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Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

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Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#11

Post by sker »

mistercow wrote: post #4
mmanfrin wrote: post #2

I am really excited for the possible future of self-driving electric taxis. All the pieces kind of fit together: you can use an app to dispatch and gauge number of fleet vehicles to put out (Google just bought a huge stake in Uber), self-driving cabs can return themselves for a recharge when low on batter and another vehicle can replace it instantly, the amount of cars on the road can scale with demand fluidly. There…

Shhh, if the auto industry, public transit industry, and car rental industry hear you, they might band together and try to stop it from happening.

They'll have to fight the insurance companies.

Insurance companies will probably love to be collecting rent on every vehicle while having to cover 90% less accidents.

Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#12

Post by seanmcdirmid »

mmanfrin wrote: post #2

I am really excited for the possible future of self-driving electric taxis. All the pieces kind of fit together: you can use an app to dispatch and gauge number of fleet vehicles to put out (Google just bought a huge stake in Uber), self-driving cabs can return themselves for a recharge when low on batter and another vehicle can replace it instantly, the amount of cars on the road can scale with demand fluidly. There…

Also, think of the impact in congested and developing countries: in Beijing, there is nowhere else to build roads, yet the number of cars keeps increasing. Going all self-driving in the entire city would increase road bandwidth substantially. Not to mention the problem of people flaunting traffic rules and etiquette and causing backups as a result.

This is going to be much bigger for the rest of the world than in the roads-a-plenty USA.

Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#13

Post by grogenaut »

TIJ wrote: post #5

I am closely following the development of self driving cars specially at google and i can assure everyone of its sophistication that it's the best driver you can get for your car. I know you all would be aware of the fact but i want to take this opportunity to state that is has covered thousands of miles without a single accident isn't that an extraordinary achievement for a car without a driver(but a computer instea…

so in all of those thousands of miles no one has rear ended the cars?

Also call me when they get to tens of millions of miles, eg what's driven every day in the US.

Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#14

Post by candydance »

freyrs3 wrote: post #7
mistercow wrote: post #3

And perversely, if accidents happened one tenth as often, they'd become news, and people would think they were more common and dangerous than they do now. The question is whether we can get to a point of no return with self-driving cars before that effect takes hold.

I think most rational people would come to realize that even if the 1/10 of deaths are caused by computer errors then at least the problem can be fixed over time. With human error, there's not much you can do.

Everyone thinks they can drive without risking themselves harm though, otherwise no one would ever get in a car.

Accidents happen to other people... until they don't.

Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#15

Post by MichaelApproved »

freyrs3 wrote: post #7
mistercow wrote: post #3

And perversely, if accidents happened one tenth as often, they'd become news, and people would think they were more common and dangerous than they do now. The question is whether we can get to a point of no return with self-driving cars before that effect takes hold.

I think most rational people would come to realize that even if the 1/10 of deaths are caused by computer errors then at least the problem can be fixed over time. With human error, there's not much you can do.

Most people aren't rational when presented with this type of situation.

Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#16

Post by sker »

mistercow wrote: post #3

And perversely, if accidents happened one tenth as often, they'd become news, and people would think they were more common and dangerous than they do now. The question is whether we can get to a point of no return with self-driving cars before that effect takes hold.

> The question is whether we can get to a point of no return with self-driving cars before that effect takes hold.

Insurance companies can take care of that too. Just charge a huge premium to drivers who want to drive by themselves. You'll see even the most confident macho driver submit to the AI overlords.

Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#18

Post by nick007 »

sker wrote: post #11
mistercow wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shhh, if the auto industry, public transit industry, and car rental industry hear you, they might band together and try to stop it from happening.

They'll have to fight the insurance companies. Insurance companies will probably love to be collecting rent on every vehicle while having to cover 90% less accidents.

Actually I think this will kill insurance companies too. They will see their business fall inline with the cost of accidents.

Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#19

Post by seanmcdirmid »

sker wrote: post #11
mistercow wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shhh, if the auto industry, public transit industry, and car rental industry hear you, they might band together and try to stop it from happening.

They'll have to fight the insurance companies. Insurance companies will probably love to be collecting rent on every vehicle while having to cover 90% less accidents.

Until a smart insurance company comes around and wins away the other insurance companies' customers because the risk is 90% less and they can lower premiums substantially and still make a profit.

Re: Self-driving cars projected to reduce injuries by 90%, save $450B annually

#20

Post by nick2 »

mistercow wrote: post #3

And perversely, if accidents happened one tenth as often, they'd become news, and people would think they were more common and dangerous than they do now. The question is whether we can get to a point of no return with self-driving cars before that effect takes hold.

This will be taken care of by insurance companies. If the data is there to show that automatic cars are involved in a lot less accidents than regular cars, the insurance premium will be prohibitively expensive for non-automatic cars. Only rich folks will be able to drive.
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