Google Driverless Cars ----- Merged

[Damik]

but that doesnt speak for everyone.

lots of people take taxis, or the bus, or the train. a private chauffeur is reserved for the rich but if everyone could have their own private chauffeur, on call, 24 hours a day, at low cost i doubt that many people will be complaining.

are people really suggesting that if your car could successfully drive you to work and back everyday automatically, they wouldn't like it, and no one would use it.

how many people love driving on motorways for 2 hours and 2 hours back because its fun.

its 10pm and say you need to get home from london to manchester, your car can do it for you or would you rather drive. some people might. most would prefer to be the passenger.

id also argue that not many people enjoy driving in london.

indeed. 99.9% of people getting stuck on M25 every day will go for the driveless cars ... they will be working, sleeping or watching TV ...

[Lewis Gordon Pugh]

but that doesnt speak for everyone.

lots of people take taxis, or the bus, or the train. a private chauffeur is reserved for the rich but if everyone could have their own private chauffeur, on call, 24 hours a day, at low cost i doubt that many people will be complaining.

are people really suggesting that if your car could successfully drive you to work and back everyday automatically, they wouldn't like it, and no one would use it.

how many people love driving on motorways for 2 hours and 2 hours back because its fun.

its 10pm and say you need to get home from london to manchester, your car can do it for you or would you rather drive. some people might. most would prefer to be the passenger.

id also argue that not many people enjoy driving in london.

No, but it speaks for more people than the ivory tower brigade on the HPC forum. The UK alone has thousands of owners clubs and enthusiasts clubs that contain people that like driving cars.

You can already get driverless cars, They are called buses and trains. And generally, they suck.

I know you might find it hard to accept, but please try. Many many people like driving. They spend large amounts of their money on their cars. They discuss tyres, brakes, track days, driving styles on forums with other similar people. These people like driving.

To them a car is not something to get from A to B it is their hobby and passion. I would rather drive to work myself, that sit as a passenger with someone else. I like the drive. Hard for you to imaging that isnt it? Loads more people like me.

This is why you wont get driverless cars any more that you will get robots playing sport.

[Lewis Gordon Pugh]

indeed. 99.9% of people getting stuck on M25 every day will go for the driveless cars ... they will be working, sleeping or watching TV ...

And a good many of those will use their cars at weekends to have fun and will want to drive it. So they will either need two cars or stay with a normal car. Most wont be able to afford both so would pick the normal car.

You see that guy in the nice BMW? Yeah, he does a track day some weekends. He cant have a driverless car and doesnt want one.

You see that old sierra cosworth? Yeah he works on his car all weekend. No interest in a driverless car.

Sure they might take the bus to work instead of drive. But what you are asking for many many people is to give up their hobby and passion. Which they wont want to do of course.

I just dont think non-petrol heads get this. Its like a mental block. They just cant accept that a car can be a passion.

This thread is pointless because

1. the technology doesnt exist to do this and

2. People dont want driverless cars.

[Traktion]

And a good many of those will use their cars at weekends to have fun and will want to drive it. So they will either need two cars or stay with a normal car. Most wont be able to afford both so would pick the normal car.

You see that guy in the nice BMW? Yeah, he does a track day some weekends. He cant have a driverless car and doesnt want one.

You see that old sierra cosworth? Yeah he works on his car all weekend. No interest in a driverless car.

Sure they might take the bus to work instead of drive. But what you are asking for many many people is to give up their hobby and passion. Which they wont want to do of course.

I just dont think non-petrol heads get this. Its like a mental block. They just cant accept that a car can be a passion.

This thread is pointless because

1. the technology doesnt exist to do this and

2. People dont want driverless cars.

The majority of people are not car enthusiasts.

[(Blizzard)]

And a good many of those will use their cars at weekends to have fun and will want to drive it. So they will either need two cars or stay with a normal car. Most wont be able to afford both so would pick the normal car.

You see that guy in the nice BMW? Yeah, he does a track day some weekends. He cant have a driverless car and doesnt want one.

You see that old sierra cosworth? Yeah he works on his car all weekend. No interest in a driverless car.

