SW17LS

Not all roads are in cities.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

no they won't need to, or essentially there will be no point. some might out of curiosity, or their parents 'make' them, or for some special purpose. i previously thought human driving will be INCREDIBLY expensive, because humans would be the most dangerous thing on the road, but i don't think that's the case now for mainstream vehicles then, because it simply won't be possible to override the safety systems that could predict disaster way ahead of the driver. but then, if someone really wants to drive an 'antique' car that doesn't have all the (then) safety gear, i believe that's going to cost a bundle for insurance, thus making it out of reach for most.

yes it will, it already is, and no you don't. see volvo's page/video for one example of how close they are:
http://www.volvocars.com/intl/about/...ving/drive-me#

now maybe you don't like the idea of self-driving cars, but they're coming either way and make all the sense in the world for almost endless reasons.

mmarshall

Och makes some good points. He is basically correct that the rhetoric about self-driving cars is far ahead of the actuality.....and is likely to be for quite some time. Don't forget, were were also told that we would have amphibicars (combination car/boat), flying cars that were combination car/airplane (with a pilot's license, I would have been interested in one of those) , cars that ran on water, cars that ran on solar power alone, cars that ran on what was virtually perpetual motion without fuel, and a number of other pie-in the-sky ideas. Most of these ideas, with very few exceptions, wound up more in fantasyland than reality. While the same conclusion for autonomous-driving cars is not necessarily guaranteed, overall, things don't bode well for it, especially in the short run.

I do think, however, that self-driving cars would ultimately be a good idea for those who are too old, too weak, too injured, or otherwise not able to drive themselves in a normal manner (and we're all going to face that some day, as we age). But, even then, there are a lot of very big problems to overcome, much of them with liability issues.

Fizzboy7

Not sure about the future, but I sure as heck enjoy driving. Doing it right, doing it safe, efficiently, and without hassle is a very good feeling. It is also a mastered skill that builds massive confidence. When you have a good driving record, drive many miles, help prevent accidents, reduce gridlock, and your car does not give you problems, it is a very rewarding feeling. I pitty those in the future who may not be able to experience and master this major responsibility.

RocketGuy3

iTrader: (1)

I will go on record as saying, yes, some kids born today will never have to learn how to drive when they would have if they were born five years earlier.

Not all, though... Autonomous cars will be common, but certainly not yet ubiquitous within a couple decades.

RocketGuy3

iTrader: (1)

Driving is fun in certain situations (especially at the track), but this is old man thinking. When people no longer have to drive, the world will be better for it.

I can imagine some old fogies in the early 20th/late 19th century saying they "pity" people who will never have to learn how to ride a horse...

Fizzboy7

Possibly. Possibly not. It is like today's youth generation being raised on cell phones and ipods. Little interaction with the outside world, less speech skills, less social skills, stunted emotional skills, less survival and independent skills. Driving is similar, in that you gain skills and strengths that you cannot gain elsewhere in the real world. That is truly a pity. Today's young generation is not better off in many regards. I see this in my work profession daily. We sell products that are hands on and do not give instant gratification. Kids 20 years ago loved it, now today don't get it.

G Star

iTrader: (2)

Yea, we're still decades away from level 5 fully autonomous driving.

So 16 years from now, we will still have humans controlling vehicles.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Even outside of the cities the idea of self driving cars is utter lunacy. I'll give you a few examples just off the top of my head, from my personal experience.

Driving on a highway with a truck in front of me. I see there is a huge chunk of ice about to fall off his roof so I slow the hell down and stay way behind him.

A truck by mistake gets on passenger car only highway with low bridges. I know his about to hit the bridge, so I speed up and pass him.

My front tire bursts to shreds at ~85mph, with traffic behind me on a two lane highway. I let go of the gas, don't touch the brake, and hold the steering wheel hard so I don't lose control. There was a truck behind me that I just passed, driven by an experienced driver. He quickly realized the situation, put his truck in the middle of two lanes blocking other traffic from passing us and let me slow down and get off the highway to safety.

There are simply too many situations in the real world where human driver would need to take over control, therefore the idea of self driving car is a lunacy and liability. Maybe a drive assist, but even with assist the driver needs to pay attention to the road and take over control when situation requires so. But even assist is a terrible idea, because the "drivers" are going to be encouraged to play with their smart devices instead of concentrating on the road, until disaster strikes.

Och

iTrader: (3)

When a driver causes a disaster, or fails to prevent a disaster, the driver can be held liable. Who is going to be liable in self driving car accidents? How do you deal with mechanical failures that computer doesn't see. What if self driving car has summer tires and loses control on snowy roads? Will we have self driving motorcycles too?

​​​​​​​I think you need to visit NYC.

plex

iTrader: (11)

Imagine a future where all the cars communicate with each other then go over that scenario again. Cars communicating with each other may sound somewhat far fetched and even be considered an invasion of privacy but it's really not that far fetched. Some cars come standard with WiFi only a matter of time, in that scenario the autonomous truck won't get on the car only highway in the first place because the computers will know the height restriction based on the planned routes. Let's say it did have human driver that could over ride autodrive let's call it but the truck still communicates with other vehicles the other vehicles would adjust because they will see that the truck is on the wrong route. Think the internet of everything but include cars, every single device from watches to houses to cars all connected to each other. Self learning algorithms and analytics are evolving faster than people realize, organizations are collecting TB of data aka Big Data and use software to learn and predict patterns of human behavior.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Again, its all nice and peachy in the perfect world. The GPS software often makes mistakes, can lead one to a wrong place, and can sure as hell send a truck on a road with low bridges. The world will never be perfect and even with self driving cars there needs to be a human operator who can be held liable for accidents that could've been prevented.

plex

iTrader: (11)

Humans make more mistakes than machines. Which GPS software "often makes mistakes" I use Waze daily and it has yet to let me down even when I doubted it when it found a better route. I understand your doubts I see automation happening at a very fast pace in other areas like Amazon's Go grocery store that replaced cashiers with an entire automated process. Even within my own work environment where I deal with electronic physical security I see newer cameras with smarter software that catch irregular activity more than an officer sitting in front of the same video screen who is more than likely distracted by their smart device. Machines and software don't get distracted like Humans. We have become so caught up with social media and other tools on our smart devices that driving is actually the distraction and not the other way around.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Try GPS software in rural areas and it will often lead you to wrong places. In big cities with a bunch of sky scrappers GPS often loses signal. GPS often leads you on very inefficient routes, and so on. Good luck with GPS in less developed countries.

Machines can be very efficient at certain tasks, but there are always software bugs and machines can never be intelligent. Of course a lot of people are not exactly intelligent either, and those types who interact on social media while being distracted by driving are going to be dealt a lesson in life.

plex

iTrader: (11)

I've done my fair share of traveling both in and out of the US. I used Google Maps in rural Uganda and Rwanda with no issues. Those are considered less developed countries and I made out not saying it's the same everywhere. Machines are already intelligent and continue to evolve I understand the doubt and resistance but in time you will see. A lot going on with Artificial Intelligence (AI) that you may not be aware of. Never say never.