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Transportation Businesses Technology

GM Plans To Build, Test Thousands of Self-Driving Bolts In 2018 (reuters.com) 80

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: General Motors Co plans to deploy thousands of self-driving electric cars in test fleets in partnership with ride-sharing affiliate Lyft Inc, beginning in 2018, two sources familiar with the automaker's plans said this week. It is expected to be the largest such test of fully autonomous vehicles by any major automaker before 2020, when several companies have said they plan to begin building and deploying such vehicles in higher volumes. Most of the specially equipped versions of the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle will be used by San Francisco-based Lyft, which will test them in its ride-sharing fleet in several states, one of the sources said. GM has no immediate plans to sell the Bolt AV to individual customers, according to the source. In a statement on Friday, GM said: "We do not provide specific details on potential future products or technology rollout plans. We have said that our AV technology will appear in an on-demand ride sharing network application sooner than you might think."
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GM Plans To Build, Test Thousands of Self-Driving Bolts In 2018

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  • by The Grim Reefer ( 1162755 ) on Friday February 17, 2017 @08:14PM (#53889751)

    GM Plans To Build, Test Thousands of Self-Driving Bolts In 2018

    I forgot that they had a car named "Bolt" and thought they were taking about the fastener. A bolt that could turn itself and tighten to the proper amount of torque would be pretty cool. Granted, it would probably be prohibitively expensive, and not really make a lot of sense, but cool none the less.

    • That would be better than self-sealing stem bolts!

    • Hopefully the car wont bolt like a horse.

    • I thought exactly the same too. And I've spent years hanging my life (and other people) off "self-driving bolts" driven into limestone cliffs etc.

      The "self-driving" designation, for Hilti, at least, refers to "in this package are a combination of hole-cutting bit and permanent anchor" ; you're still expected to supply the power (elbow grease), holding tool (a sort of cold chisel body), and final connector (which threads into the bolt, and has a head of your choice for your application).

      Actually, Hilti sti

  • Sooo (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Friday February 17, 2017 @08:26PM (#53889801)
    Are all of the passengers in these self driving cars going to be neat and tidy? Without a semblance of someone being in charge of the car, I think the future od driverless cars might have the unmistakable reek of shit and piss. I don't know is this particular startup is going to be sans a person that sits there and does nothing, but this will be an issue some day. people sans supervision do some odd things.
    • by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

      Are all of the passengers in these self driving cars going to be neat and tidy? Without a semblance of someone being in charge of the car, I think the future od driverless cars might have the unmistakable reek of shit and piss.

      There's a simple fix for that. The car takes photos of the interior between every passenger pickup. If the passenger after you complains, then you'll be charged a cleaning fee of say, $30.

      • Wouldn't that encourage everyone to complain? I'm pretty end goal minded and if I got in a car that was filthy, unless it had poop on the sat, I probably wouldn't notice anything wrong as long as it got me to where I was going. But the person after that could be my girlfriend who would complain about a seat belt not being fully retracted when she got into it.
        • by djinn6 ( 1868030 )
          That's why the car takes photos between every passenger. If you receive a complaint, you just have to point to the photo it took before you got in.

          And unlike you, Lyft can ignore your girlfriend's stupid complaints.
    • Without a semblance of someone being in charge of the car, I think the future od driverless cars might have the unmistakable reek of shit and piss.

      People ride "driverless" elevators everyday without shitting or pissing in them. Why would horizontal movement be so different from vertical movement?

      Unlike an elevator, to get into a self-driving-taxi you will need to provide a CC#, or an account number linked to your identity. Your behavior in the vehicle will be recorded by one or more $5 cameras. If you soil the seats, your account will be debited, as you agreed when you clicked on the TOS.

      • by slew ( 2918 )

        People ride "driverless" elevators everyday without shitting or pissing in them. Why would horizontal movement be so different from vertical movement?

        I wish I could be more optimistic than you... For example, BART [cbslocal.com].

        Unlike an elevator, to get into a self-driving-taxi you will need to provide a CC#, or an account number linked to your identity. Your behavior in the vehicle will be recorded by one or more $5 cameras. If you soil the seats, your account will be debited, as you agreed when you clicked on the TOS.

        Although a CC is probably a deterrent, ask any taxi driver that works the downtown late-night last-call scene, and they will tell you bodily fluids/solids are routinely ejected in their vehicles. Of course these are the same vehicles used in the daytime...

        • People who are coming home drunk can't help themselves. They will at least be puked in over and over again.
        • Although a CC is probably a deterrent, ask any taxi driver that works the downtown late-night last-call scene, and they will tell you bodily fluids/solids are routinely ejected in their vehicles. Of course these are the same vehicles used in the daytime...

          And anyone thinking that it is always teh last person in teh cab or elevator or bus is living in a fool's paradise. People are fucking pigs. So let's say I decide to take a dump in the car. Obviously I'd be a pig. Well, teh next pig gets in the car. Maybe piggie doesn't care. so he goes to his destination. You could have a few more people before someone complained. It simply does not follow that the objectionable ejecta bame from teh previous passenger.

          And before we get all hung up on the specific physic

      • People ride "driverless" elevators everyday without shitting or pissing in them.

        Uh...depends. I've been in some pretty rank elevators in subway stations around Long Beach, CA, and New York City.

        • by bmo ( 77928 )

          It's a /requirement/ that any given elevator in a mass transit system must smell of piss.

