Do you want to see a 'robot' lamp?

[P-hack]

quite the opposite, cars under automation should have a light up sign that says "don't look, I'm masturbating and my car is driving like a grandma".

again, ZERO relevance to ecomodding.

[MetroMPG]

I wouldn't say ZERO relevance...

I think it's a valid question to wonder if an autonomously driven car would be more efficient than most human drivers over the same route. E.G. If they don't speed, right there they've got an advantage.

PS: let's avoid having this thread descend into political bickering.

[MetroMPG]

Another thought: the only other vehicle I can think of that indicates it will (probably) be operated very close to the rules of the road? Driver training vehicles.

I wonder what long-time driving instructors would think about this question.

[P-hack]

the problem is it is inherently political, half the hype crowd have already exonerated the machines in case of "accident", so humans are automatically guilty, with barely any evidence, when the machine itself couldn't "drive like a normal person".

the other half thinks we should play the safety card and eliminate drivers alltogether, because totalitarianism. And this is soo bloody important that we should make every one crush their cars and buy a new one (which they better not even think about modifying) plus pay for gobs of infrastructure for the roadways, just to make it easier for the robots.

If people weren't so idiotically sycophantic about it, then it wouldn't be political.

re: more efficient? I think at best it could tie with a hypermiler, after lots of development and expense. And it will still need to take cues from the "driver" as how to compromise between time vs efficiency. Plus it will depend if the rules are different for a machine (which it seems they already are).

if you mean get rid of every other car on the road and just have coordinated robots? I don't see making up that energy lost. And given how automated traffic controls already aren't terribly bright, I don't have a lot of faith that whatever they come up with will be either. And I do see people who can afford it, being able to pay more for faster travel, which I have a hard time appreciating.

so, political, entirely. theoretically of course it could coordinate better, but who is that naive?

[redpoint5]

Nobody here who support vehicular automation has made any comments that fit into your 100% of people claim.

You claim that anyone who is in favor of automating driving is politically motivated, but I have nothing to gain except the promise of increased safety, productivity, efficiency, reliability...

If all cars were automated and were limited to the speed limits, I would still get to my destination faster than if I were manually driving as fast as I could. Most of my time is spent stopped at traffic lights, traffic accidents, congestion... all things that would all but be eliminated with automation.

Do you hand wash your cloths to preserve the thrill of cleaning while simultaneously boycotting the evil washing machine corporations and politicians that who push their products through corrupt government subsidies for high efficient machines?

[P-hack]

you wish to brand all the human drivers, because washing machines...

you can go to hell.