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Transportation AI

41% Of Drivers Uncomfortable About Someday Sharing the Road with Self-Driving Cars (jalopnik.com) 215

Jalopnik reports: A new United Kingdom-based study conducted by CarGurus confirms a trend that's been popping up lately: most drivers aren't confident in sharing the road with fully-autonomous vehicles. The site surveyed just over 1,000 automobile owners in the UK to understand their thoughts regarding self-driving cars, making sure to balance respondents by race, income, gender, and more. The study showed that, overall, 36 percent of respondents were concerned about the development of self-driving cars, with another 35 percent identifying as neutral and 30 percent as excited.

41 percent of respondents said they would not be comfortable in any self-driving car scenario, whether they were the one behind the wheel or they were sharing the road with autonomous delivery vehicles...

Ultimately, CarGurus offers a few points that sum up the sentiment of the survey:

- More people are concerned about autonomous vehicles than they are excited. It'll take more convincing and safety assurances to get people involved.

- Most buyers would rather have driver assistance features but still be in charge.

On the bright side, the study also found that people were at least excited about having a car that could steer into a parking spot by itself.
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41% Of Drivers Uncomfortable About Someday Sharing the Road with Self-Driving Cars

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  • quietly when my wife is driving.
    • I hate to break it to you, but your wife isn't unique. A lot of drivers make me uncomfortable.

      Who cares if 41% of us are uncomfortable with self-driving cars? What percentage are uncomfortable to begin with?

      • 100% of drivers should be uncomfortable with other human drivers on the road. If you aren't you're one of the reasons everyone else is.
        • In surveys: 93% of American drivers think their driving is above average.

          https://www.smithlawco.com/blo... [smithlawco.com]

          • Well at least they're not thinking they are good drivers themselves!

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by Chas ( 5144 )

            I don't.
            My driving sucks.
            My complaint is why I'm surrounded by ALL the people driving in the bottom single percentile.
            Weaving into following spaces, last second wild multi-lane-changes, driving the speed limit in the left lane and refusing to leave it though every other person in traffic is passing them on the right, can't even turn their headlights on, tailgating relentlessly, on the phone and barely looking at traffic...

          • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Monday June 28, 2021 @09:58AM (#61529542)

            While I have a good driving record, I can recall many time where I had done something stupid and managed to get out unscathed because someone else had their eyes open.

            The human mind operated on a lot of shortcuts, we can we can ignore things that may be right in front of our faces (Gorilla Test [wikipedia.org]) People tend to hit motorcycles because they may not expect to see them when crossing an intersection. I avoided an accident in Winter, because there was guy riding a motorcycle in Winter (in the North East), and I didn't see them until the last second, even though I was looking in that direction. Just because I wasn't expecting to see a motorcycle in Winter.

            It is easy for people to think they are better drivers than they are, because driving is actually safer than we think, as well we have other drivers who may be focused on something else that will avoid and correct our mistakes.

            Also the reason why we may turn the radio down when we are trying to find a street, or when we are lost, is because Driving is actually a mentally complex task, and while with practice we can drive under normal conditions without much stress, when we get stress, we may need more brain power, and that music playing needs to go off, so you can focus more on what you are doing.

        • You can intimidate a Human into not doing stupid shit on the road, you can't do any such thing to a machine. Human-driven vehicles are inherently superior to machine-driven vehicles for this reason alone. (Don't bother suggesting the training data for the machines is perfect, or even perfectly accounted for, anyone with any sense of machine learning algorithms knows that isn't the case and they're at best as flawed as Humans, just without the adaptability of reacting to new stimuli.)
  • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @04:48PM (#61527642)

    Most people once thought that cars were toys for dandies, cell phones were for drug dealers, and "home" computers were silly.

    Uninformed public perceptions are poor predictors of future acceptance.

    • Right. More people used to be or maybe still are "concerned" about nuclear power, renewable power, etc. etc. The respective industries would be well advised to ignore such people.
      • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

        Nuclear power and renewable power exist and are proven, autonomous driving neither exists nor is proven.

