Automated cars. The future?

[xer0h0ur]

Because Apple has never made anything from scratch. They buy or steal from others, and call it their own development. This isn't meant to be a jab at apple, but how they truly opperate. Designers don't create, they pick and choose.

Oh I know, they recently tried to aquire McLaren and McLaren basically told them to **** off. I laughed pretty hard.

 

[Houston]

Roads in Ethiopia are the most dangerous in the world.

 

[Houston]

Who needs traffic lights, eh?

 

[LordKOTL]

One of the things that I read *years* ago was the fact that if multiple computer-controlled cars can talk to each other (and even a smart grid), then a lot of accidents can effectively be negated--i.e. if the car next to you receive a warning from your car of a tire blowout it can get out of the way, and the carbehind it slows down, and so on.

A human failsafe always needs to be an option, but even if GPS is knocked out witch tech nowadays a car can figure out where it is in relation to all other "intelligent" cars--even if the car is piloted by human.

As a commuting option I see it having huge potential--especially in cities. I could see there being a hybrid option where in certain areas at certain times (rush hour), cars are self-drive. Outside of that they can be manually driven. I see that as the best compromise.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

One of the things that I read *years* ago was the fact that if multiple computer-controlled cars can talk to each other (and even a smart grid), then a lot of accidents can effectively be negated--i.e. if the car next to you receive a warning from your car of a tire blowout it can get out of the way, and the carbehind it slows down, and so on.

A human failsafe always needs to be an option, but even if GPS is knocked out witch tech nowadays a car can figure out where it is in relation to all other "intelligent" cars--even if the car is piloted by human.

As a commuting option I see it having huge potential--especially in cities. I could see there being a hybrid option where in certain areas at certain times (rush hour), cars are self-drive. Outside of that they can be manually driven. I see that as the best compromise.

I take the bus to work some days. Other days I drive, depending on what I have going on. If I could jump in a car with 4 other people and have it drive us to work at a quicker pace due to this "smart grid" controlling the flow of traffic I could get on board.

 

[Urblock]

**** that. I will continue to drive my truck myself out here away from the city and people. Soon few people will leave their house. Everything will be delivered. When they leave the house they won't have to drive the car to go see the Doc that tells them to get more exercise. I give humans 100 years.

 

[LordKOTL]

I take the bus to work some days. Other days I drive, depending on what I have going on. If I could jump in a car with 4 other people and have it drive us to work at a quicker pace due to this "smart grid" controlling the flow of traffic I could get on board.

That's basically the idea. Since every vehicle knows where it is in relation to all others, and can get an idea of what other vehicles are doing it eliminates the human factor in things. Like, if you were on a bus and your bus can't pull away from the curb because the other dickweed drivers wouldn't let the bus in, that would be curbed if not eliminated because the grid would slow the other cars down. The fail points were the points where something is controlled by human--like a non-smart vehicle (even though sensors can somewhat mitigate that risk) or pedestrians--be it disability or just being a dickhead. Also, a factor was in "exclusion" zones/times for human-driven vehicles, there would have to be some bypass or other option for going through, or park & ride. I haven't lived there in a long while, but I'd assume that a semi only has a few options to go from, say, Indianapolis to Minneapolis while skirting the bulk of Chicago.

But yeah, commuting for a lot of people would be a lot quicker and easier. Granted, I walk to/from work but my wife would benefit. Still, I would hate not being able to drive up and down the coast myself.

 

[truthbedamned]

To that point, I recently read an article where traffic delays could be reduced by up to 30% with one simple addition- a countdown timer to the green at stoplights.
People fiddling around with phones or looking for crap in their glove boxes or on the floor at stops would have a better idea of when to knock it off and get ready to drive.


Actually here in California they kind of give you a countdown without realizing it. If you watch the walk sign from the other direction it counts down the seconds before the no-walk appears. In California at least when that counter hits 0 the yellow light comes on for the other direction and it is time to get ready to go

 

[Urblock]

To that point, I recently read an article where traffic delays could be reduced by up to 30% with one simple addition- a countdown timer to the green at stoplights.
People fiddling around with phones or looking for crap in their glove boxes or on the floor at stops would have a better idea of when to knock it off and get ready to drive.


Actually here in California they kind of give you a countdown without realizing it. If you watch the walk sign from the other direction it counts down the seconds before the no-walk appears. In California at least when that counter hits 0 the yellow light comes on for the other direction and it is time to get ready to go

We have that. There will be 2 or 3 morons that don't care about yellow and red only counts after 5 seconds.

 

[didshereallysaythat]

We need less of these.

