Posted on 11/21/2018 9:48:13 AM PST by chief lee runamok
For all the hype about self-driving cars out there, this Wall Street Journal report, titled The Bumps Ahead for Autonomous Vehicles, suggests there are some problems: Everyday scenarios that human drivers navigate with ease, such as bumpy roads or snowy weather, can be unintelligible to a cars sensors. But there is no industry standard for what sensors or backup mechanisms driverless cars must have if primary sensors fail.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I don't buy the driverless vehicle being safer.
There's one term I will use to describe autonomous vehicles: It's a concept whose development has been "just around the corner" for more than 50 years.
There are enough Knight Rider episodes that had KITT compromised to turn me off of a driverless car.
Some kind of auto pilot for long drives that could be disengaged with a flick of the switch, maybe.
Or lawyers, but let's work on the snakes first.
Waymo is reportedly planning to take the next step towards offering a commercial driverless car service in early December, according to an unnamed source who spoke to Bloomberg. The soft launch will see Alphabets self-driving car division offering rides from a new unnamed consumer taxi brand. The autonomous service is expected to launch in Phoenix Arizona, where the company already operates a fleet of modified Chrysler Pacifica minivans. Some cars will contain backup drivers who can take control if necessary, according to the report, with straight-forward fares priced to be competitive with Uber and Lyft.
Offering paid rides is a big milestone for the service, but this is otherwise an incremental step. Initially, Bloomberg speculates that availability will be restricted to Waymos existing 400-person Early Rider Program although theyll no longer be bound by a secretive NDA. The location is also not set to change from the same 100 square mile area around Phoenix already used for testing. Finally, although many of the autonomous taxis will not have backup drivers, this has already been a feature of Waymos tests since October 2017 (humans in remote operations centers are available to step in when things get complicated). Over time, availability and coverage areas are likely to increase, but at launch theres not much about the service thats expected to change.
This is very true. Their solution is the central-planners solution. These never work and always miss important details
The successful standards are those that are created and accepted from the grassroots up.
They’ve become a YUGE cottage industry here in Pittsburgh.
Prediction: They will not survive First Contact with the American tort bar.
I can see them used as a bus would be, on fixed routes.
I have no objection to that. In fact, we in the Bay Area may already have such a set up with our B.A.R.T. system.
The Bart trains have a space for Operators, but usually, they just sit, observe and babysit rowdy riders.
I don’t wish to be driven about town by a driverless car.
It would feel as though my choices were already made for me by the system. I’m not liking that part.
Also, there are times when I actually enjoy driving, stopping, going speeding up as I please. I impress myself by making difficult turns, negotiating freeway entry.
I don’t wish to be a potted plant on a conveyor belt.
Got a blow out on the way to atlantic city doing bout 80 with wife, mom and uncle in the car.
SOMEHOW managed to get over three lanes to the shoulder
I attribute it to driving GARBAGE, 20 something year old cars for liveries, that had bologna skins for tires
I drove in all kinds of weather. hurricanes and blizzards included.
How do you teach that to a car?
Anything can be defeated with a laser pointer, isn’t good.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/07/hackers-trick-self-driving-cars-lidar-sensor
Anything can be defeated with a laser pointer, isnt good.
...
Like pilots?
The government is going to subsidize and promote their production in order to control us better, all the while telling us that it’s to “save lives.”
So it will come, no matter what we say or do. They will find ways to finance these things while hiding the expenses from us.
If you are killed by one of the damned things, you will have little recourse. There will be no fault, no responsibility, no one to sue, just a central fund that pays you a fixed amount, and you’ll still be dead.
The driverless vehicle will eventually be safer. They probably already are. It’s never distracted, it won’t make human errors. It can have machine malfunctions or sensor errors. They will keep refining it.
Imagine a world where auto accidents are rare. Auto body shops, traffic cops, traffic courts, injury lawyers, accident related medical bills and disability, lost productivity due to accidents, and insurance premiums would all be dramatically reduced.
Imagine a world where elderly can get to a doctor appointment without assistance because they no longer have to drive. Or the mother with three kids who have sports/band/whatever practice the same night can actually manage it, because driverless vehicles can get their children there safely. And deliveries become much cheaper because you don’t have labor associated with the deliveries.
A man being operated on by a medical robot in the UK was recently killed by the robot while the doctors monitoring the process sat by and drank afternoon tea or surfed the net.
No thanks.
Is Uber’s back on the roads? I have not seen any of their volvo’s running around since that accident.
Huh?
This concept has the same appeal as free healthcare or education. Its great on paper but not practical in reality.
A product whose core customer base is elderly, blind and drunk people has a long way to go before it will dominate an industry.
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