        "The respective industries would be well advised to ignore such people."

        Or people like you who ignore facts staring them in the face.

    • by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @04:52PM (#61527656) Journal
      A rather large majority of the public also reckons they are above-average drivers. Personally I would rather share the road with early versions of autonomous cars than the cellphone wielding road raging idiots who currently occupy them.
      • by Computershack ( 1143409 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @05:07PM (#61527710)

        A rather large majority of the public also reckons they are above-average drivers.

        I'm one of them. I'm a truck driver in the UK who does 2,000+ miles a week and have done that for over 25 years accident free. My 44 tonne truck has several of the things that will be on autonomous cars and has done since 2014. The new generation of trucks is suffering the same issues as those in 2014 - things like randomly deciding to slam on the brakes for a non-existing collision it thinks there's going to be as I pass under a bridge on a completely empty motorway at 2am in the morning, or slamming on the brakes because it thinks that I'm going to drive into a car stopped in a central reservation for a right turn on a left hand bend. Then there are other times when someone has pulled out in front of me and it's failed to react at all.

        Then there's the weather. The automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and lane change detection shits itself when there's the slightest bit of snow or when there's heavy rain and a lot of road spray. Whilst the technology may be fine for piloting an 18 wheeler down a long straight desert road in Nevada on a nice sunny day, it's certainly far from being able to cope with the kinds of roads, traffic density and weather we have here in the UK.

        • by Toothpick ( 23095 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @05:47PM (#61527836)

          How am I, as a pedestrian, supposed to make eye contact with the "driver" of an autonomous vehicle at a crosswalk I'm deciding whether to enter?

          • by khchung ( 462899 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @11:46PM (#61528518) Journal

            How am I, as a pedestrian, supposed to make eye contact with the "driver" of an autonomous vehicle at a crosswalk I'm deciding whether to enter?

            The vehicle can have a led panel in front telling you it is now stopping to let you cross, or to warn you not to try to cross, which is even better than eye contact.

            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              Communicating with pedestrians creates liability in the UK. If you wave some across and they get hit by a bus coming the other way, you can be partially liable because your indication could be interpreted as it being safe to go.

              Same with other drivers, if you flash your lights to indicate that you are letting them pass but someone else doesn't wait and there is a collision you can end up sharing the blame. If someone flashes you then you still need to proceed carefully and not assume it's safe.

              • by wings ( 27310 )

                Communicating with pedestrians creates liability in the UK. If you wave some across and they get hit by a bus coming the other way, you can be partially liable because your indication could be interpreted as it being safe to go.

                If you make eye contact you at least know the driver is aware of your presence. Waving someone across is a completely different level of interaction.

          • As a pedestrian you have right of way, and the stuid self driving car is stopping for you any way. Even if you do not take the way it "anticipated" before and stopped for.

            Sorry: your enemies are stupid human drivers, not autonomous driving cars. Or do you really think a self driving car does not "know" who has the right of way?

            • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

              "As a pedestrian you have right of way"

              No.

              "Sorry: your enemies are stupid human drivers, not autonomous driving cars. Or do you really think a self driving car does not "know" who has the right of way?"

              I'd say the enemy is people like you who ignorantly claim that pedestrians are always in the right regardless of what they do.

              A pedestrian does not have the "right of way" to walk out in front of a car that would force an emergency stop and CERTAINLY does not have "right of way" to walk out in front of a car

          • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

            LOL, as if that ever happens. The standard operating mode of pedestrians is "me first" no matter what the circumstances. Don't even bother to look or slow down.

            How about don't enter if a car is coming? Take personal responsibility for your own safety.

        • Well said.

          There seems to be a lot of hand-waving regarding the ability of autonomous vehicles to cope with extreme - or what we in the UK call normal - weather.

