30 years into the future, you're with your family, your wife/husband and kids chatting and watching over a hologram-movie in the middle of your self driving Tesla Model MMXLV. It's a long weekend, and you're taking the whole family on a road trip to somewhere beautiful, away from the hustle and bustle of digital, city life. Somewhere you're only connected through Elon Musk's satellite network, somewhere were you could find some beautiful outdoor scenery. Perhaps it would be the last time you take your kids out on such a road trip, they're about to graduate from highschool/college after all.
Half way through day dreaming about the beauties of the natural world, you cross an intersection in a small town. You're hit by a human driven car. T-boned.
Your car dents, the windows shatter, but stay intact for the most part, your family is terrified. The pair of cars screech to a halt, the idiot in the other car hits his head on the airbags, but it breaks his neck, as his headrest wasn't adjusted properly. His consciousness disappears as fast as his car hit you. You sit there stunned, a little sore from the seatbelts, a few scratches here and there, but safe, and alive.
A police car comes, then an air ambulance, a firetruck, there are no drivers in any of them, only the few humans that cannot be replaced by robots and AI. You describe the incident to the Police, your car is towed away, it's drive shaft bent from the force of the collision. Totaled. The news spreads on Twitter, the topic of self-driving cars flare up yet again. Around you, the cameras on nearby parked cars taking down the entire footage. All the evidence you'll need to get that insurance claim.
You're alive, but wonder, it's not cars that kill people, there hasn't been an accident caused by self-driving cars in almost 2 decades. It's people who drive cars that kill people.
You arrive back at home in the evening, your family safe and asleep, as you email your congressman...
We have doctors regulations. It allows only qualified doctors to operate on people.
We have gun regulation. It allows only sane people to own a weapon.
Yet, we don't have car regulation. Idiots can still drive cars.
Lets remove people from driving cars, and we will live in a safer society.
Of course, not everyone has a self-driving car just yet, there's still a few folks driving their grandparents car, left over from the early decades of the 21st century. So the law will come gradually, and will allow exceptions for car collectors, professional drivers, enthusiasts, etc etc and so on.
What do you folks think of this? Will we, as a society, ever live to see such legislation being passed by governments around the world?
And if so, how long do you think it'll take before such law is passed? 30 years? 50? 100?
[QUOTE=Angus725;47140447]We have doctors regulations. It allows only qualified doctors to operate on people.
We have gun regulation. It allows only sane people to own a weapon.
Yet, we don't have car regulation. Idiots can still drive cars.
[/QUOTE]
what do you think a driver's license, required liability insurance and other related transportation legislation is for you goof
if a dumb-car-for-common-transportation ban is to come, it could come in a gradual state by a slow increase in the amount of self-driving cars, introduction of roads or lanes specifically for self-driving cars and lots of debate and legislation over the issue until the problem solves itself
old people should have to take annual tests to make sure they can still drive on the road and not either be A) assholes or B) reckless endangerment
[QUOTE=Pops;47140966]old people should have to take annual tests to make sure they can still drive on the road and not either be A) assholes or B) reckless endangerment[/QUOTE]
The government will be reluctant to pass measures that discriminate against the elderly because they vote the most.
[QUOTE=Krinkels;47141034]The government will be reluctant to pass measures that discriminate against the elderly because they vote the most.[/QUOTE]
fuck em
they don't have more than a handful of elections to vote for and all they do is complain about how everything should be ran
The government will literally have to kill me if they think they can make me stop driving my own damn car.
I mean it. 100% literally. I do not give a shit if the adoption rate for self-driving cars is 99.998%, I will be in that last .002%.
Um, no. I actually enjoy driving, am competent at doing so, and spend many hours improving my advanced driving skills at autocrosses and track events. This is a stupid, terrible idea and it would do little to make society safer.
Also, what about motorcycles?
Now imagine you're 60 years old with that attitude, you'd be a Republican of the future!
(Will write a better response tomorrow when I have more time)
Alternatively: since it's the future and cars can drive themselves, the human driver decides to drive manually but the car is always paying attention. It detects a collision is imminent and instantly communicates to the tesla (as all future cars will talk to each other to better optimize efficiency) the two cars flawlessly exicute evasive maneuvers to avoid the collision. The human driver is given a vibration feedback from his seat reminding him that he's an idiot, and maybe a glare or two from the tesla. Everyone is safe.
[editline]15th February 2015[/editline]
I could only see this being a problem during the transition period from current cars to "smart" cars (not the brand)
[editline]15th February 2015[/editline]
(Also, Teslas don't have drive shafts)
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;47142250]The government will literally have to kill me if they think they can make me stop driving my own damn car.
