'Elevator Eggs' and non-drivers

[botsapper]

Google's special projects lab, Google X, had an LA Times reporter try one of it's self-driving prototypes. Fittingly, the (Californian?) reporter has no driver's license, having failed her driving tests twice. Waiting to read her next 'passenger' experiences...

I failed my driving test twice. Will Google's self-driving car save me? - LA Times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmw7w97a6LA

[gone-ot]

IMHO, nothing more/less than a "self-propelled" coffin!

[user removed]

He he, drive in cemetery.

regards
mech

[spacemanspif]

While I like the idea of a self driving car for mundane tasks like an hour commute to work; I fear the idea as it leads to people willingly forfeiting their freedoms, increasing their dependence on technology and throwing away an important skill. There are plenty of people who don't belong on the road but I wonder what it would be like to share the road with so many self-driving vehicles.

[redpoint5]

Guys with OLD in their handle...

An increasing dependence on technology is inevitable, and started with the first humans. If the technology sucks, then it will die. On the other hand, if it shows promise then it will continue to evolve.

Automated driving will continue to evolve and shows no signs of dying.

[RedDevil]

We can't be critical of smart technology while relying blindly on dumb technology, can we?

I repaired our close-in boiler yesterday. It had a faulty thermostat.
I did not want to mess with it at first so I mailed the factory for a replacement part.
It would have cost me 100 Euros ($115). For that money I could almost buy a new one, whole! And I'd lose the warranty, they warned me.
I had already told them the boiler was 7 years old. Do they take claims on boilers that old? What would I lose then?
They told me on second thought I'd lose Nothing. By which they meant: Money.

So I just opened the old thermostat instead and saw how the switch connectors in the regulation mechanism had sagged over time.
I rotated the regulation shaft until it operated the bi-metal switch in its normal range. Now it works fine again.
Simple technology, easily adjustable by hand.
If it were an IC based device probably wouldn't have a chance to fix it.
Long live old technology!

Except that the IC would probably not have failed, while this mechanism had its failure almost designed in as to make you buy the replacement part by which they'd make more money than if they sold a whole new boiler.

Maybe they could rig the IC in a smart thermostat to make it fail over time.
Smart technology can be made like that.
But dumb technology can be made like that too - and it happens.

[gone-ot]

One nuclear blast and ALL those "smart" computers become extremely silent and dumb!

...and, years of witnessing how FOOLS always seem to circumvent supposedly "Foolproof" things.

[The Other Andy]

This is sort of a natural evolution of the car. As more cars crowd our roads, we've had to find ways to increase safety. Until now it has all been focused on the car itself, when the driver is the problem. People like to claim that we can resolve at least some of this by tightening drivers ed/licensing requirements, but that's simply not feasible in America. In a country that shuns public transportation and does all it can to force everyone to purchase a car, you can't just start cutting up people's licenses. Even if you try, those people will drive anyway so they can survive.

So in some respects, we've kind of forced ourselves into self-driving cars.

That said, we all suck at driving. Human beings get distracted, tired, and angry. And as much as we like to pretend that we like driving, it really isn't great 99% of the time.

I look forward to self-driving cars. If/when I need to control the wheel I'll hit up the local go-kart track.

[Xist]

There are too many things that people prefer to do while driving.

[freebeard]

Guys with RED in their handle...

You can buy John Deere tractors right now that will plow their own field. Autonomous long-haul trucks are on the road in Germany. Specific tasks are or will be automated first like parallel parking and freeway cruising.

Traffic will be very calm, almost stupefying.

You could call me old freebeard.