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Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

wsj.com

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Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#121

Post by Splines »

maxerickson wrote: post #29
vonmoltke wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I mentioned in a previous thread some time ago, where does this notion of self-driving cars suddenly meaning shared cars come from? To some people these things seem to be joined at the hip.

Because the self driving aspect enables dispatch. Prompting a human that is also driving to make a 3 block detour is pretty hard to do safely. Prompting a passenger to see if they will take a 3 block detour to save cost is not so hard to do safely. The self driving vehicles would also be reporting available ride shares to people looking to make trips.

I interpret "car sharing" as more about keeping utilization up. When you're at work, the car you used to get to work will be off doing something else during the day. When you want to go back home, it could be a completely different car.

You'd pay a subscription for a certain level of car service (time responsiveness, cargo capacity, comfort level). Maybe you'd get a discount for scheduling your commute a week in advance.

The # of cars on the road might be the same, but the amount of resources we would consume as a society would be lower. Or maybe it would be the same, but the flexible model would allow scenarios that weren't previously possible (e.g., your child could "drive" to school without you).

Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#122

Post by nashashmi »

The conversation on this HN thread makes me wonder about the future generation who will never learn how to drive.

And then I feel sorry for the generation in between who will be confused with automatic driving happening only sometimes.

Such interruptive learning or even worse, never having learned, has the power to change culture for the worst.

Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#123

Post by kazinator »

prostoalex wrote: post #76
kazinator wrote: post #15

Americans could rather use a robot highway driving instructor. "Consider moving over to the right line; you're driving at the speed limit, and a speeding car is approaching; you may confirm this in the rear-view mirror." "I have detected that you came to a full stop at the end of a generous freeway entrance ramp in light traffic. Suggested future action: look over the shoulder as early as possible and match the speed…

From personal experience a lot of people would benefit from Blinker Usage 101.

Not using the blinker, or using one falsely, should be a rare practice which is always strategic. When it's done out of stupid neglect, it's such a waste.

Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#124

Post by ghaff »

dsmithatx wrote: post #106
jklowden wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free-market ideology if you ask me. The first sentence suggests the hapless government wants to spent $4 billion on research for something you you can have today for $20K. A little later it mentions Washington's "time and billions" spent on fuel-efficiency instead of "saving lives". The government has also funded electric-car research and encouraged Detroit to build them. Contrasting self-driving with electric drive…

It was stupid for this article to start talking about the $4 billion Obama has talked about for research. This article is about features and not a real self driving car. If anything the features make this car very dangerous in the hands of people concerned with their phones and tablets and kind of proves the need for investments like the $4 billion. To me it sounds like the free market is about to make the road damn…

In all fairness, the assistive driving features introduced to date are probably a net win. (After all, they've been available on high-end vehicles.) However, we're probably approaching the point where the automation is sufficient that people will routinely stop paying attention given that it "mostly works" for highway driving in good weather.

Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#125

Post by sxcurry »

Someone1234 wrote: post #63
ben1040 wrote: post #27

This looks like the "Sensing" feature that Honda has implemented on some of their other vehicles. I just bought a 2016 Accord that does the same thing -- there's a camera mounted on the windshield, another camera in the front grille, and a radar sensor on the front bumper. Calling it "self-driving" is kind of a misnomer and I think the article kind of blows it out of proportion. It will track the car in front of you…

I just want to say, I have a similar vehicle system (Eyesight, rather than Honda Sensing) and I agree with everything you are saying. It isn't self-driving, it is just a bunch of really cool driver assist technology. Unfortunately the reason why these systems fail on sharp turns is that the lane-line literally falls outside of the camera's vision. Aside from adding two more cameras (which I'd welcome) I cannot see th…

Agreed - my wife just bought a new Subaru with the Eyesight package. I was very dubious at first, but after a few long freeway trips, I'd much rather drive her car than my older vehicle. I believe that Subaru in Japan has published some impressive statistics about accident reduction with the Eyesight package. IMO, these technologies should be mandated on all new cars.

Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#126

Post by bliti »

The elephant in the room is this one:

When will highways be upgraded/updated for self driving? I don't mean V2I (vehicle to infrastructure) capabilities, but properly painted and maintained lane lines, reflectors, and signage. The infrastructure is just not there. You can't simply rely on a car's sensing abilities for self driving.

Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#127

Post by kazinator »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #90
prostoalex wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From personal experience a lot of people would benefit from Blinker Usage 101.

Poor blinker usage drives me nuts. Yes, there are some cases where, well, stuff happens. A driver forgets until the last minute. Many times I see them hit the blinker a split second after they've changed lanes. But far more frequently, I see the driver who is drifting between lanes at will, without thinking of the blinker, and seemingly without a care in the world. This is disturbing, especially since if I'm seeing t…

If you want to cut in, gaining an advantage over traffic, it behooves you to keep your intent undisclosed. Some drivers in the advantaged lane will make it difficult to merge if they see the intent, by closing the gaps. (Those who make it easy are enablers of cutting-in behavior, despised by everyone).

It's safer if you don't announce your intent; you don't want to be encouraging the driver in the target lane to be trying to close the gap that you're swinging into.

In most other normal situations, blink, damn it!

Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#128

Post by ben1040 »

MBCook wrote: post #109
ben1040 wrote: post #27

This looks like the "Sensing" feature that Honda has implemented on some of their other vehicles. I just bought a 2016 Accord that does the same thing -- there's a camera mounted on the windshield, another camera in the front grille, and a radar sensor on the front bumper. Calling it "self-driving" is kind of a misnomer and I think the article kind of blows it out of proportion. It will track the car in front of you…

I've got the same car and you're dead on. I really wanted the automatic cruise control but the truth is it's a hassle in the city on the highway. I don't want to constantly adjust the distance between the car in front of me and my car as conditions change so I end up just managing it myself without cruise control or setting it 'classic' mode where it doesn't use the radar. That said shortly after I bought the car I d…

>I really wanted the automatic cruise control but the truth is it's a hassle in the city on the highway.

Yeah, that's one thing I've noticed. Of the three options you get for following distance, even the "closest" one leaves a pretty long gap between you and the vehicle ahead of you.

So people will pass you, pull into that gap, and then your car will slow down to open up a long gap between them and you. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Re: Honda's $20k Civic LX now offers self-driving capability for highway use

#130

Post by mikeash »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #101
jklowden wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free-market ideology if you ask me. The first sentence suggests the hapless government wants to spent $4 billion on research for something you you can have today for $20K. A little later it mentions Washington's "time and billions" spent on fuel-efficiency instead of "saving lives". The government has also funded electric-car research and encouraged Detroit to build them. Contrasting self-driving with electric drive…

Yes, the WSJ is known for its free-market ideology :) But I think they have a point. The gov't has largely focused on fuel economy for decades now, while tens of thousands of people continued to die or suffer horrible injuries in cars. Sure, seat belts, crumple zones -- a good start. Unleaded? Not sure how that saves you in a crash.

Unleaded fuel doesn't save lives in a crash, but it saves lives just the same by reducing the impact of pollution.

That point doesn't make any sense to me. The government has focused on fuel economy, yes, but it has also focused on safety.

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