The Driverless Car

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/10859937/Why-Googles-driverless-cars-change-everything.html

Making a buzz yesterday, Google fully lifted the lid on its driverless cars.

I can imagine many beneficial uses for such a vehicle, its interesting to see how far they've managed to take the tech even if its still largely sat nav based. However, the talk of replacing manual cars in time etc is laughable as it will never, ever come to pass.

[Brad]

You could drive home drunk if you had one of these.

[MartyG]

However, the talk of replacing manual cars in time etc is laughable as it will never, ever come to pass.

I'd agree - not because it won't be technically possible, but because of ambulance chasing lawyers.

[Neon Ignition]

There's all sorts of questions they don't cover. Given the tech is just as applicable to other vehicles would a tech be allowed that would result in a phenomonal percentage of population being unemployed? What if it runs out of fuel? How do owners get out of situations where the guidance has led the vehicle astray?

Despite Googles wishes I doubt these would ever come to market without a way for passengers to cease control if needed. Therefore a licensed driver is still required to be present, therefore its fancier cruise control.

I think the trouble with many automated inventions is they fail to fully consider human behaviour. If my car had this function would I use it? No. Because driving is inherently a fun thing to do. Google would do well to license the tech out to better areas. The freedom some disabled users could get from this alone is a printing machine for cash

[wakka]

I think it will come to pass eventually. Why not? 100 years ago computers didn't even exist. Now they are inside almost everything, and we have tiny ones in our pockets that are immensely powerful. Television didn't exist. A universal system for the global instantaneous sharing of any type of information? Unimaginable.

The benefits of driverless cars networked to a traffic system that monitored every road would be immense. Eliminating human error would reduce the number of accidents to very few. Drunk driving would be a thing of the past. Traffic jams would be reduced by the governing computer system routing cars along the most efficient routes according to the busyness of the roads.

It's a long way off but when you look at the technological strides made in the 20th century, it doesn't seem so unbelievable that road travel as we know it could be completely different by 2100.

Given the tech is just as applicable to other vehicles would a tech be allowed that would result in a phenomonal percentage of population being unemployed?

This is the problem with a lot of technologies in the early stages of development today. There is certainly a possibility that increasingly adept automation (automation that exceeds human capability) could eliminate the need for many jobs and therefore reduce the quality of life for a significant proportion of the population.

I think the trouble with many automated inventions is they fail to fully consider human behaviour. If my car had this function would I use it? No. Because driving is inherently a fun thing to do.

Eventually (and I'm thinking very long term as above) you may not have a choice. A universal networked traffic and car control AI would be far superior to millions of people of various driving ability and wakefulness/inebriation all controlling their own vehicles. Pleasure driving courses would likely become much more popular if this were the case, to accommodate the fact that people like to drive.

[chipsgravy]

I personally cannot wait for this. I loathe driving. It is so boring. So I could set my car off and then do something fun like play Gran Turismo.

[originalbadboy]

25mph top speed though .. Your not going to get anywhere with that .. Going to be a long time before I can get in my car, pissed and fire up my DS with MK15 on it .. .

[QualityChimp]

I personally cannot wait for this. I loathe driving. It is so boring. So I could set my car off and then do something fun like play Gran Turismo.

Ha ha ha, very good!

I'd have been more impressed if the Google demo video ended like this:

[kryss]

A black screen? Bit of an ominous ending if you ask me.

Driverless cars are the future - they were even in that future episode of The Brittas Empire!!

[Neon Ignition]

Driverless cars should be outlawed till flying cars have been and gone


Promises were made dammit!

[Dogg Thang]

Self Driving Car Will Only Be Available To Google Plus Members.

“Owning a Google plus account will be mandatory for anyone wishing to buy the car.” said CEO Larry Page. “Passenger features like electric windows and seatbelts will only be made available to them if they sign up with our plus social network.”

Fact.

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2014/05/28/self-driving-car-will-only-be-available-to-google-plus-members/

[briareos_kerensky]

Yes, Onion Network reported that as well, completely legit. I wonder if the stereo will refuse to play music due to copyrights.

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/footage-shows-woman-stepped-in-front-of-uber-car/ar-BBKxM3i?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=iehp

Thread resurrection!

So, following the first pedestrian death by automated car, the dash cam footage of the moments before the collision have been made public and are in the link. The footage clearly shows that the woman involved in the accident isn't visible until physics take care of the rest and so it's near certain that a human driver wouldn't have fared any differently. The question therefore isn't so much whether automated cars are a scurge in this instance but if automated cars are going to assume safety via visibility, is that going to be an issue when they're rolled out in mass?

A lot is talked about them navigating normal roads and conditions but many drivers also face situations where they have to navigate all sorts of non-road nooks and crannies in light and dark that rely in part on the individuals gut feelings, sometimes you're slower without cause simply because you're anticipating a possibility. That same approach by computer could easily lead it to be overly cautious all the time and therefore too slow. It's an interesting consideration when pondering how automated cars make their judgements when you remove standard road conditions from them.

[MartyG]

Better than humans I'd imagine. Would an automated car's algorithm be more likely to kill the pilot or a group of pedestrians in a crash situation? Does it choose the one or the many?

[Neon Ignition]

No doubt, they'll Spock that logic