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I'm not expecting an automobile utopia but I'd be distressed if/when self-driving vehicles hit the streets if 1) they don't obey the speed limits and 2) they couldn't accurately determine another car's velocity and direction.

Obviously, nothing is going to save a bicyclist who suddenly swerves in front a passing car or a motorist who has a rock fall on them while driving in the mountains, etc. but I'd say this article sets the self-driving performance bar too low.
 
In 20 years if most cars are autonomous and aware/communicating with other vehicles then accident prevention may be easier to achieve.
 
If wishes were horses, everyone could ride. This is one of the reasons why many of us fault Tesla for allowing A/P to be used at speeds well over the limit, when they have complete ability to prevent that, and we also fault NHTSA/DOT for not prohibiting it.

As virtually all traffic accidents involve violating one or more traffic laws, if autonomously driven vehicles are allowed to violate them any safety improvement compared to humans will, as noted above, be far less than it could and should be.
 
GRA said:
If wishes were horses, everyone could ride. This is one of the reasons why many of us fault Tesla for allowing A/P to be used at speeds well over the limit, when they have complete ability to prevent that, and we also fault NHTSA/DOT for not prohibiting it.

As virtually all traffic accidents involve violating one or more traffic laws, if autonomously driven vehicles are allowed to violate them any safety improvement compared to humans will, as noted above, be far less than it could and should be.

Kind of like lockdowns and social distancing not everyone is for governments doing all of our thinking for us.
 
If people keep individually owning cars and being required to commute to work then with every increasing traffic we may need self driving just to help with traffic https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/watch-just-few-self-driving-cars-stop-traffic-jams https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/12/smart-intersections-could-reduce-autonomous-car-congestion This is just to help with road capacity issues. If you can then send it home or to go charge or whatever it can help with parking capacity as well.
 
GaleHawkins said:
GRA said:
If wishes were horses, everyone could ride. This is one of the reasons why many of us fault Tesla for allowing A/P to be used at speeds well over the limit, when they have complete ability to prevent that, and we also fault NHTSA/DOT for not prohibiting it.

As virtually all traffic accidents involve violating one or more traffic laws, if autonomously driven vehicles are allowed to violate them any safety improvement compared to humans will, as noted above, be far less than it could and should be.

Kind of like lockdowns and social distancing not everyone is for governments doing all of our thinking for us.


In a society, the government (should) represent that society as a whole, and we agree that rules are necessary not to protect us from the consequences of our actions, but to protect others who haven't given their consent to being put at risk by us. No company should have the power to make that decision for society en masse, which is why societies/governments regulate behavior.

If you choose to drunk drive on private land where no one else is put at risk, be my guest, but you don't get to choose to do so on public roads where you might kill others without getting their consent. As it's impossible to ask every random person who might be impacted at some time in every circumstance when very large numbers of people are involved, we give or withold consent via government action, which (should) represent the views of that society.

No human society is perfect, but unless everyone lives a completely solitary life where no action of theirs can have any impact on anyone else, there have to be some generally agreed rules that will inevitably prevent complete freedom of action by all. We can and do argue as a society about just how far those rules should go, but the basic principle holds.
 
How restrictive that it only works on highways pre-mapped by Ford. Thankfully my cars will never be hobbled by such a system.

Then again, it's probably also hard-baked into the car, much like Nissan's ProPilot and Tesla's AP1. Meaning what the car does the day you buy it is all it will ever be able to do.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
I was surprised that I was able to use propilot on un-divided single lane each way highways (not freeways) in Iowa last year.
That's the type of road I tried it on in my test drive 2 years ago. ProPilot is vision based and isn't limited to pre-mapped roads.
 
jlv said:
DougWantsALeaf said:
I was surprised that I was able to use propilot on un-divided single lane each way highways (not freeways) in Iowa last year.
That's the type of road I tried it on in my test drive 2 years ago. ProPilot is vision based and isn't limited to pre-mapped roads.

AFAIK you need at least the white shoulder lines for it to work.
 
BMW and Mercedes call it quits on their self-driving car partnership
The automakers say they may work together again in the future.
https://www.engadget.com/bmw-mercedes-end-self-driving-partnership-191920863.html
 
Amazon to buy Zoox for $1B, a self-driving car startup with Apple lineage
https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/06/26/amazon-to-buy-zoox-for-1b-a-self-driving-car-startup-with-apple-lineage

They were in https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2020/02/26/disengagement-report-2019/.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Amazon to buy Zoox

Amazon seems to love to sell Chinese-sounding merchandise with almost-familiar names. I'm surprised that no one in China ever tried to sell a "Nizan Leave". ;)
Heh.

