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Driverless cars: The solution to traffic problems

By tovarichpeter   Follow   Fri, 16 Nov 2012, 8:26pm   501 views   6 comments
In South San Francisco CA 94080   Watch (0)   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike  

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/16/will-driverless-cars-dominate-our-future/

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1. Bellingham Bill Follow Befriend 29 threads 1,473 comments Bellingham, WA Premium

   1   8:29pm Fri 16 Nov 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   yup. Gonna be awesome and save us TONS of energy, time, you name it. Well, except freedom on the road. Gonna lose all of that, unfortunately. Combined with an RV it would offer the rather odd mode of travelling overnight as needed and generally only daycamping. Then again, an 8hr slog is pretty far for an RV, whilst sleeping or no.

2. APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich Follow Befriend (28) 169 threads 4,153 comments Premium

   2   3:35am Sat 17 Nov 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   This is a great idea! If the car drives itself, you're free to drink and shoot at the other cars!

3. zzyzzx Follow Befriend (9) 410 threads 4,107 comments Baltimore, MD

   3   3:01pm Sun 18 Nov 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   I wonder how this driverless car will do in the snow.

4. curious2 Follow Befriend (5) 31 threads 2,228 comments Premium

   4   3:18pm Sun 18 Nov 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   zzyzzx says how this driverless car will do in the snow. Good question - it's a significant issue, and will require further development. I think autonomous cars will be a huge advance for many reasons, but so far the testing has been in ideal climates like Silicon Valley. They've made amazing progress dealing with traffic and road signs, but they still need to clear some hurdles including snow and construction. There may be a transition period, where the first autonomous cars may require the driver to take over in some circumstances, until further breakthroughs enable the software to deal with those conditions.

5. Kevin Follow Befriend 40 threads 2,652 comments

   5   4:36pm Sun 18 Nov 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Bellingham Bill says yup. Gonna be awesome and save us TONS of energy, time, you name it. Well, except freedom on the road. Gonna lose all of that, unfortunately. Combined with an RV it would offer the rather odd mode of travelling overnight as needed and generally only daycamping. Then again, an 8hr slog is pretty far for an RV, whilst sleeping or no. You don't have to lose freedom. The most basic, likely to appear in the next 5 years step in driverless cars are highway autopilot modes. That's more or less what the leading developments are pointing to today. Eventually we'll see the 'autopilot' stuff expanded to be allowed on city streets as driving improves, but an override will remain. Maybe in 20 or 30 years we'll see cars without any manual controls at all, but I'm doubtful. Even if the tech is a proven success, far too many people are paranoid about not having control.

6. thomaswong.1986 Follow Befriend 14 threads 2,820 comments

   6   7:53pm Mon 19 Nov 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Kevin says Maybe in 20 or 30 years we'll see cars without any manual controls at all, but I'm doubtful. Even if the tech is a proven success, far too many people are paranoid about not having control. or it might go for some other product / service... as was the case of the refrigerator.... John Gorrie, an American doctor from Florida, invented the first mechanical refrigeration unit in 1841—based on Evans' original invention to make ice in—to cool air for yellow fever patients. Our original intentions regarding product innovation is not so clear throughout history...