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self driving cars .. awesome for safety and ins

D

dan330

Extreme Android User
http://phandroid.com/2015/05/12/google-self-driving-car-accidents/

first off.. NOT to report the NUMBER of cars on the road during this time. That would help paint a better picture.

from what I searched.. it could be a Dozen to 2 Dozen cars.

in the NOT to distant future.. will there be 100% self-driving.
or will drivers resist.. because they don't wasn't to give up the trill of driving?

if 100% self-driving..
will stoplights disappear?
will auto-insurance be MUCH cheaper? 80% or more cheaper?
collision repair business will greatly reduce..
cops for traffic patrols will be gone... they can do OTHER better things.

if driving is NOT a personal experience.. then would cars be very generic?
90% or more generic cars.. of course there are still some extremely rich that want to pay for status (top 2%).
if 90% or more are generic vehicles.. then it would naturally move to public shared vehicles.. parked everywhere for use. running on electric.. small charge on your credit card via Bluetooth form personal smart device.

just thinking out loud....
 
Here's the direct link to the Backchannel article that is also linked in the original article: https://medium.com/backchannel/the-...t-of-the-google-self-driving-car-46fc9f3e6088

The article is more about certain situations that the self-driving car is able to navigate through.

dan330 said:
first off.. NOT to report the NUMBER of cars on the road during this time. That would help paint a better picture.

from what I searched.. it could be a Dozen to 2 Dozen cars.
Click to expand...

The article quoted the total distance driven by the various cars. How would knowing whether the 1.7 million miles drive by one dozen cars or two dozen cars make a difference?

in the NOT to distant future.. will there be 100% self-driving.
or will drivers resist.. because they don't wasn't to give up the trill of driving?
Click to expand...

I can see that at some point in the distance future, all cars in many jurisdictions will have to be self-driving only. There will still be places where you could go to in order to drive yourself. I would see the evolution to self-driving cars to be similar to the evolution from horses to cars. People still ride horses. You just have to find places where you are allowed to ride horses. You cannot ride horses through the city streets that cars use.

if 100% self-driving..
will stoplights disappear?
Click to expand...

Stoplights will still be necessary because there will still be pedestrians.

will auto-insurance be MUCH cheaper? 80% or more cheaper?
collision repair business will greatly reduce..
cops for traffic patrols will be gone... they can do OTHER better things.
Click to expand...

If the collisions are fewer and less severe, then I can see auto-insurance being much cheaper, provided individuals still own their own self-driving cars. The exact amount depends on the exact amount of the reduction in collisions. I would expect that self-driving cars would have to be safer than human drivers before they are widely accepted. The same for body shops.

if driving is NOT a personal experience.. then would cars be very generic?
90% or more generic cars.. of course there are still some extremely rich that want to pay for status (top 2%).
if 90% or more are generic vehicles.. then it would naturally move to public shared vehicles.. parked everywhere for use. running on electric.. small charge on your credit card via Bluetooth form personal smart device.
Click to expand...

I could see self-driving cars will be a public service like public transit is today.
 
I would feel weird having a chauffeur to drive me around. He would probably get tired of hearing me yell at other drivers(I would still do it, even if I'm not driving).
 
pedestrians.. are just moving obstacles.

the self-driving car has to see unpredictable situations at all times..
dog in road.. kid running in road.. ball bouncing in road... etc..
so it would have to slow down or stop .. evade the new unpredictable object in road.

a pedestrian steps off the curb..
first car see it.. slows to react... or stop.
it would also simultaneously communicate with the surrounding cars.. so they can also adjust seeds and lanes .. as needed.
even a mile back.. so they slow down and not bottle up at the point of issue.

no lights needed.
all cars monitor the movement of objects next to the road and the object's direction and speed. forwarding that info to all cars in area. nothing would be a surprise!

I would guess.. collisions would be reduced by by more than 95%
maybe even more than 99%.

of course .. if this is going to work..
there will be cameras on all cars.. 360 views ...recorded
so, it will not be hard to know what happened
 
Last edited:
if I am a jogger.. wanting to kill myself..
running parallel to the road.. and then jump right in front of a car...

