autonomous cars

[Deleted User]

Those autonomous cars see through fog using radar-like systems, far better than humans can.

If anything, you'll see pile-ups when cars crash into the back of AI cars, due to following at irresponsible distances.

The question is - who's liable when the AI chooses to save a car in front of it, rather than a car behind it?

bazster

Of the many technological, legal and ethical challenges facing autonomous cars poor visibility would seem one of the least of them!

bazster

ringo_24601 wrote: »

The question is - who's liable when the AI chooses to save a car in front of it, rather than a car behind it?

Ah, an easy one at last! It's the driver behind, obviously, just as it would be if he piled into the back of a human-driven car which had slowed to a speed appropriate to the conditions.

Tobster86

Bear in mind that all these proposed 'scenarios' would diminish to virtually nothing since an AI controlled car can't get drunk, understands no concept of road rage, is never tired, ill or in a hurry; and will pay attention to the tune of fine and accurate calculations thousands of times per second.

victor2

victor2 wrote: »

Similarly, there will inevitably be the AI equivalent of a motorway pile-up in fog, and the ensuing arguments of "it was unavoidable" against "humans would have avoided it".

bsms1147 wrote: »

Why? Autonomous cars don't need to 'see' like we do, why wouldn't they be better in fog, or in the dark, than us?

That's why I said the "AI equivalent". One would expect them to handle fog better than humans, but there are bound to be unforeseen circumstances that AI would not be able to handle. Humans might call it a sixth sense or something. Say for example it's a windy day and you decide not to drive down a particular road because you know there's a tree along it which has looked ready to fall for years. An AI car goes along that road, stops in traffic and the tree falls on it, killing the occupants. You proudly say you wouldn't have gone that way in that weather... Let's say AI cars have less accidents than human driven ones, but humans will always argue that they could have avoided some of the few accidents AI cars have.
If a software "bug" leads to multiple fatalities, that would set the industry back a bit. No software can be 100% foolproof, it's written by humans after all.

NBLondon

I quite like driving so I doubt I'd ever give up completely but I can see the advantages for long journeys. So more likely, I think we will first get autonomous driving in certain circumstances e.g. you drive from home to the motorway junction and then hand over control to a car autopilot - which holds you at a steady speed and distance in a dedicated lane of other auto-controlled cars (getting updates from the Highways Agency so they all slow or adjust distance together in response to weather and road conditions) and then you take control again when you leave. Someone suggested this already for freight.


Or as being tested in Greenwich, Bristol et al - a fixed route taxi-type service that can be pre-programmed for 99.99% of the hazards in a known area and set of circumstances http://www.digitalgreenwich.com/driverless-cars/ Off the top of my head - you could use the same principle for a park and ride service or airport shuttle buses.