Posted on 01/30/2013 5:20:53 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
In 2008, a state-of-the-art driverless car could go two blocks on its own on a closed course at 25mph. By 2012, the driverless car could operate in real-world conditions at 75mph.
Such rapid progress offers great hope that the tremendous benefits in safety and savings I laid out in Part 1 of this series are attainable. The pace of progress also means that the disruptive ripple effects discussed in Part 2 might soon have strategic relevance for companies participating in the multi-trillion-dollar part of the economy that relates to cars. But we’re left with two crucial questions: How soon could the driverless car become a reality? When should incumbents, venture capitals and entrepreneurs start paying serious attention?
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
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.
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....
Beats what the geriatric neighbor can do safely.
/johnny
It will hit the wall of reality pretty quickly.
Aren’t we already?
this will neuter all the need for mass transit.
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?
/johnny
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.
Same here. I don’t even like cruise control.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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’.
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