Self-Driving Car: Is it a big deal?

[TEG]

Some related posts going into this thread:
Prank road sign fools Speed Assist.

 

[TEG]

Was this posted yet? :

Google has built a Matrix-like simulation of California to test its self-driving cars | ExtremeTech

 

[Gynob001]

enjoy creative...

Not caffeine dude. Check out the Tesla Humor thread. Nuttin like some good medical grade to relax after a long shift at the hospital, OB-Gyn?

Thanks guys. Well, I saw three transformer movies on my way to Seoul last week and .....the post.
Well, am also a cardio...

 

[Gynob001]

With the self driving car-do we need to have the traditional car shape? An egg shaped with a panoramic break resistant acrylic dome with all passengers facing outside? Would 3 wheels be sufficient?

 

[Saghost]

With the self driving car-do we need to have the traditional car shape? An egg shaped with a panoramic break resistant acrylic dome with all passengers facing outside? Would 3 wheels be sufficient?

Anything is possible, but I don't think you'll be seeing this...

The shape and layout of the modern car evolves from its function, and mostly not from the driver. People like to face the direction of travel. You need the crumple zone for crash safety. The low nose cheats the wind, and lets you seat people lower, reducing cross-section. Three wheel vehicles are less stable in hard maneuvers.
Walter

 

[apacheguy]

With the self driving car-do we need to have the traditional car shape? An egg shaped with a panoramic break resistant acrylic dome with all passengers facing outside? Would 3 wheels be sufficient?

Yeah, right, because I would totally want my car to be an egg. :tongue:

 

[chickensevil]

With the self driving car-do we need to have the traditional car shape? An egg shaped with a panoramic break resistant acrylic dome with all passengers facing outside? Would 3 wheels be sufficient?

Johnny Cab - Video Dailymotion

Clearly this will be the design of the autonomous car

 

[Canuck]

Interesting video from BMW and at the end he says BMW will be responsible for accidents...

I can't crash this BMW - CNN Video

 

[lorih]

Anyone see anything about when these will actually be available for purchase? I know the google car is a long way out, but what about the BMW?

 

[apacheguy]

I would guess a long while. There are so many technical and legal hurdles to be surmounted. The fact that the manufacturer is held entirely accountable for mistakes makes it even less appealing and unlikely to be a reality any time soon.

 

[david_42]

I suspect self-driving cars will be huge. The timing is perfect for retiring boomers (and their parents), who won't give up their cars and use public transportation; also, the 'connected' generation, who can't go two minutes without checking their phones, snapping pictures of things no one is interested in, etc., could get on with their connections, instead of enjoying the drive.

 

[doug]

Steve Jurvetson on self-driving cars - YouTube

 

[apacheguy]

There are pockets of the population that would benefit from a self driving car. But am I the only one who likes to drive here? I don't want to be forced to take my car to a track every time I want to drive as Steve Jurvetson suggests. That's simply too restrictive. I think the focus should be on improved safety (as Tesla is doing now some aspects of autopilot) rather than outright rejection of the human mind.

 

[chickensevil]

There are pockets of the population that would benefit from a self driving car. But am I the only one who likes to drive here? I don't want to be forced to take my car to a track every time I want to drive as Steve Jurvetson suggests. That's simply too restrictive. I think the focus should be on improved safety (as Tesla is doing now some aspects of autopilot) rather than outright rejection of the human mind.

I don't think (at least right away... maybe off in the way distant future... 50 years from now???) they will be taking away your right to drive a car any time soon. But I think you will find for at least 90% of your driving you will prefer to just let the car drive you to your destination and go to sleep, read a book, or mess around on your phone.

Pleasure driving is totally different from the daily commute... I don't know anyone who much *enjoys* their daily drive to the point where anyone I know of would give it up in an instant if they could just teleport to work or whatever. That is the type of driving this technology is initially targeting to replace.

 

[apacheguy]

But I think you will find for at least 90% of your driving you will prefer to just let the car drive you to your destination and go to sleep, read a book, or mess around on your phone.

As much faith as I have in technology, I would never do that. The thought of completely trusting a computer to make decisions 100% of the time around many other fast moving objects scares the crap out of me. No, I would definitely be focused on the road prepared to yank all the cables and take manual control in an instant.

Plus, I don't have a daily commute so I guess I'm not as sensitive to that reasoning. I'd say maybe, just maybe, I'd let the computer control about 10% of my driving under strict surveillance.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

There are pockets of the population that would benefit from a self driving car. But am I the only one who likes to drive here? I don't want to be forced to take my car to a track every time I want to drive as Steve Jurvetson suggests. That's simply too restrictive. I think the focus should be on improved safety (as Tesla is doing now some aspects of autopilot) rather than outright rejection of the human mind.

If autonomous is better than human, autonomous drives. It's as simple as that.

33,561 road deaths in the USA in 2012. Then there are injuries, time lost, energy wasted, and costs paid.

I don't care if you like to drive and would find autonomy boring. If you want to play, go to a playground and leave the rest of us in peace.

 

[apacheguy]

So are saying 33,561 deaths would become 0? I don't think so. I doubt it would even be half that. It might save some lives but so would driver assistance features (something I'm in favor of) so the analogy is not comparable in my mind.

At any rate, the future is still in question and as has been pointed out, it is a LONG way off. I'll be seeing you at the playground in another 50 years:tongue:

 

[Kevin Harney]

So are saying 33,561 deaths would become 0? I don't think so. I doubt it would even be half that. It might save some lives but so would driver assistance features (something I'm in favor of) so the analogy is not comparable in my mind.

At any rate, the future is still in question and as has been pointed out, it is a LONG way off. I'll be seeing you at the playground in another 50 years:tongue:

Are you saying that SOME lives aren't worth the change ? It has to be all or nothing. IMHO making it 33,560 would be worth it. I think it is a ways off but certainly not 50 years!! Look at what improvements have been made in the last 50 years to cars. I think we will have some form of completely self driving car in less than 10 years.

 

[dhanson865]

There are pockets of the population that would benefit from a self driving car. But am I the only one who likes to drive here? I don't want to be forced to take my car to a track every time I want to drive as Steve Jurvetson suggests. That's simply too restrictive. I think the focus should be on improved safety (as Tesla is doing now some aspects of autopilot) rather than outright rejection of the human mind.

You'll always have tertiary roads (the twistsies) to drive. They might mandate autonomy on primary roads (divided highways, interstates, straight 2 lane highways) and might eventually extended that to inner city areas. But you'll always have the wilderness/suburb/county roads to drive manually.

 

[doug]

I see a Google self driving car on the public roads pretty much daily. In terms of predicting a when, you have to specific to what level of autonomy. The Tesla "autopilot" level of autonomy, meaning lane keeping and adaptive cruise control is only a couple years (or less) away from a variety of manufacturers. A car that can drive by itself low speed in the city is under 5 years away. The limiting factor is more likely to be regulation and liability issues rather than technology. If you're talking about large scale adoption, then you have to look at it in terms of how quickly existing cars are replaced, and a 50 year time scale makes sense, similar to EV adoption (though much faster).