Sure they might take the bus to work instead of drive. But what you are asking for many many people is to give up their hobby and passion. Which they wont want to do of course.

I just dont think non-petrol heads get this. Its like a mental block. They just cant accept that a car can be a passion.

This thread is pointless because

1. the technology doesnt exist to do this and

2. People dont want driverless cars.

1. Maybe.

2. Hilarious.

More than 100 years after the invention of the car, and you still see horses on the road. Some people love horses, but most people just bought cars.

[Rare Bear]

I also wonder how many of those accidents involved pedestrians who walked in front of vehicles, often in situations where it would be a physical impossibility for the vehicle to stop before impact?

In the USA they classified drunk pedestrians falling in front of moving vehicles as an accident involving alcohol and a motor vehicle, great fodder for the zero tolerance alcohol and driving brigade but totally inaccurate for their purposes.

I was under the impression that it was the same in the UK. Drunk pedestrian falls off walkway over carriageway and is hit by car, alcohol related RTA.

[Rare Bear]

Memory comes into it too. We know what the road should look like without the obstruction, which makes it stand out.

Driverless cars would also have a 3d map of what the road should look like. Over time the Google would build up an 3d model of the world, perfect to within a few millimetres as the data from the visual and laser sensors are averaged together over time. Potholes could be mapped the same way, as suspension jolts from from all the cars passing over it are logged.

As for signs, the cars probably won't use them. Updating the online map will just become part of the process of putting up a sign or changing a road layout.

Indeed, not only would you expect the car to be using an online map but you would expect that the online map and the traffic flow to change from hour to hour or minute by minute. Adaptive routing, that's the way your data travels so why not you?

[Rare Bear]

The Microsoft powered car would look very pretty, but take ages to work out how to switch it on. Then you'd have to wait half an hour for updates to complete. Otherwise, it would work fine as long as nothing unexpected (rogue pedestrians, cats, roundabouts, or 'T' junctions) happened.

The iOS car would only be available from approved showrooms for an approved price. Opening the bonnet - or indeed pressing any buttons in an unapproved fashion - would be punishable by death. The driving experience would be extremely pleasant right up until Apple Maps directed the car into an active volcano (note: For your safety, doors will be locked for the duration of the journey).

Google car will know where you want to go before you get in. All the windows of the car will have rolling adverts, unless you pay for google glass to show you images of the surroundings. An in car camera will give you a live feed of yourselves.

Unix-based cars will offer a perfect driving experience, but you will be required to operate the car controls manually (with all the windows blacked out), according to commands from a scrolling text-based display. When asked about this, unix geeks will completely fail to grasp that anyone could find this difficult to use.

The serious user of the Unix based car will type all the commands for the whole journey on on line.

[erat_forte]

...But what you are asking for many many people is to give up their hobby and passion. Which they wont want to do of course.

I just dont think non-petrol heads get this.

...

Can you show me where it says that self-driven cars are going to be banned?

I think you just admitted yourself that there are actually people who are not petrol-heads and therefore who might be interested in this new technology.

[Guillotine]

Q) Why did the hedgehog cross the road?

A) Because it was now safe to do so.

[Ulfar]

Q) Why did the hedgehog cross the road?

A) Because it was now safe to do so.

Only if the computer thinks the hedgehog is a threat or will cause damage to the car or its passenger, if not squishy time.

[Habeas Domus]

I dont see the utopian ideal of everyone sharing driverless cars happening

What I can imagine is people driving into the city as normal and then turning on 'autopilot' mode and the car driving back out of town to park itself in an affordable parking space. Then when you want the car back you send a text message and the car drives itself to pick you up.

[mfp123]

No, but it speaks for more people than the ivory tower brigade on the HPC forum. The UK alone has thousands of owners clubs and enthusiasts clubs that contain people that like driving cars.

You can already get driverless cars, They are called buses and trains. And generally, they suck.

I know you might find it hard to accept, but please try. Many many people like driving. They spend large amounts of their money on their cars. They discuss tyres, brakes, track days, driving styles on forums with other similar people. These people like driving.

