Driverless Cars- What do we think

[MoAmin89]

Good morning on my first post here.

I am involved in this very topic, trying to decipher mainly potential user perception, taking into account areas such as liability, driver role, usage, acceptance etc.

It would be interesting to see what everyone thinks of this area.

Heres to a hopefully interesting forum

Thank you

Mo

[Mafffew]

There are a fair few benefits. However, personally I would never have one. Despite how stressful it can be, I love driving.

There is also the question of, what if the systems go wrong and they do have an accident. Who is at fault, man in the car or manufacturer?

[willisit]

In theory, they're okay as long as they're out there doing their thing with other cars of their ilk. Add the human element and it'll all go to hell.

I work in IT, and computers, phones and anything else with an electrical pulse can still "crash". Want that in a car? The redundancy needed (like an airliner) is going to important... and I wonder how much we'll really see in a car.

[otolith]

I like driving, so I don't want it to happen, but there is going to come a day when the idea that we used to let humans drive cars and just accepted the toll of death and injury will seem scarcely believable.

[SturdyHSV]

Personally I think it's great.

A computer will always be paying attention and not doing its hair, checking on the kids or updating facebook.

In most cases it will also do a far better job of paying attention too, it won't be stressed or angry or just completely disinterested in the process of driving properly. If they don't massively reduce accidents I'll be very surprised.

So long as there's still the option to buy a car you can drive yourself, even if only for weekend usage say, then I'm all for it. So many people simply aren't interested in driving and just want to get to their destination, so let them have autonomous cars, everyone will be far safer for it.

[Shoukie]

I don't understand how they'll work in some scenarios, such as joining a motorway, unless they can all interact with each other in some way.

[chibbard]

Same here, not interested in it at all and would NEVER buy one personally. I too like driving too much. Oh and I also work in IT support so no thanks for this technology that WILL potentially kill me if it goes wrong !!!! Bear in mind this is a forum for people who like driving so you aren't going to get a balanced discussion.

[xRIEx]

Shoukie said:

I don't understand how they'll work in some scenarios, such as joining a motorway, unless they can all interact with each other in some way.

I was thinking, some sort of serial networking between cars would allow the car at the front of a 'train' to signal hazards to all others in the 'train' e.g. if it starts braking or takes evasive action, or even if it spots a hazard that might develop such that following cars might need to take action.

System security would be a nightmare though I've no doubt, and absolutely critical.

[otolith]

Shoukie said:

I don't understand how they'll work in some scenarios, such as joining a motorway, unless they can all interact with each other in some way.

But we don't necessarily communicate with each other when we join a motorway - we calculate the speed and position of the other cars and look for a gap. It doesn't look to me to be one of the more challenging scenarios to program.

[Barkychoc]

I'm all for it provided it doesn't blue screen, do an auto update and reboot at a critical moment, or needs a service pack that takes hours to install to fix it.

[Hoofy]

Mafffew said:

There are a fair few benefits. However, personally I would never have one. Despite how stressful it can be, I love driving.

There is also the question of, what if the systems go wrong and they do have an accident. Who is at fault, man in the car or manufacturer?

For the first point, I love driving but I don't get any pleasure from London stop-start traffic nor a long drive on a motorway, so I can't wait for driverless cars.

As to your second point, I agree!

[Daston]

I worry about their ability to detect danger. For example, we see parked cars down a residential street on a sunday when the sun is out. We know through experience that there is a high chance a kid may pop out from between the cars so we are alert and driving accordingly.

Does the computer know this? Or does it just go at 30 because that is all it knows.

Plus if these cars are so clever and safe why does the google car look like a bumper car with its rubber front and pedestrian air bags etc? Shirley if it was safer than a normal car it wouldn't need all that.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Given the near infinite number of variables they have to deal with and the monumental amount of code it takes too deal with this which all has to by syntax perfect I certainly wouldn't get in one

There auto avoidance system could be really handy for changing lane as you can just pull out infront of one and it will stop

It will truly make cars white goods, and in time I can see them becoming mandatory. I will be dead so wont care by then

[otolith]

The liability question - in civil terms, it really doesn't matter. You will have to insure the car for third party risk, and if it causes an accident your insurer will pick up the tab. If the accident can be shown to have been caused by the manufacturer's negligence, your insurer may seek to recoup their costs from them, or the injured party might attempt to do so - same as if your accident in a manually driven car was caused by a negligently bad bit of mechanical engineering.

Unless the manufacturer has been criminally negligent, there won't be any criminal liability.

[Howard-]

Daston said:

I worry about their ability to detect danger. For example, we see parked cars down a residential street on a sunday when the sun is out. We know through experience that there is a high chance a kid may pop out from between the cars so we are alert and driving accordingly.

Does the computer know this? Or does it just go at 30 because that is all it knows.
.

This is my concern. There are a million and one little subconscious decisions we make based on our surroundings when we drive. How can a driverless car possibly replicate that same level of thought process / decision making?

[McWigglebum4th]

I think they are a terrible idea

As no human driven car has EVER crashed

[luckystrike]

SturdyHSV said:

Personally I think it's great.

A computer will always be paying attention and not doing its hair, checking on the kids or updating facebook.

In most cases it will also do a far better job of paying attention too, it won't be stressed or angry or just completely disinterested in the process of driving properly. If they don't massively reduce accidents I'll be very surprised.

So long as there's still the option to buy a car you can drive yourself, even if only for weekend usage say, then I'm all for it. So many people simply aren't interested in driving and just want to get to their destination, so let them have autonomous cars, everyone will be far safer for it.

Bingo.

I'm curious to see how redundancy systems or failsafes would work (steering wheel or pedal deletes?) but not really worried. If the general motorist has no real interest in it and wants to just get to their destination I don't mind an autonomous vehicle helping in that capacity.

The Chauffeur's union might get grumpy, mind.

[otolith]

Daston said:

I worry about their ability to detect danger. For example, we see parked cars down a residential street on a sunday when the sun is out. We know through experience that there is a high chance a kid may pop out from between the cars so we are alert and driving accordingly.

Does the computer know this? Or does it just go at 30 because that is all it knows.

I'd expect them to be programmed to ensure that they can always stop in the distance they can expect to remain clear of obstacles. I think they would drive as if there was a high chance that a kid might pop out at all times, not just on sunny Sundays.

[W124]

I'm not worried about the tech side. I believe it already works perfectly - and has done for a while. I love to drive but, on balance, I really like the idea. The positive changes to infrastructure are manifold. People won't need to own cars. Dial one up and there it is. Order one for the way back and there is is. School run? There it is. Whoever gets it working first is going to have a model T on their hands.

[MitchT]

I enjoy driving. I no sooner want a car that doesn't need to be driven than I want a woman who doesn't need to be touched.

Also, by taking away the responsibility for driving from the human you're taking out of their life an activity which keeps them thinking on their feet, so to speak. Driverless cars may make the roads safer, statistically, but as the need to use one's brain is slowly removed from certain activities, other activities become more hazardous because the people undertaking them are less practiced at using their brains.

Finally, liability. I'd be pretty miffed if my insurance went through the roof because my car had crashed due to a technical glitch ... no fault of my own.