          Snow, sleet, fog, mist, rain from the lightest of drizzles to almost-monsoon, coupled with wind from the slightest breeze to gales that will bring the rain in towards you from any angle including upwards... and all these conditions, along with bright sunlight and grey overcast, can occur in the space of a few hours.

          Add to this a, let us say "va
        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          rather large majority of the public

          Truck drivers are a rather large majority of the UK public?

          My 44 tonne truck has several of the things that will be on autonomous cars and has done since 2014. The new generation of trucks is suffering the same issues as those in 2014 - things like randomly deciding to slam on the brakes for a non-existing collision it thinks there's going to be as I pass under a bridge on a completely empty motorway at 2am in the morning, or slamming on the brakes because it thinks that I'm going to drive into a car stopped in a central reservation for a right turn on a left hand bend. Then there are other times when someone has pulled out in front of me and it's failed to react at all.

          I suspect that all of this is completely irrelevant to the topic as this is about people who "would not be comfortable in any self-driving car scenario", presumably including one with *functioning* self-driving vehicles, so your subset of scenarios with non-functioning vehicles is not really interesting.

          • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

            "Truck drivers are a rather large majority of the UK public?"

            You are an imbecile. He said he was one of that "rather large majority" and he is ALSO a truck driver.

            "I suspect that all of this is completely irrelevant to the topic..."

            I suspect you say so because it works against your narrative that only uninformed people are skeptical. Turns out you are blatantly wrong.

            "...presumably including one with *functioning* self-driving vehicles, so your subset of scenarios with non-functioning vehicles is not real

        • And that's when the technology is working "correctly". Talk to a mechanic when you want to know how the system behaves when sensors go bad.

        • If that happened at 2PM, then be happy. The car only wanted to wake you up, erm ... truck.

        • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          Oh look, ShanghaiBill and Kyosuke, an informed opinion.

          I'd say the problem is not even technical, although it is also technical. A fundamental problem with autonomous driving is that it's front man is Elon Musk, a notorious fraud and con man. As long as you have a liar promoting it, reasonable people should, and will, be skeptical.

      • by hey! ( 33014 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @05:32PM (#61527796) Homepage Journal

        A rather large majority of the public also reckons they are above-average drivers.

        And they're right -- on their *best* days. That's how we judge ourselves, by how well we are *capable* of performing. But the threat we pose to other people on the road isn't determined by our best days; it's our worst days that dominate that. Days when we haven't got enough sleep, are worried, distracted and behind schedule.

        If people applied the same standards of consistency to their own performance that they require for automated vehicles, they'd be clamoring for the things.

        • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          "Automated vehicles" have best days too, and they tend to be judged on those just like humans do. You know, Elon Musk...

          You have completely missed the point of that comment.

          "If people applied the same standards of consistency to their own performance that they require for automated vehicles, they'd be clamoring for the things."

          The problem is that people apply the minimum standards of performance to autonomous driving and it still fails. Can't even get to the "consistency" standard.

    • Self driving cars cannot engage in risk assessment and adjust their behavior. If I am driving through a neighborhood with a speed limit of 30, and I see some kids playing with a ball in a yard, Iâ(TM)ll slow down to 20 in case that ball winds up rolling into the street Iâ(TM)ll have time to stop so I donâ(TM)t run over a kid. A self driving car doesnâ(TM)t have the ability to take that action, and until it does I will have 0 trust in it.

      • The SDC can brake in a millisecond. A human typically takes a second and a half from perception to moving their foot from the accelerator and depressing the brake.

        That extra second and a half of response time makes a bigger difference than "risk assessment", even if you assume that the human is paying attention.

        • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          "The SDC can brake in a millisecond. A human typically takes a second and a half from perception to moving their foot from the accelerator and depressing the brake."

          Citation is required for this bullshit claim.

          "That extra second and a half of response time makes a bigger difference than "risk assessment"
          "
          And this one too.

          "... even if you assume that the human is paying attention."

