Posted on 10/23/2017 8:28:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On my fourth day in a semi-driverless car, I finally felt comfortable enough to let it stop itself. Before then, I’d allowed the car — a Volvo S90 sedan — to steer around gentle turns, with my hands still on the wheel, and to adjust speed in traffic. By Day 4, I was ready to make a leap into the future.
With the car traveling 40 miles an hour on a busy road in the Washington suburbs, I pushed a button to activate the driverless mode and moved my foot away from the brake and accelerator. The car kept its speed. Soon, a traffic light in the distance turned red, and the cars in front of me slowed. For a split second, I prepared to slam on the brake.
There was no need. The cameras and computers in the Volvo recognized that other cars were slowing and smoothly began applying the brake. My car came to a stop behind the Ford ahead of me. I began laughing, even though no one else was in the car, as my anxiety turned to relief.
If you’re anything like most people, you’re familiar with this anxiety. Almost 80 percent of Americans fear traveling in a self-driving car, a recent poll found.
When a friend saw me in the Volvo last week and I explained that I was test-driving it for work, she asked which roads I’d be using — so she could avoid them. Another friend asked if driverless cars could be hacked. Colleagues said they feared semiautonomous cars lulling people into ignoring the road.
Driverless cars tap deep into the human psyche. We want to be in control, or at least to give control to trained professionals, like doctors. We don’t want computers to be in charge.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Yep. Gets much more difficult under less than optimum conditions. There are ways, though. Wires/trackers in the road surface or along the sides don’t need visible cues to keep the cars between the lines, even if you can’t see the lines.
Properly designed “radar” (bluetooth or other radio devices) can control both speed and direction, and can tell the distance between transmitters and receivers. New versions of Bluetooth can do a LOT more than connect your headphones...
In bad weather, everyone going at 30mph without having to worry about other drivers would still be more efficient than some days in good conditions at 60mph with idiots cutting in and out, occasionally bringing large sections down to 5mph...
“I still enjoy the pleasure of shifting gears and using a clutch pedal myself, “
Amen! Preach it! Sometimes I think actually working the machinery of our lives is a dying art. Think I’ll take the Mustang out this weekend and find an two-lane country road.
Is Uber going to haul my boat for me?
Is this a shocker?
Liberals want the Government to run their lives. The Driverless Car is just an extension of that mindset.
As for me, nothing beats a big old V-8 and three Pedals on the floor.
I don’t think self-driving cars won’t have some kind of manual override. Or, I can’t see there being a market for those that don’t.
It’s true that autopilot in open skies is not the same as driving in road traffic. However, your odds of surviving a car crash are a couple whole lot better than a plane crash. Pretty sure the mortality rate of Tesla’s autopilot is a lot lower than human caused highway fatalities. I’ve only heard of one, maybe 2.
But isn't the leading plane also going 550pmh? It's not going to suddenly stop in front of you because a dog ran into the road.
-PJ
I’d be very surprised if any of those lawsuits get very far. People here are freaking out over the possibility of huge numbers of horrific crashes; we have thousands of them every day in the USA (3800+ according to a quick Googling just now), no way are there going to be anywhere near a 10th of that with driverless. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point the default in a human vs. driverless crash is going to be the presumption that the person was at fault.
Like I said, I’m willing to bet money on driverless being widely adopted, regardless of the opposition, and being the ‘normal’ in a few decades.
The purpose of the article is to convince us that “driverless” cars are good for us.
No, they are not. And they’re not “driverless.” You must be behind the wheel and READY to take over when the car signals that you must. Not for me. No thanks.
The left can hardly wait for “driverless” cars, because they will be able to pile on the regulations and gather data on every movement or action of the car.
I have a 2017 Mercedes E class that has a package that uses adaptive cruise control and cameras to drive the car. Does a great job as long as the lines are readable. I have gone 60 miles a night on interstate with out touching steering wheel. It changes lanes if I turn signal light on.
Much less tiring to drive and safer. Will not hit car in front of you if you are in traffic.
I have put 44,000 miles on this car.
Only if you are a journalist investigating the deep state.
I'm afraid of combining it with an Alexa-type AI...
"I don't think you should go to that restaurant, Dave. Your credit card balance is too high and you checking account is too low. Why don't you go to Denny's instead? Dave? I can read your lips, Dave..."
-PJ
Many images of driverless cars going over a cliff. : )
http://tinyurl.com/y7bma4j6
Hell, they can probably get all the location and tracking info from your cell phone.
“We’re sorry, but you have exceeded your weekly mileage allotment.”
“That restaurant is too far. There is a similar restaurant close by. Taking you to the shorter route restaurant.”
-PJ
“A warrant has been issued for though crime, your vehicle is now being diverted to your local police station. Your door lock systems are overridden and you may not leave..”
I remember back in the late 1970s when ATMs first started appearing and my father swore to never use one of those "infernal" machines and insisted on going inside the bank to a human teller. He had all these nightmare scenarios such as how the money wouldn't come out and your account would get charged for the withdrawal nonetheless. Or you'd make a deposit and the money would conveniently "disappear." All apparently valid concerns at the time that many people had.
Fast forward nearly 40 years later, my father (now in his 80s) not only has been using ATMs for decades but now does online banking and uses apps on his tablet to order and pay for things just like any other teenager he loves to criticize for always "having their faces buried in a screen."
For better or for worse, technology has a way of permeating itself into society and changing the way people do things. Eventually, even the most resistant among us are pulled along.
As for driverless vehicles, even today it seems a bit outlandish. Just like how trusting a machine to dispense cash and take your deposits did back in 1979. But anybody paying attention can see that it is coming, whether we like it or not.
Solutions don’t come from Congress. They are the problem.
Yet they still keep a pilot in the seat...must be a reason for that.
Why do so many cars with drivers run red lights?
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