Posted on 03/31/2016 7:00:43 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Volvo's North American CEO, Lex Kerssemakers, lost his cool as the automaker's semi-autonomous prototype sporadically refused to drive itself during a press event at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
"It can't find the lane markings!" Kerssemakers griped to Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was at the wheel. "You need to paint the bloody roads here!"
Shoddy infrastructure has become a roadblock to the development of self-driving cars, vexing engineers and adding time and cost. Poor markings and uneven signage on the 3 million miles of paved roads in the United States are forcing automakers to develop more sophisticated sensors and maps to compensate, industry executives say.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Just yesterday I saw a bicyclist get hit by a car in D.C.
No serious injuries.
The car was making a right hand turn while the cyclist was going straight (in his bike lane on the the drivers right) and he clipped the rider which threw him to the ground and into the intersection. All in all, a low speed impact.
The cyclist got up screaming, “Are you kidding me, Are you kidding me!!”, “I was trying to make eye contact with you”.
Ultimately the cyclist had the right of way, as would any pedestrians but the failure of each to acknowledge each other and their intentions is what led to this incident.
An autonomous vehicle CAN’T make eye contact or read body language and would STOP in order to avoid any liability.
Do you really think these programmers are going to be able to “Program Body Language?”
I’ll go back to my original claim. Suburban or highway driving would be fine, but city driving will be a huge problem.
A “decision matrix” is logic, not “Common sense”.
Never mind the people that will attempt to “mess with” these autonomous cars either for fun or because they are looking for someone to sue.
I live and drive in D.C. and the city, like many around the country is becoming more and more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. There are parts of the city that have become virtually gridlocked to vehicle traffic as a result. The pedestrians “know” they have been given the “Right of way” and don’t care as they step off the curb into moving traffic. They seem to find joy in being able to make the traffic stop for them.
All the above has been about dealing with pedestrians and bicyclists in a major city.
Dealing with other drivers in a major city is another issue.
Being a “Defensive Driver” in Manhattan will leave you virtually parked as nobody will give you an inch to change lanes unless you assert yourself. In D.C. it’s actually much more friendly. No turn signal is necessary, just lean into the next lane and most drivers will let you in. This is not the case in Manhattan.
There are hundreds of scenarios and while it may be possible to program the rules of the road with a default to both idiots and the rest, you can’t program common sense.
And BTW, if you have spent any time driving in any number of conditions you should realize that the “Body Language” of a person walking also exists with the person driving.
You don’t need to program body language. The automated car wold grant the right of way.
Decisions matrices aren’t that tough. Really if you can explain it to a 15 year old, which tens of thousands of people do ever year, you can make an algorithm, and once there’s an algorithm you’re half way to software.
One thing to keep in mind is just how much computing power we have to throw at things now. If you have a smartphone it has more raw computing power than it took to beat Garry Kasparov, actually MANY more TIMES that power. What you have in your pocket was a super computer until early in the 21st century. We are, quite simply, to a world where “it can’t be done” is a fable. You can kill your keyboard blathering about how many calculations it would take, and the reality is if we don’t have that much computing power to throw at it now we WILL in under 5 years.
You don’t need to program body language. The automated car wold grant the right of way.
And therefore they would be literally stopped in their tracts in fear of any liability.
Worthless at that point.
No, they would be properly stopped until the bike got the hell out of the way. As you yourself said was the correct course of action. Nothing worthless about it.
Stopped.
Again.
Stopped by those that have a sense of self and what they can do.
Stopped by those that, as you said HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY ACCORDING TO THE LAW.
If US roads are too shabby for Volvo’s self-driving cars, then their market is severely constrained. There aren’t too many countries with consistently better roads.
“It can’t find the lane markings!” Kerssemakers griped to Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was at the wheel. “You need to paint the bloody roads here!”
Hey! We are a Third World nation! Give us a break!
Self driving cars and trucks have already racked up over a million miles in real world tests. Google alone has that much. Virtually every big high tech firm, car company and engineering school is heavily invested in this. Even Uber is a major investor. Long haul trucking firms are likely to be the first adopters.
Seriously, I was thinking, must be L.A. before I clicked on the article. And of course it IS.
Stopped by those that, as you said HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY ACCORDING TO THE LAW.
You have now clue as to what it takes to “drive” a car in the city and actually get to your destination.
Sorry, but even if I sent you a “Dash Cam” Video, you wouldn’t understand the complexities involved.
I am a driver and I’m really very good at it.
There are “Smart” drivers and there are “Idiots” all over the place. There is absolutely no algorithm that can pick out the “subtleties” between the two.
Any “Autonomous” car will default to “Safety” as to avoid any liability and as a result, in the real world, is both a liability and virtually worthless.
Just try driving at 55 MPH on a major Highway when everyone else is doing 70 and you need to cross 4 lanes to make your exit.
Good luck.
Will the “autonomous” vehicle break the “Law?”
I live in a city. And I drive in a bigger city all the time. I also drive by the university all the time, the ultimate “stuck because of pedestrians location”.
But most importantly I understand that because you’ve been reduced to attacking the person you’ve realized you don’t have the logic and facts. So now that we both understand you’re wrong, we can move on.
Cool,
Just so we know that you are happy to fall in line.
Best of luck.
Turning to insults just shows you’ve got nothing else.
I’m with you, and I’m both a programmr and mechanical engineer.
Two scenarios I just encountered. First, I’m trying to make a right turn at a stop sign, but a van is parked in the corner to the left and just about impossible to see cars in that direction. So you have to gage the timing of coming cars and subtle driver hints. How do you program that?
Next, I’m making a right hand turn and two pedestrians near the corner launch from behind a bush to cross. Next to impossible for sensors to catch that plus their body language.
I’ve got plenty.
You are now projecting from a position of weakness.
Autonomous vehicles will, if advanced, will become just like brain dead liberal zombies that are destroying any and all aspirations of an Individuals Liberty.
If you had anything you’d be using it. You’re not, so you don’t.
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