Am I the only one who is looking forward to autonomous cars?

Really looking forward to it. Most of my journeys can be happily dealt with by something else whilst I sleep.
For all that, I'd like to also have my MX5 for the odd fun day out.
 
Finglonga said:
It has already been said by the police somewhere that if you are in charge of one of these cars you need to be legally capable of driving it as if it was a normal persons car.
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So the idea of being driven home from the pub by your own car is just a dream. Taxi drivers everywhere breathe a sigh of relief.
 
sigma said:
By that logic you're against electronic throttles in cars too? People have died from throttles jamming. Brakes failing. You name it.

I'm not sure what you mean by no middle ground, there's a huge middle ground, it's the person behind the wheel.
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Well, yea. It's just more stuff to go wrong. I'd take the reliability and responsiveness of direct controls over electronic systems. But most people seem to like their cars to feel numb these days.
 
jigger said:
Too many unforseen variables in driving and too many decisions that's almost impossible to program for.
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Yet driverless cars have been proven more reliable (so far), with a million or so miles under their belts.

Fully autonomous (read no steering wheel or ability to accelerate/break) vehicles for the masses* are likely to be some way into the future, but vehicles that will drive themselves, only needing occasional driver input are basically already here, and are likely to be much more common in the next 5-10 years. Give it 20 years and I'm willing to bet that there will start being laws introduced where people incapable of driving (kids/drunks) may well be able to use these vehicles in certain areas too.

*i.e. For the average driver, rather than public transport that uses specific routes.

Looking forward to it, in fact I'd like even Teslas AP2 functionality for a lot of the out of town driving we do.
 
Finglonga said:
It has already been said by the police somewhere that if you are in charge of one of these cars you need to be legally capable of driving it as if it was a normal persons car.
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Based on the tesla type autopilot - yes. In the US the Google cars have their own driving licence and the passenegers sit in the back.
 
Hope it doesn't go too fully automated - while there are times like coming off the end of a long shift where I'd use it none the less to reduce the chance of an incident because I was tired, etc. there are times when it can be almost theurpatic just to do a long drive and maybe get away for awhile from familiar sights which wouldn't be the same in an automated vehicle.
 
Amp34 said:
Yet driverless cars have been proven more reliable (so far), with a million or so miles under their belts.

Fully autonomous (read no steering wheel or ability to accelerate/break) vehicles for the masses* are likely to be some way into the future, but vehicles that will drive themselves, only needing occasional driver input are basically already here, and are likely to be much more common in the next 5-10 years. Give it 20 years and I'm willing to bet that there will start being laws introduced where people incapable of driving (kids/drunks) may well be able to use these vehicles in certain areas too.

*i.e. For the average driver, rather than public transport that uses specific routes.

Looking forward to it, in fact I'd like even Teslas AP2 functionality for a lot of the out of town driving we do.
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The amount of driving situations that require foresight are too high. Can a driverless car detect a swan about to land on a wet road, spot signs of loose rocks or livestock about to jump a fence.
 
Everyone said auto gearboxes removed the thrill of driving etc., now they're de rigueur. The same will be true of self driving cars.

There are lots of situations on today's roads where one simply wants a relaxing and stress free driving experience, and couldn't give two hoots about controlling exactly how close they want to be from the car in front's bumper, or lifting their foot off the brake pedal for the 20th time in that queue into the work carpark.

Instead you could be browsing BBC sport or reading a paper. Bliss.

Then just disable it for those one in a hundred moments when it's just you and the empty winding B road.
 
I've never heard anyone say 'I wish my car could drive itself'.
So I think there's no demand for it.
Therefore it will flop.

I think the next step is for cars to be driven by electric motors.
Even if they have engines.
 
jigger said:
I'd see the self drive feature as an unneeded expense that I couldn't trust and would never use.
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Have you ever tried it? If you commute a decent distance, especially in traffic or on motorways, you wouldn't believe how relaxing it is once you learn to trust it.
 
Nasher said:
It will just replace current risks with new ones.

I don't know why people think making everything reliant on computers is going to make it safer. They are binary, they work or they don't and there's no middle ground where errors can be corrected. Once it starts to mess up, to late, your going in to that tree at full pelt. It won't suddenly realise it's mistake like a human would.
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The AI on the dozen or so versions of autonomous cars from different manufacturers that we have been working with over last few years, there is so much redundancy and they have so many backup systems and fail-safe systems in place, that no matter what the scenario the system will not fail totally.

There are very strict rules and regulations already that are governing the way these things are being designed and built, with safety very obviously first and foremost in everyone's minds.

The main thing that seems to get missed so often, is that when these cars get into full production level 4 autonomous cars (those that need no human input whatsoever) they will not be just plain computers reacting to various sensors around the vehicle, the "brain" of the car will be a highly advanced deep learning AI, that will be building a constantly evolving "picture" of its environment within its network, according to what it "sees" from all its sensors, and then it will react to that "picture" in exactly the same way a human reacting to the picture we build within our brains via eyesight, hearing, and all our other sensory inputs.

However an AI will react far faster than any human can, so it will by design be safer.
 
billysielu said:
I've never heard anyone say 'I wish my car could drive itself'.
So I think there's no demand for it.
Therefore it will flop.

I think the next step is for cars to be driven by electric motors.
Even if they have engines.
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Every day on my commute home I join the A55 and wish my car and all the others were autonomous. It's a nightmare of a dual carriageway at rush hour filled with people who don't understand to keep left and who don't understand that flooring it until you're 10ft from the car in front then slamming on causes huge tailbacks behind.
 
Participant said:
Have you ever tried it? If you commute a decent distance, especially in traffic or on motorways, you wouldn't believe how relaxing it is once you learn to trust it.
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I've never been driven by a car but it would take a lot for me to trust one and probably require more technology than is possible. The car would have to constantly convey what it was thinking and flagging up potentail hazards.

I have no problem driving myself so I don't need system to drive for me. For me the money would be better spent elsewhere.
 
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