          Boston, DC, Long Beach, NYC, BART, Tube, doesn't matter.

          --
          BMO

        • People ride "driverless" elevators everyday without shitting or pissing in them.

          Uh...depends. I've been in some pretty rank elevators in subway stations around Long Beach, CA, and New York City.

          Or any college town. Damn near anywhere.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        People ride "driverless" elevators everyday without shitting or pissing in them. Why would horizontal movement be so different from vertical movement?

        Unlike an elevator, to get into a self-driving-taxi you will need to provide a CC#, or an account number linked to your identity. Your behavior in the vehicle will be recorded by one or more $5 cameras. If you soil the seats, your account will be debited, as you agreed when you clicked on the TOS.

        Apparently most people on Slashdot have no idea what goes on in Ubers.

        Uber works by accounts: the rider has already put their CC in; Uber knows who the responsible person is.
        You just have no idea what these NON-anonymous people typically do.

        Speaking as an Uber driver... The cameras will have to do quite a lot of AI in order to catch all the things
        that passengers routinely do to my car. Vomiting (leaking and trying to hide it, just onto the floormats
        and carpets where it can marinate and cook for a few hours

      • People ride "driverless" elevators everyday without shitting or pissing in them. Why would horizontal movement be so different from vertical movement?

        Elevators: usually the rider is not alone but there are strangers present; even if alone at any one time the door may open with other people wanting to get on. That's even before considering the CCTV cameras and the fact that rides are normally really short (less than a minute).

        In short: there is no (expectation of) privacy in lifts. When it comes to cars, even when on the road, that's a whole different story.

      • People ride "driverless" elevators everyday without shitting or pissing in them. Why would horizontal movement be so different from vertical movement?

        In my wife's industry, one of the less pleasant but repeating jobs is re-flooring elevators. They actually do an impermeable membrane, and tiles on top of it. then every couple months, just redo the whole thing. The installers hate it, and are even paid much more to do the job.

    • Are all of the passengers in these self driving cars going to be neat and tidy? Without a semblance of someone being in charge of the car, I think the future od driverless cars might have the unmistakable reek of shit and piss. I don't know is this particular startup is going to be sans a person that sits there and does nothing, but this will be an issue some day. people sans supervision do some odd things.

      As the electric cars come to market, each nds car will remove 10 gallons / week of gasoline consumption. That makes you wonder if it is worth building an Oil pipeline through the Decota s

      • As the electric cars come to market, each nds car will remove 10 gallons / week of gasoline consumption. That makes you wonder if it is worth building an Oil pipeline through the Decota s

        That is a good question, because as I tell folks - this is happening, like it or not. I love electric cars. I'm sort of okay with driverless cars, but not certain about the scaling up issues.

        But let's say I buy a Tesla In addition to the gasoline it does not use, I can easily charge it via solar at home. No petrochemical or grid impact.

        Oil won't go away as easily as coal, but demand might go down quicker than some proponents will admit.

    • Meanwhile, there are tons of car-sharing programs in Europe
      (book a car online, find the car, open with your RFID card or app, ride it, return it...
      think "car rental" except by the hours instead of the day, and entirely between you, the car and an online webapp, without ever needing to speak to an actual human)

      Not a single human interaction needed along the line.
      Yet, there are still no endemic problems of people taking dumps into the cars.

      I have used such system in Switzerland (Mobility, Catch-a-Car, Electri

      • Meanwhile, there are tons of car-sharing programs in Europe (book a car online, find the car, open with your RFID card or app, ride it, return it... think "car rental" except by the hours instead of the day, and entirely between you, the car and an online webapp, without ever needing to speak to an actual human)

        Not a single human interaction needed along the line.

        Really interesting, I have a few questions - When you say find it, you mean that it's located some where at random, or there is a garage or some similar place. Are the keys in it? Is there limitations on drive length? Do you fuel the vehicle, or is that all contained in the hourly price? The closest thing we have here is some bicycle sharing programs, which also work pretty well.

        Yet, there are still no endemic problems of people taking dumps into the cars.

        I suspect it is because of a combination of things - the lesser anonymity, I know people will use a credit card, but for some dum

        • Meanwhile, there are tons of car-sharing programs in Europe
          (book a car online, find the car, open with your RFID card or app, ride it, return it...
          think "car rental" except by the hours instead of the day, and entirely between you, the car and an online webapp, without ever needing to speak to an actual human)

          Not a single human interaction needed along the line.

          Really interesting, I have a few questions - When you say find it, you mean that it's located some where at random, or there is a garage or some similar place.

          Several different system exists.
          Exemple :

          - Mobility (CH) and DB Carsharing (DE)
          The car are normally waiting for you at their respective station. (There are lots of them. At least at each train station. In big cities you can find a station in lots of big underground city parking). You take the car for this station, and at the end of your micro-rental, put it back at the same station.
          (A little bit more stringent than what you've used with bicycles : you need to return it to its corresponding station).
          Though t

  • ... called a Bolt driver [driverscape.com].

    Use the links on this page to download the latest version of Bolt drivers.

    --
    --
    NOTE: Don't actually download that shit. I don't know what it is. Try the fish. Tip jar's on the piano.

  • Now if they can just make a self-sealing stem bolt, we'll be all set!

  • I like the concept of self-driving lower-case bolts.

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