So how would a self drive car deal with a cat?

[EazyDuz]

The Vambo said:

200 years?

You think it will take the same duration from when the telegraph was invented until now, as from now until the the first full autonomous vehicle?

Crazy talk I tellya

THats a realistic timespan for intelligent AI, which is what would be required.
A load of sensors and cameras just wont cut it, it would need a humans logical decision making ability, which you can only get from an AI.

[T16OLE]

I agree, there's just too many variables.

If a child ran out, would it be swerving violently and causing a lesser incident. Yes

What about a plastic bag blowing into the road. No

[feef]

T16OLE said:

I agree, there's just too many variables.

If a child ran out, would it be swerving violently and causing a lesser incident. Yes

What about a plastic bag blowing into the road. No

It would be monitoring the child before it reached the road and anticipate the likelihood of it entering the road.

It would probably slow down regardless. While that may be a minor inconvenience for a driver following an autonomous car, when all cars are autonomous and you're watching a film or reading a book, you won't even notice

[vsonix]

stick an ultrasonic repellent speaker thing behind the radiator grille, bonus - it will repel groups of teenagers as well.

[Venturist]

feef said:

T16OLE said:

I agree, there's just too many variables.

If a child ran out, would it be swerving violently and causing a lesser incident. Yes

What about a plastic bag blowing into the road. No

It would be monitoring the child before it reached the road and anticipate the likelihood of it entering the road.

It would probably slow down regardless. While that may be a minor inconvenience for a driver following an autonomous car, when all cars are autonomous and you're watching a film or reading a book, you won't even notice

Personally I hope the programming only swerves when absolutely sure it won't cause another different incident at all. Otherwise, brake hard in a straight line to scrub as much speed as possible.
Oh won't somebody please think of the children?
I say perhaps we'll finally get to a culture where people know that you STAY THE fk OUT OF THE ROAD.
At present we have drivers demonised for unavoidable accidents caused by the victim.
The same does not apply to railways, or motorways. If someone gets hit by a car or train one of those, the reaction from most people is to wonder what the bloody hell that person was doing there in the first place. If it was a child, we ask: where were the parents?
Roads are dangerous. They are for cars. It is absolutely paramount that everyone stays out of them unless 100% sure it's safe to cross. Children need to have the fear of God put in them by their parents on the subject from an early age. The amount of small kids you see with zero road sense is terrible - and when they make a mistake, the parents barely make any more fuss over it than any other minor domestic drama.

Edited by Venturist on Tuesday 28th March 23:05

[Fastpedeller]

Forgetting about the cat, won't we have total gridlock? Take the simple mini roundabout scenario that often happens.... all drivers waiting, then all go at once. Traffic movement is (at present) reliant on someone just 'taking the lead/plowing straight on' and others waiting? or someone waving "after you", so how will the fully auto cars deal with it? gridlock?

[Venturist]

Fastpedeller said:

Forgetting about the cat, won't we have total gridlock? Take the simple mini roundabout scenario that often happens.... all drivers waiting, then all go at once. Traffic movement is (at present) reliant on someone just 'taking the lead/plowing straight on' and others waiting? or someone waving "after you", so how will the fully auto cars deal with it? gridlock?

By the time they are prolific enough that we have a situation arise like 4 cars arriving at a roundabout simultaneously, they'll also all be talking to each other.
So actually they will be literally saying "after you"...
(Though the situation won't happen because the "after you" chat will happen when you're 5 seconds away from the roundabout, allowing time to speed up or slow down to stagger all the cars' arrivals, so nobody actually need stop at all)

[DonkeyApple]

Fastpedeller said:

Forgetting about the cat, won't we have total gridlock? Take the simple mini roundabout scenario that often happens.... all drivers waiting, then all go at once. Traffic movement is (at present) reliant on someone just 'taking the lead/plowing straight on' and others waiting? or someone waving "after you", so how will the fully auto cars deal with it? gridlock?

Different manufacturers will have different AI so for example, Audis will just plough on relying on other cars to stop while motability Nissans will sit there all day waiting.

[swisstoni]

I can see cars completing a risk assessment before a journey and concluding that, on balance, it's actually better all round if it stays in the garage.

[J4CKO]

I like the idea of polite and focused computers collaborating to improve journey times, but where will all the aggressive, thrusty cocktards full of self righteous importance go ?

"I am a the 2nd best salesman for a major beverage manufacturer, I sold 23 crates of Cherryade last month, out of my way peasants, S-Line coming through"

And that includes me by the way

[DonkeyApple]

J4CKO said:

I like the idea of polite and focused computers collaborating to improve journey times, but where will all the aggressive, thrusty cocktards full of self righteous importance go ?

"I am a the 2nd best salesman for a major beverage manufacturer, I sold 23 crates of Cherryade last month, out of my way peasants, S-Line coming through"

And that includes me by the way

Download and install the 'Audi' app?

