Fully Autonomous Cars No Longer Need Manual Controls

Fully Autonomous Cars No Longer Need Manual Controls (yahoo.com)

This should get interesting. So, when the crash is inevitable, what will your fully autonomous car decide to do; swerve into oncoming traffic, just plow into whatever is blocking it's way, swerve out of the way and run over that family standing at the corner waiting at the crosswalk...?

To make that work all non self driving cars would have to be banned including my hydrogen fuel cell converted sports car after they ban gasoline.

I have never caught a Tesla driver sleeping at the wheel, but if I ever do, I will purposely swerve at him a little just to see the look on his face when his car slams on the brakes. 

No crash is inevitable or has to happen. With the internet of things and connectivity comes almost full awareness of where the vehicle is and other objects that might harm it and the passengers. Yes, the errant dog is not tagged (maybe), but a truly autonomous vehicle accounts for its whereabouts and responds accordingly by changing speed appropriately, picking a better path through high risk environments, and communicating it's position and intentions. You know, what Americans fail to do on a regular basis when behind the wheel. And the computer can calculate those needs and changes more quickly and without distraction. You can't. Not saying this is happening tomorrow, but that little Yahoo blurb of an "article" leaves much to be desired.

I have read that approximately 30% of collisions will be avoided by autonomous control. The solution for the other 70% is lower speeds. Lowering speeds will negate the advantages of autonomy, gains would be made moving vehicles faster and closer together.

I guess its a good thing that there's no such thing as a fully autonomous vehicle, then.

No manufacturer is going to put themselves in that position where they are fully responsible for a crash.  We'll still have steering wheels and pedals for a few decades at minimum.

I'm just saying that it looks like the government is giving the green light for someone to try it even so far as to remove any controls.

edit; so, will someone else's autonomous car be able to tell when I am going to cause an accident and try and avoid the impending crash? Can I just tailgate that car in the mountains and when I make my move on that blind curve, they will slow down and let me by? 

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

Good. The faster we take control away from a good 90% of drivers, the safer the roads will be for the few that can actually drive.

In reply to RevRico :

Sounds good to me. And I also want everyone to have to retake their written and behind the wheel driver's test every 5 years.

I'm just curious to know if the first software engineer to get sued for a tragic accident involving someone they don't know in a street 2100 miles away saw it coming. ..... and what the jury will decide.

I wonder about the insurance implications. 

Rons said:

I have read that approximately 30% of collisions will be avoided by autonomous control. The solution for the other 70% is lower speeds. "Lowering speeds" will negate the advantages of autonomy, gains would be made moving vehicles faster and closer together.

 

I was a passenger during the 65 mph era and drove throughout the 21 years of 55. Trust me, we will never go back to that. Although 75 mph seems fine out here in North Dakota, 80 in Montana in the mountains is just scary. Winter is nuts.

In reply to itsarebuild :

Darn that Google Maps, what do you mean, "that road does not exist, recalculating", at 65 mph.

VolvoHeretic said:

In reply to itsarebuild :

Darn that Google Maps, what do you mean, "that road does not exist, recalculating", at 65 mph.

This statement screams, "I'm not quite clear on the concept so I'm going to assume how it works, and it'll be bad."

In reply to iansane :

Yes, you would be right. I have watched almost every SyFy movie ever made and it always ends badly.

Fully Autonomous Cars No Longer Need Manual Controls

The future robot overlords would say that.

It makes perfect sense. If a vehicle is fully autonomous, it shouldn't have controls. It would be like putting an extra steering wheel in the back seat of a normal car. It would only wreak havoc. 

The problem is cars that are almost but not quite fully autonomous. Those need controls so the meatbags inside can leap into action and save the day. But people don't work like that. You cannot maintain a state of immediate readiness for an extended period of time without actually being involved. This is the dangerous spot, the Level 0-3 "autonomous when they feel up to it" vehicles. You either have to have the car take full control, or you have to give the human full control with some assistance. But you can't take full control and then give it back arbitrarily, expecting the passenger to immediately become a driver and solve a problem that was too hard for the computer to solve.

People kinda suck at driving despite the fact that, against all odds, all drivers are above average. Properly autonomous cars will eventually be better than people. But for some reason we accept crashes that happen due to human error ALL THE TIME but will not accept crashes that happen due to a computer's inability to deal with a situation. There's some psychology there. Good thing I'm an above average driver and will never make any mistakes :)