Posted on 01/12/2018 4:36:18 PM PST by equaviator
Today, GM unveiled the first image of its upcoming autonomous fourth-generation Bolt EV-based vehicle – the “first without a steering wheel or pedal.”
The automaker also says that it filed a petition asking the DOT permission to deploy the vehicle as soon as next year.
The move represents an accelerated self-driving timeline for the company, which could potentially leapfrog most other companies working on the technology since the most common timeline is a commercial launch in 2020-2022.
The vehicle would represent the next generation of Cruise AV autonomous car based on the Bolt EV.
In June, GM announced the completion of the first batch of 130 Chevy Bolt EV autonomous prototypes at its Orion Assembly Plant located in Orion Township, Michigan...They are already using part of their fleet to carry Cruise employees “anywhere in San Francisco using their app” – an early version of the service they plan to offer to the public someday.
Although GM claims to be the 1st without a steering wheel or pedal, Google has demonstrated pedal-less, steeringwheel-less autonomous vehicles first as part of its Google X labs in 2014 and now part of its Waymo spinoff. Google has since added back steering wheels to its own vehicles and *steered* the organization to more as add-ons to existing vehicles, especially Lexus crossovers and Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids.
A few months later, they claimed to be ready to “mass produce” self-driving Chevy Bolt EVs and they announced an expansion of the test fleet to New York...In order to plead their case for the safety of their vehicle and submit their petition for the permission to deploy the vehicle, GM released a new “2018 Self-Driving Safety Report”.
The report explains the various passive and active safety features of the vehicle as well as all the redundant hardware.
So the car is driving me down a street, and an antifa mob blocks my path and starts attacking, pounding on the vehicle and trying to drag me out of the car. How does the autonomous car handle the attack? If I'm driving, then I would floor the gas pedal and mow through the mob to get away. But not this car, meaning I'm at the mercy of the mob. Dozens of other problem scenarios.
Not to mention the 124 people who died and hundreds more injured as a result of GM's ignition switch fiasco. What will GM do when their self-drivers go crazy?
Geek Squad
I saw a movie like that, but it was a good guy who was forced to drive off the road into a brick building. (Goldfinger - James Bond making a getaway but seeing headlights coming at him, veered away - it was a mirror.)
Which go up to 80 in Wyoming, Utah and Idaho and up to 85 in Texas.
Geek Squad? Not sure.
I think I’ll get my information from a source other than a marketing brochure put together by the same company that is trying to sell the product.
Yeah, the Geek Squad. I would have put them in a Cadillac.
Losing freedom one gizmo at a time.
I am not looking forward to having to deal with these things while I’m on a motorcycle. Cars WITH drivers are hazardous to my health as it is- I can only imagine how horrible things will become with driverless cars.
And don’t bother lecturing me about how wonderful all the sensors and other technology is, and how ‘safe’ it will be - electronic sensors and servo-motors fail all the time. I don’t think anyone has the right to require us to put our lives in the ‘hands’ of a bunch of brainless electronic devices. Remember, when you drill down deeply enough, computers and computer-controlled devices only know what human programmers tell them they know
I hope all the city people buy this type of car. If that happens and they are happy not traveling around this beautiful country, I will be happy. I have been watching citifolks drop kleenex and baby diapers on the roads sides, etc. and if they aren’t driving, they will have to clean up their own sidewalks of their own filth.
I don't know how many times that plot device has been used; I remember seeing it first in the Roy Rogers movie, “King of the Cowboys.” That movie was released in 1943.
In that instance, the mirror was used in an attempt to kill the Texas governor, a good guy.
No offense, but I find it hard to believe that someone who owns and drives a Z06 (or any other high performance vehicle) would be amenable to divesting himself of all control over his vehicle.
Three problems with 'self driving cars'...
1. They are controlled by software, and anything can go wrong.
I do not want to be on the same road with these potential maniacs.
I don't trust anything coming out of Obama Motors.
My dislike for the car in question has nothing to do with it being electric. I dislike it because it has no steering wheel, brake pedal or method of manual acceleration.
They can’t even keep trains from crashing. Oh yeah, this will end well.
100% against!!!!!!!!!!!
I am looking forward to self-driving cars, and I am glad they will be there for me in my old age.
But I am not getting into them for a ride until thousands of others have tested them, and won’t buy one until hundreds of thousands of other have bought them.
The technology must be pretty good, if they plan to sell these next year.
I still want to know how car insurance will work.
Now- the driver & their individual record & habits are charged accordingly. How will these cars be rated?
Who do I sue if there is an accident?
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