NOTHING can stop that!.. but that is NOT an accident.
 
had a thought...

what about motorcycles?
in the future of 100% self driving cars...

I don't think they will have self driving bikes!
people that ride.. don't want to give up the control and feel.

insurance for bikes would be more expensive than for cars! :P
they would be the largest source of issues and accidents...
 
dan330 said:
pedestrians.. are just moving obstacles.

the self-driving car has to see unpredictable situations at all times..
dog in road.. kid running in road.. ball bouncing in road... etc..
so it would have to slow down or stop .. evade the new unpredictable object in road.

a pedestrian steps off the curb..
first car see it.. slows to react... or stop.
it would also simultaneously communicate with the surrounding cars.. so they can also adjust seeds and lanes .. as needed.
even a mile back.. so they slow down and not bottle up at the point of issue.

no lights needed.
all cars monitor the movement of objects next to the road and the object's direction and speed. forwarding that info to all cars in area. nothing would be a surprise!

I would guess.. collisions would be reduced by by more than 95%
maybe even more than 99%.

of course .. if this is going to work..
there will be cameras on all cars.. 360 views ...recorded
so, it will not be hard to know what happened
Click to expand...

Traffic lights would still be required to at least give an indication when pedestrians should be crossing the street. Also, you need to tell pedestrians when not to cross the street in order to not unreasonably disrupt the flow of car traffic. If you eliminate traffic signals completely and allow pedestrians to cross streets any time they want, car traffic in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic like downtown cores will experience gridlock. Even if cars can be made to avoid hitting pedestrians, traffic signals will still be required to ensure both safety and to maintain a reasonable flow of traffic.
 
ok.. I can agree with the .. marked area and times to cross. in very high walking areas.. like downtown cities.

but I imagine..
me walking up to a curb.. stop look both ways.. see traffic is clear or slowing down to allow me to cross.

cars see me standing next to a curb... facing the other side.
take one step off..
traffic slows to stop.
 
EarlyMon said:
There won't be pedestrians once we get moving sidewalks.
Click to expand...

Maybe everyone will have a self moving Segway.

dan330 said:
ok.. I can agree with the .. marked area and times to cross. in very high walking areas.. like downtown cities.

but I imagine..
me walking up to a curb.. stop look both ways.. see traffic is clear or slowing down to allow me to cross.

cars see me standing next to a curb... facing the other side.
take one step off..
traffic slows to stop.
Click to expand...

The article did not give specific examples on how the car behaves when a pedestrian tries to cross at an uncontrolled crossing. I'd be interested in seeing how the self driving car deals with the situation where there are pedestrians wanting to cross at various times and places. In high pedestrian areas like downtown cores, there are pedestrian signal lights. However, there are many places where pedestrian traffic is low and there is no control signal. For instance, will the car actually yield to a pedestrian waiting to cross at an uncontrolled part of the road? What about a marked crosswalk with no traffic light? How well would it be able to tell if a pedestrian has the intention to cross or just standing there?
 
Watching out for an idiot about to violate your crossing right of way...

Watching out for an oncoming software defect...

Which do you trust more?

This question from the What Can Possibly Go Wrong Department.

I can't imagine auto cars (what did I just do!) coexisting with pedestrians.
 
Yes, but I don't like the idea of guaranteed safety for pedestrians.

There's this odd segment of the population, consisting of particularly unruly people, and they are known as teenagers and young adults. Now to get their jollies, they'll randomly jump into the street to bring traffic to a halt.
 
well they can do that now... jump into street ..
you going to stop?

but now.. there aint no car camera recording stupid (hospitalized) people jumping in front of your car.
 
I don't see cars going exclusively self driven, at least not in America. People love their cars, and the freedom they bring, too much. Having the option for the commute to work, or a ride home from the bar would be awesome, though. Great side effect would be putting Uber out of business lol.
 
The day will come when automation sweeps the nation. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but that day will indeed come. Barring any doomsday scenarios. Hopefully though, the life will have long since ceased flowing through my veins before that wretched day dawns.
 
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