do we want driverless cars?

[Xist]

I forget. I have long had an idea of a non-stop train with shuttles. Say that you keep five single-person shuttles at every stop, the shuttle speeds up to the train, transfers the passenger, and empty shuttles replace the ones that just left.

I think that it was Robert A Heinlein that wrote about a series of moving sidewalks, where you hop from one to another, accelerating gradually, until you are traveling 60 MPH, although I am not sure how well that could work.

[Frank Lee]

Ever seen George Jetson on the dogwalk?

[Christ]

It is my personal feeling that GJ probably should have had someone install some safety features on that dog-walking platform... specifically that if there were sudden weight change or if there were an impact sensed (such as falling), it would STOP.

Come'on, you know they had that technology in the future.

(ETA: I see I've created a bit of a paradoxical statement there... they "had" that technology in the "future". LOL)

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Christ

(ETA: I see I've created a bit of a paradoxical statement there... they "had" that technology in the "future". LOL)

But that's only the future they used to have in the past, not the future we have today :-)

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by niky

Something Mercedes found out, to its dismay, when it demonstrated its radar-equipped automatic safety system inside a steel structure and...

As did Volvo, after they had merely disconnected the battery during preps for their test.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXI0ByfEdR8

It goes to show how simple, yet unforeseen things dramatically affect this safety equipment.
It's going to happen more often when these systems are out in the wild, rather than in sort-of controlled environments.


It's still happening in aviation, where a single airplane can cost as much as the development cost of a new car ...