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Google's Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car -- Part 3: Sooner Than You Think
Forbes ^ | 1/30/2012 | Chunka Mui

Posted on 01/30/2013 5:20:53 PM PST by Vince Ferrer

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Previous segments:

Fasten Your Seatbelts: Google's Driverless Car Is Worth Trillions

Google's Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car -- Part 2: The Ripple Effects

The author is doing a very good job of thinking about the effects a driverless car will have on society. However, there is a point that he probably won't make, but should, so I will.

Obama believes that innovation in the private sector is best directed by government regulation. In other words, that the private sector does not know best where to focus their efforts, but governments do. Yes, he has actually said this. He has used his power to save GM in order to complete the Volt, has driven up gas efficiency standards, and has mandated E15 fuel. I haven't seen that any of these have been demanded by the market, but he mandates them, and so car companies have to pour their limited R & D money into jumping through his hoops.

But Google is a private company doing research and wondering what consumers would want, and they came up with something completely different. And I feel the benefits to society of a Google care will far outweight E15. E15 can't drive a blind man to the grocery store, but Google's car can.

Self-Driving Car Test: Steve Mahan

1 posted on 01/30/2013 5:21:00 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: Vince Ferrer

Municipalities and speed traps hit worst.
No more tickets for speeding, running red lights,
illegal left turns.

Of course when the system goes off line....


2 posted on 01/30/2013 5:25:35 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Vince Ferrer
By 2012, the driverless car could operate in real-world conditions at 75mph.

Beats what the geriatric neighbor can do safely.

/johnny

3 posted on 01/30/2013 5:29:00 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: tet68

It will hit the wall of reality pretty quickly.


4 posted on 01/30/2013 5:34:10 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Vince Ferrer
We are just one EMP away from 100,000 traffic fatalities in a single day.
5 posted on 01/30/2013 5:36:01 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (TYRANNY: When the people fear the politicians. LIBERTY: When the politicians fear the people.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Aren’t we already?


6 posted on 01/30/2013 5:41:11 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: Vince Ferrer

this will neuter all the need for mass transit.


7 posted on 01/30/2013 5:51:57 PM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: JRandomFreeper

blink, are your making

blink, fun of old

blink, people who have a

blink, problem driving fast or

blink, happen to forget their

blink, turn signal on?


8 posted on 01/30/2013 5:55:34 PM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: longtermmemmory
No, just a healthy fear of a man that rides a bike almost every day about a geriatric neighbor that doesn't understand the difference between street, curb, and sidewalk.

/johnny

9 posted on 01/30/2013 6:05:45 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Vince Ferrer

I like driving. They will never sell me one until I am in able to drive myself. The spiritless chattel will enjoy them I suspect.


10 posted on 01/30/2013 6:06:16 PM PST by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: Nuc 1.1

Same here. I don’t even like cruise control.


11 posted on 01/30/2013 6:09:57 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Vince Ferrer

Drunk driving goes away. That’s huge. Huge on deaths, injuries, criminal courts, jails, prisons, hospital stays, insurance, etc.

Every car owner potentially has their own ambulance.

Parents can program and track their teenage kids cars.

The elderly do not have to be immobile.


12 posted on 01/30/2013 6:12:51 PM PST by Dogbert41
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To: Vince Ferrer
All I can say is remember how a new whiz bang product was going to change how our cites were designed? Wasn't it called the Segway?
13 posted on 01/30/2013 6:16:55 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (Liberals make unrealistic demands on reality and reality doesn't oblige them.)
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To: Nuc 1.1
I like driving.

I hate driving.

I could be doing something useful besides staring outside, trying to keep my attention focused on not killing someone, or I could be taking a nap or reading a book, or doing something useful.

Different folks, different strokes. Don't ever call me spiritless chattel, though. You'll get more excitement than you can handle. ;)

/johnny

14 posted on 01/30/2013 6:22:27 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: cripplecreek
I must admit to being a cruise control junkie...except when I am really driving. I hope to get a base 2014 Vette. Looks like a nice machine and it will go faster than this old man can. Still I will enjoy putting it through its paces.
15 posted on 01/30/2013 6:23:45 PM PST by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult

I’ve worked with robotics and they didn’t deal with variables very well even in a closed system. In the real world, these cars will face an infinite number of variables from pedestrians, to angry drivers and changing road conditions.

I’ve heard people try to compare driverless cars to our military drones but the drones have it easy compared to conditions on the ground.


16 posted on 01/30/2013 6:27:53 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Nuc 1.1
I've still got a '70 240Z. One of the originals. Playing is different than driving.

I don't want to drive it anywhere. The performance clutch is harsh on the left thigh if you try to use it to commute.

/johnny

17 posted on 01/30/2013 6:28:49 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: JRandomFreeper

There’s a killer on the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbPUzhWeeI


18 posted on 01/30/2013 6:31:35 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Vince Ferrer

Half the people I see on the road these days seem to be yakking or texting on their phones, so this would probably only improve things.


19 posted on 01/30/2013 6:43:04 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: JRandomFreeper

By 2012, the driverless car could operate in real-world conditions at 75mph.

Beats what the geriatric neighbor can do safely.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They never said ‘safely’.


20 posted on 01/30/2013 6:45:24 PM PST by loungitude (The truth hurts.)
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