Driverless cars could change everything

[DaFace]

Thought this article was cool to think about.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-28376929

Driverless cars could change everything


For now, it seems like a novelty - cars that can operate independently of human control, safely cruising down streets thanks to an array of sensors and pinpoint GPS navigation.

But if the technology avoids getting crushed by government regulators and product liability lawsuits, writes the Federalist's Dan McLaughlin, it could prompt a cultural shift similar to the early 20th century move away from horses as the primary means of transportation.

First and foremost, he writes, the spread of driverless cars will likely greatly reduce the number of traffic accidents - which currently cost Americans $871b (£510b) a year.

"A truly driverless road would not be accident-free, given the number of accidents that would still be caused by mechanical and computer errors, weather conditions, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and sheer random chance," he says. "But it would make the now-routine loss of life and limb on the roads far rarer."

Computer-operated cars would eventually reshape car design, he says, as things like windshields - "a large and vulnerable piece of glass" - become less necessary. Drivers will be able to sit wherever they'd like in their cars, which could make car interiors more like mobile lounges than like cockpits.

The age required to operate a driverless car is likely to drop, he says. There could be an impact on the legal drinking age, as well, as preventing drunk driving was one of the prime justifications for the US-wide setting minimum age to purchase alcohol at 21 years old.

There's other possible economic fallout, McLaughlin contends, such as a restructuring of the auto insurance industry, the obsolescence of taxi drivers and lower ratings for drive-time radio programmes.

The high-tech security state will also get boost, he writes, as GPS-tagged cars will be easier to track, making life difficult for fugitives and car thieves. Police will also be able to move resources away from operations like traffic enforcement.

Of course, he writes, the towns that rely on speed traps to fund their government services will be facing budget shortfalls. Privacy advocates could also get an unexpected boost, he notes, since traffic stops are one of the main justifications for police vehicle searches.

Finally, there's the prospect of the as-yet-unrealised futurist dream of flying cars. With computer-controlled vehicles that strictly follow traffic rules, McLaughlin says, "the potential for three-dimensional roads becomes a lot less scary and more a matter of simply solving the technological challenge".

Where we're going, we may not need roads after all.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by seamonster

Driverless cars drive slower than 96 year old asian women. No thanks.

That visual made me actually laugh, thanks.

[Pablo]

It's been 9 years. Have driverless cars changed anything yet?

[El Lobo Gordo]

Originally Posted by Pablo

It's been 9 years. Have driverless cars changed anything yet?

Technology is allowing cops to shut your car off while you driving it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...se/ar-AA1jWBYZ

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by seamonster

Driverless cars drive slower than 96 year old asian women. No thanks.

Just wait until they deploy driverless cars in an environment that has snowy streets or even just possible icy spots and the cars decide the safe travel speed is 5mph or something like that.

Commuters will love that one.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

Just wait until they deploy driverless cars in an environment that has snowy streets or even just possible icy spots and the cars decide the safe travel speed is 5mph or something like that.

Commuters will love that one.

That is a great point. Maybe they will will have AI drones flying above to give instructions?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

Just wait until they deploy driverless cars in an environment that has snowy streets or even just possible icy spots and the cars decide the safe travel speed is 5mph or something like that.

Commuters will love that one.

It's not a driverless car thing, but they tried an experiment here in Colorado a few years back that I thought was interesting. As background, going to ski resorts is kind of a hassle because you're by default driving in mountains in snowy weather. They essentially had all of the vehicles follow a lead car (government car) at constant speed with no passing. In essence, they turned the normal traffic into somewhat of an autonomous train, and I presume that had the intent of not gumming up traffic with people moving different speeds and constant lane shifting, and therefore either giving everyone a higher average speed or lower crashes. I didn't hear about the results, but presume that it wasn't effective since it wasn't adopted as a normal strategy.

[Chief Pagan]

Without googling it, I would hazard to guess that even if traffic flowed somewhat reasonably well and crashes were reduced, the high testosterone guys in their vehicles with the oversized knobby tires went ballistic and that was that.

Just like some significant percentage of commuters will when driverless cars encounter the threat of snowy, icy streets and reduce speed to a crawl.

