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[Zyzyxxz]

These cars are probably more intelligent then 90% of drivers. But the only problem is, it levels that playing field so that 10% that are competent drivers have the same likelihood as an accident as the idiots. But I'm all for this!

Not sure if it will speed up or slow down traffic though... if everyone followed the speed limit, yellow light, turning limit rules ect. it would slow down a lot of people. But again maybe it levels it out so the faster people are slower but the slower people are faster.

I'd be so curious to see a demonstration of 100 of these in a city

LOL you haven't seen Los Angeles rush hour to work and from work traffic have you?

Most studies show that congestion is caused by last minute braking and it sets off braking waves for miles. If cars could communicate with each other they could coordinate their breaking and be much more efficient so while yes the cars will drive slower compared to middle of the night/weekend traffic I think it will do wonders with regular rush hour traffic considering the possibility of people sharing the cars as well.

 

[LightofRohan]

LOL you haven't seen Los Angeles rush hour to work and from work traffic have you?

Most studies show that congestion is caused by last minute braking and it sets off braking waves for miles. If cars could communicate with each other they could coordinate their breaking and be much more efficient so while yes the cars will drive slower compared to middle of the night/weekend traffic I think it will do wonders with regular rush hour traffic considering the possibility of people sharing the cars as well.

Yea, I live in LA and drive through it all the time. I'm saying if cars are following all the rules like, not rushing through yellow lights, waiting appropriate time to turn, waiting long to merge, ect. it could slow it down. But it also could balance it all out and it would actually help. I dunno, Im curious to see it.

All I know it would be really awkward being the last person on the road with a manual driving car.

 

[Air]

I'm down if it can stop accidents, and is secure enough so that some jerk doesn't hack into it and cause people to fly off some ridge.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

So Skynet is online. Great.

 

[Wray]

But historically, the rich getting richer is the constant here. No need to even question this. I'm just really worried about the number of jobs, and the types of jobs that will be avaliable when you're replaced by automation. Sure, we will have the Gordon Gekko wannabes pretending its a non-issue to those that are actually trying to make money, but its not even about that. They are going to feel the sting of it, when they no longer have a Trucker/Logger pension to ruin, etc.

Its simply going to be removing large chunks of jobs without any other options for those people who thrived in them for generations more than likely. Theres a job issue already, many of these people can't qualify for the jobs that even the qualified cant qualify for.



I hope this is true. But I still don't see a company wasting their money on this, when someone at a desk can monitor an entire pack of trucks. They are going to go with the cheaper option im afraid.

This is inevitable. This is going to happen for virtually all jobs, not just car related jobs. AI will continue to advance and get better and better, eventually supplanting virtually the entire need for human labor all together.

What do you think the service industry is going to look like in 30 years when everything is self checkout and robots have taken over all the low skill jobs like waiters, construction workers, cooks, doormen, maids, etc etc.

 

[Blastoise]

I guess there will be no more need for truckers or bus drivers.

 

[Fusebox]

Bring on the future. I'll pop a coldie for the road and stretch my legs out onto the dash. "Take me home, C-3PO"

I guess there will be no more need for truckers or bus drivers.

There still needs to be a person in the car, but now the truckers won't have to pull over to snort lines.

 

[Man]

In even further contemplation of this, I am just getting even more excited by the idea. Currently I'm in a situation where the girlfriend doesn't drive and I have to pick her up every time.

It would be dope to be able to stay home while I just send my car to go get her and bring her back to my place.

Like warm pizza delivered on your door.

 

[UFRA]

I guess there will be no more need for taxi drivers.

Fixed.

Getting a car the size of the Prius to drive itself is one thing, but I'd like to see them make an automated semi truck back up into a warehouse for loading without hitting anything in a parking lot.

 

[crazygambit]

Bring on the future. I'll pop a coldie for the road and stretch my legs out onto the dash. "Take me home, C-3PO"




There still needs to be a person in the car, but now the truckers won't have to pull over to snort lines.

Right now maybe. Down the line? What would be the point? Truck driver is clearly a job that won't exist in the next century.

Fixed.

Getting a car the size of the Prius to drive itself is one thing, but I'd like to see them make an automated semi truck back up into a warehouse for loading without hitting anything in a parking lot.

I guess you could have a driver at the warehouse if it's too complicated. It still would save lots of money for companies.

 

[Fusebox]

I think given the danger inherent with a 3-tonne vehicle doing 100kph there will be a human element involved for a long time.

 

[chaostrophy]

I welcome this development. I get around mainly by walking and public transit, in a large city with lots of car traffic. And when I'm on foot surrounded by machines fast and heavy enough to easily maim or kill me, I'd rather they be piloted by machines engineered from the ground up around safety, rather than by animals shaped by thousands of years of brutal natural selection to get ahead of the competition no matter what. I know most drivers are completely civilized and rational, but the lizard brain still comes out way too often in people behind the wheel, and given the size and power of cars it's dangerous.

 

[LightofRohan]

In even further contemplation of this, I am just getting even more excited by the idea. Currently I'm in a situation where the girlfriend doesn't drive and I have to pick her up every time.

