Rise of the Machines

[Big Dog]

no. no that's silly. the demograph for electrics is those on a limited range (what, 250km right now?)
until flash-charge battery tech comes in, servos are irrelevant for them. it's charge at home, drive to work, charge at work, drive home.

Aye. But when they need a to up the sort of person who owns a Tesla is likely to not mind paying a ransom for a latte and brioche.

They will still be pumping up tyres, refilling windscreen wash, jet washing, stopping for a pee and a coffee. Tesla can take a 50% charge in 20 minutes.

Sent from Tapatalk. DYAC

[Akzle]

They will still be pumping up tyres, refilling windscreen wash, jet washing, stopping for a pee and a coffee. Tesla can take a 50% charge in 20 minutes.

windscreens will be irrelevant when the computer's driving. even when it's not, it'll probably be a screen with exterior cameras,Not glass.HUD, sensor overlays, gps nav etcetcetc
and how many people DO any of that, checking tyres is your mechanics job at WOF time isn't it??
coffee machines will be built in (before caffeine IV drips are introduced)...

[jonbuoy]

windscreens will be irrelevant when the computer's driving. even when it's not, it'll probably be a screen with exterior cameras,Not glass.HUD, sensor overlays, gps nav etcetcetc
and how many people DO any of that, checking tyres is your mechanics job at WOF time isn't it??
coffee machines will be built in (before caffeine IV drips are introduced)...

Jesus you do spout drivel.

[nerrrd]

The cheapest, most reliable autonomous driving system is still a human being.

Plus there won't be any real world benefits from self-driving cars until there are enough of them on the road for the co-ordination between them to start alleviating congestion. Unless you see being able to watch a DVD instead of the road (or working on your laptop if that's how you work, which for by far the majority it's not) as a benefit, plus any safety improvements which might not be statistically significant enough to justify the extra cost.

The only way I can see this working is if congestion zones become 'self driving' zones - ie no human driven cars beyond this point. If your car's not compatible then park it and take an autonomous bus/uber/whatever, if it is, carry on. That way the 'network' can manage the congestion and everyone gets where they want to go as efficiently as possible.

But I'm often wrong.

[george formby]

The cheapest, most reliable autonomous driving system is still a human being.

Plus there won't be any real world benefits from self-driving cars until there are enough of them on the road for the co-ordination between them to start alleviating congestion. Unless you see being able to watch a DVD instead of the road (or working on your laptop if that's how you work, which for by far the majority it's not) as a benefit, plus any safety improvements which might not be statistically significant enough to justify the extra cost.

The only way I can see this working is if congestion zones become 'self driving' zones - ie no human driven cars beyond this point. If your car's not compatible then park it and take an autonomous bus/uber/whatever, if it is, carry on. That way the 'network' can manage the congestion and everyone gets where they want to go as efficiently as possible.

But I'm often wrong.

Yup, traffic density is the clue. It makes huge sense in congested cities to have fleets of autonomous vehicles constantly on the road, communicating to maintain flow. speeds won't increase but efficiency will. Less pressure on parking frees up land, less investment needed to up grade public transport, probably much smaller vehicles, too, so a higher density of traffic on current roads. The pluses keep stacking up for city and city fringe dwellers. Not so much for us hicks, be awhile before an autonomous vehicle will make sense for the Mangamukas.

[Gremlin]

...be awhile before an autonomous vehicle will make sense for the Mangamukas.

I think it will be a while before an autonomous vehicle can make sense of the Mangamukas

[MarkH]

There was the recent incident in the USA where the driverless car went straight under a truck killing the occupant. (Can't really call him a driver.)
The truck was painted a similar colour to the sky so the car didn't see it.

SMIDSY from a driverless car, a world first?

You have your facts a bit off there, it wasn't an autonomous car involved in that incident. It was a Tesla S - Tesla will make autonomous cars but they don't currently do so. The current system on a Tesla is a fancy form of cruise control that can steer & brake but the driver needs to watch the road and be ready to take over, the car only keeps itself steady in the lane and does not navigate to a destination. Tesla's system would have saved more lives than the one life lost by the guy watching a movie and trusting the car to work as good as a true autonomous system.

True autonomous cars are often using camera, radar, sonar & Lidar (yep, seriously using all 4).
To be honest I'd trust an autonomous car more than one driven by a human, damn humans are fucking useless at seeing motorcycles.

