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Self-driving automobiles

Would you support strictly using self-driving automobiles?

  • Yes

    Votes: 11 24.4%

  • No

    Votes: 25 55.6%

  • Unsure

    Votes: 9 20.0%
  • Total voters
    45
Wake said:
......what?
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If everybody has the same type of car, what will the middle aged man drive? Right now he buys a red Corvette. Do you know what I mean now?
 
I'm not keen on driving, I feel better like a passenger. :) So, it would be good if some robot can do the driving for me. However, before that we need to get rid of the internal combustion engine and power the vehicles with wireless electricity or battery or something like that. First things first. ;)
 
Mathematician said:
As an applied mathematician and computer scientist, I am curious what percentage of the public would accept the conversion from using human-driven automobiles to self-driving automobiles. The necessary technology is clearly realistic. Let's assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the cost will be relatively the same. Here is just an initial list of benefits of my proposal:
  1. Prevention of DUI
  2. Prevention of accidents due to poor driving skills
  3. Prevention of traffic jams
  4. Potential to increase speed limits
  5. Freedom to focus on other things (child, eating, work, etc.)
  6. Auto-navigation
Some of these even have benefits as a consequence, such as improved fuel efficiency as a result of fewer/no traffic jams. What support or opposition does anyone wish to provide?
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Is this going to be like the Prieus, where the car costs far more then what you save over years?

I'm not buying a new 50K car. Sell me a conversion kit for around 2K I can put in my existing vehicle.
 
justabubba said:
by then there will be no wallets
all you will require is a slender smart card
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I keep everything inmy wallet except money.

Where are teens going to keep their condoms so the girlfriend doesn't see it?

It wouldn't be a problem for me.

I have always had a ton of cars so I like to switch from one to the other, sometimes on the same day so I carry evertything with me in my pockets. I never leave anything in my car but my buddy leaves his wallet, money, keys, mail and more in his car.

If people are switching cars all the time, man purses will have to become acceptable.
 
Jerry said:
Is this going to be like the Prieus, where the car costs far more then what you save over years?

I'm not buying a new 50K car. Sell me a conversion kit for around 2K I can put in my existing vehicle.
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I agree with that.

I want to see my 1963 Plymouth Fury drive herself. Christine anybody?????
 
rathi said:
You can separate the networked components from the critical driving components. Every modern car already has vital components like the brakes and engine controlled by computers anyway. A lot of modern cars also have networked features like onstar or integrated cell phone capability. However, the networked components are kept separate to prevent hacking from becoming a catastrophe.
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That makes no sense. In order for the cars to be able to know where everything is the cars have to be networked at all times.
 
Mason66 said:
I agree with that.

I want to see my 1963 Plymouth Fury drive herself. Christine anybody?????
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Well, when I upgrade my vehicle, I'm looking for something like a Subaru or a 1-ton truck.

It will be about 10-15 years before I have enough net worth to afford to take the 20% hit and buy a brand-new car and watch it depreciate the instant I drive it off the lot. Only the rich can do that.
 
Jerry said:
Well, when I upgrade my vehicle, I'm looking for something like a Subaru or a 1-ton truck.

It will be about 10-15 years before I have enough net worth to afford to take the 20% hit and buy a brand-new car and watch it depreciate the instant I drive it off the lot. Only the rich can do that.
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OK but for this to work, all cars on the road will have to be able to comunicate with each other. All cars. At this point in time, people can chose what car they drive even if it is a '60s car.

How is a self-driven car going to avoid older driven cars that can't communicate with them? They will be speaking a whole different language than the older cars spoke.
 
Mason66 said:
OK but for this to work, all cars on the road will have to be able to comunicate with each other.
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I don't have to communicate with all other drivers in order to go anywhere, so i guess I'll hold off indefinitely until the developers overcome their car's handicap.

Mason66 said:
How is a self-driven car going to avoid older driven cars that can't communicate with them?
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The same way everyone does it right now as you're reading this post.

Humans don't need telepathy in order to drive, and so our cars shouldn't need the tec equivalent.
 
Mason66 said:
If you get a call when you half way to work that your kid got violently ill at school, how do you quickly take over and get to where you need to go.

I think the combination of computer and human interaction is too much to risk.
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I think it's pretty obvious that you would just change your destination.
 
Mason66 said:
If everybody has the same type of car, what will the middle aged man drive? Right now he buys a red Corvette. Do you know what I mean now?
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Different exteriors will stll exist. All that matters is the communication manner has certain standards, similar to cell phones.
 
Here's a link about pilots who are so reliant on the technology that they may be forgetting how to fly: WLS 890AM=

As an ordinary Joe myself who doesn't think about stuff like this, I am always struck by that Mercedes commerical about how the driver didn't know whatever, but the car did. Who's the human being with insights and not-necessarily-programmed responses, and what's the damned machine?

Really, if you have to depend on technology to be made aware that you're about to be tailgated or whatever, I'd be really grateful if you left the driving to Hertz.
 
