autonomous cars

Multi_Power

when will autonomous cars become available???

angel_of_dartford

27th October 2017 at around 13:20 hrs

Good luck

FreddieFrugal

If you ask me, a good proportion of the cars already on the road seem to be driving autonomously most of the time, no human brain making the decisions.

AdrianC

Gov't report from this Feb :-
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/401562/pathway-driverless-cars-summary.pdf

FreddieFrugal

AdrianC wrote: »

Gov't report from this Feb :-
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/401562/pathway-driverless-cars-summary.pdf

That is actually terrifying. It talks about opening up transport for elderly, disabled and those who can't get licences.

What about when something malfunctions on the car and you'd need to take over to avoid an accident. The thought of someone who can't drive being in charge of an out of control vehicle is horrendous! Or a situation develops that a human driver is capable of anticipating and avoiding, but the self driving car isn't. I just think it's awful.

I'm generally all for advances in technology but I think this is a terrible, terrible idea.

And besides that, I actually enjoy driving and hate being a passenger.

AdrianC

IanRi wrote: »

It talks about opening up transport for elderly, disabled and those who can't get licences.

Let's not forget that other countries do actually already have that, to an extent - France's Voitures Sans Permis, f'rinstance. Traditionally driven by 14yos too cowardly to ride a moped, the terminally incompetent, and those too pickled to retain a licence.

I'm generally all for advances in technology but I think this is a terrible, terrible idea.

I don't know what you mean...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33622298

LandyAndy

IanRi wrote: »

That is actually terrifying. It talks about opening up transport for elderly, disabled and those who can't get licences.

What about when something malfunctions on the car and you'd need to take over to avoid an accident. The thought of someone who can't drive being in charge of an out of control vehicle is horrendous! Or a situation develops that a human driver is capable of anticipating and avoiding, but the self driving car isn't. I just think it's awful.

I'm generally all for advances in technology but I think this is a terrible, terrible idea.

And besides that, I actually enjoy driving and hate being a passenger.

Self-driving cars don't have to be perfectly safe. They just have to be safer than those driven by humans.

bazster

LandyAndy wrote: »

Self-driving cars don't have to be perfectly safe. They just have to be safer than those driven by humans.

At least autonomous cars will not be using mobile 'phones whilst driving.

AdrianC

LandyAndy wrote: »

Self-driving cars don't have to be perfectly safe. They just have to be safer than those driven by humans.

Than those driven by sensible, competent, attentive humans...?

nidO

LandyAndy wrote: »

Self-driving cars don't have to be perfectly safe. They just have to be safer than those driven by humans.

The problem is, society would make sure that's not the case and will hold this back.

An engineer can look at self-driving cars and say "yep, this may not be perfect, but its better than human drivers and there're 1/4 as many deaths on the roads now" (25% the number of deaths plucked out of thin air, obviously the reality is expected to be far lower than this).
But the daily mail will look at the same thing and say "ROBOT CARS MURDER HUNDREDS EVERY YEAR!"

And the latter will ensure that self-driving cars don't become totally autonomous (ie the eventual end-game here of having a snooze while your controller-less car takes you somewhere, rather than the halfway house we'll have for many years of an ordinary car with ordinary controls that can control itself while you're supervising) until they're essentially perfect.

And in a way, they'll be right. If a self-driving car making a mistake/developing a fault killed my family in a situation where i'm reasonably confident them or me driving wouldn't i'd be *!!!!ed*, regardless of the general betterment for society as a whole they bring.

bazster

AdrianC wrote: »

Than those driven by sensible, competent, attentive humans...?

And how many of those are there? Presumably you would count yourself as one, and that's fine, no-one is saying autonomous cars will be compulsory. But given the lamentable standard of most peoples' driving I'm guessing that autonomous cars will result in a reduction in accident rates, even if there will be the occasional (and doubtless highly-publicised) c0ck-up by the technology.