Or it may be that the fleets of driverless cars will find it unprofitable to put their cars in harm's way of human drivers when the streets are that dangerous and if you thought you were going to work that day...

Sorry, no cars are available.

[HemiEd]

Cruise slashes 24% of self-driving car workforce in sweeping layoffs
Cruise, the GM self-driving car subsidiary, is laying off 900 workers to slash costs and revamp the company, TechCrunch exclusively learned


https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/14/cr...ent=newsletter

[threebag]

Originally Posted by TLO

They'll have to pry the keys to my Trans Am/Camaro out of my cold dead hands!/ CP

I have both, 78 TA and an 88 IROC Z

*No mullet

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Well, I'm excited to give Waymo a try when I visit Phoenix in a month or so.

Forgot about this thread until it was bumped, but here's my video of my Waymo ride in Phoenix. It had a little trouble figuring out how to get out of a one-way parking lot that dead ended into a valet stand, but once it got on the road, I was surprised with how fluid it seemed. Zippy acceleration, no issues changing lanes, even made a right turn on red.


(this video will expire in 2 days, so you're not crazy if it's not working)

I still wouldn't predict they'll be common any time soon, but it was a much smoother ride than I was expecting, especially compared to videos of Tesla drivers trying out FSD mode.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Forgot about this thread until it was bumped, but here's my video of my Waymo ride in Phoenix. It had a little trouble figuring out how to get out of a one-way parking lot that dead ended into a valet stand, but once it got on the road, I was surprised with how fluid it seemed. Zippy acceleration, no issues changing lanes, even made a right turn on red.


(this video will expire in 2 days, so you're not crazy if it's not working)

I still wouldn't predict they'll be common any time soon, but it was a much smoother ride than I was expecting, especially compared to videos of Tesla drivers trying out FSD mode.

That's pretty cool, thanks for the video.

Did you experience any anxiety sitting in the back like that with no control? I think I would for a bit.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

That's pretty cool, thanks for the video.

Did you experience any anxiety sitting in the back like that with no control? I think I would for a bit.

The biggest issue was just that it kind of got stuck in the valet parking, and it was definitely a little awkward having the valet guy looking at us because we were in his way while we couldn't do anything about it. They have a help button that you can call, and a rep can take over remotely, but the car got it figured out after a minute or two.

Once it was on the road, it was a pretty normal ride. Definitely no safety-related anxiety.

[HemiEd]

Driverless cars covered 5x more test miles in California in 2023

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - (This Feb. 2 story has been corrected to remove the word ‘Chinese’ from paragraph 9)
Completely driverless vehicles traveled nearly 3.3 million miles in California last year, over five times the previous year's total, even as concerns rose in the wake of a Cruise robotaxi accident, state data on vehicle testing released on Friday showed.
General Motors' (GM.N), opens new tab Cruise and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Waymo accounted for the bulk of the miles - 63% and 36% respectively - recorded without a safety driver, according to the state's department of motor vehicles (DMV).

Taxis with empty driver's seats have become common in the San Francisco area. The Cruise accident, in which an autonomous vehicle hit and dragged a pedestrian 20 feet (6.1 meters), sparked a public outcry and prompted the company to halt operations across the country.
Autonomous tests with a safety driver rose to 5.7 million miles from 5.1 million, DMV data from Dec. 1, 2022 to Nov. 30, 2023 showed.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...ent=newsletter

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by cdcox

Impossible. If a robot golfer can't break par, there is no way it will ever be able to drive a car as well as a human.

LOL

While I agree, I would say that the autonomous cars could be an improvement. There are some awful drivers out there. Distracted driving is rampant.

[Ming the Merciless]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

I cannot possibly imagine relying on a car to come get me for my daily activities. I don’t always plan ahead to go to the store or park or whatever. So the idea of ordering a car and waiting on it multiple times a day just sounds awful.

The main issue will be cost.


It will be FAR cheaper to order your car a couple times a day than to own a car and pay for it just to have it sit around for 20 hours a day.


Ordering cars will get faster , cheaper and easier. Most people are not going to choose to pay for a car or two full time when they can just order and use them as needed.


Just my thoughts... main issue: cost


When the cost of driverless is far less than owning, thats when people will start switching.