Google demos driverless cars • Hacker News Board

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#31

Post by alexsb92 » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:17 AM UTC

Groxx wrote: post #22

Not exactly real-world conditions, but a nice demo nonetheless. Maybe this is how they've been able to Street View so much of the world? I wonder how long until we see the iDrive. I'd love to not-drive myself everywhere, it's a massive time-sink IMO, I could be doing better things in the same time period. I understand some people enjoy it, but I don't.

If you don't enjoy driving, there are alternatives such as public transportation for short surfaces, and trains/airplanes for longer. And I don't mean this in a bad way, I'm just saying.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#32

Post by orangecat » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:38 AM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #24

mdonahoe wrote: post #12

Unless all cars are driven by machine, the driverless car won't make a huge difference in our lives. You can already experience the magic of not having to drive by paying someone else to do it for you. The real gains of automation occur when a machine doing the job can do it faster than a human. Computers calculate and communicate faster than people, and factories/robots build stuff faster. A machine driving a car ha…

This is wrong of course. Imagine you could hire a driver, now imagine he worked for free and was always at his best driving ability. The things that self driving cars will do first, really really well, are: 1) Drive people around who currently use chauffers because they can use the driving time productively. 2) Lower the barrier to attending events, restaurants, etc in urban areas where parking is an issue. (if you c…

Now why a search company would do with that, who knows.

Google is an AI company. Search and ads just happen to be the currently most profitable application.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#33

Post by Groxx » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:39 AM UTC

alexsb92 wrote: post #31

Groxx wrote: post #22

Not exactly real-world conditions, but a nice demo nonetheless. Maybe this is how they've been able to Street View so much of the world? I wonder how long until we see the iDrive. I'd love to not-drive myself everywhere, it's a massive time-sink IMO, I could be doing better things in the same time period. I understand some people enjoy it, but I don't.

If you don't enjoy driving, there are alternatives such as public transportation for short surfaces, and trains/airplanes for longer. And I don't mean this in a bad way, I'm just saying.

It would take me several hours to get to or from work on the bus, and trains around me are both far away and quite expensive. Heck, it sometimes took the buses two hours to get me to school 3 miles away, when they're supposed to be coming by every 30 minutes.

I would if I could. Honestly. I want to get rid of my car. It's just not possible here, currently, while still being able to do anything necessary.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#34

Post by joe_the_user » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:39 AM UTC

sorbus wrote: post #26

maeon3 wrote: post #14

Driverless cars are not going anywhere until they can prove themselves 20% superior than the average driver in ALL the following conditions: Dealing with Rain (visibility and deep water on the road), Hard to see tire eating potholes causing damage, Ice and snow (on road and caking on instruments), Snow accumulation ruts, causing car to move unexpectedly, Evasive driving - cutting across a lawn, (avoiding the pool and…

Interestingly enough, a car which simply refuses to drive in hurricanes, hailstorms, white-out snow, and so forth would be rather more than 20% superior to the average driver. So that's easily dealt with - if insufficient sensory data is available, either hand control over to the driver or, if possible, pull to the side of the road. The average driver likely does really horrible in large crashes and pileups, so merel…

car which simply refuses to drive in hurricanes, hailstorms, white-out snow...

While admitted these conditions can sometime be anticipated, I think the point is that sometimes these conditions cannot be anticipated. You experience a sudden white-out a minute after a snow storm starts. What do you do? Breaking immediately is not the answer! (thus, the cars will need to drive...)

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#35

Post by nzmsv » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:47 AM UTC

zachrose wrote: post #27

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your 20% figure might be low, but that doesn't mean that we won't see specific applications for autonomous cars earlier. Autonomy is going to creep into autos slowly, things like: anti-lock brakes, adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance are all small pieces of an "autonomous" automobile.

A car dealer at the Ford dealership told me Ford is demoing cars that parallel park themselves.

Lexus has had automatic parallel parking for a few years now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Parking_Assist_Syst...

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#36

Post by exit » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:50 AM UTC

i wonder what proportion of the labor market this will affect. basically anyone using cars for delivery?

no more taxi drivers, take-out delivery, postal delivery, etc.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#37

Post by Evgeny » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:53 AM UTC

exit wrote: post #36

i wonder what proportion of the labor market this will affect. basically anyone using cars for delivery? no more taxi drivers, take-out delivery, postal delivery, etc.

There's still a problem to solve though:

who's going to accept payments, process credit cards, verify signatures etc.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#38

Post by bryanh » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:57 AM UTC

Evgeny wrote: post #37

exit wrote: post #36

i wonder what proportion of the labor market this will affect. basically anyone using cars for delivery? no more taxi drivers, take-out delivery, postal delivery, etc.

There's still a problem to solve though: who's going to accept payments, process credit cards, verify signatures etc.

Just like there needs to be people who do that at Amazon, Zappos, etc...

Honestly, a taxi with only a Google maps interface and a credit card swiper would be interesting.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#39

Post by windsurfer » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 5:57 AM UTC

Evgeny wrote: post #37

exit wrote: post #36

i wonder what proportion of the labor market this will affect. basically anyone using cars for delivery? no more taxi drivers, take-out delivery, postal delivery, etc.

There's still a problem to solve though: who's going to accept payments, process credit cards, verify signatures etc.

How do vending machines work currently? :)

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#40

Post by SoftwareMaven » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 6:00 AM UTC

Evgeny wrote: post #37

exit wrote: post #36

i wonder what proportion of the labor market this will affect. basically anyone using cars for delivery? no more taxi drivers, take-out delivery, postal delivery, etc.

There's still a problem to solve though: who's going to accept payments, process credit cards, verify signatures etc.

That is currently the most annoying part of taking a taxi when travelling. Why taxi companies are still using technology from 15 years ago for processing credit cards (assuming they even accept them) is beyond me. If dumping the driver makes it easier for me to swipe, the sooner the better.