Every car will have a subroutine, triggered by the Central Bureau, to lock the doors and drive you to a FEMA camp for “special processing”.
They still haven’t delivered on the promise of flying cars *or* jet packs yet.
The bottom line is that liberals crave this, because it takes away control over cars, which is a huge symbol of individualism, and turns cars into mass transit controlled by the government.
Without the crashes caused by teenagers, drunks, and illegal aliens, the crash rate could be cut substantially in Texas.
“What could go wrong?”
What goes wrong with human drivers? Let’s see:
- Distracted
- Drunk
- Incompetent
- Poor reaction times
- Falling asleep
- Medical emergencies
How many of those are likely to apply to self-driving cars?
Volvo is about to run a pilot on public streets in Sweden.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20150301/OEM06/303029948?template=mobile
Can a self driving car see a child playing with a ball in a yard and know to slow down in case the kid runs into the street?
Can the self driving car determine if the object ahead is a squirrel, dog, or child and if needed swerve accordingly?
Can a self driving car ‘see’ the back up lights of someone getting ready to pull out of their driveway? Or how about see someone in a parallel parked car and be prepared or them to throw open their door without looking?
Can a self driving car ‘see’ that the snow in the wheel tracks is turning to ice and change lane positions to get better grip in a quick stop situation?
Does the self driving car know that the intersection ahead is the one that by whatever coincidence of the forces of nature gets slicker than an ice rink, when it starts to freeze?
Does the self driving car know about the stop light with the bad sensor that if you don't pull all the way up to the stop line will not trigger?
Can a self driving car ‘see’ that big pothole you know is there that stays hidden until the last moment and eats Prius tires for lunch then straddle it so you don't get a flat? Personally I'd rather have a self flat fixing car than a self driving car.
Does the self driving car know to look for the dust of oncoming traffic on dirt roads?
Does the self driving car have the ability to watch a rocky hillside for falling rocks?
In short humans have the ability to adapt their knowledge to unknown but similar circumstances a computer can only react to the exact set of situations it is programmed for. There are simply too many variables in the real world to put lives in the hands of a machine brain on the roads. If that doesn't convince you, go watch the Star Trek episode with M5.
I can just feel the excitement building in the “hacker” community, as we speak.
And, we thought “swatting” was bad...
I always point out that I took a test drive in one of these things (under a very controlled environment at a test track) more than twenty years ago. The technology was in place to do this all the way back then, but it has never been implemented for the same reason I told the team of design engineers back then that it would never work: It relies too much on technology that is subject to minor failures far too frequently to be considered an "safe" process.
The last time I made this point was at a professional conference where the subject came up. One of the speakers made this impressive presentation about how self-driving vehicles were going to change the world we live in. When the time came for questions and answers, I raised my hand and stood up. My question went something like this:
"Sir, there are five seats up there where panelists have been speaking at various sessions at this conference here today. Those of us in the crowd may have noticed that two of the microphones at those five seats had to be replaced earlier today because they weren't functioning correctly. Now I'll turn to this audience and ask them a simple question: If something as simple as a microphone -- that has been in use for decades -- has a failure rate of 40% right here in this room, does anyone here trust that a "self-driving car" will ever work?"
This is actually the beginning of the end of the human driven car.
I already read about roads with intersections with no traffic lights. The automobiles will weave in and out and between each other making left and right turns with precision that humans could not maintain. Of course, only cars with auto-drive would be allowed on these roads. And fewer and fewer roads would NOT be “auto-drive only”.
Also:
1. They would be a HE** of a lot better for people that don’t like to drive anyway. This would make them popular. Imagine the long distance trip on I-90, I-5 or I-65 in a car designed from the ground up with auto drive in mind. You are in the car reading, playing video games, enjoying the scenery (maybe with large screen video images from your connected and automated drone at 1,000 ft altitude). Doing school work, creating art, practicing your guitar, having sex. You name it.
2. Insurance rates for human driven cars would become prohibitive. You’d have to really WANT to do it and have the funds to support your hobby (which is what it will become).
The world is changing. Exponentially.
The very first paragraph reads: "Although we’re likely a decade or two away from every person on the block owning a driverless car...."
Mindless drivel from the same people who worry about Polar bears drowning.
"And POOF your problems will magically disappear!"
Show me the tech, then let's chat.
I believe self-driving cars will be common place in a short number of years. We’re already seeing self-parking cars and now, self-stopping cars are coming quickly to the market. The tipping point will simply be the moment accident rates for self-driven cars fall below the current accident rates. They do not have to be infallible, just less fallible. And then, insurance rates for non-*smart* cars will begin to rise until there’s a financial reason to switch.
I just bought a car last year and I am of the opinion it will be the last non-intelligent self-driving car I will own. As for keeping our old, low-tech cars, well, once insurance rates for them are 2 to 3 times more expensive than for the newer ones, it will be a self-correcting issue.
The savings would be offset by the loss of productivity due to driverless cars obeying speed limits.
Ping.
So who will be responsible for the accidents that do occur? Blame the programmer!
Very little actually. Driving is just another repetitive task human have a habit of doing poorly that WILL be automated.
Why does “Colossus” come to mind?
Ofcourse, I don't want government driven cars. But, then, I look around me and I see mass levels of morons who don't have enough impulse control to not check Facebook while driving 75 miles per hour on the highway. People with zero critical thinking or ability to use cause and effect in their daily thinking and choices. The idea of those jackasses no longer sharing the road with me is enticing.
Regardless of what I want, the infantilization of society marches on.
A whole new meaning to BSOD
The remaining 10% will be real doozies!
Hackers. GPS jammers. Electronic car jacking. A whole new class of terrorism. Rogue countries with the capability to disable or destroy GPS satellites.
Iran wouldn't need nukes to wreak havoc on the US once we have converted over to driverless transportation, especially once the government has mandated driverless transportation which, at some point, it surely will.
The more ways that transportation systems depend on electronic communication with external systems such as satellites, cell towers, government agencies, the more ways they will have to fail and the more ways they can be MADE to fail.
Make no mistake...the government will mandate that any driverless car sold or made available to the public will have the capacity for full government control, and the ability to lock out any manual control option, if that option is even still allowed once the system is fully implemented.
And also eliminate you going anywhere you want to ... if your destination is not on the “approved” list because it is politically undesirable or too fragile ecologically etc.