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Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Rods2 on 20 September 2016, 21:38:21

Title: Self driving cars get a step closer
Post by: Rods2 on 20 September 2016, 21:38:21
At the moment in the US they operate on a state by state basis of local laws. This is going to change with a Federal legal framework for them. How long before self driving cars become the norm. for city travel, operated by the likes of Uber etc?

http://newatlas.com/white-house-us-government-policy-driverless-vehicles/45510/ (http://newatlas.com/white-house-us-government-policy-driverless-vehicles/45510/)
Title: Re: Self driving cars get a step closer
Post by: Varche on 20 September 2016, 22:46:23
Fifteen years?

Here is a question. When your driverless uber/lyft etc taxi arrives. Could an extra person get in with you and then spend rest of day being chauffered for free . Like a fixture?
Title: Re: Self driving cars get a step closer
Post by: Rods2 on 20 September 2016, 23:58:57
Quote from: Varche on 20 September 2016, 22:46:23
Fifteen years?

Here is a question. When your driverless uber/lyft etc taxi arrives. Could an extra person get in with you and then spend rest of day being chauffered for free . Like a fixture?

They think it will be normal in cities by 2025. There is already a trial driverless taxi service in Pittsburgh. The labour cost improvements and lower prices, lower accident rates and better traffic flows means it is not a question of if but when. I suspect commercial vehicles will not be far behind as they can in theory drive 24/7. Apart from heavily unionised countries, like France, as they will instruct their political servants to oppose it.
Title: Re: Self driving cars get a step closer
Post by: Nick W on 21 September 2016, 01:16:38

Automating a car is straightforward. Having it work in crowded, messy and complex road environments is going to need a massive breakthrough in programming and socially. That's not going to happen in 9 years.

We don't allow the mature technology of autopilots to operate in a more controlled environment without a crew.
Title: Re: Self driving cars get a step closer
Post by: Kevin Wood on 21 September 2016, 10:09:02
Indeed, and all the "half way house" solutions like adaptive cruise and lane following are counter productive, because they reduce driver attention yet provide no help in an emergency situation. It's all a white elephant at the moment, IMHO.

If we get a road network that's a completely known environment with ONLY self driving vehicles there, then maybe, but this hasn't happened with the railways, shipping or aviation, and all 3 of them are a lot further down that path than the road network.