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Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

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Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#91

Post by amock »

threeseed wrote: post #88
mentat wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about something simple like telling the car, "back up 10 feet" or "move to the spot across the street". This is dead simple short range routes...

How does one "tell" the car what to do without controls ? I hope you're not suggesting voice recognition because anything less than 100% accuracy will guarantee accidents and possibly deaths.

The car needs to know what's safe regardless of whether or not the instructions are via voice or another method, so inaccurate voice control does not guarantee accidents.

Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#92

Post by ok_craig »

doomlaser wrote: post #29
noahl wrote: post #10

I think the biggest news was this sentence: If all goes well, we’d like to run a small pilot program here in California in the next couple of years. This is the next step in their very slow but, apparently, very steady march towards real self-driving cars that anyone can buy.

Why buy a self driving car when you could rent one as needed?

For most people who own cars, they are an extension of all their other personal space.

I want to be able to leave things in my car and not have to take them out or replace them each time I drive. My sunglasses, the car seat, old-fashioned maps. Maybe I'd like to be able to leave my potato chip wrappers in there without worrying about it, or maybe I'd like to own something where I'm guaranteed others haven't left their potato chip wrappers behind.

Cleanliness. Who else has been in this thing? Did they leave lice behind? Did they jam the window so that when I use the car, there's an annoying breeze?

Style. My car says something about me. Maybe I want rims, or to paint it with flames, or maybe just pink. What about that stereo system?

Status. My car is mine and I can afford it. Like watches, nice clothes, or big houses, it's something people desire.

Practicality. If I don't live in a city, how long is it going to take a rental car to get to me? Why not own one that sits in my driveway, so I don't have to wait for it?

There are plenty of great reasons to want to own a self driving vehicle, instead of renting them.

Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#93

Post by prawn »

sown wrote: post #43

It seems like they would eventually have a four-seater version but the bench seats could face each other. What a simple thing but so different. Maybe like suicide-doors used to be common in the US but they're such a novelty now.

Yes, one of my first thoughts was about how much I enjoy road trips. But realistically, the bits I don't enjoy are having my attention pegged to the road and my foot to the pedals. A driverless car still leaves that progression through the landscape, the scenery, the togetherness.

Taking your family on a road trip where the travel was in a capsule with two bench seats facing each other, and a table between, would be great. Read books, play cards, get some work done. Convert seats to beds and get some sleep while you cruise at 40 kmh to your destination overnight.

Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#95

Post by eurleif »

dunmalg wrote: post #79
eurleif wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the car's display shows a map of the surrounding area, and that map includes not just static objects like buildings, but also includes other cars, people, etc. (based on sensor information), is touching a spot on the map to make the car go there really a chore?

Touch-screen interfaces are inherently imprecise. Ever tried to select a destination on a GPS map?

Ok, so how about if you can drag a representation of the car to the place on the map where you want it to go? This doesn't seem like a very difficult UI issue to me.

Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#96

Post by prawn »

SilasX wrote: post #22

Forgive my crankiness, but: Does this say anything that the casual follower of self driving cars doesn't already know? All I got out of this was: - Self driving cars would be awesome, for well known reasons. - We have to use a lot of good sensors to make this work. - It's an interesting problem.

Takeaways:

- They're working on physical prototypes.

- These cars don't have a steering wheel or pedals for human override.

- Speed-limited reveals a bit more of their strategy.

- Makes clear how useful and empowering these vehicles will be to someone visually or physically impaired, the elderly, etc.

Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#97

Post by jessriedel »

Phlarp wrote: post #45
atwebb wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always nice to have an actual mechanical linkage to the steering and motion, if the electronics had issues it could just as well affect the BT link from the phone or controller. I'm not familiar enough with all makes and models out today and perhaps there are plenty of examples where wheels are already just "controllers".

Essentially every new consumer grade car made today comes with power steering and electronically controlled or assisted "mechanical linkage". To say nothing of the recent high profile cases of large auto makers having faulty engine control software or mechanically unsound ignition systems.

It would almost certainly not be worth it for a robocar, but having an assisted mechanical linkage is valuable and very different from a pure electronic linkage (i.e. drive by wire). As emgee points out, drive by wire is essentially non-existent in consumer cars.

Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#98

Post by pirateking »

gdas wrote: post #84

I'm thinking about this basic idea: We have, in this case, a machine that is doing the job that a human driver would do - A machine replacing a man. My question is: Should we be happy about this? Or should we be sad? This time, we have a machine replacing a driver. In the future we may have machines replacing teachers, doctors, carpenters, artists... even lovers and machine makers. So, my question remains: Should we…

What would we do? Well, we might aspire to be more like our newfound superiors. We might attempt to become cyborgs.

Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#99

Post by Bluestrike2 »

rquantz wrote: post #15

It seems like a mistake to remove manual controls entirely, not necessarily because of safety concerns, but because there are a fair number of times when you need the car to go somewhere without having a route. I'm thinking of things like: Moving your car ten feet so somebody else can get out of the driveway; handling double parking during alternate side parking hours; moving the car because you were waiting to pick…

It's always possible that the end result will be a hybrid one that's somewhere in-between the two visions (particularly with other variants, as it seems like Google's primarily targeting an urban environment). There are already concepts for retractable steering wheels [1] that could be combined with retractable pedals to handle situations that require manual control. Hell, the movie Demolition Man had them way back in the 90s alongside with plenty of cheesy acting.

[1] http://www.webdev.trw.com/sites/default/files/TRW_OSS_SWS%20...

Re: Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

#100

Post by sudhirj »

atwebb wrote: post #40
slyall wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For manual controls your could just plug in something like a PlayStation controller into a USB port or even a Phone app via Wifi/Bluetooth to control the car. No need to have permanent wheels, levers and pedals cluttering the "passenger" compartment.

It's always nice to have an actual mechanical linkage to the steering and motion, if the electronics had issues it could just as well affect the BT link from the phone or controller. I'm not familiar enough with all makes and models out today and perhaps there are plenty of examples where wheels are already just "controllers".

Haven't recent cars and even aeroplanes shifted entirely to drive by wire? The mechanical linkage is already gone for the most part.
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