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The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

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Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#111
post #102
post #92

About 33,000 people die on America’s roads every year. There will eventually be a fatality caused by a self-driving car. I wonder how many of these we will be willing to accept. Say self-driving cars reduce fatalities by 10x. That is, by switching 100% to self-driving cars there are 3300 deaths a year, but they are all caused by self-driving cars. Would America accept that? I personally doubt we would. I think the nu…

Why not?

Because its easier to accept it if it was a humans fault, not some piece of code.

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some areas just give a "brief" period where both lights are red. I'm surprised not everywhere does, or that is isn't increased.

What completely infuriates me is pedestrian crossings that don't automatically allow pedestrians to cross when the lights are in a state that would allow it.

Are you asking why peds are required to press a button at some intersections for a walk signal?

If so, consider that some intersections may require a long time (~45 seconds) for a ped to cross. When no one is crossing, this may be sub-optimal and a shorter time for that specific light combination should be used.

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#113
post #51

I want to hear the argument about people who want to drive. I enjoy driving. I like driving cars. I still drive a manual and will not buy an automatic transmission. I participate in car clubs and I compete in autocross events. I enjoy automotive photography and I do my own maintenance on my vehicles. What happens to people like me who actually enjoy driving and the act of owning a car? Do my loves get phased out beca…

Manual driven cars will not disappear, what will happen is Insurance will go through the roof as more self-driving cars are added to the roads. There will be some roads declared for self-driven cars only and some that will allow both. Enjoy your cars now!

I see this being the most plausible thing to happen. Separate insurance classes for manual and automatic cars, the costs of each being supported by their perspective groups.

However that begs the question: by sheer numbers would that make insurance on a automatic car comparable to a manually driven one? If there are significantly less manual cars, there are less accidents to pay out. An accident in a manual car is not a guarantee just like no accidents in automatic cars is not a guarantee.

I think if manual insurance was more expensive it would be an artificial premium based on the fear of something happening.

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#114
post #14
post #2

Imagine that for a moment: Self driving car companies could promise to pay all accident expenses provided it was on auto drive at the time of accident. Not only is that a marketing win, potentially reducing accidents and saving costs for owners... if you jump forward many years of Google (or other) defending owners in court you would reach a point even judges would be biased to believe that the auto-driven car could…

Keep in mind that every autocar will have an extremely accurate recording of the accident that can be analyzed and played back during a hearing. Determining fault will be trivial in almost all cases.

Is "autocar" a thing?

The ambiguity between automatic/automobile/autonomous really makes me hope a better word surfaces.

Self-driving car is a bit too long.

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#115
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course. The most google can do: send you ads for shovels. The most police can do: pull you in for murder because they correlated your car to where and when some body was buried.

I like how in your examples, "Google" is just algorithms, not the humans behind them, but for the police, you allow for humanity. You may as well say, "the most police cameras can do: send you an automated speeding ticket", which is of course painfully naïve. Google could do plenty of evil with your data.

Can you give me some examples of what google might reasonably do with my data that can negatively affect my life to the same magnitude as what the police/government might reasonably do?

Ideally, maybe no one should track my every move. But to talk about police and google in the same sentence in terms of ramifications is so far off I can't be anything but incredulous :)

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#116
post #92

About 33,000 people die on America’s roads every year. There will eventually be a fatality caused by a self-driving car. I wonder how many of these we will be willing to accept. Say self-driving cars reduce fatalities by 10x. That is, by switching 100% to self-driving cars there are 3300 deaths a year, but they are all caused by self-driving cars. Would America accept that? I personally doubt we would. I think the nu…

[deleted]

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#117
post #4

One thing I'm looking forward to with self-driving cars is to be able to step into a street anywhere and have all the traffic stop automatically. Every inch of street now becomes a crosswalk. Even highways. (This is an ironic statement)

It might eventually just look like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlyOom0bwwY

When visiting Vietnam, I was told to look straight ahead, and move at a consistent and predictable pace. The drivers are used to moving around pedestrians. Its a wild sensation.

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#118

I want to know how the person playing the trumpet was able to drive. And how well did they play?

The trumpet can be played one-handed, actually. Gets a little heavy after a while, but you can rest the bell on the dashboard. Also you won't be able to use the first and third valve slides to correct the lower notes, but who's listening?

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#119
post #92

About 33,000 people die on America’s roads every year. There will eventually be a fatality caused by a self-driving car. I wonder how many of these we will be willing to accept. Say self-driving cars reduce fatalities by 10x. That is, by switching 100% to self-driving cars there are 3300 deaths a year, but they are all caused by self-driving cars. Would America accept that? I personally doubt we would. I think the nu…

I think the problem is, people really don't care about autonomous objects. There is so many unknowns with this, it's really hard to know. Like if the self-driving car gets in an accident (that is a result of the self-driving car), who is responsible? Google? Me? Other driver? Car maker? Car seller? Insurance company? Humans have kind of accepted that humans make mistakes, you're trained from day 1 to when you die, hu…

two self-driving cars, from different owners, crash: who is going to pay for that?

Re: The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car

#120
post #51

I want to hear the argument about people who want to drive. I enjoy driving. I like driving cars. I still drive a manual and will not buy an automatic transmission. I participate in car clubs and I compete in autocross events. I enjoy automotive photography and I do my own maintenance on my vehicles. What happens to people like me who actually enjoy driving and the act of owning a car? Do my loves get phased out beca…

Your only argument seems to be that people should be allowed to do/have things that they like. I don't think this a very strong argument. We can come up a long list of things that people like(d) are no longer allowed because they are considered too harmful.
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