I, For One, Welcome Our New Robotic Overlords

[Saint_]

Autonomous cars, robo-butlers, robotic checkout lanes. I'm okay with all of it. I'd personally enjoy reading sleeping or watching a movie instead of driving. Especially on long trips.

[LarsMac]

Not me. I really enjoy driving. Well, except when I get back East and have to negotiate all the city traffic. Then I could go for having the car do the work.

[Wandrin]

The last time I travelled to Southern California and found myself on that giant mess called the LA freeway system I could easily envision a time in the not so distant future when only vehicles in autonomous mode would be allowed onto certain roads. Removing the ego from merging and lane changing, removing the factor of distracted drivers on their cell phones, and removing the sudden overreactions of some drivers would allow a greater throughput at a higher average speed than the current mess.

It might be the only way to fix the problems inherent in that system.

But I would really like to be able to switch of autonomous mode when driving the back roads, far from the cities, and just enjoy the driving experience. But I would mind too much if the vehicle would alert me that there was a moose loitering in the middle of the road around the next corner.

[LarsMac]

I can see a time when you drive up to the entrance ramp to a freeway, or interstate highway, and the car "logs in" to the highway, and you let go of the controls, and enjoy the ride, read a book, talk on the phone, or whatever, because you already programmed the destination in the car, and it will get you there.

[Bruv]

I think you are all talking about the........................train

[LarsMac]

I think you are all talking about the........................train

Sorry, wherever I wrote "car" read "automobile"

[Wandrin]

I hope Google and the other developers are working on a new type of firewall to provide absolute isolation of the computer handling the driving from the computers handling entertainment, ac/heating, engine maintenance, etc. The current technology has proven entirely inadequate and without an improvement the door is open for disaster in self driving vehicles.

[Smaug]

I can see a time when you drive up to the entrance ramp to a freeway, or interstate highway, and the car "logs in" to the highway, and you let go of the controls, and enjoy the ride, read a book, talk on the phone, or whatever, because you already programmed the destination in the car, and it will get you there.

Until there's a software failure....

[FourPart]

Until there's a software failure....

I think there's far more likelihood of a 'software' failure with a human than with a computer. Computers don't get bored. Computers don't drink, or take drugs. Computers don't have egos or get road rage. They're quite happy to get on with it & do what they're told.

One little thing I noticed about the video that quite impressed me - where the road surface was very smooth & wet, the wheel skidded a few times, but was instantly compensated for. I doubt a human could manage things that efficiently.

As for the L.A. Freeway - I know what you mean. I went on there as a passenger when I was over there - real scary. What seemed even more alien to me (as a Brit, used to UK road rules) was that they don't have the same Lane rules as we do. In the UK, no matter how many lanes a road has, there is only 1 Driving Lane (the Nearside one - or, to us, the one on the left). All the others are Overtaking Lanes. In L.A. (US as a whole?) there doesn't seem to be any such rule. You just get into a lane & stay there. Not very practical when you need to take a turn off, and there's traffic in all the other lanes between you and the slip road.

[Smaug]

One little thing I noticed about the video that quite impressed me - where the road surface was very smooth & wet, the wheel skidded a few times, but was instantly compensated for. I doubt a human could manage things that efficiently.

Maybe you haven't raced fast go-karts on slick tyres in wet weather? It's like rally driving crossed with Japanese 'drift-racing'!!

What you say about computer control may well be true, but I prefer to do things 'the old-fashioned way'!

If there was a software failure, it would probably only happen once....