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Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

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Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#111

Post by [deleted] »

Cushman wrote: post #105
spoold wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What country is Nevada in?" Spain for one. I know which Nevada the legislation was passed in, but your comment made the implicit assumption that everyone reading it is in the US. "insufficient (read "nonexistent") public transportation is often noted as a predominantly (while not uniquely) American problem" As is egocentrism.

What are you talking about? There's no Nevada in Spain, GA. (Wait a minute... Oh. Gotcha.) Seriously, though. "This country", as in, the country where I live, which is coincidentally the same one under discussion. You can relax a little with the righteous indignation.

[deleted]

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#112

Post by [deleted] »

Cushman wrote: post #105
spoold wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What country is Nevada in?" Spain for one. I know which Nevada the legislation was passed in, but your comment made the implicit assumption that everyone reading it is in the US. "insufficient (read "nonexistent") public transportation is often noted as a predominantly (while not uniquely) American problem" As is egocentrism.

What are you talking about? There's no Nevada in Spain, GA. (Wait a minute... Oh. Gotcha.) Seriously, though. "This country", as in, the country where I live, which is coincidentally the same one under discussion. You can relax a little with the righteous indignation.

[deleted]

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#113

Post by cma »

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.

There isn't that much inherit inefficiency; if the cars are smart they can drive in a train configuration, imagine this without the mechanical linkages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_train

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#114

Post by jokermatt999 »

Skalman wrote: post #107
anti wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3) Loss of jobs. When we're heading to a future of robotic anything that will replace an entire profession, drivers in this case. What will be the economic effect of it?

Well, we've already seen entire professions and daily tasks disappearing thanks to technology improvements. (e.g. blacksmiths, or washing clothes by hand) I think the sustainable future is one where we all work significantly less than today, and where more people do things where humans are much better than machines, such as arts/music and care (for the elderly, children, sick etc.)

Parkinson's Law says this is unlikely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_Law

It would be nice, but I can't see it happening, unfortunately. Too much of our society would need restructuring, and there are those that would fight tooth and nail against that.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#115

Post by randomdata »

bh42222 wrote: post #110
anti wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3) Loss of jobs. When we're heading to a future of robotic anything that will replace an entire profession, drivers in this case. What will be the economic effect of it?

I don't know why you're being down-voted, it's a valid question. Computers have eliminated a lot of jobs over the last 30 to 40 years. For example VisiCalc, did a lot of what many tax accountants charged for. It used to be that humans, mostly women, switched (or routed if you will) phone calls. Automation certainly does eliminate many jobs. But interestingly it also seems to make previously impossible things possible…

I think you make some great points. If we look back in history, almost everyone was a farmer. Farming was the job you did to survive, whether you liked it or not. Along came tractors and other farm machinery, and now something like only 3% of the population are still employed as farmers.

Interestingly, farming has been moving to driverless equipment out in the fields for the last couple of decades. At first it was not well received. Who would want to give up control of their machines? But in the last couple of years, the technology has really exploded. People are starting to see the benefits to their business.

I expect driverless cars will be the same. It is going to be a long time before it is accepted by the masses, even when the long list of benefits are present. Hopefully we don't outlaw them before they really come into their own.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#116

Post by orangecat »

patio11 wrote: post #66
Hawramani wrote: post #45

[Survey question] What are Google's options for monetizing driverless cars?

Lease the technology to, without loss of generality, Toyota, for annual license payments higher than the GDP of some nations.

This. When I did rough calculations a few years ago, the total economic benefits of driverless cars was on the order of a trillion dollars a year. Capturing even 10% of that would make Google by far the most valuable company in the world.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#117

Post by Skalman »

jokermatt999 wrote: post #114
Skalman wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, we've already seen entire professions and daily tasks disappearing thanks to technology improvements. (e.g. blacksmiths, or washing clothes by hand) I think the sustainable future is one where we all work significantly less than today, and where more people do things where humans are much better than machines, such as arts/music and care (for the elderly, children, sick etc.)

Parkinson's Law says this is unlikely. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_Law It would be nice, but I can't see it happening, unfortunately. Too much of our society would need restructuring, and there are those that would fight tooth and nail against that.

I sure hope that there will be a jump at some point allowing life quality to increase, and not bureaucracies, as Parkinson's Law seems to suggest (life quality hasn't improved during the last 30 years in the developed world, referring to general happiness and well-being). I am optimistic that brave politicians will make the necessary changes at some point - the world is too rapidly-transforming for huge changes in our lives not to happen.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#118

Post by rdouble »

I'm surprised by the comments that imply we'll solve traffic congestion and be snoozing safely in the passenger seat as our robot cars zip us to work in 10-20 years. I live in a technical world where a team of geniuses can barely keep a system up that exchanges 140 character messages.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#119

Post by tzs »

Hawramani wrote: post #45

[Survey question] What are Google's options for monetizing driverless cars?

1. Get into the billboard business and pick routes that increase expose to Google-owned billboards.

2. Alternatively, if they don't want to get into the billboard business, sell routing influence. Bidders can pay to route cars past points of their choosing. They could both sell general place-based influence (bidders simply bid to have more cars come past their chosen point), or end-point based influence (bid to have people going to/from specific points routed past your chosen point).

For instance, suppose you have a new French restaurant, on a side street. You could pay Google to increase traffic down your street, so that more people will see your restaurant. Even better, you put out a sign announcing your grand opening, and prominently proclaiming "Higher Rated than Le Pretentious Bastard" (the top French restaurant in town), and pay Google to specifically route people who are going to Le Pretentious Bastard past your place.

3. Route based on conversation in the car. E.g., if the people riding in the car are talking about comic books, route past comic book stores (that have paid Google for this).

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#120

Post by checker »

dkokelley wrote: post #79
billybob wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pl…

Rush hour crowding on public transport is a big negative. If we embraced more flexible work hours, it would bring about its own efficiencies.
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