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Completely disagree. I enjoy leisurely driving on weekends or vacation. I hate driving in stop and go traffic for 45 minutes on my way home every night. If I could let the car take over and relax or even read a book it would be a significant quality of life improvement. I am a car guy and work for one of the OEMs.
The "self-driving" concept would depend upon the convergence of a lot of components; some of them, like cruise control and anti-lock brakes, are well along in development; some others are waiting on technology that's developing very slowly, or may even prove unworkable. And some other theories, like whether the concept would involve strictly car-mounted sensors, or structural modifications to the roadway, or a set of databases for the routes used, have yet to be resolved.
I think it's also worth noting that the railroads, who have a lot fewer route miles, far fewer movements and a very-limited structure of track, signals and switches, have shown very little interest in autonomous locomotives and trains.
The trucking industry would seem like a natural proving ground for self-driving vehicles, but here again, the enthusiasm is quickly dampened by the fact that much larger vehicles have an exponentially greater potential for severe damage and injury in the event of a mistake. And a "dedicated" roadway, probably built upon or parallel to one of the flat-country toll roads which currently allow two- and three-trailer rigs (called "trains" by motor carrier dispatchers) would likely be too expensive and subject to NIMBY (Not in MY Back yard) opposition, "Spotting" trailers at dock doors at a major sorting terminal (breakbulk) seems like a good candidate for a pilot project, but nothing has, to my knowledge, been seriously proposed.
It's been at least three years now since the subject of "self-driving cars" began turning up at C-D, but the subject seems to be pushed and dominated by non-technically oriented youngsters with too many visions of George Jetson.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 09-20-2016 at 05:42 PM..
The "self-driving" concept would depend upon the convergence of a lot of components; some of them, like cruise control and anti-lock brakes are well along in development; some others are waiting on technology that's developing very slowly, or may even prove unworkable. And some other theories, like whether the concept would involve strictly car-mounted sensors, or structural modifications to the roadway, or a set of databases for the routes used, have yet to be resolved.
I think it's also worth noting that the railroads, who have a lot fewer route miles, far fewer movements and a very-limited structure of track, signals and switches, have shown very little interest in autonomous locomotives and trains.
The trucking industry would seem like a natural proving ground for self-driving vehicles, but here again, the enthusiasm is quickly dampened by the fact that much larger vehicles have an exponentially greater potential for severe damage and injury in the event of a mistake. And a "dedicated" roadway, probably built upon or parallel to one of the flat-country toll roads which currently allow two- and three-trailer rigs (called "trains" by motor carrier dispatchers) would likely be too expensive and subject to NIMBY (Not in MY Back yard) opposition, "Spotting" trailers at dock doors at a major sorting terminal (breakbulk) seems like a good candidate for a pilot project, but nothing has, to my knowledge, been seriously proposed.
It's been at least three years now since the subject of "self-driving cars" began turning up at C-D, but the subject seems to be pushed and dominated by non-technically oriented youngsters with too many visions of George Jetson.
Do the young even know who George Jetson is? By the way,I seem to recall that he drove his own car.
Self driving cars would be a huge quality of life improvement for those with disabilities like blindness, paralysis, etc.
But you know these self driving advocates/developers are so cocky, like computers and robotics are perfect. They are talking about building cars without steering wheels. So when you are going 40 mph and the computer gets the blue screen of death or gets hacked into or spent too much time around salt water you will be royally SOL.
After all these years, they still haven't figured out how to secure a credit card number on the internet. And they want me to put my life in the hands of their gizmos? No thanks.
In the long run, it will be safety and I'm willing to bet efficiency.
This can vastly increase efficiency but it needs to be centrally controlled and all cars would need to be computer controlled to really take advantage of that. That may not occur for 20 or 30 years, not that it can't be done now but it would be impractical.
Who wants to see the road covered with automated cars restricted by a hard [55mph] speed limit? Nobody can get by anyone and their yielding to other cars or waiting for others to pass so they can get over will cause more traffic. NOT ME.
Regardless, this technology will not be adopted by the majority for decades.
and the computer gets the blue screen of death or gets hacked into or spent too much time around salt water you will be royally SOL.
I haven't had the BOSD for about 10 years now, That said, purpose built computers are very robust, they don't need handle millions of devices and different programs which is why they susceptible crashing.
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