[RegMolehusband]

steveo3002 said:

what about a mcdonalds bag laying on the road , often see these and take a chance that its empty and go over it or straddle it , will the car tell the difference between a paper bag and large rock? will they drive around pot holes ?

I am sure that, if there's any doubt, they will be programmed to stop. So stay well back from them or you'll be the subject of a whiplash claim!

[mr alan]

We are a long way of the likes of things we saw in films such as I robot. It's just tech companies showing off how clever they are. In a closed controlled place running about 10 mph it might work but out on the open road no chance. Not for a very long time

[Cold]

Of course, it does mean that any user-operated vehicle will be able to get away with outrageous overtakes and other manoeuvres if the road is stuffed with self driving cars. The techmobiles will do what they need to do to avoid crashing and all without headlight flashing, horn sounding or adenoid moaning.
Drive around that busy roundabout entrance knowing the robots will brake while wishing you a pleasant afternoon.

[jurbie]

Venturist said:

I say perhaps we'll finally get to a culture where people know that you STAY THE fk OUT OF THE ROAD.

Edited by Venturist on Tuesday 28th March 23:05

Unlikely and it will probably go the other way.

I think it is reasonable to say that every human driver will attempt to avoid a pedestrian in the road however pedestrians don't routinely wander about in the road because there is always the possibility that the driver is distracted by their phone, radio, kids, lunch, bit of totty etc. The list is endless.

Driverless cars won't be distracted by anything so it will be perfectly safe to wander into the the road without looking because the approaching car will always stop. The gridlock in city centres will be something to behold and kids will have a great new game of how big a traffic jam can they create on a motorway.

Therefore I don't see driverless cars working unless there is a large physical barrier separating the road from the public and some severe penalties for jaywalking. But considering the connected world we'll be living in, it could be possible that if a car has to slow or stop for a jaywalker then it would be able to issue a fixed penalty directly to the individual which would probably solve the problem.

[Venturist]

jurbie said:

Driverless cars won't be distracted by anything so it will be perfectly safe to wander into the the road without looking because the approaching car will always stop. The gridlock in city centres will be something to behold and kids will have a great new game of how big a traffic jam can they create on a motorway.

Unless it's too close to stop in time... physics is still physics. And to judge whether it's too close to stop, they'll have to look up and pay attention.
If they walk out and get hit - and this will still happen - but crucially there's now nobody to blame. The car company? They'll be able to prove conclusively using the detailed telemetry that NO car could have stopped in time to avoid the accident. Not physically possible.

[DonkeyApple]

Venturist said:

Unless it's too close to stop in time... physics is still physics. And to judge whether it's too close to stop, they'll have to look up and pay attention.
If they walk out and get hit - and this will still happen - but crucially there's now nobody to blame. The car company? They'll be able to prove conclusively using the detailed telemetry that NO car could have stopped in time to avoid the accident. Not physically possible.

That would mean that the AI is making judgement calls and so accepting that there will be fatalities.

If the system were set to not accept any risk then cars driving near pedestrians would have to be going slow enough to always be able to stop if any of the pedestrians it is monitoring randomly step or run out into the road and also pre adjust for the most dangerous direction they'd be moving in.

So unless AI cars will basically be moving at a near pedestrian speed the system will be accepting that there will be fatalities in exchange for speed.

[Digga]

In the case against autonomous, robotic vehicles, I would like to present exhibit "#2":

The robot vacuum cleaner poopocalypse

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/15...

[ILoveMondeo]

Digga said:

In the case against autonomous, robotic vehicles, I would like to present exhibit "#2":

The robot vacuum cleaner poopocalypse

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/15...

That's hilarious!

On the topic of car vs cat... as has been said that's relatively easy.

Safe to avoid cat = yes, then avoid cat
Safe to avoid cat = no, then stop
safe to stop = no, then squash cat


However, turn cat into child...

Squash child??? maybe?

I also like the scenario where you add a cliff

All possibilities exhausted,

Squash child or drive off cliff killing passenger (and SELF! are the cars going to be self aware! )?

We're getting into the realms of fantasy and ethics and what not here... these cant really be common scenarios,

we'll end up trying to make a judgement when child+cat+cliff+road runner+falling piano+rocket skates=????

With the technology I've read about, tootling around town is fairly well developed now. lower speeds, safe to stop.

Motorways aren't too much of a challenge either, perhaps easier in some ways than around town. Generally just other vehicles and lanes to worry about.

Quicker country roads must be really challenging though.

FWIW, if I could have a self driving car that worked, and allowed me to nod off at the wheel, I probably would be on the waiting list for one tomorrow.
Even better "take me to the pub", or "pick me up from the pub" features would be wonderful, via phone apps!

Take me to work and spend the day driving around London because it's cheaper than parking, stopping for a bit to charge your batteries and, then come get me at 6pm, now THATS a killer app!

[DonkeyApple]

Seems aposite:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-29...