It would be dope to be able to stay home while I just send my car to go get her and bring her back to my place.

Until you find out your car after picking her up, is driving to motels, going to bars and clubs. It's going to be awkward when you have confront your gf for cheating on you with your own car!

 

[sans_pants]

Fixed.

Getting a car the size of the Prius to drive itself is one thing, but I'd like to see them make an automated semi truck back up into a warehouse for loading without hitting anything in a parking lot.

sure pal, robot drivers with a 360 degree view will never be as skilled as some methed up truck driver

 

[Emitan]

I live in Houston, so yes, I would trust computers more than the drivers here.

Cannot repeat this enough. I trust a computer way more than any of the assholes I have to deal with on my way to work or school.

 

[Spawnling]

Well, Taxi drivers should be out in the next 10 years then.

 

[kevm3]

Something I just thought about, this is going to cripple the police force's ability to apprehend criminals I think. Right now, they use (mostly made up) reasons to pull someone over and then convince them to let them search their vehicle. This is how they usually find drugs, illegal weapons, etc.

I am surprised the gov't is OK with this...

More like these cars probably will have networking and the government/police will have an 'in' to where they can cause the car to lock you in and drive you to the police station.

 

[Polari]

Kind of incredulous at some of the resistance in this thread. A 2004 estimate was that 1.2 million people are killed annually in car accidents.

I hope an universal standard for inter-car communication is developed because this system isn't going to be perfect until all the cars on the road are networked. I would love to see Google make a deal with a small government (maybe somewhere like Rarotonga) to replace all private cars with a public self-driving fleet that can be ordered with a smartphone.

 

[TedNindo]

Kind of incredulous at some of the resistance in this thread. A 2004 estimate was that 1.2 million people are killed annually in car accidents.

I hope an universal standard for inter-car communication is developed because this system isn't going to be perfect until all the cars on the road are networked. I would love to see Google make a deal with a small government (maybe somewhere like Rarotonga) to replace all private cars with a public self-driving fleet that can be ordered with a smartphone.

You might want to put that into perspective. These are numbers from the UK.

More people die from falling then from transport related accidents.


Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/data...y-statistics-causes-death-england-wales-2009#

 

[Sealda]

Done

Seriously though.

If that car slammed straight into a wall. I would kinda think, "Yep". That looks absolutely terrifying.

 

[Polari]

You might want to put that into perspective. These are numbers from the UK.

More people die from falling then from transport related accidents.


Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/data...y-statistics-causes-death-england-wales-2009#

I don't really see how that's relevant. If we can prevent these deaths we should, right? My co-worker's mother was killed on New Year's Day after dropping my co-worker off at the train station - if we can spare people these sort of tragedies I'm all for it.

 

[TedNindo]

I don't really see how that's relevant. If we can prevent these deaths we should, right? My co-worker's mother was killed on New Year's Day after dropping my co-worker off at the train station - if we can spare people these sort of tragedies I'm all for it.

We would save more lives by covering everything with bubblewrap or allowing nobody to go outside. Should we do it? We can't create a perfect world where nobody dies without making it a boring world where you don't want to live in.

 

[DjangoReinhardt]

We would save more lives by covering everything with bubblewrap or allowing nobody to go outside. Should we do it? We can't create a perfect world where nobody dies without making it a boring world where you don't want to live in.

It's a good thing that no sensible person is making that suggestion. Rather, people are advocating the adoption of what appears to be a practical technology whose benefits would far outweigh the costs on the whole.

 

[LightofRohan]

You might want to put that into perspective. These are numbers from the UK.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/10/28/Factfile_deaths_large.png[IMG]

More people die from falling then from transport related accidents.


Source - [url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/14/mortality-statistics-causes-death-england-wales-2009#[/url][/QUOTE]

Holy moly. I'm gonna be more careful going down stairs now

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Wonder what the reaction will be when one of these things kills someone for the first time

 

[Tawney Bomb]

It's going to be all good, until there is a firmware update and everyone's car starts crashing in a very literal sense.

 

[Wickerbasket]

Wonder what the reaction will be when one of these things kills someone for the first time

It'll be hard to predict the reaction, that's for sure.

The trashy tabloids will probably panic the masses into an outrage over it; 'ROBOT CAR KILLS MASTER' or from their A.I. editor, 'ROBOT CAR SUBDUES FLESHBAG'.

 

[kehs]

Wonder what the reaction will be when one of these things kills someone for the first time

'So much for "Don't be Evil", eh Google?'

 

[razgriz417]

 

[Kinitari]

We would save more lives by covering everything with bubblewrap or allowing nobody to go outside. Should we do it? We can't create a perfect world where nobody dies without making it a boring world where you don't want to live in.

This again? Bro - first of all that fall statistic is vague, I wish I knew exactly what those other 2 thousand deaths were from - what other sorts of falls. Second, this is about tech that is practical, efficient and for the betterment of society - the practical benefits of wrapping everyone in bubble wrap is inconsequential.

Now if you were to tell me that they could make a suit I could wear that gave me my own personal force field, so if I fell shit wouldn't hurt? You better BELIEVE I would wear that suit like erry day.