[george formby]

I think it will be a while before an autonomous vehicle can make sense of the Mangamukas

Indeed!

I was given a dash cam for my birthday awhile back. Purely for entertainment value hopefully, so I can revisit the numerous vehicles crossing the centre line and other assorted stupidity that I see on my commute.

Problem is, though, at the legal limit (80kph) which makes up most of my twisty drive, the lane departure and hazard avoidance alarms were going off constantly so I had to disable them. The emergency record, triggered by the g sensor, was constantly being activated by cornering forces and bumps so I had to disable that, too.

The technology to allow a vehicle to drive hands free at the same speed as a capable driver on a lot of our secondary roads is some way off IMHO.

[MarkH]

The technology to allow a vehicle to drive hands free at the same speed as a capable driver on a lot of our secondary roads is some way off IMHO.

I'd be happy to see autonomous cars for the drivers that are not so capable!
Actually I do know some people that would love an autonomous car because they can't drive at all now due to being legally blind, I see others on the road that shouldn't be due to being fuckin' stupid!

[Laava]

I can well imagine an autonomous car, on the auckland motorways, slowing down when someone cuts in thereby leaving a nice big gap for someone else to slot in etc etc and then just becoming a fucking nuisance to the point where the other traffic was badly affected by it. Similar to the chaos that happens when there is a crash and the traffic on the other side of the barrier is affected by rubbernecking.

[BMWST?]

I can well imagine an autonomous car, on the auckland motorways, slowing down when someone cuts in thereby leaving a nice big gap for someone else to slot in etc etc and then just becoming a fucking nuisance to the point where the other traffic was badly affected by it. Similar to the chaos that happens when there is a crash and the traffic on the other side of the barrier is affected by rubbernecking.

nope.
a stream of autonomous cars will all be exactly 1 metre apart and travelling at exactly the same speed.There will be synchronised lane changing at off ramps,because all vehicles will be in the correct lane .part of this automous cars is the fact that there is communication between the cars and the "enviroment" so everything local is known to all vehicles.

[Laava]

nope.
a stream of autonomous cars will all be exactly 1 metre apart and travelling at exactly the same speed.There will be synchronised lane changing at off ramps,because all vehicles will be in the correct lane .part of this automous cars is the fact that there is communication between the cars and the "enviroment" so everything local is known to all vehicles.

That could work perfectly(catastrophic if a dog or cow or sheep was introduced suddenly!) if all cars were autonomous but that wasn't the scenario I had in mind. I was thinking about todays traffic

[Gremlin]

nope.
a stream of autonomous cars will all be exactly 1 metre apart and travelling at exactly the same speed.There will be synchronised lane changing at off ramps,because all vehicles will be in the correct lane .part of this automous cars is the fact that there is communication between the cars and the "enviroment" so everything local is known to all vehicles.

And then a truck will drive a crane into a bridge and the motorway will shut down

[eldog]

nope.
a stream of autonomous cars will all be exactly 1 metre apart and travelling at exactly the same speed.There will be synchronised lane changing at off ramps,because all vehicles will be in the correct lane .part of this automous cars is the fact that there is communication between the cars and the "enviroment" so everything local is known to all vehicles.

All well and good generally, but you are assuming that most people know where they are going

[jonbuoy]

The cheapest, most reliable autonomous driving system is still a human being.

Plus there won't be any real world benefits from self-driving cars until there are enough of them on the road for the co-ordination between them to start alleviating congestion. Unless you see being able to watch a DVD instead of the road (or working on your laptop if that's how you work, which for by far the majority it's not) as a benefit, plus any safety improvements which might not be statistically significant enough to justify the extra cost.

The only way I can see this working is if congestion zones become 'self driving' zones - ie no human driven cars beyond this point. If your car's not compatible then park it and take an autonomous bus/uber/whatever, if it is, carry on. That way the 'network' can manage the congestion and everyone gets where they want to go as efficiently as possible.

But I'm often wrong.

No benefits? Imagine you can page your car to pick you up from the pub, drop you off at the airport, pick your kids up from school, take an elderly relative to the doctors, pick up your online groceries, pick up that package you've been waiting for. I know people bleat about the loss of jobs but most taxi drivers here are lunatics on the road and I would rather trust a computer.