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140 Comments
- decet, on 10/13/2008, -3/+40Well, the expression "BSOD" would finally mean what it says.
- ASheep, on 10/13/2008, -2/+27Now imagine the driver's fear of seeing a BSOD or the kernel panic screen pop up while on the highway... Better hope your failsafes work :)
- inactive, on 10/14/2008, -1/+19Until a major glitch or a douchebag hacker somehow ***** up TONS of people..
- travbrack, on 10/14/2008, -2/+16What the hell, SAVE lives??? Hello, the world is overpopulated, we need to make these things way more dangerous!
- inactive, on 10/14/2008, -0/+10please press clutch + accelerator + defogger
- captainsky, on 10/13/2008, -1/+10Wouldn't it be great if self-driving cars really could reduce the number of deaths by car accidents? 42,000 people killed in the USA alone and 14,000 were alcohol related. Let you car be the "designated driver" - why not?
- Dumbledorito, on 10/14/2008, -1/+10They'd need such systems anyway to deal with unexpected obstacles (deer, fallen rock, broken down vehicles, roadblocks, weather, etc.).
I'd just love the ability to work on projects while on long road trips, or even to sleep while listening to music. It'd make long car rides something to look forward to. - Chamrox, on 10/14/2008, -0/+9How hard would it be to dedicate a lane for "auto drive cars", like a HOV lane, paint a line down the center of it and tell an on board computer to follow the line?
You get some sort of standardization, where all auto drive cars are equal, and you can eliminate traffic signals and speed limits as well. The amount of time, energy and lives saved would make this worthwhile. - stoanhart, on 10/13/2008, -3/+12How is providing you the ability to go to more places more efficiently, more conveniently, and in a less costly manner taking away your freedoms?
"this ***** should only apply to people who can't pass basic driving tests. old people, specifically."
What a dumbass statement - everyone on the road passed the basic driving test, so by your logic auto-drivers would apply to no one. Besides, I don't care how good of a driver you are, you can't drive 1 cm behind the vehicle in front of you at high speeds while tracking all of the hundreds of vehicles in your vicinity while maintaining a nanosecond reaction time. If we move to auto driving, it's everyone or no one; there is no room for mixing both kinds of drivers. - stoanhart, on 10/13/2008, -4/+12Less likely than an oncoming drunk, sleeping, or distracted driver swerving into your lane.
- nathanww, on 10/13/2008, -1/+9The problem with safety is this:if ALL the cars on the road had systems like this, it would be great. But unfortunatley that's unlikely to happen, which means that the self-driving cars would basically hav to be able to develop a "theory of mind" for all the other drivers.
- reddog093, on 10/14/2008, -0/+7train?
- DivisibleByZero, on 10/14/2008, -1/+8It'll only work if everybody's cars drive by the same rules. You'll get a lot of problems with people driving old cars that aren't automated, or people hacking their cars to go faster or drive like maniacs.
- inactive, on 10/14/2008, -0/+7Computers are only programmed to do what they are told. If there is an error it is on behalf of the user/programmer/builder.
- Narcism, on 10/14/2008, -0/+6Hey look, Homer's got one of those robot cars.
- lektroo, on 10/14/2008, -0/+6FTA: " ... the automation of the trucking industry could eliminate the need for human truck drivers"
The teamsters will fight this to the literal death when the time comes, which it will. - djvchris, on 10/14/2008, -1/+7Daridave, I appreciate what you're saying, but after caring for the victims of several fatal car accidents (almost all of which were blatant error by another driver), I cannot advocate strongly enough for this kind of technology; losing the enjoyment of driving would be vastly offset by the amount of pain and suffering it would prevent.
- Asheis, on 10/13/2008, -2/+8I was watching a special on the discovery channel actually, and they said the future isn't on the ground, it's in the sky! I think the company they named was boeing, and they're already "constructing" (see: mapping of coordinates) aerial highways.
These are highways that computer guided aircraft can fly along where they won't crash into anything, and they'll be able to minimize travel time. Very interesting stuff. I wish I remembered the name of the program. - DivisibleByZero, on 10/14/2008, -0/+6I always thought a teleporter would be the best way to commute to work, but then I realized there would still be people who didn't know how to operate the damned thing and ended up beaming into my lane without signaling or some *****.
- inactive, on 10/14/2008, -0/+6"In other news, alcohol sale went up 1000% this year."
- inactive, on 10/14/2008, -2/+8You can all eat my dust as I weave in and out of the perfectly spaced traffic and shoot past your lame-ass automated cars while I sip beer, smoke cigarettes, and get a blow job from an AIDS infected underage hooker.
- inactive, on 10/14/2008, -0/+6Overpopulation is a misnomer. If you're able to adequately support the people through alternative means of food/sleep/shelter then you are hardly overpopulated.
