Driverless Cars

[thebroodingfox]

I know I double posted, and I reported my own post because it would not delete. I also know what near future means, and I think cars that need a human driver to be used to become the minority of cars, letalone be outlawed, will not become a reality in anycurrently living person's lifetime. I mean, it isn't just a matter of how wifespread they are. It's also that cars aren't cheap to maintain or to buy. A more advanced model of car would not be financially viable for people who rely on older cars to get by. Agree to disagree I guess.

[primalcaller ergos]

*puts on tin foil hat*

There is an old X-files episode about a computer hacker who infiltrates computer driven cars (I prefer that term, because they are not "driverless" per se, the computer IS the driver)
then once he has taken control of the vehicle, he locks the doors and drives the car off the cliff, in order to murder the person(s) inside.

In Addition, Hackers already have the ability to infiltrate stuff like nuclear power plants, gas lines, and pace makers.

Not to mention The infowars crew have been talking about the idea of computer driven cars being used to monitor and control where people are capable of traveling.

Basically, this opens a giant can of worms for Orwellian problems.

Although I will admit that an Automobile Auto-pilot would pretty much nearly guarantee to at least decrease the amount of intoxicated drivers on the road.

[quote= cliffpanther]That is not as good as you think... Imagine a situation like this:
The car is travelling at 70km/h on a country road. There are trees on both sides. Suddenly, one of the tyres explodes after encountering a sharp object lying on the road. Small enough to avoid the sensors, big enough to cause significant damage. The computer knows what to know. It slightly accelerates and turns wheels, counteracting the tyre's changed geometry, to avoid losing traction and skidding off the road. That's what an experienced, professional driver would do. However, the passenger-in-control is terrified. The first thing he does is slamming on the emergency brake. The car turns around itself, bounces off one of the trees and ends up upside down with the passengers severely injured.
I still think that a program created specifically for the purpose of driving will be safer than an average driver. Or even a good one. Maybe not a pro racer. Because we all get distracted and/or scared

However, I think it should be a possibility to issue a "Stop immediately, as long as it's safe" command.[/quote]

What about the opposite?

The automobile is traveling along a mountain trail at 80Km/h, then a rock falls off a cliff above the road (this happens all the time near where I live)
the driver sees the rock falling and needs to accelerate to get out of the way of the rock, but upon pushing the throttle down harder, he hears a voice chime
"This speed is above the maximum limit for this road, engaging autopilot. *ding ding*"
In a fit of horror, the driver yelps loudly as he realizes what the problem is: The bumbling fools who made his car didn't include sensors on the top of vehicle,
so the computer couldn't see the boulder falling like he could, and he was going to die because those darn beaurocrats thought it was a good idea to make the
computer follow safety regulations according the word or law, instead of the spirit of law, and enforce that law itself, by force.

Fact of the matter is, this all depends solely on whether the computer or the human or more trustworthy the majority of the time.

Here is a question for us to discuss: Would it be better to make the autopilot mandatory for every vehicle? Or optional?
Would it be better to make the autopilot toggleable, or would it be better to remove the steering wheel and pedals entirely?

[Vintage]

Here is a question for us to discuss: Would it be better to make the autopilot mandatory for every vehicle? Or optional?
Would it be better to make the autopilot toggleable, or would it be better to remove the steering wheel and pedals entirely?

I don't really see a reason for autopilot cars to be mandatory or forced by legislation. You cannot assume the car will be 100% perfect while driving on the road, so I'd imagine that for a safety concern, there should be a manual override of some sort.

Plus, how willing are people to step inside a fully autonomous vehicle? For me, I would at least be hesitant to ride in one because I don't feel I could trust the car, even though that might sound strange. I believe it's all due to a loss of control. History shows that some major events happened due to a change or loss of control, in which people's actions influenced changes in society. Since human thought processes are different, some people wouldn't trust a computer despite it's benefits. Which leads into the second question.

Toggable autopilot makes the most sense to me. People do, and still will, enjoy the aspect of manual driving. If fully autonomous cars are required to have a driverless function, I would imagine that the demand for these special cars wouldn't be too high.

The supposed "hack-ability" of these cars is another good question to ask.