Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

Post by kijinbear » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 8:51 PM UTC

eogas wrote: post #30

I wonder if this is legal. I mean, if one of these cars went haywire and mowed down a bunch of pedestrians before the "driver" was able to take control, I reckon Google would have some splainin to do. With autonomous vehicles coming closer and closer to a reality, it's somewhat alarming that there appears to be no legal body attempting to define some guidelines on this subject. At the rate our government works, we'll…

Post by ajju » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 8:54 PM UTC

alextgordon wrote: post #33

tbrownaw wrote: post #10

And in the event of an accident, who would be liable — the person behind the wheel or the maker of the software? The insurance company, just like today. Possibly paid for by the manufacturer and entirely included in the sales price, or possibly paid for by the driver/owner like today.

Civil liability is only half the issue. What about criminal liability? If your autonomous vehicle runs someone down because of a bug, who goes to jail?

Post by ajju » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 8:55 PM UTC

olalonde wrote: post #50

Great news for terrorists. Now all they have to do is bomb Google's data centers and kill everyone on the roads :)

Post by ajju » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 9:01 PM UTC

kijinbear wrote: post #51

eogas wrote: post #30

I wonder if this is legal. I mean, if one of these cars went haywire and mowed down a bunch of pedestrians before the "driver" was able to take control, I reckon Google would have some splainin to do. With autonomous vehicles coming closer and closer to a reality, it's somewhat alarming that there appears to be no legal body attempting to define some guidelines on this subject. At the rate our government works, we'll…

According to the article, Google's lawyers decided it was OK, because a human was sitting in the driver's seat ready to override the system at any time. I guess it's a little bit like student drivers being supervised by experienced drivers, but who knows what a random cop would think?

Post by kijinbear » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 9:03 PM UTC

124816 wrote: post #39

zacharypinter wrote: post #9

In the short term, I could easily see the value in a souped up cruise control for driving on interstates. combined with infrared/night vision, this could easily make nighttime driving safer. Also, this has great potential (though would probably generate a lot of controversy) for drunk driving. Imagine if your car had a safety mode that could watch out for potential accidents and prevent them even with a human driver.…

> Imagine if your car had a safety mode that could watch out for potential accidents and prevent them even with a human driver. Well, if my car would do that I'd certainly drive to the bar more often. I'd want the fully autonomous "drive me home, Jeeves" system though.