There's Nothing I Want Less Than a Self-Driving Car

I don't get it. Driving is fun. Why in the world are we racing headlong toward a world of self-driving cars?

The Self-Driving Car Revolution Is Here (Sort of)
Alex Hern, Guardian

Sitting in the passenger seat of Google’s self driving car is a less bizarre experience than sitting in the driving seat, but it’s still unsettling. In the streets of Mountain View, outside the headquarters of X (once Google X, in the post-Alphabet age it’s moved out of mum and dad’s house and dropped the prefix), I got the chance to do just that.
It’s partly unsettling because it’s hard not to feel a flicker of anxiety when you look over and notice that the person driving the car hasn’t got their hands on the wheel, even as you head towards a red light on a corner with a huge truck bearing down on you.
It’s partly because the software that drives the car isn’t exactly ready for production yet, so every now and again something weird happens – a jerky overtake, a slight hesitation to squeeze through into an adjacent lane, or, as happened once, the car declaring for no obvious reason that “a slight hiccup” had occurred and that it was going to pull over.
And it’s partly because the future has come a lot sooner than anyone really thought. Even if Google takes far longer to start selling cars than it thinks it will (and senior figures in X tell me that they’re confident something will hit the market before 2020), this technology is going to hit the real world somewhere soon, and it’s going to change everything. . . .

I'm thinking that there would be a lot of benefit for a night out. Personally, I'd love to have that 11th beer during the game and not have to worry about a drive home.

For those of you with teen daughters, how cool would it be to have the car programmed to go to the movies and only the movies then get back home by 9:00? There could be some real benefits to this!

Jack Hays said:

I don't get it. Driving is fun. Why in the world are we racing headlong toward a world of self-driving cars?

The Self-Driving Car Revolution Is Here (Sort of)
Alex Hern, Guardian[FONT=&]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]S[/FONT]itting in the passenger seat of Google’s self driving car is a less bizarre experience than sitting in the driving seat, but it’s still unsettling. In the streets of Mountain View, outside the headquarters of X (once Google X, in the post-Alphabet age it’s moved out of mum and dad’s house and dropped the prefix), I got the chance to do just that.
It’s partly unsettling because it’s hard not to feel a flicker of anxiety when you look over and notice that the person driving the car hasn’t got their hands on the wheel, even as you head towards a red light on a corner with a huge truck bearing down on you.
It’s partly because the software that drives the car isn’t exactly ready for production yet, so every now and again something weird happens – a jerky overtake, a slight hesitation to squeeze through into an adjacent lane, or, as happened once, the car declaring for no obvious reason that “a slight hiccup” had occurred and that it was going to pull over.
And it’s partly because the future has come a lot sooner than anyone really thought. Even if Google takes far longer to start selling cars than it thinks it will (and senior figures in X tell me that they’re confident something will hit the market before 2020), this technology is going to hit the real world somewhere soon, and it’s going to change everything. . . .
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I'm in

Jack Hays said:

I don't get it. Driving is fun. Why in the world are we racing headlong toward a world of self-driving cars?

The Self-Driving Car Revolution Is Here (Sort of)
Alex Hern, Guardian[FONT=&]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]S[/FONT]itting in the passenger seat of Google’s self driving car is a less bizarre experience than sitting in the driving seat, but it’s still unsettling. In the streets of Mountain View, outside the headquarters of X (once Google X, in the post-Alphabet age it’s moved out of mum and dad’s house and dropped the prefix), I got the chance to do just that.
It’s partly unsettling because it’s hard not to feel a flicker of anxiety when you look over and notice that the person driving the car hasn’t got their hands on the wheel, even as you head towards a red light on a corner with a huge truck bearing down on you.
It’s partly because the software that drives the car isn’t exactly ready for production yet, so every now and again something weird happens – a jerky overtake, a slight hesitation to squeeze through into an adjacent lane, or, as happened once, the car declaring for no obvious reason that “a slight hiccup” had occurred and that it was going to pull over.
And it’s partly because the future has come a lot sooner than anyone really thought. Even if Google takes far longer to start selling cars than it thinks it will (and senior figures in X tell me that they’re confident something will hit the market before 2020), this technology is going to hit the real world somewhere soon, and it’s going to change everything. . . .
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Driving to work isn't fun I'd want a driverless car for that but yeah the idea of a driverless Porsche 911 Turbo is unappealing

Jack Hays said:

I don't get it. Driving is fun. Why in the world are we racing headlong toward a world of self-driving cars?