          Even if you assume that the autonomous vehicle can sense the danger in time, much less in a fraction of a millisecond. A

        • Breaking in a millisecond doesnâ(TM)t make the car stop on a dime, and it will skid until the speed reaches zero. The amount of kinetic energy in the vehicle will determine if the car skids far enough fast enough to kill someone. Thatâ(TM)s why a risk based approach to operating is so important. People do this instinctively and quickly adapt as circumstances change. Computers are poorly suited to this type of task at the moment.

      • This is a common assertion. But I wonder why you think an AI cannot have the ability to do better than a human here. Is there some law of nature that would be violated? If so, what is it? If not, why the certainty?
        • by HiThere ( 15173 )

          According to the current reports, there's a significant chance that self-driving cars will hit the road before the problems are fixed. I will accept that they'd probably be a better driver than I am, but I pulled my license because I considered myself an unsafe driver.

          That said, there are a lot of people on the road that I believe should have their license pulled, but nobody does it. Perhaps if self-driving cars were available, there would be stronger enforcement of safe driving.

        • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          No need for certainty, only the expectation that these things can be demonstrated before trusting them.

          Full self driving doesn't even exist, so why accept that whatever exists is trustworthy because humans are so bad, especially considering that human drivers are far more capable the best currently imagined system could be, even if they were perfect?

          • No one that I know of suggests that you should trust something that has not proven itself. That is true with everything in life, so I'm not sure why you think that self driving cars are an exception.

            Full self driving doesn't even exist, so why accept that whatever exists is trustworthy because humans are so bad, especially considering that human drivers are far more capable the best currently imagined system could be, even if they were perfect?

            That is not a coherent statement. No, full self driving doesn't exist. Your implication seems to be that they cannot ever exist, but again, you don't explain why you think that. It is not clear what you mean by "even if they were perfect." If self driving cars were perfect, human drivers would far more capa

      • by K. S. Kyosuke ( 729550 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @06:10PM (#61527906)

        Self driving cars cannot engage in risk assessment and adjust their behavior.

        How come? Risk management is absolutely a thing that computers are being used for wherever risk management greatly matters -- precisely because crunching large amounts of data and running comprehensive sets of what-if scenarios is what computers are very well suited for.

        • Risk management is absolutely a thing that computers are being used for wherever risk management greatly matters

          And risk management in this domain inevitably runs up against subjective ethical decisions.

          https://www.nature.com/article... [nature.com]

        • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          Eager to demonstrate how uninformed you are again?

          "...precisely because crunching large amounts of data and running comprehensive sets of what-if scenarios is what computers are very well suited for"

          This conveniently assumes that such "large amounts of data" could be captured in such a way that the risks could be identified. In other words, you are begging the question.

          Thanks for identifying who the uninformed arguers are.

      • Why do you think that they canâ(TM)t or wonâ(TM)t do that? A risk assessment AI is absolutely something that can be built, and should be pretty easy to train for any manufacturer with a lot of driving data - asses when crashes happen, train the AI to give high risk ratings on the video seen shortly before that crash, and lower risk ratings on others, biased towards high risk, since not all high risk situations result in a crash.

        • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          Full autonomous driving has yet to work, let's see that before we make even more outlandish claims.

          "A risk assessment AI is absolutely something that can be built, and should be pretty easy to train for any manufacturer with a lot of driving data..."

          Uninformed.

      • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )
        There's no a priori reason why SDCs could not be told to be more cautious when there are kids around, assuming they can recognise kids. In some parts of the UK there are mannequins of children deployed to convince human drivers to be more cautious.
    • "Most people once thought that cars were toys for dandies, cell phones were for drug dealers, and "home" computers were silly."

      And when people thought those things, they were probably mostly right. People's perceptions of these things changed as their use cases changed.

