Self Driving Cars . . .

[blastoff]

I really enjoy driving so I wouldn't be for it as an option, but I guess it'll be standard equipment at some point like A/C, ABS, etc. these days.

However, if it improves the overall driving experience by making up for the shortcomings of many idiots on the roads today I'm all for it and the sooner the better!

 

[Granny]

I'll tell you - I like to maintain control of my vehicle - and like Zoom-Boing, I dread the day I will have to give up driving and rely on someone else to take me where I need to go. Cell phones and texting have become such a problem ... and car manufacturers are adding more and more stuff to distract drivers - dash boards look more like flight panels these days. I actually saw a car a couple weeks ago that scared the hell out of me - not only did it have a tiny little headlight with little lights around it that looked like lit-up mascara, a second look had me seeing arcs of little lights over the "eyeball" that looked like eyebrows. So help me God, the damned car had frigging eyebrows!! I don't know what kind of car - and I don't want to know what kind of car it was. It's bad enough there are no car inspections in TN (at least not in my part of TN) and people are driving with plastic over windows, ropes holding doors shut, no lights on at dawn, dusk, or in rain, snow, fog, or anything else ... I'm sorry ... turning these fools loose with a driverless vehicle might be just a bit more than I could take.

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

. . . why would anyone ever want to make this a standard? Who would want to give up driving? I do not look forward to the day when I am too old to be able to drive myself. <shudders> Hadn't even given any thought to what this article brings up but absolutely, I'd be puking in the back seat!


Study Self-Driving Cars Will Cause Motion Sickness Often to Always Observer

This is an inevitable innovation to automobiles. Have you ever seen the movie iRobot? That's kind of how I envision driving will be in the future. Cars will go at much higher speeds, but will be computerized and self driven. I imagine when I'm an old fuddy duddy I'll be telling my grandkids about the days I actually had to drive a car on my own instead of it doing it by itself.

And they would be safer. Much, much safer, with accident rates at about 0%. Eliminating the human equation from driving is something I look forward to as well.

 

[Granny]

I don't know - mechanical things are not foolproof - look at all the recalls we are having for ignitions, faulty air bags, stuck accelerators, etc. Last December we had a horrific school bus accident right before Christmas if I remember correctly. One bus going in one direction made a sudden left turn, went over a cement median divider and hit a bus going in the opposite direction right in the mid-section. Two children and a teacher killed, many other injured who were treated and released. We haven't heard anything else - accident reconstruction, ongoing investigations, etc. - until yesterday when we learned the driver of the errant bus had died at home. Then it came out that that driver had been frigging sending and receiving text messages while driving - with all those children on his bus for whose safety he was responsible - and he hit another bus killing 3 people. His death is now being investigated by the coroner's office, the DA had the ungodly job of telling parents and the school superintendent there would be no criminal charges brought since the driver had died ... but the civil suits are already in the works.

As people blithely roll down the highways in full confidence of their driverless vehicles while they text, use their wi-fi for work projects, watch movies or whatever the hell catches their fancy - and their driverless vehicles "sense" some emergency and slams on brakes - are they going to sustain injuries or worse because they didn't fasten their seatbelts or just weren't prepared to take evasive action on their own? What would be the outcome if it were some computer chip malfunction that "sensed" an emergency when there was none?