I mean it. 100% literally. I do not give a shit if they adoption rate for self-driving cars is 99.998%, I will be in that last .002%.[/QUOTE]
Would you be okay with a car that only takes control when the computers detects an absolute oh-fuck moment?
If that half second of extra reaction time would save either my life or another's, I'd gladly let the machine react on behalf of my puny mortal brain.
[editline]15th February 2015[/editline]
Don't get me wrong, everyday driving is fun as heck and I still want to be doing it when I'm 60. If there was a way to include the manliness of a gear stick in an electric car, I'd do that.
The not-fun part of future driving would be hitting someone then trying to explain to the police why my quantum avoidance computer wasn't turned on. "Sorry officer! I know the computer's godly reflexes saves lives but that shit's for pussies LOL"
[QUOTE=OvB;47144019]
(Also, Teslas don't have drive shafts)[/QUOTE]
It's also worth pointing out that Mercedes are the ones developing self driving cars at this moment, not Tesla. I tried Googling a self driving Tesla and all I got was adaptive cruise control, so yeah.
Anyway I'd say it's not reliable to have any car be self-driving. Laws at this moment are so strict on this field that even when the brand new Mercedes S-Class can drive itself to work, you're not allowed to because of laws prohibiting it. These laws would have to be lifted before anything self-driving could be viable.
Another issue I see is miscommunication / lack thereof. What would happen if you lose signal? Satnavs, radio, etc. all lose signals at random times of the day and in this case GPS is the interesting one, as you're suggesting sattelite based communication and not radio-wave based. If my car was self driving in the future, then I would not want to lose signal. You'd have to make some sort of bomb-proof signal for this to work, and I just cannot see it working with the millions and millions of cars on the roads.
And no, I don't personally think this is a good idea at all. It'd take way too much time to adapt all cars for it and what about people who don't have money for "a self driving Tesla"? If you ban driving, then they suddenly have a perfectly fine mode of transportation that cannot be used because you deem it unsafe. Sounds dumb to me.
[QUOTE=Jackpody;47144394]It's also worth pointing out that Mercedes are the ones developing self driving cars at this moment, not Tesla. I tried Googling a self driving Tesla and all I got was adaptive cruise control, so yeah.[/QUOTE]
Teslas Autopilot is pretty much on par with Mercedes Stop & Go pilot. It can do all the same stuff at all speeds. Currently the auto steering is locked but they're progressively unlocking features to ease it in. Their business model is the same to, with improving the technology until full autonomy in a decade or so.
Self driving cars ARE the future, theres really no denying that, once the technology is advanced far enough it'll be many times safer than having a human in the driver seat making split second emergency decisions.
[QUOTE=Angus725;47140447]I don't know how cars or airbags work: the post[/QUOTE]
Very crazy idea indeed.
[QUOTE=Keegs;47145773]Self driving cars ARE the future, theres really no denying that, once the technology is advanced far enough it'll be many times safer than having a human in the driver seat making split second emergency decisions.[/QUOTE]
fuck no
gps will be the worst
Might as well ban literally everything that humans use then. Airplanes? Helicopters? Motorcycles? Bikes? Skateboards? Segways? Scooters? They can all be used to hit people.
[QUOTE=Pops;47140966]old people should have to take annual tests to make sure they can still drive on the road and not either be A) assholes or B) reckless endangerment[/QUOTE]
I object to this on the basis that it only includes old people
It's more than just old people that are reckless assholes on the road
Fuck that. I don't agree with gun control, like hell am I gonna agree with car control.
Like someone else said, 99% of everyone could be driving a self-driving car, insurance could refuse to insure me if I don't have one, I could have to drive without plates or with fake ones, I don't care, I'm still driving my own damn car.
Self-driving will never be a success in any of us' lifetime.
Assisted driving on the other hand will, as in the car being able to avoid collisions the average Joe/Jane couldn't.
As many car accidents are literally caused by people either being inattentive or not reacting fast enough.
[QUOTE= Rules for General Discussion]Your awful idea for fixing x global crisis. IT SUCKS[/QUOTE]
Personally, I don't really see what's wrong if people want to drive their cars manually, but if they cause an accident and it's 100% their fault, they should probably get a strike on their license, and if they get 2 or 3 strikes in a 5 year period they get their licenses revoked, but still allowed to driver a car on autodrive ONLY.