- jd72277, on 10/14/2008, -0/+5How Dwight Shrute of you.
- sodade, on 10/14/2008, -0/+5Driving tests in the US are ***** ridiculously simple to pass.
- WhiskeyLemur, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5To borrow my dad's favorite quote (this is a guys who has been a programmer for close to 30 years now): If contractors built houses the way programmers program computers, the first woodpecker to come along would have destroyed civilization.
(If someone has an original source for that one, I'd be grateful.) - borez, on 10/14/2008, -1/+6Redundancy
- Dumbledorito, on 10/14/2008, -4/+9Grumble-grumble mah FREEdum...
Self-cleanin' ovens took 'way mah freedom to scrub.
Dishwashers took 'way mah freedom to break plates.
Bubble-jet printer took 'way mah freedom to paint by numbers.
Cars took 'way mah freedom to ride a horse to work. - PopcornDave, on 10/14/2008, -0/+5But now you can get it in the back seat while the car is driving.
- Dumbledorito, on 10/14/2008, -0/+5Have you seen the costs for train tickets? Screw that. You pay just about as much for an airplane, get there in twice the time or more, and you can't bring as much luggage.
One caveat: This is from someone not living near the famed "Northeast Corridor" or anywhere else that rail is used for anything beyond freight or mobile graffiti displays, so your own experience may differ. - enotswhat, on 10/14/2008, -1/+6some states don't require you to retake the test, so once you pass. be it in 2008 or 1978 you still have a license as long as you stay renew on time
- oldgal, on 10/13/2008, -7/+12Fortunately I'm old enough to miss this one. Having worked with systems my whole career, my distrust of computers runs deep.
- ilovebacon, on 10/14/2008, -1/+6I'm surprised more people don't like driving. I'd much rather drive than be driven around. This is from the same lazy-ass future that was projected in WALL*E.
- bigbenorr, on 10/14/2008, -0/+5You would also have to optimize vehicles for traveling at high speed. Right now they are most efficient at 55 mph, so doing away with speed limits would actually decrease efficiency. That said, I love speeding.
- ShadyG, on 10/14/2008, -0/+4Unfortunately, I see big problems with acceptance of this. Let's take the stated statistic of 42,000 highway deaths per year. Now we have a computer system that avoids 99% of those deaths while significantly cutting commute time. Rational people will see an immensely successful improvement to daily life. The other 90% of the populace will see 42 deaths per year caused by the system. It's not the raw numbers, it's the fear of the uncontrollable. SARS, plane crashes, etc. It can be a one-in-10-million shot, but if there's nothing they can do to avoid it, people will freak. As cars are now, people convince themselves that if they drive well, they have control over whether they live or die.
- stormofswords, on 10/14/2008, -0/+4I think he said something about being gay.
- fszymanski, on 10/14/2008, -0/+4If the car does the driving then there would be no DUI's. Right? Now I can drink and drive in piece.
- inactive, on 10/14/2008, -0/+4One instance in hundreds of thousands fails to sway from this idea.
- MikeFromAmerica, on 10/14/2008, -0/+4The computer controlled cars should have guns that automatically fire on any human-driven car that strays into its lane.
They also need automated sentry guns at intersections that fire on people who run stop signs and red lights. - gravityboard, on 10/14/2008, -0/+4However if all cars on the road were traveling at high speeds and closer together than would be necessary for human reaction time, wouldn't there be a significant pile-up before the other cars could stop? Breaks only work so well, even if the reaction is .00001 second instead of .1
- itsbob, on 10/14/2008, -0/+4Sounds great, cars run by the flawless computers of the world.
- bobjrn2, on 10/14/2008, -2/+5Driving and AIDS are our only forms left of natural selection, and now we're going to lose both!
- csl5049, on 10/14/2008, -0/+3If a cop suspected you were all drugged up, he'd type your license plate # into a little controller, and your robot car immediately pulls over. None of that car chase business.
- mk3k, on 10/14/2008, -2/+5How do you know that? You don't.
- thegreenspanput, on 10/14/2008, -0/+3yeah, but if I'm not drunk I like to drive for the most part.
- MikeFromAmerica, on 10/14/2008, -0/+3Engineers don't say never. They just say it will cost too much.
- lilhelper, on 10/14/2008, -0/+3Well that certainly has the possibility for eliminating a DUI.
Maybe we can just turn the feature of autopilot ON and OFF. - MikeFromAmerica, on 10/14/2008, -0/+3Not to mention that the cab driver and trucker unions will fight this to the bitter end.
- Sigma2001, on 10/14/2008, -1/+4This concept already exists - they're called trains....
- strangewill, on 10/14/2008, -0/+3How often do planes fall out of the skies due to kernel panics?
- DaClub, on 10/14/2008, -0/+3This system would be the number one sought-after hacking attempt of all-time.
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