Reply to: Vehicles with no human driver

[DoctorStrangelove]

[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.

[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.

[woody1]

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

[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

[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.

[sadkingbilly]

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

[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.

[malvolio]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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

[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.

[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.