A thread to discuss self-driving cars and other vehicles. No politics, please.
Technology, commercial aspects, legal considerations and marketing are all on-topic.
- Companies (e.g. Tesla Inc.) are only on-topic when discussing their self-driving products and research, not their wider activities. The exception is when those wider activities directly impact (or are impacted by) their other business areas - e.g. if self-driving car development is cut back due to losses in another part of the business.
- Technology that's not directly related to self-driving vehicles is off-topic unless you're discussing how it might be used for them in future.
- If we're talking about individuals here, that should only be because they've said or done something directly relevant to the topic. Specifically, posts about Tesla do not automatically need to mention Elon Musk. And Musk's views, politics and personal life are firmly off-topic unless you can somehow show that they're relevant to self-driving vehicles.
Cadillac plans to release a scaled back, more simple version of similar technology by 2015 - what they call "Super Cruise", which isn't total self-driving, but does let you relax on highways. It positions your car in the exact center of a lane, slows down or speeds up as necessary, and is said to be meant for ideal driving conditions (I'm guessing that means ideal weather, no rain or snow, etc.).
I am looking forward to such tech. If enough people prefer to drive this way, and the technology works reliably, it could result in safer roads with fewer accidents. Another possibility is that, using GPS and maybe the ability to know ahead of time which roads are most clogged, they can find the quickest route from place to place.
On the other hand, hacking could be a real concern, and I hope it doesn't become a serious threat. It's looking like we're living more and more like those sci-fi Everything Is Online worlds depicted in fiction for a long time.
(Mod edited to replace original post)
Edited by Mrph1 on Mar 29th 2024 at 4:19:56 PM
So that's what this does
The biggest problem will come the first time a self-driven car kills someone. Eventually one will, if there are enough of them on the streets. It just depends whether people are willing to accept that less people are dying on the streets because of more self-driving cars or whether they decide to hold the manufacturers responsible for every death, which would kill the industry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xryhm6YVhk
Whenever this kind of story pops up, this theme plays in my head.
Well, the thing is that people are afraid of mechanization and lawsuit-happy, so they'd probably target the manufacturer because that's where the money is.
As for me? I hate driving, so I really want a self-driving car.
Although the technology might not cause accidents in good conditions, I don't see it being much use in avoiding them in less-than-good conditions. It won't be able to see someone pulling out in front, for example, until it's happened; a human driver will be able to say "that guy looks like he's thinking about pulling out."
Also, what kind of roads do they have in Nevada? Long and straight, I'm guessing?
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
So that's what this does
Actually, Bat Pencil, it will probably be more likely to spot someone about to pull out than a human being, since it has the advantage of 360 vision and far more precise interpretation of visual cues, short range sonar and then if they really go overboard it could spot when someone's revving from a distance.
Unfortunately, accidents happen. They will be less likely to cause accidents than human drivers, but that gets into A Million Is a Statistic. Sure, more people would have died if there were no self-driven cars, so they say, but Jimmy wouldn't have been one of them. Sue! Sue!
I have balls.
I'd have nothing against self-driving cars, provided they actually worked. I'd really hate it though, if either by design or law, I lost the option to drive my car manually. That there'd be crap I most definitely wouldn't stand for.
They never travel alone.
So that's what this does
They do work. They drove one 140,000 miles around the USA making Google Streetview. The only incident was when someone ran into the back of it at traffic lights.
However, thus far they've needed a driver who can override it rather like a driving instructor with dual controls. Now, in Nevada only, they can drive it unmanned.
I want one, but I'd never be able to trust it.
I'd still trust a car more to drive itself than me.
edited 9th May '12 9:47:33 AM by RTaco
NOT THE BEES
I'm kind of disappointed the link wasn't Knight Rider, but that works too.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Knight Rider was far too positive in its outlook about what self-driving cars would be like for me. Whereas the T2 theme fits perfectly as far as I am concerned.
Causes of driving accidents
- Drunk driver
- Driver not paying attention
- Failure to look properly
- Speeding
- Driver failing to take difficult conditions into account
A computer can't drink, won't be distracted, doesn't have blind spots as we do, can be programmed to never break the speed limit as well as to always take road conditions into account.