To them a car is not something to get from A to B it is their hobby and passion. I would rather drive to work myself, that sit as a passenger with someone else. I like the drive. Hard for you to imaging that isnt it? Loads more people like me.

This is why you wont get driverless cars any more that you will get robots playing sport.

im a car enthusiast. i love driving.

but if someone added driverless cars in the future id love it. most people would love it. its another gadget.

if its too expensive people wont go for it. if its cheap enough people will.

also were not just talking about today but the future. driverless cars, electric cars , interactive windscreens, automated motorways .

cars could also be reconfigured, people would start putting big tvs in their cars, tea machines, it would be great for couriers, vans, trucks, delivery services, and also smaller 1 person pod cars for local journeys that just get you from a-b with little hassle, which combined with an electric power could get you 300-500 mpg equivalent.

if it was really safe speed limits could be increased on many roads.

[Lewis Gordon Pugh]

im a car enthusiast. i love driving.

but if someone added driverless cars in the future id love it. most people would love it. its another gadget.

if its too expensive people wont go for it. if its cheap enough people will.

also were not just talking about today but the future. driverless cars, electric cars , interactive windscreens, automated motorways .

cars could also be reconfigured, people would start putting big tvs in their cars, tea machines, it would be great for couriers, vans, trucks, delivery services, and also smaller 1 person pod cars for local journeys that just get you from a-b with little hassle, which combined with an electric power could get you 300-500 mpg equivalent.

if it was really safe speed limits could be increased on many roads.

My car is worth about 300 pounds. If it breaks i will have to buy another cheap car as it is all i can afford.

How much will these driverless cars be? 50k? 70k? 100k?

And how reliable will they be after 10 years? Would you put your baby daughter in a 10 year old 5 owner driverless car?

And what happens if you want to drive off the road? Say in a field at a large open air concert to park?

And what happens when it snows? Will the car just drive it is id too dangerous? How will it know?

This thread is full of delusion.

[mfp123]

My car is worth about 300 pounds. If it breaks i will have to buy another cheap car as it is all i can afford.

How much will these driverless cars be? 50k? 70k? 100k?

And how reliable will they be after 10 years? Would you put your baby daughter in a 10 year old 5 owner driverless car?

And what happens if you want to drive off the road? Say in a field at a large open air concert to park?

And what happens when it snows? Will the car just drive it is id too dangerous? How will it know?

This thread is full of delusion.

who cares what you can afford. does your circumstance mean that the market for mercs and BMWs is dead in the water because you wouldnt buy one.

the google prototype costs $300,000 (and has driven 300,000 miles in car packed california, without accident, which is 3x better than the human accident rate already) but it pretty well obvious it will only become viable if the costs come down, just like the costs of electric cars need to come down.

how reliable? as reliable as a 10 year old car is today.

one of the original concepts was based around helping military supply vehicles drive through hostile terrain in a war zone, so im sure a programme to drive in a field can be achieved.

to drive through different terrain it will most likely need to be programmed in the software. currently your cars ABS system, traction control, is handled via a computer. your car can work out the correct amount of traction to apply to each wheel far better than a human can.

but ultimately, with regards to safety, one of the key points of it is that the car ought to be able to drive more safely than people do at present. it can scan everything around it 3 cars in front 3 cars behind, both sides of the car in all lanes, all at the same time.

[gadget]

if it was really safe speed limits could be increased on many roads.

Computers aren't superman. They can't change the laws of physics when it comes to braking distances (reaction time is a small component at higher speeds) They don't change the fact that children run into the road after balls. They don't stop mechanical failures...

[mfp123]

Computers aren't superman. They can't change the laws of physics when it comes to braking distances (reaction time is a small component at higher speeds) They don't change the fact that children run into the road after balls. They don't stop mechanical failures...

neither do humans. however it can react faster than you can, breaking distances are partly measured by human reaction times. the biggest problem in car accidents is in fact human error.

one example of where this could be applied and is being tested is automated motorways where cars run along more closely in a train.

