Autonomous driving

[rickyang]

Given the opportunity, would you prefer your car to drive for you or drive yourself? 

 

Personally I would prefer the car to do the driving, especially on my 110 mile per day commute and suspect that traffic would be a thing of the past too, that is if all cars drove themselves.

[Ootohere]

Easier to build homes near work places and provide proper public transport and leave the roads clear for Caravaners who like to tow their homes behind Autonomous Vehicles.

?

How many more years from 2017 until the British Isles has Mobile Phone, Internet, GPS or even Radio reception covering every area?

Edited 4 January, 2017 by Offski

[Breezy_Pete]

Drive myself, without a shadow of a doubt.

[Ryeman]

It'd be the death of a lot of forums (fora?) surely.

[Huskoda]

It would be the death of insurance companies. We would only need one car instead of two. Our running costs should go down quite a lot.

 

But you can take the wheel from my cold, dead hands.

 

I don't think manually driven cars will ever go away, too many people need them - farmers, rescue services, motorsports etc. At absolute worst case they simply wouldn't be licensed for public roads.

[KenONeill]

On my local roads, I'd want to drive myself, but Tesla or similar quality driver assist I'd happily let make any decision other than cruising speed in free running traffic on dual carriageway (yes and Special Roads).

[Girardi]

I'll have a cheap one to keep in the garage and pick me up from the pub. Other than that one small use case - no, no way, no way in hell would I prefer some auto car to drive.

Live is as much about the journey as it is about the destination - and I'm afraid for me it's the same with driving.

[Breezy_Pete]

This idea of being driven home from the pub when drunk makes no sense to me.

You'd still be the person in charge of the motor vehicle (from a legal/insurance point of view), so would still need to be sober (enough to pass a breath test anyway).

[Ryeman]

At least Apple wouldn't be sued for causing distracted driving perhaps

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1108108_texas-couple-sues-apple-because-facetime-is-a-distraction-to-drivers#src=10065

[RobClubley]

In stop/start traffic I loved being driven by the E220d Merc I tested. Completely relaxing.

But on the open road, I want to drive.

[skomaz]

Autonomous - no thanks, not ever!!!!

[Ryeman]

The intention is to remove the steering wheel completely

[RobClubley]

The intention is to remove the steering wheel completely

 

[Ryeman]

^^^^^^^ Charlton H?.

[KenONeill]

The intention is to remove the steering wheel completely

Not until you can eliminate all case like the Tesla that "didn't see" the truck turning in front of it, and the Google car that decided a bus would give way to it...

[Ryeman]

Not until you can eliminate all case like the Tesla that "didn't see" the truck turning in front of it, and the Google car that decided a bus would give way to it...

A minor teething problem as far as the promoters are concerned and, in any case, the safety statistics overall are probably on the pushers side......particularly Saturday nights

[VRS Mike]

taken this from a post I saw on Facebook

 

Autonomous Cars: In 2018 the first self-driving cars will appear for the public. Around 2020, the complete industry will start to be disrupted. You don't want to own a car anymore. You will call a car with your phone, it will show up at your location and drive you to your destination. You will not need to park it, you only pay for the driven distance and can be productive while driving. Our kids will never get a driver's license and will never own a car. It will change the cities, because we will need 90-95% fewer cars for that. We can transform former parking space into parks. 1.2 million people die each year in car accidents worldwide. We now have one accident every 100,000 km, with autonomous driving that will drop to one accident in 10 million km. That will save a million lives each year.

Most car companies may become bankrupt. Traditional car companies try the evolutionary approach and just build a better car, while tech companies (Tesla, Apple, Google) will do the revolutionary approach and build a computer on wheels. I spoke to a lot of engineers from Volkswagen and Audi; they are completely terrified of Tesla.

Insurance Companies will have massive trouble because without accidents, the insurance will become 100x cheaper. Their car insurance business model will disappear.

It will more than likely be the norm for the next generation

[Breezy_Pete]

Lol.

[Aspman]

I'd like the option. But tbh I'd expect the driver to be required to be 'in control at all times' for quite a while yet. A bit like the Tesla autopilot. It's driving but you have to have your hands on the wheel to take over. That sort of thing will be wround very soon. I'll be surprised if the next S class merc doesn't have it.

 

But in theory I'd like to have the option to switch the car over to auto for dull bits of the journey but I'd want to be able to snooze / watch a film etc.

 

My prediction is that there will be autopilot lanes on large motorways. You'd need to have an approved car to go in the lane and once in the car would take over and there would be communication between the road and the car so that the cars would be able to drive much closer together.

 

It'll probably start with automated transport lanes for freight. Driver will pick up the lorry at a depot at either end of the motorway to drive into town but the longest bits will be automated.

[TriggerFish]

My biggest fear for integration to current roads is how does it react with human drivers?

 

Sure, it can respond to my braking etc., but like mentioned above, how does it know if I'll give way to it or force my way through? Will it reverse if I block its path for whatever reason? If all cars were 'smart' and could communicate their intentions it could work (what technology would they use? Something on 2.4Ghz, but nothing existing would fit the bill to my knowledge. Bluetooth/Zigbee = too slow, WiFi would likely become too saturated channel wise...), but what if it comes across a non-smart car, or a bike, or something? How will they know that the car overtaking everything behind is a police car on an emergency?

 

I like the idea of driver assists - like the Tesla, and others have, but I'm not too keen on a totally driverless car as the roads stand.

 

That said, if I didn't have to 'drive' into Oxford each day, that'd be nice. (I know there's a bus option, but...)

Edited 5 January, 2017 by TriggerFish

[Ryeman]

Lower cost of autonomous driving tech is only going to help bring it sooner

http://www.autonews.com/article/20170108/OEM06/301089998/waymo-cutting-lidar-costs-by-90-building-up-hardware-suite?cciid=email-autonews-asdetroit

[Ryeman]

Audi claim self driving cars by 2020

First step to eliminating steering wheel and the ratbag drivers who cost us so dearly

http://www.marke****ch.com/video/sectorwatch/nvidia-and-audi-predict-self-driving-car-by-2020/B57B8C21-1E20-4391-B295-066335ADB792.html

[abo]

I really wouldn't mind, as long as I could take control when I wanted. I do ~600 motorway miles per week and I'd quite happily chill out and let the car do the motorway bit, as long as I could do the driving at either end and take over from the computer on the motorway if I needed to, or just felt like driving for a bit.

[Ryeman]

Cars talking to each other 

http://canada.autonews.com/article/20170309/CANADA01/303099941/cadillac-to-soon-roll-out-v2v-safety-tech-in-cts-in-canada?cciid=email-autonews-weekly

[Ryeman]

Beats me how you can transition to fully autonomous standards.

How are they going to deal with the problem of some drivers zoning out, or even falling asleep when others aren't driving similar vehicles or they are in the same state?.

Uber suspends self-driving cars after Arizona crash
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39397211