Henrin said:
That makes no sense. In order for the cars to be able to know where everything is the cars have to be networked at all times.
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No they don't. The car uses its on-board sensors to detect the environment around it? Networking provides an extra level of detection for vehicles that aren't in line of sight and can communicate other useful information, but isn't strictly required.
 
Mason66 said:
OK but for this to work, all cars on the road will have to be able to comunicate with each other. All cars. At this point in time, people can chose what car they drive even if it is a '60s car.

How is a self-driven car going to avoid older driven cars that can't communicate with them? They will be speaking a whole different language than the older cars spoke.
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That isn't true. The google car is driving on our roads as we speak without being able to communicate. The setup isn't have a centrally processed system that tells each car where to go. It is to give each car sensors so it can autonomously navigate itself.
 
I see the practical implementation for a self driving car something like this.

1) The first gen vehicles which already exist They have something like a laser rangefinder which detects the distance of the car in front of your and automatically controls the brake and throttle to maintain a safe following distance without driver input.
2) The next step is probably to include sensors that can identify a lane on the highway and stay within it. Combined with the features above, the car can drive itself on long highway trips, only requiring user input to change lanes.
3) The big step. You combine the ability to change lanes with the ability to handle merges and forks in the freeway. The robot car needs to have 360 sensor capability, a navigation database and some advanced control software. Essentially, you drive the car onto the on-ramp and it drives itself to whatever off-ramp upon which you resume control. Designating certain lanes as robot car only would help in optimizing traffic flow.

Up to this point I am very confident that robot cars will be viable. Once you start getting into driving in urban or residential areas, you run into problems that don't have obvious solutions.
 
rathi said:
I see the practical implementation for a self driving car something like this.

1) The first gen vehicles which already exist They have something like a laser rangefinder which detects the distance of the car in front of your and automatically controls the brake and throttle to maintain a safe following distance without driver input.
2) The next step is probably to include sensors that can identify a lane on the highway and stay within it. Combined with the features above, the car can drive itself on long highway trips, only requiring user input to change lanes.
3) The big step. You combine the ability to change lanes with the ability to handle merges and forks in the freeway. The robot car needs to have 360 sensor capability, a navigation database and some advanced control software. Essentially, you drive the car onto the on-ramp and it drives itself to whatever off-ramp upon which you resume control. Designating certain lanes as robot car only would help in optimizing traffic flow.

Up to this point I am very confident that robot cars will be viable. Once you start getting into driving in urban or residential areas, you run into problems that don't have obvious solutions.
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What happens on rainy days and areas with a lot of mud?

If the sensors can get dirty and get covered up in any way you can never depend on them.

Too many ? to trust your life with.
 
Mason66 said:
What happens on rainy days and areas with a lot of mud?
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The self-driving vehicle (unlike many human drivers) would adjust to weather conditions and drive accordingly.

If the sensors can get dirty and get covered up in any way you can never depend on them.
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If YOUR sensors get dirty (i.e. your ability to see the road is impeded because your windshield is covered in rain/ice/snow or you have a headlight out or you're drunk), I wouldn't recommend driving until you get the issue resolved. The obvious difference would be that the self-driving car would at least know when it was unable to drive safely, whereas many humans get behind the wheel when they clearly should not.

Too many ? to trust your life with.
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Just because you have questions doesn't mean that these things don't already have perfectly valid answers.
 
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Mason66 said:
What happens on rainy days and areas with a lot of mud?

If the sensors can get dirty and get covered up in any way you can never depend on them.

Too many ? to trust your life with.
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1) Freeways don't get muddy.
2) You can mount the senors high enough above the ground so they won't get splattered.
3) Windshields and headlights are already vulnerable yet mud isn't the cause of very many accidents.
 
Mathematician said:
My Accord has this feature, which IMHO isn't a high-end car. With the cars monitoring this, notification could be sent to an authority figure through the network for enforcement.
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30,000 car isnt low end and its the higher end of midrange
 
sawyerloggingon said:
Yeah but how many wrecks have you caused? Ever look in your rear view mirror?:lol:
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None as far as I know! :2razz:

And this got me thinking, what would happen with the no texting whilst driving laws??
If you had a car that drove itself, it didn't need your hands, could you feel free to text away??
 
Mathematician said:
It cost $22k, not $30k.
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I don't even make 22K in a year, forget about being able to fork over that much cash for a new car.

Show me something in the 5K range, like a conversion kit, and then tell me how this investment is going to save me money over the life of my car.
 
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Jerry said:
I don't even make 22K in a year, forget about being able to fork over that much cash for a new car.

Show me something in the 5K range, like a conversion kit, and then tell me how this investment is going to save me money over the life of my car.
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Right now it wouldn't. Once the technology is tested and the cost of the necessary computing power comes down, I can think of several ways it could save you money: 1) Reducing your commute time and allowing you to spend the commute doing something other than watching the road, 2) Reducing your likelihood of being in an accident, 3) Reducing your insurance rates, 4) Reducing the amount of gas you use through more fuel-efficient driving habits, 5) Removing the necessity of owning a car at all...at least if you live in a city or suburbs.
 
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