Posted on 06/25/2012 5:53:42 AM PDT by Silentgypsy
Google's self-driving car has fascinated our minds with its technological promise since being introduced in 2010. But yesterday, the self-driving car touched our hearts.
Google posted a video of the self-driving car taking a legally blind man for a spin, showing one of the possibilities and benefits that could come from the technology.
"Where this would change my life is to give me the independence and the flexibility to go to the places I both want to go and need to go when I need to do those things," Steve Mahan says in the video.
The self-driving car takes Mahan to Taco Bell for a quick meal and a dry cleaner to pick up his clothes.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
His trip to the cleaners was due to his previous trip to Taco Bell, skid marks are a bitch to remove.
We were driving in an unfamiliar part of a big city the other day. We essentially needed to go about ten blocks, take a left and go about ten more blocks to get to our destination. I tried following the GPS’s instructions, but it had us taking a left and then a right every single block which was nearly impossible in heavy traffic. When I zoomed out on it's screen while we were stopped... I saw that it was trying to take us on a diagonal route through the city.
Have to agree. The idea that humans will always have better reaction times than machines is pretty short-sited. A robot guided car can have 360 vision. A persons awareness of their surroundings is very limited.
Thanks for the tips on those 2 books, A. I’m always looking for something *good* to read.
at least they can still feel smug and self-righteous while bleeding from the face.
I can see this regime giving away ‘free’ self-driving cars, and taxing everyone who chooses to drive themselves.
Poltergeist infestation is the only possible solution.
All the Google Motors cars will be routed through the polling places. only NPR will work on the radio.
Tuning in to Rush via alternative means results in a drive off a bridge into a river.
Does yours sound very irritated when it says “Recalculating”? It’s like you can expect it to say, “You idiot. You left your brain in your other jacket this morning?”
What an interesting site! Thanks.
As usual the robots will have already detected the heartbeat of all drivers within 500 yards ~ and will act accordingly.
As usual the robots will have already detected the heartbeat of all drivers within 500 yards ~ and will act accordingly.
Can I sue Google if their blind-man’s-car hits me?
Aren't they pwned by Hope-Change-Pepsico?
Um, I’m no lawyer but I think that you could probably sue. Whether you collect or not is another matter.
Last weekend, the wife and I attended a small party in the boonies on the Texas/Oklahoma border. I don’t even own a GPS, so of course I used my old school hard copy map book to route myself there.
During the party, I asked some of the other guys what major routes they took to get to our friend’s home, and none of them could tell me, because they’d all relied on GPS to guide them.
What shocked me about that, is I was asking them about the major state highways, not the little back country roads. Not a one of them knew how the hell they got to where they were.
I suspect what underlies the negativity you're seeing about this particular technology, is that it's yet another attempt to take autonomy and natural sovereignty away from the individual.
Mark my words. In due course, the liberals will find a way to mandate driverless, computer controlled cars for everyone. The taking of individual liberty from the individual, is what drives their fascination and enthusiasm for this technology.
Soon followed by a government mandate that ALL citizens relinquish their freedom of transport to the government controlled, driverless automobile system.
It's for your own good, Citizen. Slavery is Freedom, don'tcha know.
I just can't wait to turn in my personal, self piloted vehicle for an automated, central computer directed, government approved, technologically advanced, people mover!
Individual liberty is just so yucky and...messy (ick!). You know what I'm sayin', Citizen?
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