Self-Driving Cars

Would You Buy A Self-Driving Car?

  • Yes

    Votes: 51 14.2%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 44 12.2%
  • No

    Votes: 265 73.6%

  • Total voters
    360
Alobar, you raise an interesting point that I've been thinking about a bit lately. The subject hovers toward politics, so I'll be careful and try not to incite anything. I agree that robotics are quite likely to eliminate most manufacturing jobs in the not-too-distant future. It is already happening, obviously. What the economy evolves into is an interesting question. I think maybe Buckminster Fuller suggested that we are reaching the point where a select few can basically provide for the balance of the world population? I think that is a little extreme, but the ideal would be a future with people needing to work fewer hours while still attaining a comfortable life via increased efficiency. But of course, that would be a utopian ideal. The reality will likely be a rocky adjustment to such a state, with plenty of suffering along the way. On the other hand, people have probably predicted that we were at that state long ago, but something came up to keep us all busy.
Edit: this was the quote.
One in ten thousand of us can make a technological breakthrough capable of supporting all the rest. The youth of today are absolutely right in recognizing this nonsense of earning a wage.
 
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Let's hope it is not inevitable. If you don't want to drive, use public transportation. That is where we should be focusing.
 
IIRC electronic throttle control consisted of ...
  • a pedal position sensor
  • a throttle position sensor
  • a wiring harness
  • a "smart" actuator consisting of a stepper motor and some PID control on a 16-bit chip
Vastly vastly unsophisticated compared to what would be required in a serious autonomous driving system. Just a point of clarification - the poll isn't about buying a self-driving car in the far distant Star Trek future. It's about buying one in the next five to ten years.

I.e., electronics that can fail, as opposed to some mechanical linkage. Yeah, I know there's a lot of processing missing, my point was in response to the potential failure of a capacitor. I was simply pointing out that this stuff is already there (here).

Yes, I'd buy one in the next 5-10 years.

bs
 
I cannot fathom software ever being capable of functioning in the real day to day world like what you and I have described other than perhaps interstate travel or well maintained city streets. Maybe someday they will perfect it to replace the human brain but I fear by the time that happens the machines will have put every last one of us out of a job!

I can. While a general purpose AI is still a little bit away, task specific stuff is already here and outperforming humans. The cognitive stuff will continue to be refined, and things will accelerate. I can't put my finger on the article at the moment, but I read a few months ago about some levels of progression, systems that can learn non stop 24/7 without getting tired, eventually they'll be able to 'learn' things we're not capable of understanding yet, and at a rate we can't keep up with. There are theories that if/when we are discovered by aliens, there's a very good chance that they will be some advanced form of machine long ago invented by some biological life form.

bs
 
I wonder who will

You are right in the sense that they can overcome most of the tech hurdles, but to what end? As cars develop to not need us, so will everything else. Robots have started and will continue to take away employment. By your reasoning it wont take long before brain surgeons will be replaced by robotics and AI. So with that sobering viewpoint, who will be around with money to buy these driverless cars? Or even pay for a subscription service or whatever the system will be. Or will money even exist in an unemployed world?? That will be a test for capitalism. Either the gov will pay for it (but not through taxes because everyone will be out of work) or else the whole human economic system that has been in place since we stopped the hunter gatherer way of life will be in question.
<snip>

Fascinating question. Will all those robots be willing to ferry us around, feed us, cloth us, house us? Who gets the good stuff? At some point, when do they come to the conclusion that we are just a burden and they can progress more rapidly without us?

bs
 
Nobody designing or developing for driverless cars would ever dare try them on roads in Metro Detroit. Especially within the city itself. Some roads aren't even marked properly if at all. Potholes galore, especially those hidden beneath a puddle that humans know to steer clear of. Traffic devices often don't work. And no amount of technical wizardry is every going to help the dismal finances of our area to ever get that corrected. And carjackings...am I going to let some of those hoodlums try to grab me while sitting lamely in some "dumb" machine, or drive myself and be able to speed away before anyone gets hurt? That's the reality of living in or near some areas of this country. There are way too many decisions we have to make while driving that machines can never adapt to, even if we have to change our route on a moment's notice due to some road hazard.

