Posted on 08/26/2014 9:20:27 AM PDT by shove_it
Driverless cars are coming. And those of us who drive in Washington know that the city offers its own particular version of driver hell. What we don’t know is what will happen when the autocar finds itself in that hell. So we set out on a summer afternoon to see how a driverless car could do on the streets of the nation’s capital.
The little car is tootling around Washington — pretty much on its own — when a police officer bolts into the road ahead of it, almost within spitting distance of the Capitol dome.
What is the cop waving about? Hard to say. The car is being driven by computers, and wild waving is a bit too complicated for them to understand.
Passenger Jarrod Snider taps a button on the center console and puts his hands on the steering wheel...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
No-fault insurance nirvana.
empty chair...meet driverless car!
There is a critical shortage of long haul truckers. Interstates between population centers should be a snap for driverless trucks.
Ft Marsee Park isn’t needed anymore. Just a Hit an run by a driverless car.
Can we ride around and get drunk in it?
Have the driverless car get over to the capitol building, where they can pick up some brainless passengers.
Yes, DC would be a fun place to operate driverless cars. When pedestrians in DC want to cross the street and the light is red or there is no crosswalk nearby, they simply jaywalk—and this seems to be the case from Brightwood to Wesley Heights. I know—when I worked in DC, I did it myself.
car bombers will love this.
Empty suit, hollow promises, no balls, driverless car...SOP for DC
Just wondering how driverless cars will cope with traffic circles - there used to be a lot of them in D.C.? If they’re not programmed to ‘barge’, they just go around in circles for hours.
I look forward to this technology.
In Florida, we call them "blue hairs."
Sometimes I think having a robot run washington would do a better job....
No doubt it would, it would have to clean a LOT of house...
Usually you can barely see their little blue haired heads above the seat, bless their hearts.
They are not DRIVERLESS. They are GOVERNMENT-DRIVEN.
You will go only where the government gives you permission to go.
I work and drive in D.C. A driverless car would have to know how to navigate around the many, many, many, MANY, many bicyclists that clog the roads and routinely make people late for work because they won’t stay in their lanes. I was actually behind three of them the other day who were riding in the street, abreast. They ignored all the honking and yelling of motorists and just kept on truckin’. I used to ride my bike to work in D.C., but I was ALWAYS mindful of traffic and tried my best to stay out of motorists way.
Oh, absolutely, and I’m guilty. Red lights in D.C. mean nothing to pedestrians. You can always tell someone from D.C. by how completely they ignore cross walk signals. I’m guilty, I’m afraid!
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