The driverless cars are coming! THE DRIVERLESS CARS ARE COMING!!!

[motion]

Next year, the Chevy Bolt will have no driver controls. Too early?

https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/12/gm-fully-autonomous-car-no-wheel-2018/

[petrolhead611]

I think for at least the fist five years they should have a man waving a red flag walking in front of these cars.
It worked in England for a few years around 1896

[JD159]

Honestly, no, not too soon. Anything they roll out will be better than the countless people I see driving with their head down and one hand on the phone texting.

[kach22i]

Scares me but as already noted so many drivers are driving distracted that it's the norm now.

[motion]

Fluff video from GM. You would think they would at least show it driving around a parking lot.

[vash]

bring it.

we are already transitioning the entire state over to a 6" wide traffic stripe..all for the auto-car.

[Jim Richards]

How can driverless cars be any worse than cars w/ today’s drivers?

[dafischer]

I'd rather be the master of my own destiny when on 4 wheels, thank you very much.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I've said this before - I for one welcome it! People have proven that we have (collectively) gotten too incompetent to operate motor vehicles as part of an efficient transportation system. The system needs to get MUCH better, MUCH more efficient at eliminating delays (simply adding more pavement and slapping up more signs and lights doesn't work), MUCH better at safety, MUCH better at encouraging multi-occupant vehicle use, etc. This goes hand-in-hand with a cultural change.

For decades, transportation officials have (largely unsuccessfully) waged a war against private vehicle ownership and in particular, single-occupant car use in urban areas. The entrenched lobbies (car manufacturers, big oil, big insurance - to say nothing of of governments that profiteer off of it mightily and have constituents that own auto repair shops, dealerships, parts distributors, etc.) are too strong and there is simply no way that Americans are going to get on city buses with their "ghetto" stigma now that we've had a few decades of the taste of having our OWN cars and more importantly, an expectation that we'll have private (or at least semi-private) ability to go where we want, when we want - and not on a "tagged" hard plastic, injection-molded seat.

The self-driving cars are a solution to this. They can whiz along at high speeds bumper-to-bumper mere inches away from another vehicle with no / minimal risk on highways. They can be dispatched to pick up multiple occupants who simply ride in different compartments of the same vehicle (semi-private / shared). They can enable people who are disabled or elderly and unable to drive a conventional vehicle to feel more self-reliant, no longer dependent on shuttles or expensive transport services. They can bring kids to school when you can't (no more need for busses / bus drivers clogging the roads at 7AM!) They can give a lot more flexibility to "single-car" households (take the car to the supermarket and send it empty to pick up your son from soccer practice, drive him home, then come back and get you when you're done). It will reduce costs for the end-user and has the potential to KILL the profiteering by the big oil distributors and the insurance companies who have been fleecing us for decades. They will allow us to sit back, relax, crack a beer and read a book, sleep or whatever else while we're chauffeured to our destination. No more sitting / stewing in traffic, no more wasted time. Much more predictable arrival times / schedules.

For all these reasons and more, I welcome them. I will keep my "old fashioned" manual car and motorcycle for as long as I can, but I'll DEFINITELY embrace the self-drivers for daily / mundane / not "fun" use.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by NotaBRG

It will be much easier to 'merge' in front of them.

I'm sure they'll leave at least a cars length in front of them and hit the brakes as soon as you cut them off making plenty of room for the next guy to do the same.

The I5 express lanes in Seattle are very bad for this. The exit is backed up a mile long with people who don't use it every day. And those in the know wait until the last second to dive in.

This is EXACTLY the kind of idiotic behavior that needs to be eliminated, improving the efficiency and safety of the entire system.

I've seen CHP sit at offramps in CA and nail people for doing exactly this - and I cheered them doing so!

[motion]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I've seen CHP sit at offramps in CA and nail people for doing exactly this - and I cheered them doing so!

I had no idea this was illegal!

[ckelly78z]

No way will I ever own one, but then again, I keep the phone out of my hand, and my eyes on the road/other traffic. I do see so many other drivers being unable to drive a city block without communicating with all of their freinds/family, and also putting makeup on, shaving, eating, or watching youtube videos.

