Are you scared to ride in a Autonomous Vehicle?

[macs4nw]

This will be interesting.

Perhaps not scared, but definitely apprehensive to ride in a level 5 vehicle. It'll take a lot more debugging and refining before many, including yours truly, become totally comfortable with the whole concept. And the all-too-realistic dangers of driver boredom, fatigue, and drowsiness with levels 2, 3 and 4 are worrisome.

Not yet ready at this moment to put my life in the hands of what is, although seemingly advanced, essentially still experimental technology. Fast forward 20+ years and we won't know any better. Human-driven cars will then be as quaint as early 20th century cars are today.

 

[curmudgeonette]

An autonomous shuttle bus service was just launched in Las Vegas. It got in an accident on the very first day!

Apparently a big rig was backing in to a loading dock. The bus saw the truck, and stopped. Unfortunately, it didn't recognize what the truck was doing, and thus didn't leave enough space. The truck swung around and hit the bus.

My prediction is that it will be a very long time (decades!) before fully autonomous cars are ready to traverse the general road system. Further, the software will have to be open source. By this I don't mean that just anybody will be able to alter it. Instead, all manufacturers will have to run the same version of software as approved by some industry group. Any manufacturer can submit changes, but only the approved common version can be used in production vehicles. Also, all autonomous cars will need to submit live updates to a map database - that's the only way that changing road situations can be anticipated.

 

[A.Goldberg]

I’m not sure I’d say “scared” is the right word... I’d probably be skeptical and not allow myself to become detached from driving. I think the development of autonomous safety features is great and may do the world a lot of good. But having a second set of “eyes” is never a bad thing.

But right now I have a lack of confidence in a "SDC's" ability to make judgement calls.

This^. I question how these systems make decisions. For example, if a kid runs out into the road and the car cannot stop in time, will the system hit another car to prevent hitting the child? Or what if a deer runs into the road, would the system hit the deer over swerving and endangering other humans?

My prediction is that it will be a very long time (decades!) before fully autonomous cars are ready to traverse the general road system.

That’s some unfortunate PR. It sounds like it was not the bus’s fault though and the truck driver backed into it. The news headlines would have you believe otherwise.

I think this is true. I foresee every car having a transponder (maybe even landmarks, signs, stoplights, etc) that would communicate with each other for safety and efficiency- rather than solely relying on camera and radar/lidar interpretations. This is how boats (AIS) and aircraft (TCAS, GPWS) largely operate these days.

I’m quite shocked at how normalized autonomous vehicles are becoming, meanwhile autonomous trains don’t seem to be a think. Looking at how much debt Boston’s MBTA is in (5.2B... $8.3B with interest ), not having to pay for drivers would surely save a lot of money- especially considering the rather ridiculous salaries and pensions many MBTA employees are paid that have largely caused their financial problems in the first place. I don’t expect to ever see a self driving train, the labor unions would never allow it.

 

[gkarris]

I don't even like riding in cars driven by other human beings ...

This...

 

[Septembersrain]

With the way people drive in my city, I'd say no. I might enjoy driving at times but when we've got traffic? No way. If it so much as rains? All hell will break loose.

 

[old mac]

That’s some unfortunate PR. It sounds like it was not the bus’s fault though and the truck driver backed into it. The news headlines would have you believe otherwise.

A human could have prevented the accident, with the horn or by backing up. I believe a human driver would not have pulled up so close, anticipating the truck was going to back up.

 

[A.Goldberg]

A human could have prevented the accident, with the horn or by backing up. I believe a human driver would not have pulled up so close, anticipating the truck was going to back up.

The bus was designed to back up but could not because there was a vehicle behind it. A horn might have helped, but not necessarily. Seems like a horn would be a good feature to to have if it does not. Regardless of the vehicle allegedly pulling too far forward, the truck driver is still at fault for hitting a stationary vehicle.

 

[darksithpro]

I'd be more afraid of other drivers and road construction than the autonomous vehicle itself. Those vehicles are programmed with predictable algorithms, but cannot account for the human factor. No thanks.

 

[jtara]

I answered "yes", because I'm not afraid to ride in a person-piloted vehicle, but should be. Not gonna make the same mistake twice!

I really think that the "self-driving" trend is WAY ahead of practicality. What we should be developing is "guided" technology. Specific roads/lanes - maybe separated lanes - like carpool lanes - with RFID or other telemetry buried in the pavement. Basically, a trackless train, and your vehicle is equivalent to a car on the train. Human-guided vehicles should NOT be allowed on these tracks!

At least I have lived to see the near-fruition of a prediction by an uncle - who worked for one of the auto companies. He told me when I was little that one day, you would get into your car, and say "go, car!" and it would take you where you want to go. That was in the 1960s!

 

[old mac]

Regardless of the vehicle allegedly pulling too far forward, the truck driver is still at fault for hitting a stationary vehicle.

Not always. Just recently, I was taking up two lanes to make a right turn when a car stopped beside me. My trailer crushed the roof of the car. I was very lucky that two people told the police what happened. The other driver received the ticket. I'm glad his Altima had a horn, otherwise I might have damaged my trailer.