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Driverless Cars


LarryH57

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With driverless cars being in the news again I often wonder if the designers have thought beyond the actual concept and thought much about how humans would actually use them, so here are a few things you might be able to do with a driverless car - or even a driverless ex-military vehicle.

 

· Drive to the pub in your family car and get completely trashed and then get in the back seat of your car and have a sleep while being driven home.

· Get your car to take your kids to school and pick them up afterwards, taking the stress out of the school run.

· Have your car drop you off at the airport, drive home on its own and come and meet you when you get back from your holiday.

· Have the car drive to the garage on its own for a service and MOT and come back home nicely valeted.

· Have the car drive round to your cheating ‘Ex’ and have them unload all their own possessions so that you don’t have to see their lying face ever again.

· Have the car take your mother in law somewhere, infact anywhere but where you live!

· Perhaps not bother with a driving licence as ‘you’will never need to drive.

· Sue the car manufacturer if your car ever has an accident.

· Sue the software designer if your car ever has an accident.

· Sue the Government in the European Court of Justice on the basis that Car Insurance premiums should be based on the type of car not the person riding in it.

· If the DVLA sends you a photo of the car together with motorway speeding ticket, then claim no one was driving at the time therefore avoiding any points on your license.

· Start a taxi firm and not bother to employ any drivers, thus avoiding bad publicity from zero hours contracts or not paying the minimum wage!

· Send your car on a scenic drive and see the view remotely from the comfort of your own sofa via a dash cam connected to your laptop.

· Race your driverless car against a friend’s driverless car to a point on the map and view them both remotely from the comfort of your own sofa as above

· Send your car abroad and have it drive back later with something or someone in the boot about which you know nothing ‘your honour’

Edited by LarryH57
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Many already seem to assume the car drives itself, whilst they.

1 Chat away on the phone

2 Rock to the beat on their earphones

3 Assume the car will not pull out into oncoming traffic when there is no room.

4 Think the car automatically keeps a safe distance from the one in front

5 Automatically tells the oncoming vehicle it is about to turn in front of it

4 Will park itself when they get out and leave it

5 Is in complete control whilst they are plucking the hair out of their ears (And YES, I have seen that :wow:)

6 Knows the rules about stop at red traffic lights

7 Knows the rules about yellow boxes

8 Will make all the decions whilst they fiddle with paperwork (Last night)

9 Can see in the dark with no lights, (Often)

I could go on , but lifes to short.

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With driverless cars being in the news again I often wonder if the designers have thought beyond the actual concept and thought much about how humans would actually use them, so here are a few things you might be able to do with a driverless car - or even a driverless ex-military vehicle.

 

· Drive to the pub in your family car and get completely trashed and then get in the back seat of your car and have a sleep while being driven home.

· Get your car to take your kids to school and pick them up afterwards, taking the stress out of the school run.

· Have your car drop you off at the airport, drive home on its own and come and meet you when you get back from your holiday.

· Have the car drive to the garage on its own for a service and MOT and come back home nicely valeted.

· Have the car drive round to your cheating ‘Ex’ and have them unload all their own possessions so that you don’t have to see their lying face ever again.

· Have the car take your mother in law somewhere, infact anywhere but where you live!

· Perhaps not bother with a driving licence as ‘you’will never need to drive.

· Sue the car manufacturer if your car ever has an accident.

· Sue the software designer if your car ever has an accident.

· Sue the Government in the European Court of Justice on the basis that Car Insurance premiums should be based on the type of car not the person riding in it.

· If the DVLA sends you a photo of the car together with motorway speeding ticket, then claim no one was driving at the time therefore avoiding any points on your license.

· Start a taxi firm and not bother to employ any drivers, thus avoiding bad publicity from zero hours contracts or not paying the minimum wage!

· Send your car on a scenic drive and see the view remotely from the comfort of your own sofa via a dash cam connected to your laptop.

· Race your driverless car against a friend’s driverless car to a point on the map and view them both remotely from the comfort of your own sofa as above

· Send your car abroad and have it drive back later with something or someone in the boot about which you know nothing ‘your honour’

 

Thats very good Larry, I'd never given it any thought before but they are very good points

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I would say that some of these concerns can be addressed by present law, the important term being "in charge". This still requires a valid license, so no to some of the above.