    • by dbialac ( 320955 )
      Would you get in a plane without a pilot? A train without an engineer? People are generally weary of the idea of getting in a vehicle driven long-distance without a driver of some sort for emergency situations, even though aircraft and trains are both commonly controlled by a computer. Self-driving cars aren't there yet, and Tesla's reports were pulled after experts outside the government found that there were serious errors in their calculations about how safe they actually were. Self-driving cars will get
    • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      "Uninformed public perceptions are poor predictors of future acceptance."

      Yes, but who says fear of autonomous driving is uninformed? It most certainly is not, since autonomous driving doesn't even exist.

  • by marcle ( 1575627 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @04:52PM (#61527652)

    They go too slow, stop for no reason, and hesitate too long before turning or merging. Most human drivers are far more predictable.

    • Most human drivers are far more predictable.

      For sufficiently loose definitions of the word "most".

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        I like driving amongst the stoned, the crazy, the road-ragers, the makeup artists, and the phone office. It gives me a chance to invent colorful new words and phrases, often aloud. Such as "Taint Monkey!!"

    • by fermion ( 181285 )
      I see this when driving car with significant assist when going into a new speed zone, the change speeds too quickly, prioritizing stick adherence to the law over safety. I have also have the car stop behind a turning car where no skilled human driver would.

      Another hint I see is drivers clearly following machine generated routes with no on the ground knowledge. I have a route home that is fast, but with some peculiarities. If the freeway is packed, nav systems send clueless drivers down this route, which

      • Wow, where do you live that you see so many self-driving cars on a regular basis?

        • by fermion ( 181285 )
          I donâ(TM)t know about self driving, but we do have three Teslas in the neighborhood. I occasionally drive Zip cars and they have a relatively high level of technology. I have driven for miles on a highway just worrying about steering, the car adjusts speed, slows for cars in front, etcetera.
        • Driving around the strip district area of Pittsburgh you used to see self driving cars from both Argo and Uber. Although I think it’s only Argo operating there now.

    • They go too slow, stop for no reason, and hesitate too long before turning or merging.

      We affectionately call them moving chicanes.

    • They go too slow, stop for no reason, and hesitate too long before turning or merging. Most human drivers are far more predictable.

      It's almost as if you believe that "self driving" cars have stopped evolving...

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      If you can't cope with people driving too slowly you are inevitably going to collide with one of them eventually.

      In fact rear-end collisions when lights turn green and someone is too slow to move away, or when someone doesn't take the merging space you expect them to, are pretty common.

      Another experiment I don't recommend trying is indicating to change lane, and then slowly moving over at a safe speed that ensures you have time to react if someone tried to merge into the space space from the opposite side.

  • 2030 Headline (Score:5, Insightful)

    by EvilSS ( 557649 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @05:00PM (#61527680)
    85% of Self Driving Cars Uncomfortable About Someday Sharing the Road with Human Drivers.
  • by battingly ( 5065477 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @05:06PM (#61527704)
    I'm uncomfortable sharing the road with many of the imbeciles I see driving around recklessly, texting while they drive, drinking coffee, fumbling for the touch screen controls on a Tesla, talking on the phone,... The sooner they are replaced with self-driving, the better.
    • I'm uncomfortable sharing the road with many of the imbeciles I see driving around recklessly, texting while they drive, drinking coffee, fumbling for the touch screen controls on a Tesla, talking on the phone,... The sooner they are replaced with self-driving, the better.

      Agreed.

      I'm not surprised that some drivers are "uncomfortable" with the idea of sharing the road with cars the will STOP at stop signs, yield right of way to cross traffic, car on right, pedestrians in crosswalks, etc, maintain safe distance to the car in front of them, and make room for merging cars so traffic flows smoother, etc..

      I'd be willing to bet that most of that 41% is comprised of the worst drivers on the roads today.

      • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

        "I'd be willing to bet that most of that 41% is comprised of the worst drivers on the roads today."

        Like taking candy from a baby.

    • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      "The sooner they are replaced with self-driving, the better."

      Notice that this is not inconsistent with skepticism for autonomous driving. Prove that it works and people will accept it, until then no.