Most of us here want it for all the other drivers on the road, not neccesarily for ourselves, this is a Porsche driving community forum after all.

[manbridge 74]

So what. Can’t wait to be able to freely merge whenever I want. Gonna be awesome sauce...

[JD159]

I have a ton of traffic where I live on the highways. I can drive myself to the grocery store, but I would love something that can get me from the ramp to the off ramp and vice versa.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by NotaBRG

It will be much easier to 'merge' in front of them.

I'm sure they'll leave at least a cars length in front of them and hit the brakes as soon as you cut them off making plenty of room for the next guy to do the same.

The I5 express lanes in Seattle are very bad for this. The exit is backed up a mile long with people who don't use it every day. And those in the know wait until the last second to dive in.

I'm assuming you mean at the northbound express lane entrance before the Senecca offramp.

People slow down at the express lane entrance because there is a slight rise in the road there. I wonder if, with no cars in front of it, a driverless car would slow down in the same place?

[gtc]

I can't wait until my girlfriend and I can replace her mother's Prius with something driverless.

For that matter, I can't wait until all Prius' are driverless. That would be amazing. There are lots of people that should not be driving, but want to have the convenience of owning a car.

[Seahawk]

Eliminating the ability to take control of the car and drive it is a mistake at this point.

I have no issue with "driverless" cars, zippy. But every system needs a series of back-ups and fail-safes.

Not being able, at this juncture, to at least accept control of the vehicle and drive off the road in case of failure (electrical, navigation, comms, sensors, etc.) is unwise.

I will never own a vehicle I cannot optionally drive.

[motion]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Eliminating the ability to take control of the car and drive it is a mistake at this point.

I have no issue with "driverless" cars, zippy. But every system needs a series of back-ups and fail-safes.

Not being able, at this juncture, to at least accept control of the vehicle and drive off the road in case of failure (electrical, navigation, comms, sensors, etc.) is unwise.

I will never own a vehicle I cannot optionally drive.

There's an app for that

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by motion

There's an app for that

There will be

"Driverless" is a bit of a misnomer. A human will have to tell/agree with the car on what they want (at least for the next five years or so) in terms of addresses, routes, gas on board, etc, etc...very similar to what I do with unmanned air vehicles. There will be a checklist.

The capabilities and redundancy of auto pilots and nav systems available today is really astounding.

As a pilot physically manipulating the controls, I am simply no longer needed. Trons are better and didn't stay up late last night, are not stressed, etc.

That part is easy, getting easier everyday. I am working with NGC on swarming UAS, machine learning, etc. since I have a UAV they want.

It is the failure modes that make non-control impossible for me to accept. Things will go wrong, internal and external to the driverless car that will require human intervention, often at 100 feet per second.

I am not, after watching the unmanned Moore's Law the past 15 years, worried about the routine, in fact welcome it. I would really like to get some work done on I80!

I want to be able to influence my fate, however, when the system cannot.

Think of it this way as well, not in extremis at 100 feet per second.

You go out to your car and there is a failure in a second nav system required for driverless redundancy and the car needs to go in for service. How are you going to get it there? Cell towers are down, GPS is unavailable: You are sitting in a brick.

Stuff happens and I want a role in the solution.

[GH85Carrera]

No doubt the airlines want to have an airliner fly to the destination without pilots. I can imagine the day some tatted up and pierced kid with purple hair goes into the cockpit with a USB thumb drive and uploads the new destination to the airplane and waves at the passengers and gets off.

Like Paul said, it will be a long time before I am willing to sit in a car with no controls and no possibility of a human driver. I plan to drive my old 1980s relics with no GPS, no ABS, no traction control or tire pressure monitors for many more years. When I can't drive myself anymore I might get an autonomous car. Most likely by then private ownership will not be needed. Just use an App like Uber and a driver-less car shows up and takes you to your destination. No more purchase, maintenance or insurance, just pay as you go.