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It will be a while before the technology is mature enough to have literally no controls for human intervention. For one that scenario works best when there is a critical mass of at least semi-autonomous cars in the fleet that significantly remove human foibles from the equation. And it will probably take a while for regulations and products liability law to catch up with the technology.
I hope cars with no human controls are a long way away. The first few iterations of these vehicles are going to need backup controls for humans for when things go wrong. I also hope that the point where self driving cars become mandatory is a long way away as well. Let people find their own comfort level with these things as the tech behind them evolves. Lastly I like the idea of being able to summon a self driving uber, but I hope the day where that becomes our only option is not just far away, but never comes. Ride sharing is only practical in certain situations. People should always have the option of owning their own vehicle if they want to.
Self driving cars are a great technology and will bring big and mostly positive changes to the way we commute and travel. We must be wary of implementing this technology too hastily however. These changes can be incremental and gradual, and should be based on safety and efficiency, not social engineering and other social/economic/political agendas. It's the people with other agendas that seem to be in a big hurry to force this on us immediately and completely.
^^ The changes are already being implemented incrementally and gradually. The very first step is also a very old technology: cruise control. From there we went to variable cruise control, then the advent of emergency braking allowed for fully adaptive cruise control, then we added lane-departure warning systems, then lane-KEEPING systems, and we've now reached the point where cars can drive themselves for hours on well-marked limited-access highways without any human intervention. The advanced systems currently available still require the driver to grab the wheel every couple of minutes, but that's a liability concern more than a functional necessity.
^^ The changes are already being implemented incrementally and gradually. The very first step is also a very old technology: cruise control. From there we went to variable cruise control, then the advent of emergency braking allowed for fully adaptive cruise control, then we added lane-departure warning systems, then lane-KEEPING systems, and we've now reached the point where cars can drive themselves for hours on well-marked limited-access highways without any human intervention. The advanced systems currently available still require the driver to grab the wheel every couple of minutes, but that's a liability concern more than a functional necessity.
I agree that we are already partially through the process but I disagree with the implication that our current progress indicates a need for the pace of this process to be drastically accelerated.
No matter what your job is there is nothing you do that AI will not be able to do better, it's just a matter of time. Industries always need to adopt to new technology and this will be no different.
Off the top of my head something like an inspection could evolve to onboard mini drone. Similarly one real world application they are already doing for something like this is medical imaging. The AI can examine the entire history or complete scan as a whole allowing it detect small anomalies which is simply not possible for a human. An example of how this would apply to an inspection is it would be able to know if a single lug nut has rotated some infinitesimally small amount since the last inspection. It could do that for every nut, bolt, rivet, hose, clamp, tire and anything else you could imagine on the entire truck. Using infrared it would be able to detect excessively high heat, using sound sensors hear air leaks you couldn't and that infrared may even be able to see an air leak. The truck could even be inspected while it's rolling down the road assuming it's operating at a speed the drone can keep up to.
The only way it could be accomplished would be to have a complete humanoid robot truck driver that could get out of the truck and do a walkaround to visually inspect the truck, just like a human driver does. It's hands on work. No drone is going to do it. There is no sensor to detect a loose lug nut, or a damaged tire. If there was, it would already be on trucks, and truck drivers wouldn't be doing it visually. A complete humanoid robot truck driver at current prices would cost more than a entire self-driving truck, and still wouldn't answer the question of liability. The truck driver is there to protect the company from liability. It's the truck driver who pays the fines if the truck is not in safe operating condition. If you think that trucking companies are going to spend millions of dollars on self-driving trucks, millions more on robot truck drivers (or even drones) to inspect the trucks, just so they can take on all of the additional liability, you are fooling yourself. The trucking companies will continue to do just what they are doing now. They will continue to buy the cheapest trucks they can find, and hire the lowest paid drivers who are willing to accept the responsibility for the safe operation of the truck.
The only way it could be accomplished would be to have a complete humanoid robot truck driver that could get out of the truck and do a walkaround to visually inspect the truck, just like a human driver does. It's hands on work. No drone is going to do it. There is no sensor to detect a loose lug nut, or a damaged tire. If there was, it would already be on trucks, and truck drivers wouldn't be doing it visually. A complete humanoid robot truck driver at current prices would cost more than a entire self-driving truck, and still wouldn't answer the question of liability. The truck driver is there to protect the company from liability. It's the truck driver who pays the fines if the truck is not in safe operating condition. If you think that trucking companies are going to spend millions of dollars on self-driving trucks, millions more on robot truck drivers (or even drones) to inspect the trucks, just so they can take on all of the additional liability, you are fooling yourself. The trucking companies will continue to do just what they are doing now. They will continue to buy the cheapest trucks they can find, and hire the lowest paid drivers who are willing to accept the responsibility for the safe operation of the truck.
How do you explain that its the trucking companies that are sinking huge money into R&d for self drive tractor trailers? and that they have been doing this for many years now, testing has been going on for awhile now.
How do you explain that its the trucking companies that are sinking huge money into R&d for self drive tractor trailers? and that they have been doing this for many years now, testing has been going on for awhile now.
Take all of these estimates together, and we’re looking at a window of massive disruption starting somewhere between2020 and 2030.
What trucking companies are sinking "huge" amounts of money into research and development of this BS? Your links have nothing about that. They are just typical BS about how self-driving cars are going to take over the roads, based on nothing more then psychic predictions. The articles are not even about trucks. At least try to post some relevant links, to support your point.
Lastly I like the idea of being able to summon a self driving uber, but I hope the day where that becomes our only option is not just far away, but never comes. Ride sharing is only practical in certain situations.
There are some cool potentials with autonomous "pods" that you can summon from you web phone:
-imagine being able to go to a sporting event, concert, great restaurant downtown....and not have to worry about parking, traffic, etc.. Yes you can do that now with a uber or cab, but mass produced electric autonomous "pods" will make it much cheaper (no driver lowers cost of service, lower cost electric "basic pods"). And may reduce traffic because a big thing that causes traffic is accidents. If accidents basically go away, then traffic gets WAY better. And there may no longer be "waves" of traffic if these "pods" are intelligent and immediately find the most optimal routes, no rubbernecking etc...
-you could summon a self-driving RV to go camping for two weeks or a pod to take you out hiking for the day and wait for you at the trailhead
-everything that you DON'T do today because of nightmare traffic or parking nightmares would now be easy to get to
-delivery costs may become cheaper, faster without drivers to pay and less expensive delivery vehicles
-no more drunk driving
My thing is I think some of this is further off then the AI & self-driving car hypesters and dreamers like to admit.
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