Two Questions!
1 My wife doesn't drive, she does not have a licence.
If I buy a driverless car, can I send her down the shops on her own?
2 If I am in a driverless car and the car runs down a pedestrian on a crossing, am I to blame?
If you are in the current position of being able to buy (or think about buying) your wife a driverless car then you must also have access to a time machine, as you can't currently buy a driverless car, and won't be able to for some time to come.
The answer to question 1 is obviously yes, once you CAN buy a driverless car, that definition itself answers the question.
The answer to question 2 will be sorted out BEFORE you are able to buy a driverless car, so you don't need to have any sleepless nights in the meantime.
With regards to who would want to travel in one?. Think about that for a minute, how many people out there have a 1, 2, 3 or even 4 hour commute in their car to and from work every day?. And how many of those people would rather spend that time sleeping, eating, watching a movie, playing a video game, etc, rather than staring at the tail lights of the car in front?. Thats right, pretty much all of them!.
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When driverless cars do eventually arrive, they will need to have frequent safety checks. The level of specialist attention these cars will need to ensure their self-driving equipment works properly might put them beyond the scope of private owners. So they would be likely to be owned and operated by fleets.
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When driverless cars do eventually arrive, they will need to have frequent safety checks. The level of specialist attention these cars will need to ensure their self-driving equipment works properly might put them beyond the scope of private owners. So they would be likely to be owned and operated by fleets.
Thats part of A i the car will have sensors all over the motor keeping track of all parts, it will be able to tell if a problem occurs as it happens, and either warn of the possible problem or shut the vehicle down, whatever is safer
when 5G comes in later this year motors will be able to comunicate problems to other vehicles local to it and warn to avoid if a problem happens (but only transmit to other 5G carriers) which will become more common, ie, insurance purposes, but faster and give more info than the trackers do now
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<< That's part of AI the car will have sensors all over the motor keeping track of all parts, it will be able to tell if a problem occurs as it happens, and either warn of the possible problem or shut the vehicle down, whatever is safer >>
Like many another new gizmo, this one starts life as a vanity project, an experimental challenge for the boffins (in memoriam Heinz Wolff), and is great as long as it remains so. The problems start when someone decides to go commercial. First every possible awkward situation has to be envisaged and allowed for (impossible) and if enough of the toys get loose a new range of difficulties appears.
As an example, how about drones. Great toys, but when they start peering into bedroom windows or (worse) threatening planes landing or taking off, not so good.
Genies and bottles come to mind.
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When driverless cars do eventually arrive, they will need to have frequent safety checks. The level of specialist attention these cars will need to ensure their self-driving equipment works properly might put them beyond the scope of private owners. So they would be likely to be owned and operated by fleets.
Thats part of A i the car will have sensors all over the motor keeping track of all parts, it will be able to tell if a problem occurs as it happens, and either warn of the possible problem or shut the vehicle down, whatever is safer
when 5G comes in later this year motors will be able to comunicate problems to other vehicles local to it and warn to avoid if a problem happens (but only transmit to other 5G carriers) which will become more common, ie, insurance purposes, but faster and give more info than the trackers do now
But the legal or insurance implications if something goes wrong haven't been worked out . It could be that operators of autonomous cars will need a special perrmit or licence and frequent rigorous checks could be a legal requirement iven if the cars have self-diagnosis software. That would put most private owners off buying such a vehicle, specially if you can just summon one when you need it and forget about it when you've finished your trip.
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Forum members may find the idea of driverless cars completely unappealing as mostly they enjoy the challenge and control in driving a car.
But to assume that they are decades away is an irrational denial and simply complacent. There are numerous experimwntal platforms undegoing trials around the world. There are huge numbes of potential users who for presonal or business reasons would like them to become a reality.
As a guess I would expect them to be in increasing common use with 5- 10 years, and dominate transport within 15-20 years.
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I am looking forward to the experience of being driven by a self driving car - so I can sit there and criticise the computer's driving instead of the wife's!
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Taking it back to basics, I'd venture to suggest that in present company, one of our first instincts as young adults when being conveyed in a car was to get our mitts on the wheel and control that vehicle under our own terms.
Allowing a machine to convey us around with little or no input from ourselves is against every instinct of living generations of drivers, and it will take the birth of a new generation which has never had the opportunity to drive a car themselves before the brand is fully accepted.
Imagine sitting on the back seat on a motorway, on your own, with no controlling brain or hands in the car except machinery and travelling at 70mph.
Sorry, but no thanks.
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The reason I drive is is to keep me busy during a journey! Even on relatively short train trips I soon get bored reading etc.
I've done a few hours on a driving simulator as part of autonomous driving systems, including watching a DVD while the car got on with it.
However it took a while to get used to and I did start to get very travel sick - cars aren't smooth like trains and aircraft. Sudden unexpected, but gentle movement can induce travel sickness very quickly.
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I am looking forward to the experience of being driven by a self driving car - so I can sit there and criticise the computer's driving instead of the wife's!
lol, better watch out the car don`t stop and tell you to walk, they are intelligent you know;)
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There are many misconceptions about autonomous driving.
Right now, one can't drive an autonomous car without a valid driving license! A driver is responsible for car's action.
