Coming Sooner Than We Think (Autonomous Cars)

[jyl]

Watch this video - car is a Chevy Bolt.

GM releases second Chevy Bolt EV autonomous driving video

There has been an explosion in autonomous (self driving) car development. It used to be just a Google research project. Now every automaker is working on it. And it appears to be something well within the capabilities of many - GM, in this case. The AI can handle complex and unexpected situations - jaywalking, construction, double parking, San Francisco urban traffic - with just onboard sensors, no need for the detailed mapping that was once thought necessary. The legal framework for autonomous cars is also being created, and the political forces have clearly lined up to support the technology. Is an elected official going to listen to the entire automotive and tech industry, or to some cab drivers who will soon be obsolete?

So . . . It is looking like your or my next car purchase could be autonomous, if that purchase is a few more years out and we're going to buy a higher end car. Suppose that's in 2023? How might that change your plans?

Still going to buy that new car next year? Or just keep driving the current one until an autonomous model is available?

[motion]

Yes, its coming along quickly. A couple years ago, it was just Google accumulating experience. Now, we have many companies piling on millions of miles gathering intelligence. I think they should designate Detroit as the free-for-all autonomous city.

I'd like to know how it got around the parked truck at 2:30.

[Tobra]

My niece could tell you all about that stuff. Kinda freaky how smart she is. They are pretty advanced, apparently.


It is not so bad now, but when a 5 or 6 year old kid is telling her 3 year old brother how you can tell the pool float is not an alligator, it is a crocodile, how you can recognize the difference, that they have been around like a quarter million years or something, what dinosaurs they are closely related to, and where you might find fossils of the aforementioned dinosaurs. She is brutal at trivial pursuit

[GH85Carrera]

I will continue to drive as long as I enjoy it. Someday in the future when I get to the age of bad vision and poor driving skills a car that can drive itself will be great.

Right now, there are many millions of drivers that NEED a self driving car. Maybe if someone gets two tickets for distracted driving and reckless driving the penalty is they are forced to give up driving and have to use a taxi, Uber, or an autonomous car. Yea, that will happen.

[jyl]

I'd like an autonomous car. Drive the 911 when I want to have fun, "drive" the AI car when I just need to get from A to B.

Usually we keep cars for a decade or more. The wife's Prius is 11 years old . . .

Probably going to be some good values on lightly used high end non-AI cars in 5 years.

Cab and Uber drivers have no political power. Truck drivers, on the other hand . . . they might be tougher to eliminate . . . Will truckers be cutting off AI trucks, will fuel stops be refusing to serve them, will truckers be blocking roads?

Eventually we'll have 5 MM unemployed commercial drivers, many older, most with no marketable skills. They won't be helped by the US manufacturing renaissance if you think there will be one, those factories will be as automated as possible, jobs per $1 MM of output will be very low.

[Jim Richards]

I'm holding out for my Jetsons-style personal flying saucer.

[vash]

i'll need one tonight after having my limited 3 glasses of pliny the younger at Russian River Brewery.
(i usually tap out after two glasses - that two hour wait is fun, but not that fun)

[MBAtarga]

I wonder what the "real-time" video of that car driving looks like. Seems to me it would be painfully slow.

[island911]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

...
Right now, there are many millions of drivers that NEED a self driving car.

Not sure that I agree. As it is now the herd drivers are fairly predictable. Do you know how quickly self-drivers might, say, change lanes? AI can get creative too. Especially when it modifies/controls the pack.

[Fast Freddy 944]

I hear tell those robotic cars are easily hacked, so ill pass!

[island911]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

I'm holding out for my Jetsons-style personal flying saucer.

Sounds like you should move to Dubai ...https://phys.org/news/2017-02-passenger-carrying-drone-dubai.html

[jyl]

It is interesting to consider that the kids currently in elementary school could be the last generation of teens where nearly 100% get their drivers' licenses.

Far fetched? Suppose that in 5 years AI cars are available for purchase and in 10 years AI is a common feature. And suppose the family owns all AI cars and never has any need to drive a non-AI car. And suppose that AI taxi/Uber rides are always available and cheap. Would the teenager then have any particular interest in learning to drive?

After all, kids stopped learning to ride horses. Many teens now don't learn to drive manual transmission cars. It isn't that uncommon for teens in Manhattan to not learn to drive until later when they move elsewhere. My daughter didn't learn to drive until she went away to college, in Portland she felt no need to drive.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

I wonder what the "real-time" video of that car driving looks like. Seems to me it would be painfully slow.

Driving in that area of SF is painfully slow, human or AI.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by island911

Not sure that I agree. As it is now the herd drivers are fairly predictable. Do you know how quickly self-drivers might, say, change lanes? AI can get creative too. Especially when it modifies/controls the pack.

Does it matter how quickly the AI car changes lanes, as long as it doesn't collide with or impede another vehicle?

[mreid]

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is now all about connected cars and homes, the pointed out that a kid born today will live to 150 and never get a drivers license.

Sounds like the definition of hell to me.

[KNS]

The day will come when owning an old Porsche (or Jag, Corvette, etc.) will be what owning a horse and going riding is like today.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by KNS

The day will come when owning an old Porsche (or Jag, Corvette, etc.) will be what owning a horse and going riding is like today.

Or the day when any other road vehicle will be banned.
Politicians are money puppets - keep in mind.

[manbridge 74]

The moral algorithms will be their downfall. Who wants to be in a vehicle that might terminate the occupants instead of mowing down some worthless junkie?

No thanks..

[john70t]

Just because:
-it is conveniently right next to you,
-all the time,
-and you're restless and horny,
-does not mean you should automatically begin engaging in a meaningful long term relationship.

As a human brain, you will always have free will.

[JD159]

Originally Posted by manbridge 74

The moral algorithms will be their downfall. Who wants to be in a vehicle that might terminate the occupants instead of mowing down some worthless junkie?

No thanks..

Which is why companies are programming them to save the driver.