Of course, they could always invent new ways to have accidents. However the image that pops into my head is of a load of cars stopping when an accident occurs in front of them and then having no clue what to do.
edited 9th May '12 11:10:26 AM by SomeSortOfTroper
Exactly: human error, guys. It's the number one killer on the road. I'd be happy to trust to a decent AI. As long as the GPS system is well shielded from a) hackers b) human error on that side and c) the sun doing its thang.
edited 9th May '12 11:17:45 AM by Euodiachloris
Is that cake frosting?
My doubt is whether a computer can react to unforeseen circumstances as well as a human can. If all cars were computer-controlled, I'm pretty sure that it would be more than reasonably safe; but if someone starts driving bizzarrely, I don't know if the computer-controlled car cannot get confused.
Still, the technology seems to be getting fairly mature.
Perhaps — but that's a random idea — a mixed system could work best? As in, the human driver specifies the rough direction, and the computer takes care of the fine details (and overrides the driver if it thinks that something dangerous is happening)?
edited 9th May '12 11:28:33 AM by Carciofus
But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
NOT THE BEES
To be blunt, I have too much experience as a programmer to want to hand my life over to an AI car if I can help it. Way, way too easy to see all those little things we don't even think about cause some horrendous failure, to say nothing of concerns about hacking and the like.
Is that cake frosting?
On the other hand, humans are not bug-free either when they are driving 
NOT THE BEES
Yeah but at least they're bugs with easily-discernible patterns. Like, you see a dude wavering around or speeding or otherwise being a moron behind the wheel, you know to stay the hell away from him. An AI's idea of fucking up takes place over a hundred-thousandth of a second inside a processor completely abstracted from you before going all HELP COMPUTER and doing something completely against all normal processes of thought.
edited 9th May '12 11:53:33 AM by Pykrete
How about neuromorphic AI?
I vowed, and so did you: Beyond this wall- we would make it through.
So that's what this does
Dealing with unforseen circumstances, the cars slow to a near stop and attempt to use their short range sensors to find a way around.
They will still go wrong and kill people, but less than humans do. The question is whether that's okay.
I'd like a toggleable function to do it. I enjoy driving, and I would protest loudly if my right to drive was taken away in favor of everything being automated.
That being said, toggling it would be awesome. Drive to the bar, get hammered off my ass, and just go "Take me home kit." and sleep it off on the ride there. Hell, I could have wild raunchy sex in the car while it took me home. New definition to road head.
Heh, even if that was available, you would have to arrest yourself for being drunk in charge of a motor-vehicle, 8-)
Unless the laws were changed to make the AI the responsible party.
Well if there's no real difference between a drunk or sober driver in a self-driving car, I don't see why not.
If you're allowed to sleep in it at the wheel, then you're allowed to be drunk in it, far as I'm concerned. Make a nice big green light on top of vehicles with this function so you know when self-drive is online.
So that's what this does
There exist cars which will not start if they detect too much alcohol in the air around the wheel. I was never convinced it was at all accurate but why not a car that will only self-drive unless you provide a clean breath test?
Question. Who is going to pay for the insurance?
- A/ The AI?
- B/ The meatsack?
Answer would be B. The meatsack.
Therefore, the meatsack would be the one found to be in charge of the car, legally speaking, and would still be liable to be found guilty of being in charge of a motor vehicle whilst drunk. In other words, any way a cop could have you over a barrel legally now would be exactly the same when and if self-driving cars became legal in all fifty states of the USA or in the rest of the World. Unless laws were rewritten to accommodate the new technology.
A thread to discuss self-driving cars and other vehicles. No politics, please.
Technology, commercial aspects, legal considerations and marketing are all on-topic.
Cadillac plans to release a scaled back, more simple version of similar technology by 2015 - what they call "Super Cruise", which isn't total self-driving, but does let you relax on highways. It positions your car in the exact center of a lane, slows down or speeds up as necessary, and is said to be meant for ideal driving conditions (I'm guessing that means ideal weather, no rain or snow, etc.).
I am looking forward to such tech. If enough people prefer to drive this way, and the technology works reliably, it could result in safer roads with fewer accidents. Another possibility is that, using GPS and maybe the ability to know ahead of time which roads are most clogged, they can find the quickest route from place to place.
On the other hand, hacking could be a real concern, and I hope it doesn't become a serious threat. It's looking like we're living more and more like those sci-fi Everything Is Online worlds depicted in fiction for a long time.
(Mod edited to replace original post)
Edited by Mrph1 on Mar 29th 2024 at 4:19:56 PM
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