The Self-Driving Car Revolution Is Here (Sort of)
Alex Hern, Guardian[FONT=&]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]S[/FONT]itting in the passenger seat of Google’s self driving car is a less bizarre experience than sitting in the driving seat, but it’s still unsettling. In the streets of Mountain View, outside the headquarters of X (once Google X, in the post-Alphabet age it’s moved out of mum and dad’s house and dropped the prefix), I got the chance to do just that.
It’s partly unsettling because it’s hard not to feel a flicker of anxiety when you look over and notice that the person driving the car hasn’t got their hands on the wheel, even as you head towards a red light on a corner with a huge truck bearing down on you.
It’s partly because the software that drives the car isn’t exactly ready for production yet, so every now and again something weird happens – a jerky overtake, a slight hesitation to squeeze through into an adjacent lane, or, as happened once, the car declaring for no obvious reason that “a slight hiccup” had occurred and that it was going to pull over.
And it’s partly because the future has come a lot sooner than anyone really thought. Even if Google takes far longer to start selling cars than it thinks it will (and senior figures in X tell me that they’re confident something will hit the market before 2020), this technology is going to hit the real world somewhere soon, and it’s going to change everything. . . .
[/FONT]

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I'm extremely excited for a self-driving car. I'm looking forward to relaxing on my commute, napping, getting things done, etc. I also think it will be interesting to see how cars will be redesigned to accommodate this new reality.

Yeah, I have always enjoyed driving myself too. I see nothing in self driving cars that I want.

OK. How about outside the commuting context?

Jack Hays said:

I don't get it. Driving is fun. Why in the world are we racing headlong toward a world of self-driving cars?

The Self-Driving Car Revolution Is Here (Sort of)
Alex Hern, Guardian[FONT=&]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]S[/FONT]itting in the passenger seat of Google’s self driving car is a less bizarre experience than sitting in the driving seat, but it’s still unsettling. In the streets of Mountain View, outside the headquarters of X (once Google X, in the post-Alphabet age it’s moved out of mum and dad’s house and dropped the prefix), I got the chance to do just that.
It’s partly unsettling because it’s hard not to feel a flicker of anxiety when you look over and notice that the person driving the car hasn’t got their hands on the wheel, even as you head towards a red light on a corner with a huge truck bearing down on you.
It’s partly because the software that drives the car isn’t exactly ready for production yet, so every now and again something weird happens – a jerky overtake, a slight hesitation to squeeze through into an adjacent lane, or, as happened once, the car declaring for no obvious reason that “a slight hiccup” had occurred and that it was going to pull over.
And it’s partly because the future has come a lot sooner than anyone really thought. Even if Google takes far longer to start selling cars than it thinks it will (and senior figures in X tell me that they’re confident something will hit the market before 2020), this technology is going to hit the real world somewhere soon, and it’s going to change everything. . . .
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Let them have them, at least with the texters someone will be controlling the vehicle, does not mean either you or I will have to stop driving. Personally knowing that technology, both hardware and software, often come with weaknesses the idea of letting a vehicle be in total control is a bit unnerving. What happens when the first of them loses control and kills the occupants and/or others, the lawyers are waiting for that moment to pounce and make the manufactures pay big time.

I work in the auto industry and do a lot of driving at work. So driving is not fun or relaxing for me, it's just a thing I have to do. From that perspective, I'd love a self-driving car. An extra 40 or 50 minutes a day I can do something other than drive to and from work? Great!

But I work in the auto industry. And I won't even consider a self-driving car until they've been on the market for at least a decade. And the legal framework is going to have to be changed to account for them too. I'm not willing to accept being responsible for what the car does when I'm not in control of it. I will also insist that the car be programmed to protect my life over that of others in the event that it has to choose between me and someone else in an emergency situation.