Vehicles with no human driver

[ladymuck]

My EV drives itself (kind of) on the motorway. Its a bit weird at first but you soon get used to it. Only problem is it nags you to keep your hands on the wheel so not really much point. I generally do the driving as the car is too cautious.

My brother's Honda Civic had a combination of features which could be used to drive itself, that scared the life out of him but that didn't stop him testing it. He would turn on auto braking, lane guidance and cruise control and then let the car drive itself up the motorway. Yes he did do that at 70mph because he's a lunatic.

Having hired cars with the lane guidance/enforcement feature, I have to say I hate it. The car will actively resist you changing lanes if you haven't indicated. Fine if you're in traffic, you definitely should be indicating, but when there's contra-flow road works or a multitude of other legitimate reasons for crossing lanes without signalling, it really feels like the car is fighting against you.

Auto braking is another feature I really don't like. I tend to take my foot off the accelerator and change down through the gears when approaching roundabouts and traffic lights. Auto braking kicks in and slams on the brakes. Not a gentle braking, it felt like it was verging on emergency stop territory. Turned that off sharpish; it felt dangerous.

So glad my old jalopy has none of that nonsense. The only tech it has is cruise control which I love due to all the average speed limit zones on the A24. I just switch that on and relax on those sections.

[malvolio]

The problem is not the driverless car, it's that it will be surrounded by poorly trained and attention deficient driven ones.

[tazdevil]

If they can get it to work it will be great for rural communities without public transport. Us oldies can just summon a taxi on the app and go where we want providing a useful service where a cars not available or one intends to have a few bevy's at the pub in the next village

However they might get such vehicles to work on A+ roads and in modern cities but our single track, pot hole riddled rural roads without kerbs might need a little more work

Like the ladies brother I too have a Honda that can drive itself and its great on A+ roads or slow moving traffic, I also keep the lane keeping on all the time but find the nagging about hands on the wheel irritating as it can't tell the difference between a light touch and no hands. I keep the auto cruise on minimum distance to minimise the opportunity for idiots to pull into my braking distance.

[sadkingbilly]

I can do my own driving, thanks.
don't need 'alexa' fugging it up.

[Protagoras]

I think realistically, people need to face the reality that in old age, they may well become unable to drive competently.

I live in a village which has a railway station and there's a bus stop at the bottom of the road. However, I think it would be great if I could still have personal transport for the flexibility that would provide in my dotage.

Also, the opportunity such vehicles could provide for disabled people would be considerable. Clearly, there are technical and environmental difficulties to overcome but on balance I think the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages.

I find that the fun of driving is long gone. Poor quality roads and congestion have removed the joy and driving is now pretty tedious a lot of the time. In the last 12k miles, the car's average speed was under 30mph. I'd be happy to sit there and be driven.

[SimonMac]

It has to be all or nothing, a 100% driverless fleet is more appealing than a computer having to interpret the erratic behaviour of human drivers

[woody1]

Imagine trying to program a computer to predict the behaviour of BMW drivers.

[ladymuck]

It has to be all or nothing, a 100% driverless fleet is more appealing than a computer having to interpret the erratic behaviour of human drivers

And as that will be very hard to achieve, you then have the situation of driverless cars operating in specific zones which instantly erodes the benefits.

That said, the likes of waymo seem to do ok in the US so it would be interesting to figure out what's different about their roads and road users that would mean they couldn't work here.

[sadkingbilly]

I think realistically, people need to face the reality that in old age, they may well become unable to drive competently.

. I'd be happy to sit there and be driven.

a facility for this already exists. they're called cabs/taxis/private hire. contactable by email/online/telephone.
HTH.

[DoctorStrangelove]