Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

blogs.forbes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 214 posts

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#71

Post by roc »

rednum wrote: post #30
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.

They'd reduce traffic jams simply by behaving consistently over time. A very large number of traffic problems are caused by distracted/daydreaming drivers, aggressive drivers, overly cautious drivers over-braking, etc.

Consider the situation of lane-merging. Studies have shown a zipper-merge at the end of the disappearing lane to be the most efficient method. Yet human drivers create huge traffic snarls in these situations based almost entirely on their emotional reaction to what they perceive as 'fairness', which hinges on a thoroughly baseless concept of 'winning' in traffic.

Introduce driver-less cars and --with no other changes to traffic patterns at all-- the rising incidence of proper zipper-merging will reduce the frequency and severity of traffic problems.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#74

Post by groby_b »

graywh wrote: post #38
dkokelley wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 c…

This. A few weeks ago, I left my house for the grocery 2 miles away. I followed a car from my subdivision to the grocery. After shopping, I followed the same car back from the grocery to my subdivision.

Of course, this points out a failure in public engineering, not the need for automated cars. (As much as I'd love to have them)

Urban sprawl is a gigantic problem that we need to address, and soon. It not only affects transportation - there's general maintenance cost, social effects, land use, etc.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#75

Post by billybob »

dkokelley wrote: post #28
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.

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 c…

More likely, driverless cars will be programmed to make really, really long commutes.

How far would you be willing to commute right now? OK, what if you could sleep or play videogames en route?

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#76

Post by afterburner »

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've always thought it would be neat to combine the public transport with the public car idea. Have parking lots full of public cars available at the station stops (and really big ones at the end of the subway line).

You'll have to be able to keep one of these public cars at your place overnight for it to work (unless it drives itself home empty!).

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#79

Post by dkokelley »

billybob wrote: post #75
dkokelley wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 c…

More likely, driverless cars will be programmed to make really, really long commutes. How far would you be willing to commute right now? OK, what if you could sleep or play videogames en route?

I commute about 1:15:00 each way, each day. I carpool, so I can read my iPad for two hours a day. It certainly helps with the drive time.

But you can do the same on a train or bus already. I think part of why people don't use them as much is because of the inconvenience of working around their schedule, and first and last mile commutes (because the train doesn't go to your office). Networked, driverless cars could play a part in the larger public transport system to alleviate these two points of pain of commuters.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#80

Post by kellishaver »

As an individual who is legally blind and cannot drive, I very much welcome the day when this technology becomes wide-spread and affordable.

It is extremely annoying to be in your mid 30's and have to rely on/inconvenience someone else to drive you around.

So whether it were getting my own vehicle or seeing vast improvements made to less-than ideal public transportation systems, either would be great.

Post reply on HN