Will you trust autonomous car to drive you?

[user 10599]

Intriguing posts.

One thing I see autonomous cars not being good at is defensive driving that involve something more creative than applying brakes or a swerve. I have been in situations where the correct solution to what was going on was to accelerate. While it is not often, the circumstances do arise.

If we get to a point where all vehicles are autonomous with smart roads, then I think we will have extremely safe transportation. Getting there will be real challenging though as the car will have to handle the enormous diversity of what happens out there, do it almost instantaneously, and do it flawlessly.

Also, there is evil in the world. If the car will not drive if there is an 'error' in the system, that will be a problem. One or two posts above touched on that, but only from the pranking aspect. But there are more serious offenders out there.

Gang banger or predator wants to make you stop so he can rob/or do whatever he wants to do to you? No problem. One paintball to a sensor and you are his. And if there is an over-ride, it will get turned off as soon as someone is late to work and the safety gains will be marginal despite all of the cost invested. A tactic sometimes used by predators is to do a light rear-end that prompts the victim to pull over to check damage and exchange insurance, as required by law. However, humans have the ability to perceive the trap, though too often they fail at that, and choose to proceed to a safe area before stopping. Will the car abide by the directive to stop when there is a collision or will it perceive the danger and react accordingly? Or if faced with a road-rager, it may be best to drive away even though there is substantial damage to the vehicle rather than get killed by the likely drugged up guy. Will the vehicle allow/be able to do that?

I do like all the posts where people want the idiots to have it but won't do it themselves because they are better drivers. I seem to recall a statistic that something like 90% of drivers think they are above average. So getting those people who really would benefit to be early adopters is a long shot.

 

[smkettner]

I do like all the posts where people want the idiots to have it but won't do it themselves because they are better drivers. I seem to recall a statistic that something like 90% of drivers think they are above average. So getting those people who really would benefit to be early adopters is a long shot.

If my cruise control was tied to the local speed limit I would use it. If the throttle had a limit or a buzzer if 0 to 6+ mph over the limit I would use that system also. Especially if it could lower my insurance rate.

 

[Nubo]

If we actually gave a collective damn we would require driver refresher training and a real driving test every 10 years or so. But we don't. We still all get sad when little Johny gets run over, but we are all in a hurry and deep down we value that over Johny.

Amen.

 

[DanCar]

If we actually gave a collective damn we would require driver refresher training and a real driving test every 10 years or so. But we don't. We still all get sad when little Johny gets run over, but we are all in a hurry and deep down we value that over Johny.

Amen.

Wonder if there is data that says it will make a difference. My biggest issue is being distracted, but I can easily pass a drivers test.

 

[eloder]

What is the definition of unsafe? With a human driver ready to step in, it is likely very low. In an automobile electronics package much more complex than anything now in cars and every piece has to both work and communicate seamlessly, what if the computer does not know it is unsafe?

That's a silly question. Your car has very few mechanical controls nowadays. How do you know that the computer that controls your acceleration is safe on your current car? How do you know that the computer controlling and priming your power brakes are safe?

The only people who consider strong, well-tested automative tech as unsafe are those who think the chips and systems that go inside autonomous EV functions are of the same grade, quality, and redundancy as those that go into a smartphone. Smartphones can crash; cars can not. That's why you don't see cars begin accelerating out of control due to a computer glitch despite being used for well over a decade for billions and billions of miles. I can think of maybe one instance of failure.

How many people at hospitals die due to failures of the computers that keep people alive, and how many die at the hands of a mistake made by a nurse or doctor? The first category is almost non-existent; the second is relatively large.