Cars could drive themselves sooner than expected after European push

Yahoo! News ^ | 05/19/2014

[E. Pluribus Unum]

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Cars could be driving themselves down the world's streets far sooner than expected, thanks to a change in a global treaty backed by European countries.

A little-noticed amendment to the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic agreed last month would let drivers take their hands off the wheel of self-driving cars. It was pushed by Germany, Italy and France, whose high-end carmakers believe they are ready to zoom past American tech pioneers and bring the first "autonomous vehicles" to market.

[trisham]

Exactly.

[Yo-Yo]

Autonomous driving will be restricted to limited access highways only. Cruise control with steering and braking included.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I don’t like it when I am in the car and another person is driving. I can’t see that I’ll like it any better when the car drives itself.

[csivils]

Me too! Decades of a long commute to work has given me all the practice I need... I’m ready to let the computer do it.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

And when an accident occurs, who is liable?

You, or the programmer?

[PieterCasparzen]

That would be a safer place to use the technology.

But see, new world order doesn’t care about working homeowner sheeple.

They want to control their lives and make them miserable, not make their lives easier.

It’s all about control.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

And when an accident occurs, who is liable?

You, or the programmer?

It will boil down to whether the legal system even allows people to drive cars. Which might stop when the autopilot gets a good enough reputation.

On the bright side, traffic lights will be obsolete - no such thing as arbitrarily having to wait at an intersection until a timer allows you to legally proceed.

[Smokin' Joe]

It isn’t the hot laps so much, it is spending the afternoon at the detailers getting the wheels done, the designer accessories (Mon-sooer Jay Cee Whit-nee), the new tires (for the third time this week...)

[2001convSVT]

Spot on, I am also, 24K a year in stop and go rush hour driving. And this will help me to be mobility well into my 90’s.