Kevin's Watch

Not quite without human beings aboard at all. But, really, is there anything preventing that last hurdle?

Not sure if this is scary or cool.

Google gets license to operate driverless cars in Nevada

(CNN) -- If you want to salute, race or flirt with other drivers in Nevada, you could soon be out of luck with some cars.

That's because on Monday, Nevada became the first to approve a license for "autonomous vehicles" -- in other words, cars that cruise, twist and turn without the need for a driver -- on its roads. [link]

I know what you mean. The freedom it offers to the sightless man in the example is totally cool.

But there is the potential for some scary things further on down the line if technology gets ahead of the lawyers. The future ability for a corrupt cop to shut someone's motor off and force them to stop on an abandoned road where they don't feel safe and there are no witnesses...scary.

We'll see how this one pans out. Thanks for the interesting link.

Doc

Oh, the scary is thinking about what a software bug could look like.

Finally. Now I can sleep on the way to work.

How else does one play video games and post on the internet late into the night (morning...)?

Wonder what the Teamsters and Cabbies will think of this if it goes global? Bus drivers out of work too?

I read a recent article at JWR that mentioned that NASA had designed the space shuttles to be controlled by computer, but that they were instructed to "Put a Steering Wheel in it" as nobody wanted to watch men flying through space playing cards on autopilot.

But it will be fun to see how it works out. Last week I was trying to get to a friend's hotel in Monroe, LA and was using Google Maps. They kept telling me to stay right on Pecan Place Rd. I chose to ignore them, as had I listened to it, I would have been coming into oncoming traffic on a one-way frontage road.

Here's hoping nobody has that happen to them...

Doc

wayfriend wrote:Oh, the scary is thinking about what a software bug could look like.

Agreed. Like the battleship's blue screen of death...

--A

A hacker takes over your car... turns it into a bot army that raids the local Taco Bell drivethrough every night at midnight.

"Your car has experienced an unexpected error and will now shut down. If this problem persists, see your technician."

"CarWindowz 9.0 needs to download 23 updates! [Download now] [Remind me later] [Cancel]"

Sign me up for the Apple car, you can have the Windows version.

This will give a car the best quality of a plane: wake up on arrival.

Just think of all those drunk-driving laws that will have to be rewritten....

OTOH, cabbies are gonna be unhappy. Their fares on major boozy "holidays" like Cinco de Mayo are gonna drop off a cliff.

now i can drive!!!

Unfortunately I can't help but think of the "Fire Sale" scenario presented in Live Free or Die Hard. The extra layer would be hijacking the motor control center servers that maintain the course of potentially thousands of cars. Ask them all to make a fast, sudden left hand turn and watch the explosions and property damage.

We have been increasing the amount of computerization on cars for years now, and they've only been getting safer. This is definitely cool, not scary.

The human still remains the scariest part of the driving experience, for me. Texting. Eating. Speeding. Drinking.

I've said it before...the problem is that the computer has no incentive to avert or mitigate accidents. If something goes wrong, a human is much better at reacting "instinctively" as it were.

Yes, I agree that humans cause accidents too. But the thought of a glitching drive computer is scarier to me...

--A

Avatar wrote:I've said it before...the problem is that the computer has no incentive to avert or mitigate accidents. If something goes wrong, a human is much better at reacting "instinctively" as it were.

Yes, I agree that humans cause accidents too. But the thought of a glitching drive computer is scarier to me...

--A

I don't know why as long as firm system/quality control is in place, and redundancy in the system.
If I were a maker of these vehicles, I'd include paying the buyer's insurance coverage as long as they let the machine drive and kept up maintenance.
If I were an insurance company, I'd give a 90% discount on policies with the same caveats.
Humans don't cause accidents "too." They're responsible for most of them...from airplanes [pilots really are more a danger than a safety feature for air travel as a whole] to trains to factories.
The only thing that really worries me is the potential for power/control/privacy invasion.

The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.