  • who drive like shit. I'm uncomfortable with tailgaters or people who drive slow in the left lane or drive to fast on icy or wet roads. I'd prefer not to drive at all, but America is car dependent so I'm stuck with it.
  • When it works better than human drivers, then people will be happy to have it.

  • by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @05:59PM (#61527864) Homepage

    The question is not whether you want to be on the road with an autonomous vehicle. The question is which of the following would you rather be driving next to:

    1) Autonomous vehicle.
    2) 80 year woman on the way to get an eye exam.
    3) Your teenageer
    4) Anyone coming out of a bar.

    If you asked THIS question, I bet most people would rather be on the road next to an autonomous vehicle.

    • by lsllll ( 830002 )
      I'm glad you're not designing questionnaires because giving options like that would show absolute bias on your side.
    • The question is not whether you want to be on the road with an autonomous vehicle. The question is which of the following would you rather be driving next to:

      1) Autonomous vehicle.
      2) 80 year woman on the way to get an eye exam.
      3) Your teenager
      4) Anyone coming out of a bar.

      5) Driver watching videos.
      6) Driver using their vehicle as a mobile office.
      7) Driver distracted by children in car.
      8) Driver looking a parking space (off-street) while still on the highway.
      9) Driver trying to follow autonav.
      10) Lost Driver.

  • The average persion is technologically illiterate. The cannot have an informed opinion on technology or much of anything else.

  • I can't go a few blocks without seeing Waymo's cars driving around. They're the worst too. They're slow, hesitant, and don't seem to know how to handle moving around delivery vehicles.

    • by kackle ( 910159 )
      You win the thread.

      Typical Slashdot, binary thinking is a 'people versus machine' argument. But the situations/conditions on the road are infinitely diverse, as are the skill sets of human drivers, as will be the software running the machines. Sometimes people will better, sometimes the machines. The next temptation is to debate an "average" between the two, but that's just silly; the total, comprehensive costs to make these machines a reality won't be considered in such a calculation, when humans alr
  • by RogueWarrior65 ( 678876 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @08:18PM (#61528166)

    What's the point of going all road-ragey if you can't scare the bejesus out of a robot?

  • As usual, I have faith in technology and that many problems can eventually be overcome. I just don't trust the pencil pushers and marketeers. I've already seen tech companies cripple the hell out of computers for "safety" reasons, and I sure as hell don't want those people messing around with cars. Anything that is fully automated, especially in ways that cannot be overridden, eventually becomes so gimped as to be useless. That's a political problem and has nothing to do with tech.

    Look at how many compa

  • by Gimric ( 110667 ) on Sunday June 27, 2021 @11:00PM (#61528464)

    At some point we will need a legal framework for self-driving cars. If an autonomous vehicle makes a mistake, who is legally liable? Will it be a battle between the software developers, hardware manufacturers and the vehicle owner? Or will be be told "Our cars never make mistakes, the human must be at fault" even when it isn't true?

    Autonomous vehicles will no doubt be statistically safer than human drivers, but legal liability doesn't work on statistics, it looks at particular events and tries to ascribe liability. The fact that self-driving vehicles are generally safe doesn't make much difference when one paralyses you because of a sensor or software fault.

    • It's the driver. Which is the last person who gave the car instructions. Like if you park your car and walk away, you are legally the driver.
  • not good enough yet (Score:4, Informative)

    by bigtreeman ( 565428 ) <treecolin@gDALImail.com minus painter> on Monday June 28, 2021 @12:39AM (#61528574)

    Driving our new Mazda BT-50 on Sunday it braked very hard when it sensed possible collisions.
    It did it twice, once approaching a queue before a roundabout, and once at an intersection in a car park.
    Both times locked the wheels, releasing smoke, both times already going slow, already breaking.
    For me this car is dangerous to drive.
    I am now wary of other new BT-50s on the road and don't get close.

  • I'm not comfortable sharing the road with vehicles driven by people. Autonomous vehicles see to me like they'd be better drivers on average.

