Posted on 03/11/2014 12:29:37 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The California Department of Motor Vehicles began Tuesday to puzzle through the complex question of how to regulate cars that rely on computersnot peopleto drive them.
Once the stuff of science fiction, driverless cars could be commercially available by decades end. Google already has sent its fleet of Priuses and Lexuses, fitted with an array of sensors, hundreds of thousands of miles in California, and major automakers are testing their own models.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
The technology already exists and will be slowly introduced.
Initially they will probably designate a few lanes on highways for automated vehicles only. Eventually they will be mandatory...
There’s nothing sinister in it, it’s just the normal evolution of technology. People have been trying to make self driving cars for decades. When the first self parking car hit we knew it was any day now. It’s surveillance or control, especially since NONE of the current example involve any kind of government action at all, it’s GPS driven no checking into some central anything.
But it’s going to be really really rough for the government to figure out. Do we need a drivers license to let the car drive? If not what’s the age limit? What about drunk riding?
Yes they can distinguish traffic situations and road signs (or at least will be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge ). And they probably will communicate with each other, most cars are bluetooth capable already for your cellphone no reason they can’t talk to each other. And they’ll be doing that specifically to accomplish this DECADES any massive infrastructure can be put in place. The control system was the idea people had 10 to 20 years ago, but self parking cars proved that wasn’t necessary, we can make cars see and react to conditions all by themselves right now. Cars are coming out now that will self brake if they detect something in the way, even line you back up in your lane if you drift. We’re almost there, with no supervising network.
“Do these driverless vehicles have the technology capaable of distinguishing various traffic situations and road signs?”
Yes.
“Wil they automatically connect with other like vehicles. Doubt it! This means theres going to be a need for massive ammounts of expensive tech infrastructure everywhere.”
No it doesn’t. As the article points out, Google already has logged hundreds of thousands of miles of driverless driving on public streets.
“Take the expense of a somewhat localized high speed rail project and multiply that by every city. So unless you ban all standard vehicles and force every person who drives to buy a new driverless car, its just not possible much less feasible not to mention just not as much fun.”
No. The driverless cars work similarly to a human driver. They sense their surroundings, and make decisions. They make decisions several times a second, and can “see” in all directions at the same time. They have “senses” humans don’t, like laser radar. Further, they don’t get distracted, tired or drunk.
There won’t be much question what happened in the event of an accident, as the driverless car will contain a detailed record. They’ll be much better at avoiding errant human drivers than are humans.
There are concerns, like cost, how much redundancy the various systems will provide, and failure modes, but there’s little doubt the roads will get safer proportionally to the number of driverless cars out there.
For examples, check out the following video links:
http://www.swri.org/Video/html/sumet-benning.htm
http://www.swri.org/Video/html/sumet.htm
http://www.swri.org/Video/html/vul-road-users.htm
Note that the last one shows the autonomous vehicles stopping for random pedestrians. I was surprised at how advanced the technology has become. For more information about the developments in San Antonio, check out: http://www.swri.org/4org/d10/isd/ivs/marti.htm .
MD
Shoot them on sight, spirits in vehicles, if the cops cannot intimidate or ticket they will be the ones keeping them off the road.
Troppers say NO to R2D2 behind the wheel.
Thanks for the videos, I hadn’t seen those. Low speed / offroad for the most part (military applications) but interesting.
One thing I didn’t mention in my earlier post is that the big win with autonomous cars is the free time. Instead of the essentially mindless task of driving, we’ll be able to read, work, and whatever else is a good use of time. :-)
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