Google Self Driving Cars

[bvibert]

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

They'll probably automatically alert the police to any "spirited" driving they capture with their cameras...

 

[Geoff]

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

I'll bet that in 25 or 30 years, a robot car could easily win a Formula 1 race against a human. Unlike a human, you can dial in "the perfect lap" for a robot car and drive it mistake-free every time. Why do you think F1 bans automatic transmissions? A computer can shift far better than a human and it would be an unfair advantage.

 

[ctenidae]

I'll bet that in 25 or 30 years, a robot car could easily win a Formula 1 race against a human. Unlike a human, you can dial in "the perfect lap" for a robot car and drive it mistake-free every time. Why do you think F1 bans automatic transmissions? A computer can shift far better than a human and it would be an unfair advantage.

Having more cars on the road driving in a programmed predictable manner would make it much more fun for the rest of us, that's for sure.

 

[ScottySkis]

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.

So fast food places will not have urine and what ever else teenagers might put in the food, I can live with that.

 

[Glenn]

The toughest part of this will be implementing it. If we were to flip a switch, perfect. But for a number of years, you'll have a mix of traffic; automated, non automated, semi automated.

I love to drive....I generally enjoy it. But driving north last weekend...I didn't. Most of the population doesn't get it. They can't judge speed or distance, they make poor choices and for the love of God...left lane use people! I could see this working on highways first; cars heading towards a similar desination caravan and the operator could remove their hands from the controls. We have the tech now with GPS, adaptive cruise.

Another school of thought. If you remove the operator, you remove a lot of risk. You could, in theory remove a lot of the mandated safety stuff, thus reducing weight and fuel economy.

 

[Geoff]

Another school of thought. If you remove the operator, you remove a lot of risk. You could, in theory remove a lot of the mandated safety stuff, thus reducing weight and fuel economy.

Not when you have bvibert out there endangering everybody because he thinks he's a bad-ass driver.

Even if all cars were automated, there will still be cases where cars crash. A rock slide. Mechanical failure. I don't think it makes sense to go backwards with 'safety stuff'. Car bumpers, maybe. I still want a nice thick hunk of steel in my door and air bags.

 

[bvibert]

Not when you have bvibert out there endangering everybody because he thinks he's a bad-ass driver.

You got it backwards - everyone else is endangering ME!

Seriously.. never said I was a bad ass driver.. I just like to drive..

I'd be more apt to support self driving cars if they were flying cars that left the roadways clear for those of us that enjoy driving...

 

[Cornhead]

So fast food places will not have urine and what ever else teenagers might put in the food, I can live with that.

Woah, glad I wasn't eating lunch when I read this.:wink:

I can see pluses and minuses to self driven cars, it'll probably start with interstates, who would really miss long boring, stressful drives on highways? I saw a show where they hacked the computer of a car that takes commands from your cell phone, to start the car and such, they were able to apply the brakes with the phone, kinda scary. I think traffic deaths and injuries would become almost nonexistent if humans were taken out of the equation. Hey, get your speed jollies on the hill, or country roads, there the ones that are fun to drive on anyway.

I would have welcomed a self driven car on my trip home from Cannon, shit there may have been a few times you could have argued my car was self-driven close to the end of my trip. If I weren't so close to home, I'd have pulled over for a nap, not a good situation, if I had to respond to anything quickly, deer running across the highway, etc, I'd've been screwed.

 

[ctenidae]

Having the option to caravan up on highways makes sense to me. Being required to do it, not so much. That is, it makes sense, but I don't like it.

 

[dmc]

I could see a lane for automatic cars and lanes for manual driven...

 

[Geoff]

I could see a lane for automatic cars and lanes for manual driven...

In a traffic jam, that would give good incentive for people to upgrade. The automatic lane would zoom by with no morons hitting their brakes causing all the stop & go mess. The cars would be networked together so they'd know if a car a mile ahead needed to brake for something. On August 29, it gains self-awareness and can't be deactivated. It launches nuclear missiles at Russia and...

 

[ScottySkis]

[QUOTE=Geoff;760622 launches nuclear missiles at Russia and...[/QUOTE
I love this movie from the 1989s.

 

[Cornhead]

Terminator 2, right? It is an awesome movie, it's one of those movies I always watch if I see it flipping through the channels. Then there's, "Open the pod bay doors HAL." Here's a little trivia for you, no Googling, why did Arthur C Clarke name the computer in 2001 HAL?

 

[dmc]

In a traffic jam, that would give good incentive for people to upgrade. The automatic lane would zoom by with no morons hitting their brakes causing all the stop & go mess. The cars would be networked together so they'd know if a car a mile ahead needed to brake for something. On August 29, it gains self-awareness and can't be deactivated. It launches nuclear missiles at Russia and...

You know... You and i probably read the same Popular Science magazines back in the 60's and 70s... haha...

 

[ScottySkis]

Terminator 2, right? It is an awesome movie, it's one of those movies I always watch if I see it flipping through the channels. Then there's, "Open the pod bay doors HAL." Here's a little trivia for you, no Googling, why did Arthur C Clarke name the computer in 2001 HAL?

War games is the one I was thinking about, the computer has to play chess and has to beat it self and finally figures out it can't win and stops it self from creating a uS - Russian war.

He like Halloween a lot?

 

[dmc]

Here's a little trivia for you, no Googling, why did Arthur C Clarke name the computer in 2001 HAL?

I'm almost embarrassed to answer that.

IBM -one letter off...

 

[Geoff]

Terminator 2, right? It is an awesome movie, it's one of those movies I always watch if I see it flipping through the channels. Then there's, "Open the pod bay doors HAL." Here's a little trivia for you, no Googling, why did Arthur C Clarke name the computer in 2001 HAL?

"Arconyms for $1000, Alex"

What is because it's one position down in the alphabet from IBM?

I have my "The Terminator" Blu Ray on the plasma right now.

 

[Cornhead]

I'm almost embarrassed to answer that.

IBM -one letter off...

Yes, you are correct. Arthur C Clarke was quite the visionary, he came up with the idea of geocentric orbiting sattelites, their orbit is called the "Clarke Belt". Not too shabby for a science fiction writer.

War Games was good too Scotty, "Shall we play a game?"

 

[ScottySkis]

Yes, you are correct. Arthur C Clarke was quite the visionary, he came up with the idea of geocentric orbiting sattelites, their orbit is called the "Clarke Belt". Not too shabby for a science fiction writer.

War Games was good too Scotty, "Shall we play a game?"

Sorry both movies are classics.

 

[bvibert]

Having the option to caravan up on highways makes sense to me. Being required to do it, not so much. That is, it makes sense, but I don't like it.

Exactly how I feel.