them.
No damn way I want a driverless car!!!
“This is Google.”
Google is crap!!!
I’ve never bought anthing in my life because of advertising.
I’ve never bought anything in a store that i didn’t go there to specificly buy.
If it isn’t on my list all the bullshit in the world wouldn’t make me look at it or consider buying it.
Is this the cure for women drivers?
"Yes, we can finally feel safe having a computer take us to our destination"
"Wait - What's that on the console?...."
Yeah. Men drivers, too . . .Also the cure for sleepy drivers, drunk drivers . . .
Couldn't say it better.
This is dangerous on so many levels, not the least of which is the erosion of personal freedom. Even some "conservative" FReepers seem to be missing that point.
Our masters want nothing more than a way to track and control the movements of the proletariat. They're constantly agitating for GPS trackers in cars to implement a "tax-by-the-mile" system. The Googlemobile gives them that, and a whole lot more. They are what a tyrant dreams about.
You raise a good point, and I believe you are correct. The one issue I see here is typical humanity - people let their cars go without maintenance until they are too dangerous too drive. I doubt the automated systems will detect loose or broken sway bar links, worn tires, loose ball joints, worn tie rod ends, and so forth. Or maybe they will and prevent the car from being used, but if so, people will be furious that they actually have to fix their cars instead of driving their dangerous sh!t boxes on same roads as me.
When you get to the point where the state will not issue you a driver’s license, you will still be able to get around on your own, or if you have a little too much to drink, you can have the car drive you home. There will always be an on/off switch for the auto-pilot, so you can do it yourself but the possibility of maintaining your freedom to go places when you can’t drive yourself is priceless.
We could also reduce the number of bathrooms by 900%. After all, they are only in use for a few minutes a day...
I’ve worked with robotics and know the cars would be just fine if you can eliminate all the variables that would interfere with them. Unfortunately you can’t eliminate the variables without putting dedicated roads inside sealed concrete tubes.
Well, it could eliminate DWA’s.
I think we need to get rid of most of the safety equipment on cars and learn to drive again.
Wouldn’t mind a self-driving car on the Interstate, assuming it can dodge crap like tires, deal with accidents and traffic jams, etc.
Once I get off, though, I want control.
You could also pack a car full of explosives and send it on its way. It would be an undetectable 70mph cruise missile.
Must my 16 year old car ask my permission to go for a simple joyride in the country? Or will it sneak off with its friends by itself? I’d sure like to know who his friends are. I doubt I have to worry about my ancient Explorer meeting up with younger Prius’ at Lover’s Lane.
When Big Bro dictates you SHALL purchase a driverless car, it's a small step to telling you WHAT CAREER you shall have and WHEN you will report to work.
I worked in Red China almost 30 years ago and my interpreter was a violin genius, capable of playing in any philharmonic in the world. The STATE in its wisdom said there were no such jobs required in China and he would therefore be an interpreter for life.
Or will it just cost trillions?
Suddenly one day your driverless car will lock the doors and deliver you to a re-education center to eliminate any right wing aggressions.
We already have such a device. It’s called a train. The train isn’t profitable due to gov’t intervention.
Or a truck. probably we'll find that vehicles left unattended will be subject to more stringent security. People will want to exercise control over the street in front of their house or business to prevent anonymous autonomous delivery. Vehicles driving about without supervision and/or improper credentials might be subject to arrest.
Considering how much trouble people have with malware on phones and PCs, there's probably some depth backlash possible if the gov't tries to backdoor everything.
If they don't already have automated systems to monitor key mechanics, they will.
You have to remember that adoption of this technology won't be instant. Right now they have around a dozen test vehicles that have driven around 300,000 miles. They will take the feedback from those miles and consider that in fielding maybe 20 or 30 initial "real" vehicles, then gradually expand things.
A lot of maintenance issues on these cars won't be that much different from those of regular vehicles. Bad problems usually make a noise.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.