Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars • Hacker News Board

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#21

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:09 PM UTC

chc wrote: post #16

phlux wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prostitution, Gambling, 24-hour alcohol sales, Driverless cars, rentable fully automatic weapons! Come to Nevada, we are the FUTURE! EDIT: I was not actually bemoaning any of these, uh, services. I lived in Nevada for a few years and aside from the fact that I was traumatized against it by the game Fallout - actually like Nevada. It is one of those states that actually fantastic to live in if you have enough money/yo…

To be honest, at least half of those sound like perfectly reasonable ideas. Aside from machine guns, I'm not sure there's a strong logical argument to outlaw any of them.

Presumably, the machine guns are only rentable at the range - what's the logical argument against that?

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#22

Post by DanielStraight » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:09 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #20

DanielStraight wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you deal with the inherent inefficiency of having a separate vehicle for every passenger (or small group of passengers)? Publicness is not the only benefit of public transportation. Trains and buses are incredibly efficient per passenger mile. They also take up a lot less space than cars, and last longer and cost less per passenger to manufacture. Making a car driverless doesn't solve these problems.

It wouldn't necessarily have to be the only public transit option. In New York, I can get to work by train much faster than by car - but if I need to go to, say, Ikea, it's two trains and a bus. A cheap, public car would be great.

I agree completely. I don't necessary think it's a bad idea, I just don't think it's a good idea "instead of big trains and buses."

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#23

Post by initself » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:09 PM UTC

mkr-hn wrote: post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

It's the future of "transportation", period. People will look back to the time when humans drove transportation and laugh.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#24

Post by mkr-hn » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:09 PM UTC

DanielStraight wrote: post #17

mkr-hn wrote: post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

How do you deal with the inherent inefficiency of having a separate vehicle for every passenger (or small group of passengers)? Publicness is not the only benefit of public transportation. Trains and buses are incredibly efficient per passenger mile. They also take up a lot less space than cars, and last longer and cost less per passenger to manufacture. Making a car driverless doesn't solve these problems.

I think of this more as dealing with the present (and unpleasant) reality. I prefer buses and trains, but we haven't found a way to get people to fund and use them enough to make them viable outside big cities.

A lot of the gridlock in my city comes from people doing stupid things that force other drivers to slow down to avoid a wreck. Automated cars would reduce the impact of bad drivers by removing them from the equation.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#25

Post by watchandwait » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:10 PM UTC

wccrawford wrote: post #3

I really didn't expect this to happen within 10 years. I'm amazed that this happened so fast.

This is an example of the beauty of American federalism. The states can push forward with innovation, as appropriate to their local needs.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#26

Post by bdhe » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:10 PM UTC

DanielStraight wrote: post #17

mkr-hn wrote: post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

How do you deal with the inherent inefficiency of having a separate vehicle for every passenger (or small group of passengers)? Publicness is not the only benefit of public transportation. Trains and buses are incredibly efficient per passenger mile. They also take up a lot less space than cars, and last longer and cost less per passenger to manufacture. Making a car driverless doesn't solve these problems.

A country like the US, especially with vast suburban areas, it isn't necessarily a strict dichotomy between public transport and driverless cars. We can have both.

Especially in the west coast, American cities were built to be navigated by cars. Even today, the very fact that carpool lanes in most parts of California are designated for 2 people/car, not 3 implies we already have separate vehicles for each passenger. If we can take advantage of the road infrastructure and cut down on the need to own a car, it will be a huge benefit to lots of people. See how popular ZipCar is, precisely because of this sort of benefit.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#27

Post by nerfhammer » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:13 PM UTC

truebosko wrote: post #15

mkr-hn wrote: post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

Big trains and buses still move a lot more people than one small car. If everyone hopped into their driverless car, we'd be back to where we are now -- gridlock :)

In theory driverless cars could end up having algorithmic optimizations and use networked information such as to use overall road capacity much more efficiently.

Then hackers can take control and direct all traffic to participating gambling establishments.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#28

Post by dkokelley » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:13 PM UTC

DanielStraight wrote: post #17

mkr-hn wrote: post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

How do you deal with the inherent inefficiency of having a separate vehicle for every passenger (or small group of passengers)? Publicness is not the only benefit of public transportation. Trains and buses are incredibly efficient per passenger mile. They also take up a lot less space than cars, and last longer and cost less per passenger to manufacture. Making a car driverless doesn't solve these problems.

Theoretically, driverless cars could be programmed to behave in a collective fashion. Yes, a train is incredibly efficient when 300 people need to go from the same place to a different place. But in reality, 300 people are coming from 300 places and going 300 places. Driverless cars could calculate partial carpools or transfers to more efficient vehicles like trains depending on the needs of the commuters. A "smart car" could drop the commuter(s) off at the train station, and another car could pick the commuter(s) up for the final leg of their trip.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#29

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:15 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#30

Post by rednum » Thu, Jun 23, 2011, 5:15 PM UTC

mkr-hn wrote: post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

I wonder if human-driven car will become minority of vehicles in next 30 years. If the technology will be affordable and good enough, this seems like a probable scenario. Also it could be possible that driverless cars will reduce traffic jams by introducing some better routing algorithms.