Autonomous Vehicles - Do you trust them?
Autonomous Vehicles - Do you trust them?
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Discussion

psdtj

Original Poster:

57 posts

146 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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I don't want to turn all iRobot, conspiracy, 'the robots are gonna' turn on us' but it seems autonomous vehicles are slowly getting closer!

As clever as they are, my question to you guys is - do you trust them??

Personally I see how amazing they are and how they'd make great commercial vehicles, but I can't help but think one day wannabe programmer terry from down the road wil try to mod his and instantly we're all in danger!

What do you lot think?

BlueMR2

9,466 posts

232 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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I don't even like drive by wire.

kambites

71,543 posts

251 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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More than I trust human drivers. Quite a lot more, in fact.

vanordinaire

3,701 posts

192 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
kambites said:
More than I trust human drivers. Quite a lot more, in fact.
Except for me of course.

psdtj

Original Poster:

57 posts

146 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
kambites said:
More than I trust human drivers. Quite a lot more, in fact.
It's the human element that scares me! If no one messes with them then I'm more than happy; I definitely trust the technology. But it's only a matter of time until the human element steps in and people start messing with them :/

Hub

7,143 posts

228 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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No, but maybe if I understood more about how they work. I can't see how they can possibly read ahead and anticipate hazards like humans can for example, rather than waiting until something has actually crossed onto your path!

snoopy25

2,112 posts

150 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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I'd like to be in control of my car......

Catatafish

1,526 posts

175 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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Hub said:
No, but maybe if I understood more about how they work. I can't see how they can possibly read ahead and anticipate hazards like humans can for example, rather than waiting until something has actually crossed onto your path!
Even if they can't anticipate problems, they can still react must faster than humans.

Eventually they'll be as reliable as microwaves, toasters etc. but there may be a few high profile glitches in the early days. People may also try to hack into them for a laugh or more sinister purposes.

Condi

20,395 posts

201 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
Hub said:
No, but maybe if I understood more about how they work. I can't see how they can possibly read ahead and anticipate hazards like humans can for example, rather than waiting until something has actually crossed onto your path!
The first ones wont. The first will be a truck-train with all 3,4 or 5 lorries driven simultaneously from the front lorry. When the first driver puts his brakes on, all the others will apply their brakes as well.

Dammit

3,816 posts

238 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
Hub said:
No, but maybe if I understood more about how they work. I can't see how they can possibly read ahead and anticipate hazards like humans can for example, rather than waiting until something has actually crossed onto your path!
Humans have two eyes, which they often either don't use, or use to state at their iPhone whilst driving.

It's almost a case of "the machines can't possibly be worse than humans".

That each autonomous vehicle could be positively festooned with cameras, giving them true 360 visibility etc, should give you a steer on why they are going to be better at avoiding crashing into other road users.

psdtj

Original Poster:

57 posts

146 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
Dammit said:
It's almost a case of "the machines can't possibly be worse than humans".
That's quite a good way of looking at it that I'd not thought of.....

lightthefuse

426 posts

202 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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For some of the mouth breathers I share the roads with, this isn't a bad thing at all.

On the other hand, I will be going Mad Max in an early 90s super saloon and showing up the automatons at every opportunity. You take the pedals and steering wheel from my cold, dead hands!

zeduffman

4,319 posts

181 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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VWs automatic braking system engages when a plastic bag is blown across the road.

We haven't even managed to crack getting temporary traffic lights to work reliably yet.

I think it'll be a long time before I'm comfortable with cars that drive themselves.

poing

8,743 posts

230 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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When I'm following someone and can see something happening further ahead I do sometimes wonder what they are actually looking at, in most cases I've not only seen it before them but started reacting to it also. I like to play the game of seeing how high I can count between my brakes being applied and theirs. These people need a computer to drive them because, lets face it, their observational skills would be extremely easy to replicate.

ETA: I'm in IT and wouldn't want to try to program these things, far too many scenarios to take in.

MrBrightSi

2,926 posts

200 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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I've watched some of the googlecar videos. Those things look incredible and how they sense the road and supposedly adjust each time they go out, it makes me think that maybe this is worth going for.

People could play with phones, read newspapers and generally give the minute amount of thought as they do now, only now the dizzy bint in the car flying at me is controlled by something that has it's priorities set.

aizvara

2,067 posts

197 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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poing said:
When I'm following someone and can see something happening further ahead I do sometimes wonder what they are actually looking at, in most cases I've not only seen it before them but started reacting to it also. I like to play the game of seeing how high I can count between my brakes being applied and theirs. These people need a computer to drive them because, lets face it, their observational skills would be extremely easy to replicate.

ETA: I'm in IT and wouldn't want to try to program these things, far too many scenarios to take in.
I guess I'm in "IT" too. My naive approach would not involve programming a device like this for any specific scenario. Regardless; I'd love to have a go at putting something like this together.


On topic: I've trusted an autonomous car in a controlled situation, no major problem trusting the road-going version. Also not much interest as I actually like driving.

killingjoker

950 posts

223 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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Sure. You all buy them.

I'll carry on driving smile

Art0ir

9,423 posts

200 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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Catatafish said:
People may also try to hack into them for a laugh or more sinister purposes.
As the "Internet of Things" moves from a paragraph in a white paper a few decades back to realisation, this is going to be an enormous issue as very few of these technologies are designed and built with security in mind.

xRIEx

8,180 posts

178 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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psdtj said:
I don't want to turn all iRobot,
Apple has a fking lot to answer for. It's 'I, Robot', not 'iRobot'!

Jasandjules

72,611 posts

259 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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My laptop crashes randomly. If I'm writing a document it is most inconvenient. When the PC decides it can no longer talk to the printer and I have a deadline, it is a disaster.

Now imagine what happens when you are travelling at 80mph and the computer goes wrong......

Computers are programmed by humans who make errors.