Driverless car should help downtown parking, traffic (Houston, Austin: power lines, school)

[doo dah]

And maybe kids should only be allowed to ride in driverless cars until they are able to pass a rigorous test, as well, instead of learners' permits.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by doo dah

And maybe kids should only be allowed to ride in driverless cars until they are able to pass a rigorous test, as well, instead of learners' permits.

Absolutely. Even now, the average age for driving has been creeping up in recent years. By 2011, the proportion of 16-24 year olds who know how to drive dropped to 67%%, which is the lowest it's been in at least 50 years. I think graduated licencing has played a role here - it's simply not fun to be a driver when you're a teenager any longer - but the trend shows no sign of ceasing regardless. The age of getting your learner's permit at 15 is pretty much done, and the way things are going relatively few people will drive in high school at all.

I expect that eventually the "driving" age will rise to 18 virtually everywhere - perhaps even 21. However, I also expect that the first generation to grow up with automated cars freely available mostly won't bother learning how to drive at all. If they do so it will be for hobbyist reasons, not for any practical one.

[Hopes]

Anyone who has used a GPS system for directions while driving must know how terrifying a driverless car is. Those GPS systems are often completely inaccurate. We've driven in circles, been taken in the wrong direction and much more. There are people who have turned off the road because the GPS system told them to and they weren't paying attention. I don't trust a driverless car to navigate when it's going to be using a GPS system that hasn't proven to be accurate and reliable.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Really what should be done is periodic retesting of senior citizens through a driver's test every few years, with a "fail" meaning their licence is revoked. But this would be hugely costly. I think it's more likely that once automated cars become a good replacement we get much, much more stringent overall with who we do allow to engage in manual driving, which includes upper limits on age.

You're making me crazy with your wild ideas of discrimination and oppression. This should not be based on age. There are people of all ages who shouldn't be behind the wheel. It should be based on abilities of all age groups. Period.

[ditchdigger]

Ya know, if you think about it, "driverless" is a misnomer anyway. The computer program is the "driver". In a "driverless" car, the person making the moment to moment decisions, instead of being present and behind the wheel, will be some computer programmer, a thousand miles away, and years ago...

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by ditchdigger

Ya know, if you think about it, "driverless" is a misnomer anyway. The computer program is the "driver". In a "driverless" car, the person making the moment to moment decisions, instead of being present and behind the wheel, will be some computer programmer, a thousand miles away, and years ago...

And that's terrifying when you consider that unreliable GPS systems will be navigating these contraptions.

Next they'll be digging ditches.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Anyone who has used a GPS system for directions while driving must know how terrifying a driverless car is. Those GPS systems are often completely inaccurate. We've driven in circles, been taken in the wrong direction and much more. There are people who have turned off the road because the GPS system told them to and they weren't paying attention. I don't trust a driverless car to navigate when it's going to be using a GPS system that hasn't proven to be accurate and reliable.

These systems use GPS, but they are far more advanced than that. Google's cars, for example, only travel down roads that a manually driven Google Car has already scanned down to the centimeter level.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Google's cars, for example, only travel down roads that a manually driven Google Car has already scanned down to the centimeter level.

That means they'll be limited in where they can go!

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Hopes

That means they'll be limited in where they can go!

Google streetview was done in the same way. I remember when google streetview first came out and people thought Google was pulling the public's leg. Now I can go check out random side streets in Kansas with just a few seconds of effort.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by ferraris

Now I can go check out random side streets in Kansas with just a few seconds of effort.

My hometown still only has the highways. I just checked.