Vehicles with no human driver

[Protagoras]

People will fly at 600mph in an aircraft piloted by a machine (albeit with a human reserve - with evidence that the human reserve may be less than fully effective)
They'll use rail mass transit systems with no human driver.
But suggest a trip in a so-called driverless car and these same people say they'd not entertain the prospect!

Now, I could understand if this apparent reluctance arose from an experience base, but it seems rather irrational to me to trust machines to fly one across an ocean, but not to get one across London.

So who's afraid to get in a non-human driven car?

[northernladuk]

Bearing in mind a vast number of crashes are down to human error you could argue the fact there is no human driver is a bonus.

But yeah I'm going to struggle when it comes to driverless stuff. The idea petrifies me. I know it's irrational and the above is true but still, gonna be a big leap of faith for us oldies.

[Protagoras]

There could certainly be some challenges. One problem I have daily is those who indicate right when on the approach to a roundabout where the driver is actually intending to leave at the opposite straight-over exit. (And not on dual-carriageway).

So the non-human drivers will need some way of knowing whether to trust a human driver's indication of intent.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I have no issues - but I would cheerfully fly a passenger plane with no human pilot. I don't live in London or visit very often

[hobnob]

I think the key concept here is "grades of automation". I.e. how much should the vehicle be able to do by itself?

This is a good article about London Underground:
The Political Myth of the Driverless Tube Train - London Reconnections
The short version is that you need a driver in case someone jumps/falls in front of a train at a station. Therefore, you can only have a driverless train if you have Platform Edge Doors at the station (i.e. those glass barriers with sliding doors that match the train doors). That's being done for new stations, but it's difficult to retrofit old stations. Particularly for the tube, there shouldn't be anything to dodge once the train is in a tunnel.

In the case of planes, I believe that the human pilot normally handles take-off and landing. So, the autopilot is more like cruise control, and there shouldn't be any unexpected traffic to dodge around.

For cars, I think it would be reasonable to have self-driving on a motorway (where there shouldn't be any pedestrians, cyclists, horses, etc.) but get the human driver to handle local roads.

[SueEllen]

The issue with driverless cars is the safety of other road users.

While it would be able to distinguish an adult pedestrian or someone on a bike, there would be issues recognising someone in a wheelchair - as wheelchairs vary in looks -, someone driving a horse trap, a rickshaw, a scooter, someone on rollerblades, someone on a skateboard, someone pushing variations of double/triple/quadruple buggies, etc.

These are all things seen randomly on London roads.

Also London roads really vary in width even on the same road. Plus there are random roadworks leading roads just being closed with diversions.

[sadkingbilly]

Bearing in mind a vast number of crashes are down to human error you could argue the fact there is no human driver is a bonus.

But yeah I'm going to struggle when it comes to driverless stuff. The idea petrifies me. I know it's irrational and the above is true but still, gonna be a big leap of faith for us oldies.

speak for yourself, you lily livered young pup.

[woody1]

Driverless trains are relatively easy. They're on fixed tracks. There are relatively few trains on the track. The journey is predictable/consistent.

On the face of it, pilot-less planes sound complex but, apart from around the airports, airspace is obstacle free and very sparsely occupied.

Driverless cars in busy/congested/chaotic urban environments are a whole order of magnitude more complex.

-------

Come up with a driverless car that can pass a DVSA driving test and my confidence level would be higher.

[ladymuck]

A driverless car is fine when all vehicles on the road are driverless, and pedestrians and cyclists remain in their designated areas. Without those controls in place, driverless cars will face chaotic environments and inevitably make what humans could consider to be the wrong decision because they have too many inputs and variables to compute.

You're comparing apples with mince pies and gravy if you think a driverless car = commercial aircraft = trains.

Regarding planes - a human tends to control the take off and landing and then it's the computer that takes over for the cruise phase which, as woody says, is in relatively clear airspace (barring any Russian/Iranian missiles out for a Sunday stroll).

Trains are even more controlled.

[pjt]

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.