 

At some point we may well see empty cars scooting about on all manner of errands, just as we were promised in the 1960s. Along with the first extraterrestrial colonies (Moon, then Mars) a cure for Cancer (I think we're getting somewhere with that one) Social Justice...

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Ford are apparently going straight to SAE Level 4 autonomy, which means their cars won't have a steering wheel or pedals. In that case, what's the point of a licence, as you won't be able to control the car anyway? I can see a future where it's only collectors of old vehicles (including MVs) who need a licence, which will become increasingly difficult and expensive to obtain.

 

Andy

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Frankly I have a lot of reservations about this.

1. Assuming you can have control, you will have to be even more vigilant because you will not have much time to react when you realise the car has not seen a large truck etc.

2.If you do have an accident there will be a huge army of lawyers to argue that it was not the car manufacturers or computer people to blame.

3. If there is an electronic 'tacho' to keep a check on what has been done how will you know it has not had a 'cheat' built in?

 

Do you really want to entrust your safety and that of others to a 'box' that would, given half a chance record Corrie instead of East Enders!

Martin

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3. If there is an electronic 'tacho' to keep a check on what has been done how will you know it has not had a 'cheat' built in?

 

Do you really want to entrust your safety and that of others to a 'box' that would, given half a chance record Corrie instead of East Enders!

Martin

 

A lot of commercial companies and more insurance companies do just that. The problem is you then 'Drive to the Box' not to the road and weather conditions. My lot installed such a system about five or six years ago. To quote the MD at the time 'Turned out there would have been better ways of spending £6,00,000. All the results showed us was you lot drive well'. :-D

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If we are talking fully autonomous vehicles (no wheel or pedals or gear shift etc.) then control of the vehicle must be passed "up the line" so to speak Either a central or interlinked regional control centre(s) will be needed to manage traffic flow. So the first issue that springs to mind is security. Imagine if you will motorways filled with cars, vans & trucks, all fully autonomous, guided by these control centres. A terrorist faction takes control of one of these centres and routes on-coming traffic into the opposite lane whilst dialling the speed up to max. The resulting carnage would make driving a 40 tonner into a crowd seem like a baby party.

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At the current level of Autonomy, we have ABS. One real problem with buses is that leaves etc pile up at the kerb. As you come into stop you as a driver are aiming at specfic spot. Then one wheel will hit the sludge and lock, resulting in the ABS unlocking the brakes, which then causes the vehicle to roll on, with nothing you can do about. Notice manaufactueres-probably through no choice of theirs - have to put in a warning that Braking performance can be impaired in slippery conditions. Research tends to show that people 'pass the buck' to the automation, wasn't me !! The machine went wrong. Society aims to make things foolproof. Humanity responds by improving the Fool. Self guided autonomus vehicles were demonstrated in Woolwich a few years back. so were guided bus ways. Both failed due to relaibilty of equipment. OK so that may well improve, but I can't see it happening soon.

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The other thought about these types of vehicles is, presumably they will opperate in a defensive roll, so when they all get to a mini roundabout which one will go or do they all stop there forever !!!

So if they do drive defenceably then a "manual" driven vehicle would be able to intimidate all the driverless vehicles.

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It is a ludicrous idea, might work on major trunk/motorway/autobahn/interstate, but imagine on narrow roads where vehicles have to pass parked vehicles, obstacles, it is often signals between vehicles allowing them to pass or give way. No good flashing lights or waving if there is no frigging driver. Just wait for the first fatal accident, then people will turn away from the idea. I imagine that it relies a lot on satellite communication as well. I would not wish to be in one, nor meet one.

What happens in an accident, who carries the blame? Will the vehicle lose its licence or the owner? The price of these vehicles with all the technology will be a turn off for the majority of drivers too.

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It is not going to be stopped in it's tracks , it is coming probably later than sooner , during the transition stage , I see a need for :-

 

https://www.johnrichardssurplus.co.uk/defender-bumper-flag-holder-rrc5450.html

 

 

I cannot see that a driverless vehicle is going to take notice of a bumper flag !

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I cannot see that a driverless vehicle is going to take notice of a bumper flag !

