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Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

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Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#281

Since when has VW been at the forefront of self driving cars? Is there a reason their insight would be especially accurate? This just reflects VWs ideas to accomplish the goal... ie: they have none. Let me know when Google says it's not possible.

The fact that they're a reasonably competent outsider arguably bolsters their position.

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about Uber cars today. Their entire value proposition centres around them breaking parking laws in order to pick you up. I take Uber and Lyft in NYC multiple times per week. No one ever “parks”, they just pull up, you jump in, and off you go. Takes less than a minute in most cases, doesn’t block traffic, and I suspect it virtually never results in a ticket. Maybe if they sit there for 10 minutes or more, but th…

Umm, that is is point though - with autonomy the cars presumably won't break the law and stop where it's technically illegal for 30s to pick you up. They will presumably need to find somewhere legal to park to do so.

You might want to look up the legal difference between parking, stopping, and standing.

The vast majority of pickups in nyc at least are not illegal under any current law.

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I drive to work there is an empty transit lane for cars with 2+ people which seems to imply that most rush hour cars have just the driver in. If everyone is ubering in robot cars then they’ll probably share. It’s not that weird as people share public transport and choosing between $10 to get to work and $3 is a no brainer. They might even Uber to the train station then Uber from the destination train station to…

> "they'll probably share" The people who are driving, or at least a significant portion of them, pick driving over public transport because of perceived privacy and control. I don't think uptake of shared mobility is going to be so popular where that becomes the norm.

Values change. No one would take a taxi where the driver is just some unlicensed taxi driver. Back in the 90's that would be consider akin to hitchhiking in danger! Now we have Uber.

Also I drive because it's faster, and because once you go from A->B getting to B->C is probably easier. Not for privacy. Most people just need to get to work or school or their kids to school for the bulk of their car use. Kids to school might work by sharing with other parents you know.

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#284

The technology is not the only problem. The lawyers that are defending every dead body, and there will be dead bodies, that will sink self-driving cars. Even if everyone is 95% safer with self-driving cars, those that are killed by a self-driving car (in combo with a public that is easily swayed with non-objective arguments) will be hard to dismiss.

The world is not the USA. The legal system that exist in the US is different in other places of the world. With a self driving car you know exactly what happened in an accident as video and telemetry is recorded. This is a tremendous advantage over having to reconstruct it without this data. On the contrary I expect legislation forcing every car to include telemetry like the Chinese are forcing every car to be connec…

How happy will it be when camera data in the age of hyper realistic cgi films and “foolproof” telemetry will protect us from killing robot car makers at court. :)

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#285

I agree in part in that I am skeptical that full self-driving cars will happen in the next few years, but he is completely wrong when it comes to the long term. Not only will the tech get as good as humans, but most forget to account for the fact that the environment will meet the cars part way. We will eventually update markings and beacons on the roads to make it easier for the cars, implement networks in which the…

The cost of that infra is so huge, it might be easier to imagine low-altitude self-flying pods.

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about Uber cars today. Their entire value proposition centres around them breaking parking laws in order to pick you up. I take Uber and Lyft in NYC multiple times per week. No one ever “parks”, they just pull up, you jump in, and off you go. Takes less than a minute in most cases, doesn’t block traffic, and I suspect it virtually never results in a ticket. Maybe if they sit there for 10 minutes or more, but th…

Umm, that is is point though - with autonomy the cars presumably won't break the law and stop where it's technically illegal for 30s to pick you up. They will presumably need to find somewhere legal to park to do so.

Anecdotally, I've often had Ubers pick me up in specifically marked and designated passenger loading zones when and where that's been appropriate and necessary. And in principle it's really no different from picking up a friend if you're giving them a ride somewhere.

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#287
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can't even bloody keep the yellow markings on the road visible, and "paint" is a technology we've had for thousands of years. Where in dog's name is the money for installing and maintaining all that smart infrastructure going to come from?

The counter-example to this is train tracks. (There are minimum standards for roads, too.)

Now that you mention it, I wonder if tracks would actually be a better solution for most use cases. I could see a situation where highways have tracks and you only have to actually drive at the beginning and end of the journey.

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#288
post #281

Since when has VW been at the forefront of self driving cars? Is there a reason their insight would be especially accurate? This just reflects VWs ideas to accomplish the goal... ie: they have none. Let me know when Google says it's not possible.

The fact that they're a reasonably competent outsider arguably bolsters their position.

Their future sales are dependent upon there NOT not being self driving cars which arguably reduces their position dramatically.

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#289

I agree in part in that I am skeptical that full self-driving cars will happen in the next few years, but he is completely wrong when it comes to the long term. Not only will the tech get as good as humans, but most forget to account for the fact that the environment will meet the cars part way. We will eventually update markings and beacons on the roads to make it easier for the cars, implement networks in which the…

What about dirt forest service roads? What about the dirt parking lot at that wedding you just went to? How will it find a parking spot? How will it get into a ferry where people direct you to the correct spot?

How will it deal with an accident up ahead where some drunk bystander is trying to direct traffic? How will it know to ignore the drunk guy? What if it isn’t a drunk guy but a sober person directing traffic? Does the car obey in that case?

None of those are edge cases because every time it drives it will encounter some novel edge case that has never happened before and it will have to perform better than a human.

Don’t even get started with liability. Once you take away the steering wheel the manufacturer is on the hook for every single mistake and every single accident. You’d be insane to be a manufacturer and sign up for that.

Sorry, but self driving cars are a complete fantasy.

Re: Volkswagen exec admits full self-driving cars 'may never happen'

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would they "reduce or eliminate congestion"? Congestion is inherently caused by too many people trying to go to or through the same place at the same time. That's not possible without reducing the amount of people trying to travel during a given time period in a given place.

When roads belong exclusively to self-driving cars, they can increase speed, reduce gaps between cars and eliminate traffic wave effect. Imagine highway where everyone drives 80mph with 5ft of distance between cars. No one suddenly changes lanes, no one suddenly slows down for no reason. Here is illustration from Waymo testing facility: https://youtu.be/hKfEivMfDPU

I believe you'd have better throughput by dedicating roads exclusively to buses and bicycles, which are technologies that already exist.
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