Google Self Driving Cars

[Nick]

What do you guys think of this?

http://bgr.com/2013/02/12/google-dr...+TheBoyGeniusReport+(BGR+|+Boy+Genius+Report)

I personally think it's a fundamental shift but could have massive impact on our transportation system.

Off the top of my head ... if this was universal ...

> Cars could drive essentially bumper to bumper, drastically speeding up traffic in cities
> Reduction in accidents because theoeretically a computer should be able to react much faster than a person in an accident scenario
> You could buy vehicle "shares" instead of owning a car. So you drive to work in a car, it drops you off at the front door, the car picks someone else up and goes on it's way. When you leave work another "car" in the rent pool picks you up and takes you home. Less wasted vehicle space.
> Cars could park themselves ...
> More productive commuting time

 

[ScottySkis]

This is what I need. Now I go to Stowe and Sugarloaf every weekend.

 

[dmc]

I'd love to be able to not drive - curl up... go to sleep... Wake up and be there...

 

[Nick]

I'd love to be able to not drive - curl up... go to sleep... Wake up and be there...

Yup, imagine those early morning ski trips..... up at 4AM, who cares, crash in the car for 3 hrs.

Hell, go to sleep at 10PM and wake up in Colorado

 

[Geoff]

Came for the Luddites who won't drive anything but a manual transmission car.

Left disappointed.

 

[Geoff]

My dad died of Altzheimers a few years ago. Last summer, I had to do a "rescue" of my stepfather who had gotten disoriented and driven 100+ miles the wrong way before getting pulled over the by the State Police while taking a leak at the side of the road. I'm going to get there some day myself. It would dramatically improve my quality of life as an old bastard if I had a self-driving car.

Think of the other benefits.

It drives you up to the base lodge. You unload. The car goes and parks its self. At the end of the day, you tell the car to come pick you up and it arrives all warmed up at the base lodge.

At happy hour, it drives you to the bar and self-parks. 10 martinis later, it drives you home perfectly legally.

Once cars are self-drive, home delivery gets dirt cheap because the labor cost goes away. Robot cars don't need space for a driver so they can be tiny electric vehicles that cost little to operate. Even better, you don't need to tip the Pizza or Chinese robo-car when it delivers. I never wait in a grocery store checkout line again. That really removes the penalty for living somewhere rural.

 

[Nick]

My dad died of Altzheimers a few years ago. Last summer, I had to do a "rescue" of my stepfather who had gotten disoriented and driven 100+ miles the wrong way before getting pulled over the by the State Police while taking a leak at the side of the road. I'm going to get there some day myself. It would dramatically improve my quality of life as an old bastard if I had a self-driving car.

Think of the other benefits.

It drives you up to the base lodge. You unload. The car goes and parks its self. At the end of the day, you tell the car to come pick you up and it arrives all warmed up at the base lodge.

At happy hour, it drives you to the bar and self-parks. 10 martinis later, it drives you home perfectly legally.

Once cars are self-drive, home delivery gets dirt cheap because the labor cost goes away. Robot cars don't need space for a driver so they can be tiny electric vehicles that cost little to operate. Even better, you don't need to tip the Pizza or Chinese robo-car when it delivers. I never wait in a grocery store checkout line again. That really removes the penalty for living somewhere rural.

I hadn't even thought of those concepts.

I wonder if in the long run cars become cheaper because safety mechanisms aren't as critical anymore. E.g. airbags; seat belts, etc.

Although I can't see them really ever going away. It's hard to think in the future that far but I see this as very ubiquitous and viable in the next 30 years.

The DUI argument is a huge win as well.

 

[Nick]

Came for the Luddites who won't drive anything but a manual transmission car.

Left disappointed.

I think I would personally miss the act of "driving" quite a bit ... and the problem of course is that you don't get near the full benefit of self-driving cars IF there are still drivers on the road driving themselves.

Who knows. Maybe towns will all have their own private "nurburgrings" in the future where you'd have to go to experience "driving"

 

[dmc]

My dad died of Altzheimers a few years ago. Last summer, I had to do a "rescue" of my stepfather who had gotten disoriented and driven 100+ miles the wrong way before getting pulled over the by the State Police while taking a leak at the side of the road. I'm going to get there some day myself. It would dramatically improve my quality of life as an old bastard if I had a self-driving car.

Taking the keys from my Dad - also Alzheimers - was a VERY difficult thing... For all of us..
I never thought of this before - but yeah - great use!!!

 

[NESnow&Golf]

cool

 

[Scruffy]

What do you guys think of this?

Just what our economy needs, put all the teamsters out of work :-o

 

[bvibert]

I wouldn't want to disappoint Geoff...

No thanks, I'll stick to driving my manual transmission car myself. Sure there's some benefits to the self driving cars, but I like driving myself.

 

[ScottySkis]

Like others have said, it would help out big time for older and handicapped people so this is a great thing.

 

[bvibert]

Self driving cars won't be effective unless everyone on the road is using them, which is why I'm opposed to them.

 

[ScottySkis]

Self driving cars won't be effective unless everyone on the road is using them, which is why I'm opposed to them.

With about if they build roads just for this. And we pay for the road like Easy Pass.

 

[bvibert]

With about if they build roads just for this. And we pay for the road like Easy Pass.

Trying to double the roads throughout the country sounds like an even worse idea to me..

 

[Geoff]

Self driving cars won't be effective unless everyone on the road is using them, which is why I'm opposed to them.

I disagree. Self-driving cars will work better than human-driven cars. Between RADAR and visual pattern recognition from cameras that can see more light spectrum than humans, robot cars will have no problem co-existing with human-driven cars. Unlike human-driven cars, they don't daydream, text message while driving, have Senior moments....

And yeah, it will be tough for the Teamsters. Basically, automation is going to put pretty much destroy all repetitive task jobs. Companies like Amazon already have robot 'pickers' in their warehouses. You'll walk into a fast food restaurant and there will be no humans. Machine-cooked and served food. Machines that clean the tables and floors. In the next 30 or 40 years, it will end up putting half the country out of work.

 

[dmc]

Self-driving cars will work better than human-driven cars. Between RADAR and visual pattern recognition from cameras that can see more light spectrum than humans, robot cars will have no problem co-existing with human-driven cars. Unlike human-driven cars, they don't daydream, text message while driving, have Senior moments....

Agree. Love your forward thinking!

Traffic will move so much better if all traffic was automated..
But co-existing will be important...

 

[ctenidae]

Self driving cars won't be effective unless everyone on the road is using them, which is why I'm opposed to them.

I don't entirely disagree, but they'll certainly make excellent moving slalom courses

 

[bvibert]

I disagree that they will have no problem coexisting with human drivers, which I feel will ultimately lead to a push to have human driven cars outlawed. Something that I hope I never see in my lifetime, or that my kids see either.