All autonomous vehicles are truly autonomous on motorways only. For a computer, it is much easier to operate on motorways with fixed lanes and follow the car in front technique. Once in town center, no car is fully autonomous yet inc. Teslas. All Teslas come with all hardware necessary for autonomous driving but not with the software (Tesla's plan is to charge a fee to enable more features of software).
A Tesla right now would ask driver to take control within town centres. If driver does not react, its auto pilot mode will deactivate and this can cause accident without any driver input.
So for a non-driver to jump on autonomous car and visit destination is at least 5 years away for mainstream use.
You might also discover that using taxis might come out cheaper than buying an autonomous car :o)
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Potential users include elderly, disabled and those who simply do not like driving.
We may ultimately have far greater trust in driverless cars than a stressed out driver distracted by phones, sat nav, text, targets, arguments with boss/wife, ignorant of basic road courtesies and speed limits
Business people can do real work in a driverless car.
Road capacity is potentially increased as driverless cars can reduce the safety space betwwen vehicles by reacting quicker and communicating with other vehicles.
Taxis could halve in cost as vehicles could be worked 24x7 and the driver anyway makes up between 50 - 70% of total costs (depends on Uber and other network chanrges)
Polluting vehicles will be banned in town centres in 15-25 years. The same will likely happen with traditionally driven vehicles a few years later.
Car parking in towns will no longer be an issue - cars will be summoned by an app and after drop off will return to a central parking lot. Batteries will be topped up to full range.
We may not like it, but it is coming. Too many of the negative comments on here are really about denial rather than rational argument.
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Car parking in towns will no longer be an issue - cars will be summoned by an app and after drop off will return to a central parking lot. Batteries will be topped up to full range.
We may not like it, but it is coming. Too many of the negative comments on here are really about denial rather than rational argument.
Car parking will still be an 'issue', just a different one. If there are to be enough summonable cars to satisfy all needs, those cars will need (large) car parks; more like today's bus depot I suppose.
It may be coming, but it doesn't have to. The positive comments may be based on some rational argument, but perhaps one taking little account of human nature, and how it has a habit of messing up the best-laid rational plans.
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Existing car parks may cope with (possibly) 2x the numbers today. They won't need pedestrian access or lighting. New and redevelopments could be built with much lower headroom. Possibly less manouvring spaceas they won't need to cope with clumsy humans.
Whether or not it happens is not up to us individually. Government will mandate what is generally acceptable - most would not have voted for speed limits, congestion charging, the level of fuel duty, phasing out petrol and diesel cars etc etc. There will also be a significant number who will welcome the change for economic or personal reasons.
Car ownership could also start to become history, You may simply "rent" them through an app with charges related to distance, congestion and demand. So you could dial up a car to take you to the station at 07.30, put the kids in another for the school run at 08.30, dial up again at 12.30 to take you to lunch and return at 14.00,pick up the kids at 16.00 etc. No parking required as they simply return to base after each assignment.
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Now that I come to think about it by the time driverless cars are available I shall probably be suffering from brain shrink and have a comfortable chair in the old folkes home! :-)
What a relief!
Edited by fisjon on 25/01/2018 at 19:17
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Car ownership could also start to become history, You may simply "rent" them through an app with charges related to distance, congestion and demand. So you could dial up a car to take you to the station at 07.30, put the kids in another for the school run at 08.30, dial up again at 12.30 to take you to lunch and return at 14.00,pick up the kids at 16.00 etc. No parking required as they simply return to base after each assignment.
Pardon me if I say that sounds like a load of c*bblers. Have you been brainwashed by too much Star Trek? It may work for other nations, but too many Brits like to be seen in their own shiny vehicles, which they can display on their front drive of an evening ....
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Car ownership could also start to become history, You may simply "rent" them through an app with charges related to distance, congestion and demand. So you could dial up a car to take you to the station at 07.30, put the kids in another for the school run at 08.30, dial up again at 12.30 to take you to lunch and return at 14.00,pick up the kids at 16.00 etc. No parking required as they simply return to base after each assignment.
Pardon me if I say that sounds like a load of c*bblers. Have you been brainwashed by too much Star Trek? It may work for other nations, but too many Brits like to be seen in their own shiny vehicles, which they can display on their front drive of an evening ....
Not star trek, google first had the idea of autonomous motors picking people up, instead of one car per person being used as they do. reducing the amount of cars on the road as well as reducing emmisions
Star Trek has done a lot for tech ideas over the years, but not responsible for that idea
that was the big idea that has changed a bit over the years except for the idea of A i cars which now its getting into mobile phones, may or may not take off with different ideas but as processors get smaller, the space is being taken up by other circuits
Ford are already talking about using the tech in their cars so they can talk to each other, so its not a case of if, its a case of when
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Car ownership could also start to become history, You may simply "rent" them through an app with charges related to distance, congestion and demand. So you could dial up a car to take you to the station at 07.30, put the kids in another for the school run at 08.30, dial up again at 12.30 to take you to lunch and return at 14.00,pick up the kids at 16.00 etc. No parking required as they simply return to base after each assignment.
Pardon me if I say that sounds like a load of c*bblers. Have you been brainwashed by too much Star Trek? It may work for other nations, but too many Brits like to be seen in their own shiny vehicles, which they can display on their front drive of an evening ....
Things change though.
People used to buy a new car...now they often lease...borrowing one for when you need it could be the next logical step.
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