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

UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 116 posts

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#81

Post by eru »

ignostic wrote: post #30
suprgeek wrote: post #17

When ever I see a new place or country allowing a test of these cars this wired article always comes to mind [1]. I think the two main questions will be liability & drivability - 1) when (not if) these cars get into a serious crash, who is to assume liability? Is it Google who created the algorithm? Is it the Audi integrator who fused Google technology into the Audi? Is it the fault of the mapping software that did n…

You always voice the same concerns, I always hear the same concerns. It's crazy to me that people get hung up on the liability issue. 1) Liability is assessed exactly as it is now. We use the same system to determine which car was at fault. If it's your car, you are at fault. Someone will insure a self-driving car, especially once the safety record is established. Your current provider might not, but someone will. If…

Actually, Google wants to be held at fault. At least that's their stated position.

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#82

Post by mseebach »

Karellen wrote: post #31
suprgeek wrote: post #17

When ever I see a new place or country allowing a test of these cars this wired article always comes to mind [1]. I think the two main questions will be liability & drivability - 1) when (not if) these cars get into a serious crash, who is to assume liability? Is it Google who created the algorithm? Is it the Audi integrator who fused Google technology into the Audi? Is it the fault of the mapping software that did n…

Thanks for that great link. I think the answer to 1) is going to end up as "insurance companies". In order to put an autonomous vehicle on the road, it's going to have to be insured. Insurance companies will have to vet any and all autonomous vehicles anyway, assume direct financial liability for all harms resulting from anything that could go wrong with such a vehicle, and charge whatever premiums they think are app…

The first couple of rounds of insurance might be issued by a venture capital style fund rather than traditional insurance, as a necessary investment in the ecosystem to get the market underway.

There will of course be actuarial exercises involved, but rather than trying to predict everything and more and imposing unnecessarily limiting restrictions (which is not to say there shouldn't be any) on the development process, they'll accept the increased risk to get the feedback from actual daily use bootstrapped.

Once there's a better understanding of the issues that will occur in the real world, traditional insurers will join the fray.

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#83

Post by dm2 »

lmm wrote: post #80
dm2 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I assumed but did a quick Google Maps search and it appears to be mostly a grid at first glance, unclear wording, "The UK's roads are quite a different test bed to many West coast US cities where there is no grid pattern, roads are smaller, and curvey."

Where were you looking at, Milton Keynes? Peterborough? I'm struggling to think of anywhere gridlike in the UK, though I'm sure some of the '60s towns have them.

Around Liverpool and Birkenhead were the only places I looked, they're not perfect grids of course, I don't know hardly anything about European street layouts though, that might be considered very gridlike compared to other places in the area.

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#84

Post by Too »

joncrocks wrote: post #10
matthewmacleod wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what it says, yes. Have such tests already begun the "the rest of the world"?

As tlrobinson says, I was trying to clarify the content of the article, as the title could easily be mis-interpreted to mean that there were no restrictions. In addition, I suspect that the cars will be 'self-driving' cars rather than 'driverless' (the distinction being that the former has a human behind the wheel, which can take the wheel at a moments notice). As for the rest of the world, from the article: The US S…

The case of 100 volvo cars on the streets 2017 is a bit different than just allowing controlled tests on public roads, that is 100 cars given to customers for every day use, not engineers.

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#85

Post by mhandley »

purringmeow wrote: post #23
cordite wrote: post #21

How will the taxi unions feel when someone combines uber/lyft with self driving cars?

That occupation will disappear, save for a few high-end human driver services, IMO. After the taxis come the trucks. I am quite certain shipping companies will be the quick ditch humans. After all, this means no more travel expenses & salaries, no more breaks, probably automatic unloading too! Goods will get cheaper, although hundreds of thousands of people will be out of work. I am scared.

I wonder if self-driving will enable electric trucks? If you had an electric truck with (say) 150 mile range, it wouldn't be cost effective because the driver would have to sit around for hours waiting for the truck to recharge. Much less of a problem if the truck is self-driving.

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#86

Post by zimpenfish »

dm2 wrote: post #77
andyhmltn wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No he's saying the opposite. The UK does have a lot of narrow bending rounds and tiny country lanes :)

That's what I assumed but did a quick Google Maps search and it appears to be mostly a grid at first glance, unclear wording, "The UK's roads are quite a different test bed to many West coast US cities where there is no grid pattern, roads are smaller, and curvey."

Take a look at London - basically the kind of road layout you'd get if you threw a bunch of toothpicks on the floor and used those as the guidelines for random branching.

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#87

Post by willyt »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #52
roc wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> " The question is where that line will be in the myriad of situations that will be more complex due to the the introduction of automation." It will be determined via litigation, as it is now. Technological complexity of subject matter has yet to present any serious roadblock, or cause any significant change, in the prosecution of the law. Similarly, whether neglected maintenance (or third-party modifications/parts)…

Technological complexity of subject matter has yet to present any serious roadblock, or cause any significant change, in the prosecution of the law. Ridiculous. To cite only one counterexample, self-driving cars will make the controversy over the EU's "right to be forgotten" law look like a polite discussion over a beer. That said, the problems are solvable and we'll all ultimately be better off for facing them.

I expect it will be just like what happens when billion pound construction projects go wrong. There is already a specialised civil court that decides on these types of cases in the UK; the Technology and Construction Court.

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#88

Post by alexhawdon »

hueving wrote: post #60
Someone1234 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since there are a total of zero commercially available driverless cars, was that distinction really required? Nowhere in the world has permitted non-test driverless cars because non-test driverless cars aren't a thing yet. The whole "rest of the world" remark seems like smug condescension. Which is a little odd as only a small handful of places even allow test-cars to be run on public roads. Plus isn't this a welcome…

There is no grid in most of the US either.

Perhaps less to do with the grid, but more the fact that your road systems were designed for the automotive era. In old residential areas driving can be very challenging after everybody's returned from home as streets barely wide enough for two cars to comfortably pass have cars parked up both sides.

This obviously presents challenges such as driver etiquette (car needs to play nicely with others but still get you to your destination) and safety (children can lurk unseen between the cars and leap out out).

Perhaps there are parts of America that are like this, but Hollywood hasn't shown many of them to me.

Re: UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January

#90

Post by pjc50 »

lmm wrote: post #80
dm2 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I assumed but did a quick Google Maps search and it appears to be mostly a grid at first glance, unclear wording, "The UK's roads are quite a different test bed to many West coast US cities where there is no grid pattern, roads are smaller, and curvey."

Where were you looking at, Milton Keynes? Peterborough? I'm struggling to think of anywhere gridlike in the UK, though I'm sure some of the '60s towns have them.

Glasgow is gridlike; I was there for the Games and it felt like a very un-British street layout. But I don't think anywhere in the UK has grid numbering ("42nd street" etc). We don't do the continental thing of naming streets after significant dates either.

The UK certainly has plenty of surprising road layout, often involving roundabouts, oneway systems, medieval street plans, and roadworks.

Post reply on HN