584 replies to this topic

[Nick1984]

Google lobby to make driver-less cars legal
The first proposed amendment is to an electric-vehicle bill providing for the licensing and testing of autonomous vehicles. The second is for an exemption that would permit texting in a car. Google hired Las Vegas-based lobbysit David Goldwater to promote its proposed legislation.

[FrostFuzz]

This is just so that they can test these legally right? This is a pretty exciting new technology, although it is about 10 years too soon to start putting these out. We still have to work out legal/insurance in the case of an accident, and I may be wrong but I don't think these even detect street lights yet.

[Caiman]

I'm glad they're trying to push it forward, even if realistically we're still decades from truly autonomous cars on the road. There are all sorts of technologies making into cars already which I am sure would be integrated into driverless vehicles, production models of bog standard Ford cars come with self-parking abilities, awareness of other vehicles near by and the ability to read road signs and adjust the car's movement, for example.

[atoblade]

I think I'd always want to be able to drive myself but I guess it would be nice for people who can't/don't drive to travel like this.

[OrbitalResonance]

Driverless BRT? Driverless busses or trains? Driverless taxies! Transportation agencies may like this. Do i dare say driverless planes? Nahh..

[Craven]

http://www.ted.com/t...erless_car.html I can totally see it dominate streets in 10 years. I mean it would, unless people would be stubborn, selfish, morons.

[wjfox]

Self-Driving Vehicles Swarming to Future Roads

Schools of fish, flocks of birds -- even bicyclists in the Tour de France -- all use the principles of swarm behavior and drafting to conserve energy while moving in the same direction.

Australian industrial designer, Charles Rattray, believes these concepts are the future of transportation. That's why he's designed Autonomo, a biomimicry inspired autonomous vehicle he hopes will revolutionize the auto industry by the year 2030.

http://news.discover...les-111128.html

[skiier4384]

http://www.cnn.com/2...cars/index.html

Cliff Notes:

(1) 75% of cars on the road by 2040 will be autonomous.
(2) GM is coming out with Semi-Autonomous cars in 2015
(3) No traffic lights nor any traffic signs by 2040
(4) No driving licenses needed by 2040 (serious)
(5) V2V (Vehicle to Vehicle communication) being worked on in Ann Arbor, MI
(6) V2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure communication) being worked on
(7) Some people won't be happy with the change (I certainly will though)

Not only is it exciting that the first generation of this technology will be ready within a few years, but I have a feeling
that this will cut down drastically on the number of automobile accidents and drunk driving incidents that happen on
a daily basis. Only good things could come from this. There are probably cons, but I think the pros far outweigh them.
Google's autonomous cars are also mentioned in the article, but it talks more so about what other companies are doing.

[H3llion]

Yes id think many won't agree with autonomous transport as you lose the comfort of driving your self (some people simply love driving, I can't say from experience since Iv yet to get driving license heh). But I guess that can be fixed with gaming/virtual reality and test tracks where you can drive all you want ^^

Edited by H3llion, 19 September 2012 - 12:22 AM.

[skiier4384]

Yeah, I think by the time we're at 2030-2040 you'll have internet capability on your windshield and all throughout your dashboard. You'll be able to watch anything off of NetFlix or any tv or internet channel as everything will be accessible with cloud storage.

[NightWolf235]

Frankly it would be better if autonomous cars had the option of regular driving, a manual override if you will. Basically if the autonomous driving was like an autopilot, then you could drive when you want to or let the car take over if you don't want to. Provides a nice middle ground for people to come to a consensus on.

[Cody930]

I can think of the quickest con - the auto insurance industry! They'll take a beating from this big time when it starts becoming ubiquitous. Just the amount of accidents that would be reduced would be staggering. How they'll react, costs, etc. will all come in due time as this starts moving into the real world via more legislation and more auto companies jumping on board. If an accident does occur as well...who's really at fault? May sound like a simple question but insurance companies are always battling. Who knows what crazy definitions they'll create.

[SG-1]

I can't wait until cars drive themselves. I will probably buy an electric car for my first new car. I will most likely use my car for a long time and in like 4 to 5 years buy an electric of at least hybrid. Maybe the autonomous cars will be able to take a path that creates the least amount of damage in the event of a certain crash. Also, crash avoidance systems that may go into auto mode when the driver is becoming reckless, drunk (we need to make sensors), texting or falls asleep, They can also detect when it will hit an object and stop the car from moving.

[Logically Irrational]

I can think of the quickest con - the auto insurance industry! They'll take a beating from this big time when it starts becoming ubiquitous. Just the amount of accidents that would be reduced would be staggering. How they'll react, costs, etc. will all come in due time as this starts moving into the real world via more legislation and more auto companies jumping on board. If an accident does occur as well...who's really at fault? May sound like a simple question but insurance companies are always battling. Who knows what crazy definitions they'll create.

That's an interesting question, since there could be a number of people or organizations that could be argued as responsible. If the car is at all semi-autonomous, then you could blame the driver. However, if it was clearly a technology error, that really complicates things. It starts a whole search for which component of the guidance and control system failed. Since the car would likely be made up of components from a number of different companies. I can just picture the arguments over who's component was actually responsible. It reminds me of what happened between BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and Cameron after the Deep Water Horizon spill.

It would be a lot more difficult than today, where it's at least usually clear which human is responsible.

[Craven]

One day manual mode will not be covered by any insurance, forcing people to go automatic, and finally death toll of car accidents will drop to nearly 0.

[Raklian]

One day manual mode will not be covered by any insurance, forcing people to go automatic, and finally death toll of car accidents will drop to nearly 0.

But there is still the issue for having the right to manually drive a car... I doubt this will be solved without a hard fight.

[Craven]

You mean driving license? What's wrong with that?

[Kombaticus]

I'm surprised that it will take this long! Doesn't google already have a self-driving car that has yet to crash?

[Sciencerocks]

It will take decades for people to slowly give up driving. Even then many will still drive.

[jimmyhelu]

What do the self-drive cars do in the case of a puncture or a breakdown?