 

I was thinking about self and others in same mind - stick with conventional vehicle until law demands otherwise , IMHO , during the transition period (that I may live to see) - there may be a massive clamour by such people demanding flags to be mounted on driverless vehicles , then you can do your best to steer clear of ,,

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As I see it having a driverless car is like having a robot to do your morning jog round the park; it sort of takes away the sense and the enjoyment!

 

The article on the Tesla fatal crash now seems to suggest that a driverless car will in fact need a human to be on board and be fully alert, which is like having a drone flying over Syria with a pilot on board! Actually the less a driver has to do the greater the temptation to fall asleep, so on a motorway at night a driverless car 'driver' is going to drop off for sure which might be OK most of the time but not ALL of the time, especially when it needs to react to your usual exit of the M-way being conned off without warning!

 

The point about the Tesla car confusing a white truck with the sky is also interesting in that the NATO Green on my Lwt is an almost exact match for the colour of darkness on an unlit road!

 

I like R Cubed's point about Mini roundabouts; four cars at the junction sitting there waiting politely!

 

Also imagine if a driverless car follows the satnav down a road where a tree has fallen over; will it just sit there waiting for it to be moved? And if something movable like a dustbin or a sign is blown in to the road by the wind; will the driverless car deal with it like a human; ie get out and move it or be too well programmed not to drive round it on to the other side of the road?

 

Would a driverless car drive through a flooded section of road that we humans might assess as shallow enough to do?

Edited by LarryH57
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So we end up as a society that wants to be independent and have a car rather that use the bus or train and now we are going to hand that independence to a machine? I wish I was a good hacker you could find the cars of people you don't like and lock the doors and drive them off cliffs. I don't want to quote the famous saying but "we are all doomed" haha as a species we are going backwards as tech takes over! as I type this on my laptop! ;)

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there is no way to stop this, how I see it is that we will no longer own our own cars we will just book journeys. Cars will reside in local areas, side streets parking lots charging themselves up ready to go anywhere they are asked to go. the process is just automation. they can see what is ahead behind above and under themselves, they can do this in fog rain snow any sort of weather, extreme sunlight is tricky so it seems for tesla's. However that will all be resolved, they will be centrally monitored and I suspect we will see competing companies running the cars. because the cars will be used for travelling from a-b they will not need to be mega monsters like an Audi Q7 or Range Rover etc...i suspect we will still have luxury models but they will be of a different size. Because of the ability of computers to act so much faster than humans we will be able to travel at greater speeds and all closer together than currently, even maybe having cars attach themselves to other cars heading to the same or similar location...roads will be less congested and safer, there will still be accidents there has to be, things happen that cannot be accounted for but the computer will always react quicker than we can and then its just physics...i also forsee that along with such matters work places will become local, with less reliance on central offices and more reliance on communication devices, ultra fast internet and comms links. we will see our old cars slowly disappear until they are not allowed on the road at all. we will have to have them all in my cold war museum....he he...

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PauloB1, you are so right everything in the future will be so much better!

 

I remember seeing Tomorrows World on TV and even earlier programmes in 1960s which clearly showed that with the use of computers and robots by the year 2000 we would all spend our days as 'leisure time' perhaps casually monitoring the out put from the factory floor or the automated office, before returning to the gym or restaurant!

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I remember those days too, but I think this is not really the future it is the now, autonomous cars are here, and its only a matter of time before the laws change to make them useable beyond trials, we have the technology, this is nothing new or special its just more of what we already have...even robots are coming, personal assistants, hmm make mine blond and with very long legs...the future is now...we are the lucky ones we have done the big V8's and the freedom to motor where we like when we like, and use petrol and diesel in our cars at very low prices...not sure that freedom is going to be possible for the ever expanding population in the future...

 

I am now just thinking I will buy myself my last monster petrol car, something silly and crazy because I suspect in a few years you wont be able to...its just what to get...I keep wanting to go for something like a ferret or a saracen, or a CVRT, but I already have these, guess I will look at something like an R8 or a Gallardo, or a Vantage etc etc...who knows...will have to see....

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At what point do the driverless vehicles relise they dont need humans to be run about to the office where a computer system is running the production of newer and more advanced robots to replace the human race.......... Hmmm Terminator rings a bell. Give it 30 40 years and I can see it hapening.

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