  • feel uncomfortable sharing the road with easily distracted human drivers.

  • by LostMyBeaver ( 1226054 ) on Monday June 28, 2021 @02:54AM (#61528768)
    They aren't.

    As more autonomous vehicles hit the road:

    Billions of hours of driving data will be fed into ML algorithms improving driving safety and precision for all cars in the ecosystems.

    More accidents will happen providing more data to engineers responsible for improving the algorithms and improving the safety and precision of all connected vehicles.

    Insurance companies (likely divisions of the car companies themselves) will work with the legal system to better understand and improve road safety.

    Infrastructure will be updated so roads will be highly efficient 1-lane (with emergency shoulder maybe) roads that allow high speed traffic to safely travel.

    Cost of roads will substantially decrease. Crosswalks, walk overs, walk unders, etc... will be substantially improved. Therefore substantially improving safety.

    Autonomous vehicles will be allowed to drive on much better roads and much better paths as they will be catering the design of those roads to those paths. Consider paths expressways that are narrow and high performance, they are equipped, rather than with traffic lights and traffic signs but instead with a system that allows the vehicles to safely arbitrate crossings themselves or via a central rate management system. Cars with human drivers will be limited to old deteriorating roads while autonomous vehicles will be permitted to use these top-grade lanes of transport.

    I can go on for some time, but here's the thing.... people like me know that while initial autonomous vehicles are likely to drive on par with a typical driver who insists they are great drivers... but really aren't. And we know there will be accidents... but it will take less time for cars to blow past humans for driving than it took for PCs to pass chess or go players. And just like chess and go, the absolute best human driver on earth will be a truly terrible driver compared to the worst computers in short order.
  • Everyone hates it if the other one is a better driver.

  • I am looking forward to them. I want it to here once it is working properly and not at the behest of the motor "industry" (that includes you Elon). They are working on it in the university of the city I live in. The sooner there are less distracted drivers, road ragers and simple human errors, the better!

    I am also looking forwards to less noise pollution once electric cars become the norm. That is more achievable in the short term. It just needs to get cheaper to actually buy a new one.

  • I'm not worried about someday sharing the road with automated cars; I'm worried about sharing the road with them anytime in the next twenty-or-so years.

  • 1. When it can drive me to the train station (or I drive myself, I don't mind), and it drives home on its own so my wife has a car all day. Obviously pick me up at the train station as well.

    2. If it can drop me off and go and find a parking space on its own. And again, pick me up when needed. In other words, it needs to drive without me in the car.
  • I bet though the vast majority of the 41% are on the older side. Max Planck claimed that science makes progress one funeral at a time - the same is probably true of just about any other discipline. Food for thought for those who are pursuing immortality.
  • Waymo has a fully autonomous self driving taxi service which is open to the public in central Phoenix right now. It's actually been a reality for over a year, yet nobody seems to be talking about it. Check out this dude's experiences with the service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
  • by MooseTick ( 895855 ) on Monday June 28, 2021 @12:03PM (#61530080) Homepage

    When I'm on the road with human drivers, I'm always uncomfortable. They are known to do many things computers/automated cars will never do including:

    -driving while drunk
    -driving while under the effects of drugs (prescription and non)
    -driving while tired
    -driving while texting
    -driving while eating
    -driving while applying makeup
    -driving when the vehicle is not safe to drive
    -grossly exceeding safe speeds independent of whether its posted or not
    -driving without required aids such as glasses
    -driving while doing multiple items listed above

    I could go on, but self driving cars will never have those issues. This will come down to self-driving trucks running on limited stretches of road and racking up millions of miles and showing their accident rates are lower than human drivers. When that happens it will be adopted more and eventually people will think others are crazy and wreckless for manually driving. Insurance will follow accordingly where self-driving cars will cost a fraction of manually driven vehicles.

Think of it! With VLSI we can pack 100 ENIACs in 1 sq. cm.!

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