Future of self-driving automobiles...

[Externet]

What to expect ?

Without a driver being of mandatory presence in the vehicle, and if so, cheat placing a concrete block on the seat and send it its way ?

 

Punch a button to bypass a valet assisted parking ?

Send the car by itself to pick up kids from school ?

Exit the car at the office building and send it to find a parking place ?

Call the car on a smart phone to pick you up at the workplace main door ?

Arrive to work place and send the car back home for the wife to go somewhere ?

Send the car to the hardware store with a purchase list and get the goodies by your garage door ?

Send the car to the mechanic for oil change/whatever and back when done ?

 

Go ahead, continue...

 

 

 

 

 

[fiveworlds]

Go ahead, continue...

 

 

Strap a bomb to the car and blow it up whenever.

[ecoli]

 

 

Strap a bomb to the car and blow it up whenever.

 

Or better yet, a pizza and deliver it here.

[Elite Engineer]

 

 

Strap a bomb to the car and blow it up whenever.

Let me one up you.

 

Drone + C4...you don't have to die on the first floor anymore.

[fiveworlds]

Let me one up you.

 

Drone + C4...you don't have to die on the first floor anymore.

 

 

Cars have the benefit of having a large boot and being inconspicious. It is only another car and wouldn't be out of place in a city and can carry a nuclear payload. A drone with a nuke would be spotted a mile away.

[EdEarl]

AI will monitor everything everyone does, 24x7 using security cameras, drones, and internet presence. In home in bed you may have a little privacy, but privacy enough to purchase and build bombs is doubtful.

Edited January 6, 2017 by EdEarl

[swansont]

 

Exit the car at the office building and send it to find a parking place ?

 

 

Or use a ride-sharing car and not worry about (or pay for) parking at all. Johnny Cabs will be everywhere, at least in higher-density areas (absent legislation to block them)

[CharonY]

An interesting concept could be to have sufficient coverage to dispense with the need to actual own (and maintain) a car.

[iNow]

^That's where I see it going, as well. Uber is already deploying self-driving cars. The need to have our own seems only to decrease when the need to be in control and driving it is eliminated.

[Danijel Gorupec]

I would send my car to choose a hooker for me. I plan to own a car that has an eye for round bottoms.

 

Seriously, just few weeks ago I was thinking that once statistics shows that self-driving cars generate less traffic accidents, the human drivers will be forbidden. It will be possible to drive a car only on special tracks. But I love to drive.

[Phi for All]

I still think, as more cars become capable of driving independently, that cars going to similar areas will start hooking up somehow to save fuel, and we'll end up with a light rail system that costs a couple of orders of magnitude more than if we'd stop fighting light rail now.

[swansont]

I still think, as more cars become capable of driving independently, that cars going to similar areas will start hooking up somehow to save fuel, and we'll end up with a light rail system that costs a couple of orders of magnitude more than if we'd stop fighting light rail now.

 

 

Cars are more flexible than light rail, though. The infrastructure is already in place, and it does more than get you from fixed stops along some preset route. But if a large number of people are traveling that route, you could have the cars link up and act like light rail (saving space on the highway) and then split off and take you to your final destination.

 

At some point the economics will have to flip, where for many people it's cheaper to pay for part-time use of a car than to own one. if that happens you'll get a paradigm shift in how people think about car ownership.

 

Let's say the average cost of using a car is $1 a mile (the car, gas, all the maintenance and insurance) plus $10 a day in parking in the city. Your commute is 15 miles, so that's $25 a day. But a ride-sharing company with an autonomous car, which is in use more than on the commute times, might be able to drive the cost down to $0.80 a mile, and charge you $1. You save on parking, and they make 20% profit on you, and on every other passenger they can grab. The key there is convenience. You have to have enough cars that you don't have to wait for a ride (owning a car is largely about the convenience and autonomy, and saving you time, if you can afford to buy a car) Those that use cars the least have the most to gain from this — they are amortizing the fixed costs over fewer miles.

[Bender]

The biggest hurdle will be juridical. Critics keep shouting about how immoral it is to make a car decide on moral issues. Popular is the artificial situation where the car has to decide between hitting a child or killing the passenger. Nobody ever considers that a human driver doesn't even have the reflexes required to make such decisions.

 

An additional advantage might be that people actually take a bike or go on foot for small distances (<2 km), because waiting 5 min for a car to show up is longer than going by bike.

[EdEarl]

The biggest hurdle will be juridical. Critics keep shouting about how immoral it is to make a car decide on moral issues. Popular is the artificial situation where the car has to decide between hitting a child or killing the passenger. Nobody ever considers that a human driver doesn't even have the reflexes required to make such decisions.

 

An additional advantage might be that people actually take a bike or go on foot for small distances (<2 km), because waiting 5 min for a car to show up is longer than going by bike.

Or walk. People might get healthier.

[Bender]

I'm willing to bet money that one day there will be selfdriving cars with fitness equipment inside, so you can pretend to walk, run, cycle or row to work.

[geordief]

Is it clear that there cannot be any option for a human driver to take over the controls?(except a shut off/brake ,I suppose)?

 

Most potential interveners would not pay attention to the road and could not be relied upon to back up the AI system in the event of any mishap.

 

Or perhaps the system could be set up to give the illusion that the human "driver" was in control.

 

Orders would only be obeyed if safe or suitable.

 

Would autonomous vehicles have prevented Nice?

[John Cuthber]

What happens to those people who get travel sick if they are in a car, but not the driver?

[Bender]

What happens to those people who get travel sick if they are in a car, but not the driver?

Isn't it enough for those people to be in the front seat and watch the road?

[swansont]

Is it clear that there cannot be any option for a human driver to take over the controls?(except a shut off/brake ,I suppose)?

 

There are many situations where a driver wouldn't be able to react in time, and take over the controls. They won't be paying attention the same way as if they were driving.

[John Cuthber]

Isn't it enough for those people to be in the front seat and watch the road?

No; (if it had been, I'd not have asked)

[Bender]

Seems like a small inconvenience compared to the advantages. And for that fringe group, there is medication to alleviate their motion sickness.

[EdEarl]

I imagine insurance companies will lobby to reduce their pay-out in the event of accidents by AI drivers. That means laws, cars, and AI drivers will be designed to reduce insurance pay-out.

[geordief]

Would they not be expected to pay out the same?

 

If there were proportionally fewer accidents there would be more money to go around (naively).

 

No reason to skimp on compensation.

[iNow]

No reason to skimp on compensation.

This seems to ignore the underlying profit motive wherein all businesses work to minimize costs in any way possible.

[geordief]

That is true but why would they get away with smaller payouts than for human drivers?