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BMW shows off 'drifting' self-drive cars

bbc.co.uk

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Re: BMW shows off 'drifting' self-drive cars

#51

Post by joshu »

imgabe wrote: post #24
dcc1 wrote: post #16

This is bad news (despite being a BMW owner) In future driving will no longer be fun, if you want to drive "non-automated" car or disable "auto-pilot" your insurance company will automatically jack up your premium, since they would consider self driving cars "safer"

If you want to have fun, there will no doubt be private tracks where you can go and drive in a fun way. As someone who just gave up commuting about 1 traffic-laden hour each way, driving stopped being fun long, long ago. Too many of my commutes were made an unnecessary 50% or more longer because of drivers who were probably having a lot of fun until they caused an accident and backed up the road for everyone else.

I would LOVE to have the car drive me autonomously to the track and back. Highway driving is tiring/dangerous/boring.

Re: BMW shows off 'drifting' self-drive cars

#52

Post by alphydan »

peterwwillis wrote: post #32
dcc1 wrote: post #16

This is bad news (despite being a BMW owner) In future driving will no longer be fun, if you want to drive "non-automated" car or disable "auto-pilot" your insurance company will automatically jack up your premium, since they would consider self driving cars "safer"

I don't think this will be the case. Automated driving is only useful if you know where you're going. If you're on a leisurely ride through the country or are looking for a place with no address, you can't use automated navigation. So disabling it would be a necessity for a variety of driving purposes. As an aside, motorsport enthusiasts would be up in arms if they had to pay a premium just to be able to drive their…

> If you're on a leisurely ride through the country or are looking for a place with no address, you can't use automated navigation.

I don't think those are impossible problems to solve. For the leisurely ride, define a radius or area and let the car do a 'random' walk (or ride on only small roads), or visit beautiful spots where g+ users have shared pictures, etc. For a place with no address, give a lng,lat or drop a pin on a map.

Re: BMW shows off 'drifting' self-drive cars

#55

Post by JshWright »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #40
ewoodrich wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the scare quotes on "safer"? If self-driving cars prove objectively to have fewer accidents and resulting injuries and deaths, wouldn't that just make them a superior technology? In that case, why shouldn't insurance charge more for traditional driving if self-driving were available on your car? That's just how insurance works, nothing new there.

A self-driving car system might be statistically safer than a human drivers in overall conditions, and still be prone to failure in an exceptional situation a particular driver wouldn't have been. If you have the potential to be that driver in that situation, I could understand feeling the scare quotes are warranted. Which percentile of the population does an automated system need to outperform to be safer rather tha…

I am (in my own estimation) a very good driver.

I drive a manual transmission car, and enjoy using the flexibility that provides in my daily driving.

I drive emergency vehicles of various sizes, in a lot of less than ideal conditions (I live in upstate New York, so weather is a big factor in driving conditions).

I have no problem believing that a computer will be able to do an objectively better job of driving than I can. It will be able to react more predictably in routine driving, and respond _much_ faster to exceptional situations. In a collision, a modern car is _done_ processing the event (detecting the impact, deciding which safety restraints to deploy, and deploying them) before your body even recognizes that it happened.

A computer controlled car will make fewer mistakes and react better in emergencies than a human being will. It has nothing to do with the skill of the driver. It has everything to do with the amount of data that the car can gather (do you have 360 degree radar vision or direct access to sensors built into the car), and the speed with which it can process that data. This technology still has a lot of maturing to do, but it has made amazing strides in the past decade, and I'm confident that it will continue to do that.

I, for one, welcome our new robot chauffeurs.

Re: BMW shows off 'drifting' self-drive cars

#57

Post by CanSpice »

sliverstorm wrote: post #18
dcc1 wrote: post #16

This is bad news (despite being a BMW owner) In future driving will no longer be fun, if you want to drive "non-automated" car or disable "auto-pilot" your insurance company will automatically jack up your premium, since they would consider self driving cars "safer"

In future driving will no longer be fun It's funny seeing BMW try to be a forerunner in this space, after all of their "BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine" ad campaigns. They were one of the few car makers that actually spoke of driving fun! (Or, well, driving pleasure)

Note that "The Ultimate Driving Machine" doesn't imply that a human is the one driving. :-)

Re: BMW shows off 'drifting' self-drive cars

#58

Post by ajcarpy2005 »

alphydan wrote: post #52
peterwwillis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this will be the case. Automated driving is only useful if you know where you're going. If you're on a leisurely ride through the country or are looking for a place with no address, you can't use automated navigation. So disabling it would be a necessity for a variety of driving purposes. As an aside, motorsport enthusiasts would be up in arms if they had to pay a premium just to be able to drive their…

> If you're on a leisurely ride through the country or are looking for a place with no address, you can't use automated navigation. I don't think those are impossible problems to solve. For the leisurely ride, define a radius or area and let the car do a 'random' walk (or ride on only small roads), or visit beautiful spots where g+ users have shared pictures, etc. For a place with no address, give a lng,lat or drop a…

You could even use way-point coordinates...like with an Xbox controller. Tell it where to turn and the computer will safely do the maneuvers that take you that route.

Re: BMW shows off 'drifting' self-drive cars

#59

Post by smileysteve »

imgabe wrote: post #24
dcc1 wrote: post #16

This is bad news (despite being a BMW owner) In future driving will no longer be fun, if you want to drive "non-automated" car or disable "auto-pilot" your insurance company will automatically jack up your premium, since they would consider self driving cars "safer"

If you want to have fun, there will no doubt be private tracks where you can go and drive in a fun way. As someone who just gave up commuting about 1 traffic-laden hour each way, driving stopped being fun long, long ago. Too many of my commutes were made an unnecessary 50% or more longer because of drivers who were probably having a lot of fun until they caused an accident and backed up the road for everyone else.

I autocross and take my car to a private track for time trials, I'm starting to face the fact that this is not the best plan because there is now a karting track (0-120 in 6 seconds) that is closer to me.

My car, that I justified it's sportiness because of this hobby, is more expensive at the track, burns more, fuel, has more maintenance issues, and could just never perform the 3gs that a kart can.

Re: BMW shows off 'drifting' self-drive cars

#60

Post by bitL »

gaius wrote: post #6
IBM wrote: post #3

If a car company has their own self-driving technology, will they ever pay Google for theirs?

Of course, why would they? The interesting thing is the motivation. BMW want to make a better car, to sell more cars. Google want self-driving to free up driver's time to consume media, which will be covered in advertising - exactly the same as releasing Android to drive mobile Internet usage. But just as Google acquired Motorola, which automaker is in their sights? GM?

BMW has a joint research lab with Google in Munich. My guess is this is the result of its work.
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