[video=youtube;irE5z6X2pL0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irE5z6X2pL0[/video]

 

[botfly10]

So most of you have probably heard by now that Uber is getting into the automated (no driver) car business. They're field testing a small fleet of these cars in Pittsburg at the moment. (There is for now a driver ready to take over if the system fails) But cars that completely drive themselves look to be the future. Other companies are heavily researching this technology for trucks.

What's everyone's thoughts on this? Would you purchase a car in the future that drove for you? Would you feel safe? Personally you'll have to pry the steering wheel out of my cold dead hands. I'm never going to buy or ride in a "robo car." And if I see one of things driving next to me my ass is pulling over. The idea of taking a long road trip with the car driving for me is appealing.... but I can't see myself ever trusting the tech enough to let it happen.

One of the ethical issues I've read about is if it looks like a deadly crash is unavoidable.... do you program the car to save the driver's life? Or do you program the car to save the most people's lives? For instance, if the car could avoid running into a crowd of people (and save many lives) do you program the car to run off the road, (killing the driver) but saving the crowd of people? Or do you program it to always prioritize saving the driver even if it means more people may die? We may soon have computers making life or death decisions like this for us.

On a larger level, this level of automation scares the shit out of me. We could end up living in a time where all truckers and taxi/Uber drivers are put out of business. I'm sure other technologies will replace other workers in other businesses. Say fast food workers. Or pilots is one I've heard thrown around. What's the end game here? Do we live in a society 100 years from now where most jobs are replaced by technology? Why not hire robot teachers? They'll never get tired, are cheaper, and don't have those pesky retirement plans to worry about. Robot surgeons? Much more accurate than a human being.... And yes, I'm being overly dramatic on purpose.... but I think we're entering an interesting phase.

1. Bullshit. Once automated cars are a thing you will be napping or watching tv or playing video games during your commute like everyone else.
2. Human labor based industry has been shrinking for long as **** unless you're willing to work for $0.35 an hour. As time goes on, specialized skills and education will just continue to become more important.

Send your kids to college, people.

 

[AussieBear]

so when the system gets the blue screen of death while your car is doing 85 going down the interstate.. and youre sleeping in the backseat - prepare to die

 

[didshereallysaythat]

so when the system gets the blue screen of death while your car is doing 85 going down the interstate.. and youre sleeping in the backseat - prepare to die

[video=youtube;PhlR3vidvp0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhlR3vidvp0[/video]

 

[AussieBear]

more like this but everyone would be sleeping in beds..couches etc instead...

[video=youtube;kGhC0zL1FwY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGhC0zL1FwY[/video]

 

[Hawkeye OG]

To that point, I recently read an article where traffic delays could be reduced by up to 30% with one simple addition- a countdown timer to the green at stoplights.
People fiddling around with phones or looking for crap in their glove boxes or on the floor at stops would have a better idea of when to knock it off and get ready to drive.


Actually here in California they kind of give you a countdown without realizing it. If you watch the walk sign from the other direction it counts down the seconds before the no-walk appears. In California at least when that counter hits 0 the yellow light comes on for the other direction and it is time to get ready to go

It should be like that everywhere? All traffic lights work the same lmao. I am 100% positive that people do not realize this too that you can use the crosswalk counter.

 

[botfly10]

so when the system gets the blue screen of death while your car is doing 85 going down the interstate.. and youre sleeping in the backseat - prepare to die

You sound like someone in the 20s hollaring about what happens if your brakes go out. Yep, I'll be sticking to horses tyvm.

 

[AussieBear]

You sound like someone in the 20s hollaring about what happens if your brakes go out. Yep, I'll be sticking to horses tyvm.

computers/software probably **** up more than brakes... ccs cant even get the search function working correctly...

hackers gonna hack... power outages... overcast...rural areas/roads.. etc... cant park itself in underground carparks if by gps.. hell good luck just parking in a busy shopping center... its definitely gotta be mandated for everyone to have automated cars in said areas or the system will be more flawed aside from the tech factor..

id prefer the flying cars they promised first...

 

[Crystallas]

Most people drive like shit. Especially the ones who think they are "great drivers". I have no problem with this.

 

[ShiftyDevil]

It's coming. Probably wont be widely available on 'affordable' cars for at least 20 years.

I doubt driving yourself will go out of fashion for at least a generation.

The real question is, how networked will the vehicles and infrastructure be, how centralized will it be? How much work will be done by the carss computer vs the infrastructure? What happens if someone gains access to one of the systems?

 

[Hawkeye OG]

It's coming. Probably wont be widely available on 'affordable' cars for at least 20 years.

I doubt driving yourself will go out of fashion for at least a generation.

The real question is, how networked will the vehicles and infrastructure be, how centralized will it be? How much work will be done by the carss computer vs the infrastructure? What happens if someone gains access to one of the systems?

A terrorists dream in the making.