Google driverless cars in Austtin?

[greywar]

In all honesty some people will own cars, but a lot will find it cheaper to just have them pick the up and drop them off. And I would not be surprised to see situations where people sublet their cars to things like Uber.

I for example would choose to own my own vehicle, and leave it for rent by others via something like Uber for all but about 4 hrs a day. But the economics of it may simply work better for their to be car owners and non car owners.

For those commenting that the cars don't see open manhole covers, its early yet and these systems are learning still. They are currently doing better then many drivers. I expect by the time they release they will be better then the vast majority.

Even if initial ones just drove interstates I would be more then happy. 4-5 hr drives suck.

[MrCurmudgeon]

Originally Posted by greywar

Even if initial ones just drove interstates I would be more then happy. 4-5 hr drives suck.

Only in traffic. To me, there's nothing more blissful than a nice drive on an open road. Your mileage may vary (pun intended).

[machupichu12]

This goes way beyond cars. Driver-less trucks will change the US economy.

Big rig accidents wills be reduced dramatically (sleepless drivers aggressively meeting their timeline). In 2012 30k trucks were involved in accidents that killed 4k people. 90% of this is caused by driver error.* Imagine a virtual train of driverless big rigs being super efficient with time/gas not weaving in and out being a danger to cars.

Goods will be delivered even quicker than before.

*Good article on the enormous impact of driver-less technology.

https://medium.com/basic-income/self...k-b8507d9c5961

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by machupichu12

This goes way beyond cars. Driver-less trucks will change the US economy.

Big rig accidents wills be reduced dramatically (sleepless drivers aggressively meeting their timeline). In 2012 30k trucks were involved in accidents that killed 4k people. 90% of this is caused by driver error.* Imagine a virtual train of driverless big rigs being super efficient with time/gas not weaving in and out being a danger to cars.

Goods will be delivered even quicker than before.

*Good article on the enormous impact of driver-less technology.

https://medium.com/basic-income/self...k-b8507d9c5961

In which century will this take place?

[machupichu12]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

In which century will this take place?

15-30 years. If there's money to be made, which there obviously is, it'll be pushed through.

[eileenkeeney]

Originally Posted by machupichu12

15-30 years. If there's money to be maid, which there obviously is, it'll be pushed through.

I think that driver-less will still require a driver, for safety reasons.
But maybe not.
I see where drivers would be more tempted to multi-task while driving, if they were just monitoring and not really driving.
I suppose it could be monitored remote, but then what if there is a failure?

What about software bugs, and just holes in the system allowing someone to take control?
What if someone takes control of every vehicle on the road, and causes massive crashes at the same time, during rush hour?

[machupichu12]

Originally Posted by eileenkeeney

I think that driver-less will still require a driver, for safety reasons.
But maybe not.
I see where drivers would be more tempted to multi-task while driving, if they were just monitoring and not really driving.
I suppose it could be monitored remote, but then what if there is a failure?

What about software bugs, and just holes in the system allowing someone to take control?
What if someone takes control of every vehicle on the road, and causes massive crashes at the same time, during rush hour?

Sure, those are all valid concerns. But the 4,000 people that died from human error from trucks last year is also concerning. That's why Google (and others) is doing tens of thousands of hours of testing.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by machupichu12

15-30 years. If there's money to be made, which there obviously is, it'll be pushed through.

Friday, I connected through DTW and sat next to the guy w/ GM who's in charge of IT integration for OnStar. He commutes weekly from Austin - up there and back.

So, we get to talking about this subject. He says the routines to mechanically drive the controls -- car or truck -- are done. The GPS augmentation to get down to .3 meters is done. The lane divergence alerting is done -- my wife's car has it. Adaptive cruise -- where your cruise control adjusts down due to traffic in front -- is done and on cars today. Obviously, the routing navigation routines are done as well.

It isn't as far off as you think.