Way to go California..

Nothing like absolving everyone of any personal responsibility:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/09/are-self-driving-cars-the-future-of-transportation.html

In before the lock.

So let me get this straight: there's a picture of a self driving Prius. Toyota has been raked over the coals for alleged drive by wire problems, but the same company will be trusted to make self driving cars? Yeah, right.

ITs not like this hasn't been talked about for many, many years. Look at old Popular Science mags. My crazy ass B-I-L told me his idea of future cars 30+ years ago and this is what he was talking about. I just don't have a lot of confidence the govt (Cali) can pull this off.

Someone set up us the bomb. All your base are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time.

As someone who actually lives in California, (instead of commenting on it from a distance) this might be an improvement over the distracted//reckless/sleep deprived/clueless behavior you see during commute hours in any major city here. Part of the reason I took my current job is I can ride a nice clean commuter train to the office and not be on the freeways during rush hour.

As someone who drives a car everyday (instead of wagging a finger from a train)...if this country would get its head out of its keyster and spend some GD time actually training people how to drive, we wouldnt need robot overlords keeping us safe from the big bad world.

"Self-driving cars have the potential to significantly increase driving safety," said Google in a statement issued Wednesday night after the news was passed down.

I see it going the other way. Keep it simple. Keep humans in control.

They should start with tandem busses. Like a trackless train that follows the right edge of the pavement.

Adding self-driving Priuses will not help traffic. Taking the kind of driver that would take the train if there was one out of their car would.

Plus, when it fails it will kill a lot more people.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Plus, when it fails it will kill a lot more people.

Taking bets on how long that will be and they ban self driving cars.

In reply to 93EXCivic:

4 years being that elections are this year.

The ULTIMATE cruise control. I'm all for it. Take the drone out of driving and just let me drive the fun stuff.

93EXCivic wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Plus, when it fails it will kill a lot more people.

Taking bets on how long that will be and they ban self driving cars.

By then it will be too late. The machines will have taken over. Artificial Intelligence trumps lack of intelligence.

Well in the future, I'll make sure I can own a car I can drive myself as an option.

Xceler8x wrote: The ULTIMATE cruise control. I'm all for it. Take the drone out of driving and just let me drive the fun stuff.

This.

And IMO no-fault insurance already absolved everyone of personal responsibility. This just takes out the crashes as well.

GameboyRMH wrote: This just takes out the crashes as well.

Wanna bet?

There will still be crashes but far less. Drunk driving and all forms of distracted driving would be a thing of the past.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

I doubt it......

I would love the ability to drive to a highway and be able to connect to a "train" of cars heading the same way, traveling 6" apart at a much higher speed than human driven cars, possibly in its own HOV lane, until I get to my exit, at which point I can disocnnect from the train and re-gain control of my car. That should be doable, reduce commute time and greatly increase fuel economy.

This is the kind of thing that worries me. I LOVE to drive (obviously). However, if these things work, do not be surprised when they ban human-driven cars. I am really not happy about this.

In reply to Geekspeed:

Well, about the only good thing IMHO is that when that happens I will probably be dead or close to it. That means I'll write my own version of 'A Nice Morning Drive'.

http://www.mgexperience.net/article/nice-drive.html

So how long after this technology is put into action will govt. prohibit your car from driving you to your favorite watering hole? "I'm sorry, Dave, but we can't go there. I will drive you to the health club and you can have a nice wheat grass smoothie after you work out."

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Till the guy in charge of watching the cars falls asleep at his desk. Or what happens when Cali runs out of money to pay the people whose job it is to maintain the system, or the tracks, or whatever the hell it is that drives these things around?

Trans_Maro wrote: Nothing like absolving everyone of any personal responsibility: http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/09/are-self-driving-cars-the-future-of-transportation.html

I clicked on this link and was immediately distracted by the blonde in the picture on the right (lauren o'neil) and found myself googling her name on the internet instead.

Now that my mind wandered back on topic:

As a car enthusiast, I hate this.

As a realist, I love it. 99.9% of people use cars to get from A to B. People are awful drivers, completely stupid, unreliable, have poor vision, hearing, etc. People do not deal with congestion well. Smart self-driving (networked?) cars can deal with it much better. You know the "wave" that is generated by idiots braking while traveling down the highway? Gone. You know every-god-damn-day backups because people don't know how to merge? Gone. You know when you are stuck at a traffic light for an extra cycle because the moron in front of you takes 5 seconds to hit the gas after the light turns green? Gone. Etc.

If you can take people out of the equation, the roads WILL be safer and traffic will flow better. This isn't an overnight change, but its not unrealistic, and I think its a step in the right direction.

Extrapolating other cool things you can do with networked, self driven cars:

-High speed drafting. Yay for bumper to bumper at 80mph and double the mileage you normally get. Apply this to Semi-Trucks and you've got a HUGE decrease in industrial fuel usage. -If the computer knows your route... it can tell exactly when to regen brake/coast/etc. Unmatched in-town mileage.

There's even more that could be done in the future. Traffic lights? Gone. Cars could coordinate and fly just past each other at high speed. Lag moving off from a stop (at maybe a train crossing)? Gone. Cars could coordinate and all move off at the exact same time. Speed limits? Well if we have electric cars and fusion energy there will be no reason to have them - the financial motive will be gone with no speeders.