Since you mention Amazon and err.. Nissan, sorta, there was this publicity stunt ages ago w/Amazon delivering a Nissan Versa Note in a box. Long ago, I think you could find the entry to "order" (?) it on Amazon.

https://www.businessinsider.com/giant-amazon-box-nissan-car-2014-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yISx15OYogU - haven't watched this whole video
 
TuSimple seeking $250 million in new funding to scale self-driving trucks – TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/26/tusimple-seeking-250-million-in-new-funding-to-scale-self-driving-trucks/
By 2018, TuSimple started testing on public roads, beginning with a 120-mile highway stretch between Tucson and Phoenix in Arizona and another segment in Shanghai.
...
As of March 2020, the company was making about 20 autonomous trips between Arizona and Texas each week with a fleet of more than 40 autonomous trucks. All of the trucks have a human safety operator behind the wheel.
 
Fiat Chrysler and Waymo sign exclusive deal on self-driving commercial vehicles
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/fiat-chrysler-and-waymo-sign-deal-on-self-driving-commercial-vehicles.html
 
GCC:
MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future suggests widespread autonomous driving at least a decade away


https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/07/20200727-mit.html


. . . The research brief draws on the authors’ research and experience in the engineering, social, and policy dimensions of automation and autonomy in extreme environments of the deep ocean and aerospace, as well as years of engagement with the auto industry, transit, and automated vehicle systems.

The brief considers the current state of automated driving technology and its potential impact on jobs. Despite substantial recent progress by the industry, fully automated driving systems that have no safety driver onboard will take at least a decade to deploy over large areas, even in regions with favorable weather and infrastructure; winter climates and rural areas will experience still longer transitions.

Expansion will likely be gradual and will happen region-by-region in specific categories of transportation, resulting in wide variations in availability across the country.

Automated vehicles should be conceived as one element in a mobility mix, and as potential feeders for public transit rather than replacements for it, but unintended consequences such as increased congestion remain risks. The crucial role of public transit for connecting workers to workplaces will endure: the future of work depends in large part on how people get to work.

The automated vehicle transition will not be jobless. The longer rollout time for Level 4 autonomy provides time for sustained investments in workforce training that can help drivers and other mobility workers transition into new careers that support mobility systems and technologies. Transitioning from current-day driving jobs to these jobs represent potential pathways for employment, so long as job-training resources are available.

While many believe that increased automation will bring greater impacts to trucking than to passenger carrying vehicles, the impact on truck-driving jobs is not expected to be widespread in the short term. Truck drivers do more than just drive, and so human presence within even highly automated trucks would remain valuable for other reasons such as loading, unloading, and maintenance. . . .
 
GRA said:
GCC:
MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future suggests widespread autonomous driving at least a decade away


https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/07/20200727-mit.html


. . . The research brief draws on the authors’ research and experience in the engineering, social, and policy dimensions of automation and autonomy in extreme environments of the deep ocean and aerospace, as well as years of engagement with the auto industry, transit, and automated vehicle systems.

The brief considers the current state of automated driving technology and its potential impact on jobs. Despite substantial recent progress by the industry, fully automated driving systems that have no safety driver onboard will take at least a decade to deploy over large areas, even in regions with favorable weather and infrastructure; winter climates and rural areas will experience still longer transitions.

Expansion will likely be gradual and will happen region-by-region in specific categories of transportation, resulting in wide variations in availability across the country.

Automated vehicles should be conceived as one element in a mobility mix, and as potential feeders for public transit rather than replacements for it, but unintended consequences such as increased congestion remain risks. The crucial role of public transit for connecting workers to workplaces will endure: the future of work depends in large part on how people get to work.

The automated vehicle transition will not be jobless. The longer rollout time for Level 4 autonomy provides time for sustained investments in workforce training that can help drivers and other mobility workers transition into new careers that support mobility systems and technologies. Transitioning from current-day driving jobs to these jobs represent potential pathways for employment, so long as job-training resources are available.

While many believe that increased automation will bring greater impacts to trucking than to passenger carrying vehicles, the impact on truck-driving jobs is not expected to be widespread in the short term. Truck drivers do more than just drive, and so human presence within even highly automated trucks would remain valuable for other reasons such as loading, unloading, and maintenance. . . .

I think that timeline is realist.
 
CNN:
Former Uber self-driving car exec sentenced to 18 months in prison


https://amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject....levandowski-google-uber-sentencing/index.html


Anthony Levandowski, a former Uber executive who oversaw its self-driving vehicle efforts, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Tuesday for stealing an internal tracking document from Google related to its self-driving car program.

"This is the biggest trade secret crime I have ever seen. This was not small. This was massive in scale," said US District Judge William Alsup in sentencing Levandowski on one count of trade secret theft, according to a Department of Justice press release.

As part of the sentencing, Levandowski is fined $95,000 and ordered to pay $756,499.22 in restitution to Google's self-driving car unit, Waymo. Due to the risks of the coronavirus pandemic, it is unclear when Levandowski will serve his time, according to the release. Federal prosecutors dismissed the remaining 32 counts against Levandowski as part of the plea deal. . . .
 
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