Google’s Driverless Cars Run Into Problem: Cars With Drivers

New York Times ^ | 09/02/2015 | By MATT RICHTEL and CONOR DOUGHERTY

[SeekAndFind]

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google, a leader in efforts to create driverless cars, has run into an odd safety conundrum: humans.

Last month, as one of Google’s self-driving cars approached a crosswalk, it did what it was supposed to do when it slowed to allow a pedestrian to cross, prompting its “safety driver” to apply the brakes. The pedestrian was fine, but not so much Google’s car, which was hit from behind by a human-driven sedan.

Google’s fleet of autonomous test cars is programmed to follow the letter of the law. But it can be tough to get around if you are a stickler for the rules. One Google car, in a test in 2009, couldn’t get through a four-way stop because its sensors kept waiting for other (human) drivers to stop completely and let it go. The human drivers kept inching forward, looking for the advantage — paralyzing Google’s robot.

It is not just a Google issue. Researchers in the fledgling field of autonomous vehicles say that one of the biggest challenges facing automated cars is blending them into a world in which humans don’t behave by the book. “The real problem is that the car is too safe,” said Donald Norman, director of the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego, who studies autonomous vehicles.

[Darksheare]

If it has computers, it can be hacked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK0SrxBC1xs

Just a matter of time before a Glooble driverless becomes a remote highway missile.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Surely that’s a problem government can solve. Ban all human drivers beginning 2020. Think of all the jobs in the auto industry’s hat will be created if everybody has to go buy a new car. BONUS: Union dues soar. Democrat campaign contributions soar. More dems elected to pass more regulations. Utopia!

[twister881]

Stick one of ‘em in Philadelphia & see how long it lasts — probably about the same as the robot hitchhiker.

“The City That Booed Santa Claus”

[SeekAndFind]

RE: . Ban all human drivers beginning 2020.

That would mean GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota and all the other car companies can only manufacture driverless cars.

And of course, that would mean we are all rich enough by 2020 to be able to afford buying them.

[knarf]

But ..... but .... it’s PROGRESS !?!!

[Another Post-American]

"The real problem is that the car is too safe"

No, the real problem is the government has passed too many laws and tried to too strictly control driver behavior. The result is universal violations of overly restrictive laws (think speed limits for example). So now autonomous car-makers will have to decide whether to mesh with the real world or with government dictate, and prepare for the lawsuits when they do the latter and people get hurt.

[WayneS]

I’m sure Google’s answer to the problem will be to lobby the government to ban private ownership of automobiles. And the totalitarians in our federal government will be only too happy to oblige by getting the ball rolling towards just such a ban.

[central_va]

I am not trusting my life to the machinations of a robo car.

[ballearthout]

Jeb loves driverless cars.

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/mar/25/jeb-bush/driverless-car-has-gone-300000-miles-without-accid/

[WayneS]

I wonder how the “Google driverless car” reacts to being put up on blocks and having its tires & wheels stolen...

[cripplecreek]

Any experienced driver saw this one coming.

[Darksheare]

In my mind’s eye I just say a monocled hipster drop his latte..

[ken in texas]

Stick one of ‘em in Philadelphia & see how long it lasts

Good old Philadelphia... where our cab driver understood only the word "Airport"; "Terminal B" was beyond his comprehension. We had to point him to the correct exit for our terminal.

[Darksheare]

SAW!!
Man, I hate autocorrect.
IE now has it for some insane reason.

[knarf]

red lights and stop signs are for discourteous people that CAN drive but don't or won't ..... they're also there for people that have a driver's license that proves they don't know how to drive

I commented simularly in a roundabout thread recently

[knarf]

???

[Darksheare]

Internet exploder has autocorrect.
But if you shut it off, it punishes you by disabling other things.
So, “in my mind’s eye I saw” was “corrected” to be “in my mind’s eye I say”.

[tacticalogic]

So, “in my mind’s eye I saw” was “corrected” to be “in my mind’s eye I say”.

I see what you're saying.

[Norm Lenhart]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAvQSkK8Z8U

Rush – Red Barchetta Lyrics
My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And now on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the turbine freight
To far outside the wire where my
White-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground as the turbo slows
To cross the borderline
Run like the wind as excitement shivers
Up and down my spine
But down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me
An old machine
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new
Has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant Red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
We’ll fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge

Well-oiled leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air

Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car
Shoots towards me two lanes wide
Oh, I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase

Ride like the wind
Straining the limits
Of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I’ve got a desperate plan

At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside