California puts a wheel on it

[botsapper]

California DMW has set draft rules for self-driving cars. They have a slow and cautious approach with the adoption of 'auto' cars, they must have a steering wheel and a licensed/certified driver behind it. No manufacturers and their cars are ready yet but Google has pushed their design to delete the steering wheel and pedals in them. The state will grant manufacturers' vehicles a permit for three years, consumers could lease their cars but manufacturers are required to monitor how safely they are driving and submit monthly performance reports or any traffic incidents to the DMV. Any person leasing will need special tech training and certification administered by a third party. These draft regulations will go months of state review before they are finally set in 2016. Other states are looking closely at the California regulatory precedent.
California: Self-driving cars must have driver behind wheel under DMV proposed rules - San Jose Mercury News

[Frank Lee]

Bleh.

Commercial aircraft have had the capabilities to be remotely piloted for decades yet there are still crew on board. Hmmmm.

[MobilOne]

I was told, years ago, (30?), by an engineer who designed autopilots for commercial aircraft that they (the autopilot mechanism) could be programmed, at the time, to taxi the plane out of the hangar, taxi down the runway, take off, fly to destination, then taxi to the gate and stop. Anyway, that is how competent the autopilots were then.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by MobilOne

Anyway, that is how competent the autopilots were then.

Sure, autopilots can handle a normal flight. Pilots are there for the unexpected, as when you lose both engines after you hit a flock of geese on takeoff, and have to decide what to do with your 150,000 lb glider.

Likewise with self-driving cars. I'm sure they can do fairly well in the Bay Area, in clear weather. How about a major storm, which California hasn't really had since those cars hit the roads?

[gone-ot]

...pressing CTL-ALT-DEL in response to a dreaded "blue screen (of death)" while moving (airplane or car) can be butt puckering...to say the least...although planes are (usually) further spacially separated than cars are on highways!