73% of Brits would not feel safe with driverless cars on the road

AnnoyedGuy

Saw a really interesting discussion reddit today about driverless cars and a report that looks into consumer opinion on driverless technology.

You can see the reddit thread here.

I thought the report itself was quite an interesting take and read on driverless cars and I've been reading up on the technology being just round the corner in terms of development with Uber receiving orders just next year for a fleet of autonomous cars.

I think the idea that you travel to work assisted by driverless tech, and sleep on the way to and from work is awesome. I think it'll have a massive impact on society.

Obviously the report is quite damning from a consumer point of view, with most people being quite negative toward it.

I truly believe there will be a shift in mindset once the tech is gradually rolled out and when it is then 'normalised'.

Good to get everyone's thoughts on this and whether people share the same negativity as what the report highlights!

giraffe69

At present it is mostly smoke and mirrors. Car makers have been advertising as if cars are already (very nearly)autonomous. I suspect that the next decade will see many more devices in cars to reduce driver interaction and that in principle it will be safer but there is a long way to go before we all sit and read the paper and pay no attention to the road. However when it does happen although there may be some spectacular mishaps (so good scary headlines for the Daily Express) on average fewer of us will be killed or seriously injured.

zagfles

It was the same 120 years ago when these new fangled horseless carriages were being introduced. They were so scary that the law initially insisted that a man with a red flag walked in front to warn people.

AnnoyedGuy

giraffe69 wrote: »

At present it is mostly smoke and mirrors. Car makers have been advertising as if cars are already (very nearly)autonomous. I suspect that the next decade will see many more devices in cars to reduce driver interaction and that in principle it will be safer but there is a long way to go before we all sit and read the paper and pay no attention to the road. However when it does happen although there may be some spectacular mishaps (so good scary headlines for the Daily Express) on average fewer of us will be killed or seriously injured.

I suppose over the last century, things like cruise control and automatic braking systems (ABS) have made cars more and more safe - and with the advent of fully autonomous, it's going to go a way of effectively being bullet proof in terms of safety - especially if all cars on the road are autonomous and can communicate with each other.

I have to point out though that the first fatal death caused by an autonomous car was documented this year:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/19/uber-self-driving-car-kills-woman-arizona-tempe

And whilst extremely tragic, you'd think this will be a catalyst to effectively make the technology even safer. It's interesting in this particular incident, it was the object tracking technology which wasn't really advanced enough. If they took into account IR then it might get around situations like the above - good read on Engadget about that here:
https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/14/adasky-thermal-camera/

James2k

AnnoyedGuy wrote: »

I suppose over the last century, things like cruise control and automatic braking systems (ABS)

ABS is already taken by anti-lock brakes.

i'll give you AEB

Richard53

One thing no-one seems to have thought of: the propensity of pedestrians and other drivers to game the system.


You want to cross a road in front of a driverless car? Go ahead - the car is designed to avoid collisions at all costs. The car will jam the brakes on or avoid you as it is designed to do. The 'driver' (passenger?) will have a bumpy ride, but you will be safe to cross, within reason. Same for another car pulling out of a side-road. Driverless car approaching? Pull out anyway. It could be horrendous.


The only way this could be made to work in the real world with real people would be to separate driverless cars from other cars, lorries, vans, pedestrians and cyclists completely. A whole new network would need to be built.


Unless anyone can think of a reason why this should not happen? I am genuinely interested to hear of any, as I can see driverless cars being a disaster otherwise.

AnnoyedGuy

James2k wrote: »

ABS is already taken by anti-lock brakes.

i'll give you AEB

Oh, yes, you're right - AEB not ABS!

Jackmydad

zagfles wrote: »

It was the same 120 years ago when these new fangled horseless carriages were being introduced. They were so scary that the law initially insisted that a man with a red flag walked in front to warn people.

. . .And it should still be thus for certain individuals. . .:D

owen_money

I think we should hold a referendum on whether we should have driverless cars or not, let the country decide, that would be fair and what could possibly go wrong?

Johno100

zagfles wrote: »

It was the same 120 years ago when these new fangled horseless carriages were being introduced. They were so scary that the law initially insisted that a man with a red flag walked in front to warn people.

Seems if the road safety zealots have their way we could be heading back to that.

James2k

Richard53 wrote: »

One thing no-one seems to have thought of: the propensity of pedestrians and other drivers to game the system.


You want to cross a road in front of a driverless car? Go ahead - the car is designed to avoid collisions at all costs. The car will jam the brakes on or avoid you as it is designed to do. The 'driver' (passenger?) will have a bumpy ride, but you will be safe to cross, within reason. Same for another car pulling out of a side-road. Driverless car approaching? Pull out anyway. It could be horrendous.


The only way this could be made to work in the real world with real people would be to separate driverless cars from other cars, lorries, vans, pedestrians and cyclists completely. A whole new network would need to be built.


Unless anyone can think of a reason why this should not happen? I am genuinely interested to hear of any, as I can see driverless cars being a disaster otherwise.

people wont do that for a while. you wont trust your life to some safety system just on a whim, at least most wont. Id imagine it would be the same number as happens today with normal cars. you always get stupid people

driverless is coming, no two ways about it. and it wont be on another separate road network, which would never work anyway.

id feel safer with driverless cars than with some (a lot) of the people i see driving around today...