Reply to: Vehicles with no human driver

[Snooky]

When I was young, driving was fun, but a combination of becoming an old curmudgeon and hugely increased levels of traffic have made it an unwelcome chore most of the time, and I avoid it where possible.

I'd love to have driverless cars. In theory, they can travel much faster, but still far more safely, than human-piloted vehicles, with the huge benefit that you basically have your own private train carriage to relax and pass the travel time however you like.

But as mentioned by others, there are a lot of issues which will take decades to resolve, such as how to safely and reliably cater for a mix of human and automated drivers, and how to make the process unhackable (virtually impossible).

I still think I'll see it become a huge thing in my lifetime, probably with a subscription or pay-per-trip model so that you don't actually have to own a car if you don't need to. I realise we already have taxis and Ubers etc, so this would just be that without having to pay for a human to drive it. Not sure who cleans out the sick on a Friday night though

[ladymuck]

Actually did you see the small print at the start which said all their animations are human made? If you look at their channel it provides links to the channel creators. It was shared via a source I trust so I have no reason to think it's a video created in response to a chatGPT prompt. Yes the voice was annoying but the actual content is true. Car manufacturers are creating smartphones with wheels with little consideration for the human factors involved. Having been with friends who hired a car at Berlin airport, where we had to spend 10 minutes searching for and watching videos about how to start the engine and turn on the lights, find common functions, I fail to understand how all that so-called technology is making driving safer.

[WTFH]

Just came across this, not strictly driverless cars but more along the theme of "modern car design is bad".

On Autocar/TopGear/etc comments sections there tends to be a series of standard responses when a new car is launched:
1. They all look the same
Then a manufacturer comes out with a different design and the following responses happen:
2. It has a silly name
3. It is made in China and therefore very poor quality
4. It is woke
5. They should make something like that but it needs to be affordable (i.e. under £10,000 new)
6. In my day cars lasted 20 years, these things will fall apart after 3 years.

Amusingly, the video you've shared has been voiced by AI (the whole thing has probably been put together by ChatGPT "make me a video that backs up this theory and will generate revenue for me"), I prefer human voices and a real presenter.
I'm still learning stuff about my new car, but I rarely look at the big screen, rather I use the voice control to manage the heating, navigation, radio, etc., which means my hands don't come off the wheel at all.

[ladymuck]

Just came across this, not strictly driverless cars but more along the theme of "modern car design is bad".

[alamest]

I’m not against the idea in principle, but I think context matters a lot.

Driverless works best where the environment is controlled or predictable — motorways, rail, airspace, even fixed routes. Urban driving in the UK is the complete opposite: mixed road users, poor lane discipline, temporary roadworks, confusing signage and plenty of “unwritten rules” that humans rely on every day.

Human error causes a lot of accidents, no doubt, but humans are also very good at improvising when something unexpected happens. That’s the bit I’m not convinced automation has fully cracked yet, especially in busy cities.

I’d trust a driverless vehicle far sooner on a motorway or dedicated route than I would in central London at rush hour. We’ll get there eventually, but I think widespread, fully human-free driving is still a fair way off.

[Paddy]

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

[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.