Cars Without Human Driver Or Steering Wheels Allowed in Michigan---Now Allows Self-Driving Cars--

a reply to: seasonal
Those people who are addicted to their cell phones and tablets are going to love this! Now they can text from point A to Point B! I wonder if these cars park themselves too!

The only dedicated road I know of is the railroad, and guess what, trains still crash for just about anything you can think of. Infrastructure is a key, but will never be THE key unless personal choice as to where you live and function is overidden. Personal transport safety is pretty much an ad hoc arrangement, and I don't see much more in the horizon for drastic change, however if anyone wants to use stats, safe car journeys by frequency probably beats aircraft safety record hands down, blah blah. That's just the stats thus far, computer safety however is VR which can only work if the playing field is even.

a reply to: seasonal

Good evening seasonal. How are ya? Today I saw one (not near todays test run in Ann Arbor at U of M) on the Ford Motors property near the test track.

Its awfully weird to pull up alongside a vehicle (like a small-old time Volkswagen Bus)...and see no one in the front seat...just a guy sitting leaning back in the backseat, a test laptop computer open.

Still...no one was driving! We have reached the age of the "JETSONS' at last!

a reply to: mysterioustranger

I'm doing good,

How can an investor start to invest in this new tech? Other than the obvious google or Apple big boys, do you have any idea's of companies that my have a big part in this upcoming boom?

a reply to: WeRpeons

I roll my eyes almost every time someone texts me. It is a pain in the a$$. I don't over share, and I don't like for people to try to over share with me.

You are right, there will be a heaven on earth for the serial texters.

How will these cars react to dirt driveways, rural areas and roads. and how will someone in a emergency like a flooded road take over to get to safety.

Will there at least be a emergency brake.

And how about fuel will the cars go to where the owners want to fuel or the highest priced station picked by the oil company paying a kick back.

Can a GPS jammer cause the cars to get lost or shut down.

How much control does the people in the car have over route.
I take some back roads that are couple miles longer because when the shorter route has high traffic i get through faster on the back road.

I am just waiting for the first self driving car drives someone into a tornado while they are asleep..

a reply to: ANNED

I would think that a lot of the concerns you have would be covered by a WIFI warning system.

But I am interested in people who live in rural areas, like you said with dirt roads. Or is it going to be like the cable companies, they just won't serve that area because of line costs?

And are the cars all grounded when it is too snowy, or are the grounded when there is an ozone action day? How much info is going all over the globe about where when and why I am going here and there?

originally posted by: mbkennel

originally posted by: mikell
40 car pileup between Detroit and Lansing yesterday on icy roads . I wonder how they handle whiteout conditions. No roadside no centerline!!!!

Unlike humans, they have lidar, radar and GPS. I'd rather be in one than not.

Also, unlike humans, they will drive with absolutely no emotion, distraction or fatigue, with perfect 360 degree vision, ultra fast decision and reaction times at all times in any conditions... think about that next time you're driving -

With all these traits you have to just face it, they're a far better design for the function of driving than humans.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: mysterioustranger

I'm doing good,

How can an investor start to invest in this new tech? Other than the obvious google or Apple big boys, do you have any idea's of companies that my have a big part in this upcoming boom?

Well, I believe Nvidia the graphics card company is one of the leading component suppliers.

Whatever you do don't invest in an automaker, autonomous vehicles and services like uber will rapidly reduce the number of vehicles sold, it will be less than 10 percent in 10 to 15 years is my bet. Not a good time to start a career in anything automotive because it is soon to be a quickly dying industry, similar to the way the music industry has been destroyed.

a reply to: seasonal

In a few years perhaps they'll have 'Smart Cars' that think on their own, what if they go ballistic and start mowing people down like the movie Christine. What then?

People are being dumbed down so much now by technology, soon people won't be able to Think on their own without putting their Mind Cap on and planning their day.

Crazy World...

Uh...

Michigan gets snow and ice.

Meaning unpredictable road conditions requiring unpredictable split-second decisions.

These dummy companies know this, right ?!

Right ?!




Good gawd man...

I don't even allow my ABS brakes to make any decisions for me, I pump the crap out of my brake pedal overriding the stupid ABS system when it tries to kick in, based on 33+ years of experience and the resulting natural instincts I have from driving on crazy winter road conditions all my life.

originally posted by: mbkennel

With experience in aircraft control systems---a well calibrated computer will do better than a human. It can't prevent all crashes but will still be safer.

An aircraft and a passenger vehicle are two completely different scenarios and I hope you can understand.

One deals with interference infrequently on a macro scale Miles, the other would deal with interference constantly on a micro scale.

One has 4 degrees of freedom at all times, the other has one, maybe 2 at best. As a programmer and someone who has experience in automation, the margin of error when dealing with an autonomous vehicle is a very slim gate.

Might I remind you that tesla's drive great on their own, however there were no sensors installed for height clearance. The car would drive right through a B pillar if it were hovering a few feet off the ground. not to mention and I quote it "tunes out what looks like an overhead road sign to avoid false braking events."

www.theverge.com... topilot-car-crash-death-autonomous-model-s

"Tesla says Autopilot has been used for more than 130 million miles, noting that, on average, a fatality occurs every 94 million miles in the US and every 60 million miles worldwide. The NHTSA investigation, Tesla says, is a "preliminary evaluation" to determine if the Autopilot system was working properly, which can be a precursor to a safety action like a recall."

If everyone drove teslas, 94 million miles would pass more often than not.

Personally I'd much rather lose my life due to user error than because my computer was on the fritz.

a reply to: seasonal

What I do know...and have found out through the years? Its that new ideas, products and things like that we see here in Michigan...have already been out California/West Coast ways for up to 5 years or more...then we get them here. Its the same with ideas.

My wife was a Vic Tanny's/Bally's health club juice bar manager when we met in 1987. She wanted to open up a juice/smoothies bar...but didnt. And look at their worldwide spread now-a-days.

Another friend in the early...very early 1990's had an idea for a wind generator...not something widely discussed yet back then. And NOW....? Both my wife and him lost out. It's just too little too late.

Everytime we get ideas it seems...its already out there in the cosmos somewhere. A lot like music. Write a song...then hear something already out elsewhere that sounds alot like it.

Something Ill pass on to you is this quote unclear as to who said it:
"Nothing passes by so QUICKLY...as an opportunity MISSED!"

Always check things out, all the fields it encompasses and...act on it quickly! Best of luck, sorry I cant be of more help....

MS