And that doesn't even take into account snow- or ice-covered roads, torrential rains, etc.. Would a self-driving car have seen the waterfalls of rain pouring down the sides of the local Interstate freeway two summers ago and know to get to higher ground before the whole damn thing flooded and ruined dozens of cars? Uh, no.

Sure, on the perfect roads and test tracks these toys work fine. Out in reality, on all roads? Heh, yeah, right.

Maybe if the entire infrastructure of every single highway, street and alley is torn up and completely rebuilt with guidance and sensors and transmitters, it would make sense. But that won't happen in our lifetime.

Who knows how many billions will be spent before someone finally realizes it's not technically possible in 100% of all driving situations.

This area needs mass transportation more than self-driving vehicles (and not some silly "blight rail" running between two areas of downtown that the locals are gushing over :rolleyes: ). I'm talking mass transportation well beyond the suburbs, paralleling all the major "spokes" of our area roads (Fort St., Michigan Ave., Grand River, Woodward, Gratiot, Jefferson). Put money into that instead. That will get a lot of drivers off of the road and also help get some locals back to work, those who don't own cars, or won't take our filthy, decrepit regional bus system.
 
<snip>

Fascinating question. Will all those robots be willing to ferry us around, feed us, cloth us, house us? Who gets the good stuff? At some point, when do they come to the conclusion that we are just a burden and they can progress more rapidly without us?

bs
Lots of sifi and "alternate reality" TV series and movies have tackled these questions with the outlook grim to hopeful. The direction science and technology has taken in the past hasn't always considered the bigger picture, but thus far has relied on more hi tech problem solving to dig itself out of jams. AI will mean a lot of changes on the political economic front. For me, whatever happens I will try to keep going, with firewood and fish nets, crab pots and whatever moose wanders nearby if need be. That seems strangely like going full circle, and back to the hunter gatherer way of life! o_O
 
I haven't read all the comments but I think the best use for these would be a Uber type service. Sorry if 100 other people already posted this.
 
Autonomous vehicles are the future whether owned by individuals or provided as a service. But progress usually occurs incrementally to accommodate our diverse needs and unique situations. A good example is Singapore where a small percentage of people actually own an automobile. Autonomous cars are currently being used there in a few resort or restricted communities. If successful, other scenarios will follow.

Roger
 
While a general purpose AI is still a little bit away, task specific stuff is already here and outperforming humans. The cognitive stuff will continue to be refined, and things will accelerate.
Computers are great at doing sequences of simple things at great speeds. Sophisticated processing is basically built on increasing the number of simple things and the speed at which they're done. Video compression is a good example of this. It's a lot better than it was twenty years ago but there have not been any breakthroughs in the fundamentals.

IMHO the development of self-driving cars is at a stage in which all the easy things have been accomplished. All the low hanging fruit has been picked. The progress has been sufficient to keep the funding and promotional stuff alive - but all we really have is adaptive cruise control and there are some hard real-world limits to how much further we can move the "adaptation" capability. You can add layers and layers of tweaks and kludges but the next accident will be just as stupid as the last one - just different.
 
If I made this move to obtain a "self driven" vehicle, I'd have to get rid of my GPS that usually sits besides me. The one that I haven't found the off button on.;)

Q
 
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Parts wear out ...Car go Bang! Bang! ...You go here ==>>

Hospital.jpg
 
WASHINGTON (AP) — All new cars and light trucks would be able to talk wirelessly with each other, with traffic lights and with other roadway infrastructure under a rule the Transportation Department proposed Tuesday.
"other roadway infrastructure". This is to remove autonomous control from the car and put it in some grid. Not exactly a vote of confidence. You're basically riding around in an expensive wireless trolley car and you're paying for the gas. And the car.
 
Put Otto Pilot in the front seat and see if you get pulled over ...

Reminds+me+of+when+otto+the+pilot+needed+to+be+_74e50ef88b5f409f6b471215885f85ea.jpg


I can almost see placing an order at the supermarket via the internet, and telling the car to "go fetch" ... Probably safer than having some drone buzzing the house, attempting a delivery.
 
I feel that in a place like the SF Bay Area/South Bay - that only self driving cars should be allowed on the roads as humans cannot handle driving those roads. Perhaps then people could go 30 miles in less than 2 hours.

It is only getting worse and I do not miss that part of it. I love driving but I'd gladly give it up to avoid traffic and be able to get places in a reasonable time.
 
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