[MongerOfDoom]

My car is worth about 300 pounds. If it breaks i will have to buy another cheap car as it is all i can afford.

Or you can switch to a self-driving taxi. It will cost a fraction of what taxis cost now, and might be cheaper than just insuring your own car.

How much will these driverless cars be? 50k? 70k? 100k?

Google's business model is to sell their product for the marginal cost of production. That would be about the same as a normal car once laser range finders are mass produced.

And how reliable will they be after 10 years? Would you put your baby daughter in a 10 year old 5 owner driverless car?

And what happens if you want to drive off the road? Say in a field at a large open air concert to park?

And what happens when it snows? Will the car just drive it is id too dangerous? How will it know?

If these are the worst possible problems, there soon won't be a normal car left anywhere.

This thread is full of delusion.

Don't forget the misinformed drivel.

[Goat]

+1

Sure they are very cool but the whole premise of the article is bull.

So driverless cars means HS2 is obsolet? Can it go at 250mph? Does it carry 1000 people every 3 mins? Can you stretch your legs, go to the dining car and have a beer? Is it powered by cheap electricity rather than v expensive oil?

Reeks of ideology: trains =socialism, cars = Freedom

Sounds like a no-brainer doesn't it. London to Manchester in 1hr 10 minutes, nothing is going to compete with that.

The problem is that not many people want to go from London Euston to Manchester Picadilly, they want to go from where they live to where their business appointment is.

An example. Lets say that you live in Maidenhead and need to visit an office in Oldham, this isn't too far off the HS2 route so it should be a fair test. Your actual journey is 45 minutes into Paddington, 45 minutes by tube to Euston, 70 minutes to Manchester Picadilly and another 45 minutes out to Oldham plus say 15 minutes at each end by car/taxi. Total time 3 hours 55 minutes.

Alternatively you can step into your self-driving BMW 5 series and do the whole journey door to door in 3 hours 25 minutes.

Is it powered by cheap electricity rather than v expensive oil?

Does it cost 30 billion quid?

[SpectrumFX]

2. People dont want driverless cars.

I'm not allowed to drive because my vision in't good enough.

A driverless car sounds wonderful to me. The employment oppourtunities it would open up for me would be massive

[gadget]

Sounds like a no-brainer doesn't it. London to Manchester in 1hr 10 minutes, nothing is going to compete with that.

The problem is that not many people want to go from London Euston to Manchester Picadilly, they want to go from where they live to where their business appointment is.

An example. Lets say that you live in Maidenhead and need to visit an office in Oldham, this isn't too far off the HS2 route so it should be a fair test. Your actual journey is 45 minutes into Paddington, 45 minutes by tube to Euston...

Not disputing your general point about the convenience of a car but have to correct you on your specific example. Partly because i'm a pedant but also because it shows another big advantage fast trains have over aircraft (they don't just go between two cities)

In reality a person going from Maidenhead to Oldham would find the london section very easy: Crossrail train to Old Oak Common down an escalator to the HS2 platform.. hop on the train to Manchester....

Does it cost 30 billion quid?

For infrastructure that will last 100 years...

[gadget]

I'm not allowed to drive because my vision in't good enough.

A driverless car sounds wonderful to me. The employment oppourtunities it would open up for me would be massive

Another sector i can see it helping a lot are the elderly...

[Qetesuesi]

Alternatively you can step into your self-driving BMW 5 series and do the whole journey door to door in 3 hours 25 minutes.

It'll be far less than that once driverless cars really embed themselves into the infrastructure - they'll zip along motorways and also be quicker in denser sections of the road network as there'll be no gridlock or even queueing to speak of. So make that more like 2 hours!

[jammo]

They want to hurry up and get these things on the road, 'cause I'm a terrible driver. Never indicate, tailgate, swerve out into the middle of the road regardless of whether I can overtake there or not, park on at least two parking spaces diagonally, send text messages and sometimes full length emails whilst on the go. If the stupid car could drive itself it would be much appreciated.

[HouseDog]

Driverless cars will just increase the work I'm asked to do - as during my driverless daily car commute I will be expected to work.