[QUOTE=Zotobom;47146482]Might as well ban literally everything that humans use then. Airplanes? Helicopters? Motorcycles? Bikes? Skateboards? Segways? Scooters? They can all be used to hit people.[/QUOTE]
Commercial airplanes, and a small number of helicopters are already automobiled.
Rolls Royce is apparently designing automated container ships. Various train and subway systems have been slowly getting AI drivers as well.
Anything that's directly human-powered, bikes, skateboards will likely stay the same, as they there isn't enough incentive to automate them, as it doesn't save any industry any money.
[editline]15th February 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Monkah;47146735]Your awful idea for fixing x global crisis. IT SUCKS[/QUOTE]
I wish self-driving cars was a current global crisis.
This law won't effect me because as you squares keep to your modern self-driving automobiles, I'm going to be picking up chicks on my hoverboard.
[QUOTE=Angus725;47148165]Commercial airplanes, and a small number of helicopters are already automobiled.[/QUOTE]
I don't think you quite get how autopilot works in an aircraft. You can't just sit on the ground, plug in a place, and have the flight computer handle everything, the pilot is still very much involved in flying.
[QUOTE=Angus725;47148165]Commercial airplanes, and a small number of helicopters are already automobiled.
[B]Rolls Royce is apparently designing automated container ships.[/B] Various train and subway systems have been slowly getting AI drivers as well.
Anything that's directly human-powered, bikes, skateboards will likely stay the same, as they there isn't enough incentive to automate them, as it doesn't save any industry any money.
[editline]15th February 2015[/editline]
I wish self-driving cars was a current global crisis.[/QUOTE]
Automated doesn't mean they're getting rid of people. It's not container ships either, it's boats in dangerous environments like oil platform support vessels that were the current target, the actual plan was to have them remotely controlled by people from a building on the mainland. (Container ships run a very minimal crew - the payback time on an automated bridge would put off most companies) I suspect the current price of crude and total lack of profit in oil in the foreseeable future has scuppered that plan though (pun totally intended). The problem with all of the suggestions is they remove jobs in large numbers and generally jobs of people that are in unions, unions have an incredibly large stake in the way many western nations operate so I doubt we will be seeing robots totally replacing people anytime in the near future.
Commercial planes are capable of entirely flying themselves, but it's rare they do, just because the pilots want something to do to pass time.
[editline]22nd February 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Strider_07;47191711]I don't think you quite get how autopilot works in an aircraft. You can't just sit on the ground, plug in a place, and have the flight computer handle everything, the pilot is still very much involved in flying.[/QUOTE]
This isn't really true - once programmed with a route the newer planes like the dreamliner and the XWB will quite happily fly themselves from one runway to another. The only thing they can't really do is mid air collision avoidance but with proper ATC that shouldn't be a problem
Yeah like car-related insurance industry will go out of business. They sure are interested in people just giving them money and not having to pay any actual insurance, but minimizing the risks too much will gradually reduce the need for it => less money. Won't happen any time soon.
[QUOTE=metallics;47193001]This isn't really true - once programmed with a route the newer planes like the dreamliner and the XWB will quite happily fly themselves from one runway to another. The only thing they can't really do is mid air collision avoidance but with proper ATC that shouldn't be a problem[/QUOTE]
Sure, the newest ones can handle controlled flight with little interferance, but with most commercial airliners being fairly old we still need a pilot to be there in most cases, on top of the chance of anything happening that the computer can't anticipate.
Gotta say I wouldn't like it as like others, I actually enjoy driving.
On the flip-side though, it does sound great that you can go to a party, get hammered, and have a super-intelligent driver safely drive you home.
Plus those really long highway drives where it's mostly a straight line anyway, it'd be nice to be able to sit back, smoke a cigarette and work on some stuff on my laptop.
So I'm pretty excited for driving-AI.
But no, I hope they don't ban driving outright.
I gotta say though that even while people need to do tests to get a license, I notice myself saying this too often:
[quote=CJ]
DID YOU BUY YO LICENSE?![/quote]
Then there's backwards countries that just require you to get in a car, drive around a parking lot and congrats, you get a license.
No offence to said countries, but you know what I mean.
[QUOTE=Strider_07;47195853]Sure, the newest ones can handle controlled flight with little interferance, but with most commercial airliners being fairly old we still need a pilot to be there in most cases, on top of the chance of anything happening that the computer can't anticipate.[/QUOTE]
Why are you even mentioning the old. We're talking about what the new can do and the future.
Im with a lot of others. I'd drive my car regardless. If i wanted to just sit in a car rather than enjoy driving, i'd call a cab, take a bus, or some other public trans.
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