by Simon 28 Replies latest social current
1.7 million miles sounds a little suspicious to me. They would need to have tested something like 17 cars for 100,000 miles each.
I think they have many more than 17 and they are running nearly all day, unlike personal transport.
One thing I wonder is how they will cope up here. Sure, it's fine in summer but those days when you can't see the road at all because of snow? ... well, I hope they don't rely just on seeing road markings.
Could you ever really relax in a self-driving car? - no, not really. Parking in Sainsbury's? well, yes, I could quickly get used to a self-parking car. Doing 20mph in a quiet residential area? It would take longer for me to get used to, but yes, possibly.
Doing 70mph on the motorway, accelerating and changing lanes, etc? - no chance. I don't have that much trust in technology, however thorough and well-researched it is.
I could envision the GB authorizing an app for the car that would automatically drive you to the nearest ATM machine and then to the Kingdom Hall.
Rub a Dub
There may be some advantageous uses for self driving cars such as for the undrivable elderly , physically handicap people and so forth but for mainstream ever day driving there are times that a car cant respond by computer program alone to what essentially needs to be done, where driver intervention has to take over such as parking at a Mall for example or driving in icing road conditions or what has to be done to avoid an accident etc.
I see people on their phones, changing channels, administering discipline to the kids in the back, putting on makeup, drinking while steering with the knees, etc.
Many people see their vehicles as their castle to command. I can't see them cooperating and I am still thinking what mechanical brain can replace humans (if they're using it)
The time will come -- perhaps in the next 15 to 30 years -- when people will find even the thought of humans being behind the wheel of an automobile absolutely horrifying.
Computers will do a FAR better job driving automobiles than humans.
