Robocars, just like any car on California roads

[darcane]

Originally Posted by BlueFoot

11 crashes in 1.7 million miles of driving, and all the reported accidents were the fault of other dumbass drivers... rear ending, running a stop sign, etc. They should be more clear to point out how ****ty people really drive and how well the autonomous cars from google have handled that.

Well, it went from 4 crashes to 11 in one day. Next week, we could be up to 50. :P

11 known accidents over 1.7 million miles is about 1 every 150k miles. I would say that is not far from the average human driver.

According to:
Here's how many car accidents you'll have
The average driver gets in an accident once every 17.9 years. Average US driver drives 13,500 miles per year. So, one reportable accident every 240k miles. Google's robocars don't look so good to me...

Another interesting point from the article linked above... of 30,797 fatal accidents, less than 1000 involved a cell phone (which doesn't necessarily mean it was the cause), or about 3% of all fatal accidents. Looks like we may be exaggerating that concern a bit...

[P-hack]

if it drives like a herkey jerkey robot, it is gonna be causing accidents.

Who get the driving like crap ticket?

How is this anything ecomodder?

You can't mod it, you can't drive it. It isn't even a car.

[BlueFoot]

"if it drives like a herkey jerkey robot, it is gonna be causing accidents."
Perhaps. People driving like assholes cause accidents all the time.

"Who get the driving like crap ticket?"
The person who isn't paying attention and rear ends the car in front of them, just like any other vehicular accident.

"How is this anything ecomodder?"
It's a vehicle with aerodynamics. Right up our alley.

"You can't mod it, you can't drive it. It isn't even a car."
Semiautonomous/autonomous vehicles are being made by a wide range of manufacturers. You can drive them, you can mod them, and they are absolutely cars like any other, but improved.

We already have tons of computer assisted features in production cars. ABS, etc. People protested those at first too. Now it gives you discounted insurance rates because it's been proven.

[nimblemotors]

I think the computer controlled parallel parking was a huge hit, every car has it now, it has saved millions of lives, a true advance in vehicle technology.



Mostly what I don't like is the hype about self-driving cars, like we all are just waiting holding our breath to get a car that will drive itself, and hurray! it is coming tomorrow, or next week, or wait, next year, I mean in 2017, or was that 2025, because Google or Mercedes or Nissan are just SO FREEKIN SMART.
But they still don't sell a car that gets 100 mpg, or still needs freeking wanky windshield wipers that obstruct your view, which btw, what does a self driving car do in the rain or fog?
Yeah, they are so freekin smart.

[Grant-53]

The fur flew when air bags were introduced. There are improvements and there gimmicks. They get sorted out fairly quickly.

"The reason it is so hard to make something foolproof is because fools are so ingenious." The guy at the NTSB loved that one.

[P-hack]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

But they still don't sell a car that gets 100 mpg

This is a huge part of my objections. folks here swap in a manual trans and hypermile to 100mpg. The more you automate the suckier your personal efforts will be.

You can't do crap with a robot transporter, except get blamed for not holding the wheel when you should have, or holding the wheel when you shouldn't have.

The insurance companies will adjust in any event and keep making their money, guaranteed.
doesn't look like it is actually changing overall since 2013, but wow, what a shell game. (and data is hard to come by)
CarInsurance.com Premium Index - Average Car Insurance Premiums

edit: "Aerodynamic", lol

[darcane]

Originally Posted by darcane

Well, it went from 4 crashes to 11 in one day. Next week, we could be up to 50. :P

11 known accidents over 1.7 million miles is about 1 every 150k miles. I would say that is not far from the average human driver.

According to:
Here's how many car accidents you'll have
The average driver gets in an accident once every 17.9 years. Average US driver drives 13,500 miles per year. So, one reportable accident every 240k miles. Google's robocars don't look so good to me...

Another interesting point from the article linked above... of 30,797 fatal accidents, less than 1000 involved a cell phone (which doesn't necessarily mean it was the cause), or about 3% of all fatal accidents. Looks like we may be exaggerating that concern a bit...

Looks like I overestimated a bit. Google's cars have only driven 1 million miles autonomously.
Google acknowledges 11 accidents with its self-driving cars

The other 700k were manually driven.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by P-hack

And causing accidents, and driving slowly, and you guys are idiots. My only guess is that you own stock, and that is the ONLY reason you think it is amazing. It is a load of crap.

You realize your comments here are public and permanently recorded in history, right?

Automated driving is guaranteed to happen, and it will improve the following things:

Reduce number of accidents
Reduce severity of accidents
Increase fuel economy
Reduce traffic congestion
Reduce travel time
Increase mobility for elderly/impaired
Increase safety and mobility for those under the influence of drugs
Reduce vehicle cost
Increase productivity and leisure time

Drawbacks:

More difficult to express road rage
More difficult to express personal (disruptive) driving style
Can't blame traffic for being late to work
Less fun, if you consider a routine grid-locked commute to be loads of fun compared to watching your favorite TV program
Auto insurance industry shrinks in size - loss of jobs
Auto repair industry shrinks in size - loss of jobs
Big oil shrinks in size - loss of jobs/terrorists
Parking garages and meters eliminated - loss of revenue
Confusion when someone yells "shotgun" when determining where people will sit
Can't yell "crazy maniac" to those driving faster than you, and "inconsiderate idiot" to those driving slower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWPCE2tTLZQ

[P-hack]

"Give me absolute safety, or give me death!"

I always thought you were being sarcastic about that, guess I was wrong.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by P-hack

"Give me absolute safety, or give me death!"

I always thought you were being sarcastic about that, guess I was wrong.

My quote is political satire modeled after the original "Give me liberty, or give me death" by Patrick Henry.

Our society is too quick to trade away liberty for the illusion of safety. Health insurance is seen as an inalienable right, and not being able to board a plane with fingernail clippers or more than 3oz of fluid feels like we have more safety.

I'm all for liberty, but one persons liberty ends where it begins to affect other people in a negative way. In the future, you won't have the freedom to manually operate your vehicle in an infrastructure designed for autonomous travel. It would put others in danger and disrupt the orderly flow of traffic.

However, you will still have the freedom to race your old-school petroleum burner on a race track at whatever speed your vehicle and your nerves can muster.

Public roads are not the place to exercise free will; hence all the laws about maximum speeds and rights of way. All laws are an attempt to standardize the infinitely diverse desires of people into an orderly system; one that maximizes the utility and well-being for all. Nothing accomplishes the goal of order better than a machine. A machine dispassionately and unwaveringly follows the rules it has been given. It's performance depends solely on design and isn't subject to emotional state, tiredness, attention, or miscalculation.

Commercial aircraft are mostly operated in auto mode. Just seconds after lift-off, the autopilot is engaged. A heading is entered into the system and the plane automatically banks and steers in the desired direction, doing so with a level of efficiency and comfort that is not achievable by human operation. Even the glide slope on decent is often done automatically, with the pilot taking over just before touchdown.

Automation of complex systems (traffic), or routine operations (commute to work) is desirable.