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Apple's Automobile Project Said to Include Self-Driving Cars

Sven11 said:
In which case it's the people who program it, but again that's for the judge to decide and in the end I think that they won't give the fault to anyone.
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From a legal stand point yeah, my point is that it's not really meaningful to talk about a computer being at fault. It's somewhat philosophical I guess, but is akin to say that a tree branch is at fault for breaking when you sit on it.

Sven11 said:
I mean you don't just sue Apple or Microsoft if your computer crashes.
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If that computer is part of a flight control or life support system, then yes I think that's completely reasonable. But I'm not a lawyer, just speculating.
 
DakotaGuy said:
Another huge issue is there will still likely be human operated vehicles on the road along with these self driving cars. Trying to get a computer to predict the behavior of all vehicles on the road will be a hurdle. It would probably work a lot better if human operated vehicles are just banned from the roadways at a certain point and everyone has to upgrade to new self driving vehicles. At that point you would probably see a huge drop in accidents.
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I think you have a point to a degree. But as we shift towards smart cars and then self driven cars, I would think car to car communications would become standard. So by the time self driven cars are on the road they would "talk to" the human operated smart cars also on the road. Would there be "not smart" cars still on the road? Probably, but I don't know that those would be any more dangerous than they are now.
 
subsonix said:
From a legal stand point yeah, my point is that it's not really meaningful to talk about a computer being at fault. It's somewhat philosophical I guess, but is akin to say that a tree branch is at fault for breaking when you sit on it.
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Yeah, it would probably just be considered an accident with no one being at fault.
 
Google Panic

The wonderful thing about this is that Google will rush to production and release something that few people will be interested in. Then when Apple makes an official announcement with specs, they will get bashed and ridiculed. Competitors will point out how it has less options, slower, not expandable, and how they were the first to release, blah blah blah. Then when Apples' version hits the stores, it will destroy the competitor's product. (Reference original and current iPhone, iPad, Watch (soon), etc.)

lowercaseperson said:
Still not convinced we know what Apple is actually doing, but with all these rumors surrounding Apple and an electric and/or self-driving car...you can bet Google et.al are kicking their R&D into high gear! The take home message I'm hearing is: fully automated cars may be here sooner than originally anticipated.

http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx_mobile.html

Bring it on
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I love the functionality of Apple software.

Unfortunately their software is way to buggy to be driving cars.


B
 
I know this would save lives, but it's also sad. There's a whole culture around cars and driving that will be lost when his eventually goes mainstream. I really like driving myself.
 
AlecZ said:
And at the same time, I really enjoy driving. This would take the fun out of it :( (and all the life-threatening risk).
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During our transition to self-driving cars, car companies (lBMW has already announced) will create cars that you can drive yourself, but prevent you from crashing. It's a win win situation. Enjoy the wonders of the road, while employing the safety of having a computer to back you up if you make a mistake. Eventually our kids will make fun of the old people that drive their cars, when the computer could be driving for them.
 
elmaco said:
Computers are already driving cars, i.e electronic fuel injection, anti-lock braking system, electric power steering, automatic transmission, cruise control, self parking etc. I don't see people being afraid using them.
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Meh, not a fan of auto transmission ;)
 
bernuli said:
I love the functionality of Apple software.

Unfortunately their software is way to buggy to be driving cars.
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That's a major concern, Apple seems to be in a mode of rushing something out the door before its ready, i.e., iOS8/Yosemite bugs. You can't do that when it comes to software that controls a car.

I still think this is so far out in left field for apple to be looking at - seems like an odd fit that won't really pay any dividends. Maybe its a just a proof in concept exercise, seeing the possible viability of it, rather then really moving in that direction.
 
bboucher790 said:
During our transition to self-driving cars, car companies (lBMW has already announced) will create cars that you can drive yourself, but prevent you from crashing. It's a win win situation. Enjoy the wonders of the road, while employing the safety of having a computer to back you up if you make a mistake. Eventually our kids will make fun of the old people that drive their cars, when the computer could be driving for them.
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Yeah, that is great, but it's going to be 100% self-driving eventually. The technology for it is definitely going to be there.

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Sven11 said:
The computer would be programmed clever enough not to hit anyone and calculate the safest escape trajectory. That's something a human can't do in time.
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There's nothing a computer can do to predict someone randomly jumping into the street. I've been forced to dodge idiotic pedestrians rather than braking in the past because there was not nearly enough time to stop. Sure it can probably avoid hitting the person better than any human could, but there's the moral dilemma brought up earlier if two people jump into the street.
 
Average Pro said:
The wonderful thing about this is that Google will rush to production and release something that few people will be interested in. Then when Apple makes an official announcement with specs, they will get bashed and ridiculed. Competitors will point out how it has less options, slower, not expandable, and how they were the first to release, blah blah blah. Then when Apples' version hits the stores, it will destroy the competitor's product. (Reference original and current iPhone, iPad, Watch (soon), etc.)
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Exactly. Google will make yet another unfinished product nobody will use.
 
Sven11 said:
If there is really no way to avoid a collision is it. (Although I'm 99% sure that such a situation can be pre calculated and therefor avoided) The computer would hit the person who is most likely to survive.
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First, in that situation a human driven car would collide with someone, and possibly with two.

There will be some statistics how much damage a car does to a child, or a bicycle, depending on speed and how the victim is hit. (I don't know if it is worse to hit a child full frontal or just with the corner of the car, but there will be some statistics). I think the best way to handle the situation would be to break as early and as hard as possible and avoid the closer victim. Better than to do a lengthy computation which one is ethically better and delay braking.

On the other hand, how often does this situation happen?

AlecZ said:
There's nothing a computer can do to predict someone randomly jumping into the street. I've been forced to dodge idiotic pedestrians rather than braking in the past because there was not nearly enough time to stop. Sure it can probably avoid hitting the person better than any human could, but there's the moral dilemma brought up earlier if two people jump into the street.
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If you get a bit experience it is likely that you will figure out ahead of time who is going to behave like an idiot, and adjust your speed, so you _can_ brake in time.
 
Remember the DC metro train that collided with another train? They both were computer driven at the time.

San Francisco also had accidents with automated train control like DC did.

On the other hand our new trains have no driver and people ride it every day into the airport.

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AlecZ said:
Yeah, that is great, but it's going to be 100% self-driving eventually. The technology for it is definitely going to be there.

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There's nothing a computer can do to predict someone randomly jumping into the street. I've been forced to dodge idiotic pedestrians rather than braking in the past because there was not nearly enough time to stop. Sure it can probably avoid hitting the person better than any human could, but there's the moral dilemma brought up earlier if two people jump into the street.
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The street would have to be treated like railroad tracks. People would be forced to only cross at crosswalks. This way if a self driving car comes, it knows where the crosswalks are.
 
Apple Car. Now in 3 varieties.

Apple Car Air
Apple Car Plus
Apple Car Mini

Seriously, don't call it the Apple Car :|
 
Me singing: # Take me home, country roads, to the place I belong, West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home country roads.

Siri: (Leaving Siri's reply open to other readers, to see what funny things you think she might say!)
 
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