The future is here - California approves self-driving cars in 2015

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DexterMorgan

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Jul 18, 2012
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California approves self-driving cars by 2015 - CNET

Anyone in California ever see these guys driving around? What does WF think the near future holds with self-driving cars/Google's progress/Google's role? I see so much potential in this stuff.

From the article:

"The rules also define what it takes to operate an autonomous vehicle. Operators must pass a special driving course and be ready to take over control of the autonomous vehicle at any time. The rules require operators to have an understanding of the technology, and to have no more than one point on their licenses for a traffic code violation.

"Of vehicle manufacturers, Audi has been the most aggressive in pursuing autonomous vehicle technology. Automotive equipment supplier Continental has also been conducting tests. Nissan earlier promised self-driving cars by 2020. Tesla also said it would be developing self-driving technology for its cars, which would likely be tested in California."
 


It will certainly prevent a very large percentage of accidents. Almost all accidents behind the wheel are human error. This removes 100% of that. Not bad.

However... At what cost?

Google is going to know even more about where you are at every moment, who's with you, which billboards you are passing, what your BAC is probably... And worst of all, will have the ability to end your life at a push of a button.

Sure, that's bad for business, but it's not outside of the realm of possibility.

And when they have the power to do something like that, you'd better believe the NSA/CIA/FBI/Whitehouse has the ability to do so too.

And fine, upstanding people like the NSA and Obomba would never abuse such power, amirite?
 
It's going to take a big change in culture for self driving cars to become "standard" too. Sometimes I quite like just going for a drive. Having a robot drive you places takes that away. It's also a big step in trust for computers/technology, and raises lots of ethics issues as indicated by lukep.

Probably looking at least 20-30 years down the line until they're a fairly common feature on our roads.
 
There are a lot of little odd side effects that these things will cause once they're finally up and running. I'd say about a decade before they're fairly common in most cities/metropolitan areas. IIRC the LIDAR can't really do shitty weather yet, so that still rules out quite a few areas in the North. What are the police departments going to do that rely on ticketing revenue? Then you have the entire trucking industry, the huge farms (I think some of the tractors are already run remotely), other deliveries, insurance companies, public transportation, etc etc.
 
so could you use one to "drink drive" ?
 
more power to Google, Exciting times ahead with Google taking control of your car and driving you to Burger King or your Yoga Classes and couldn't do anything about it.
 
And you all thought this was stupid!


dzf5nd.jpg
 
Imagine a self driving Tesla with a 1000 mile distance which charges in 5 minutes.
 
Has panda/penguin fucked up your rankings? Is facebook suing you over unpaid advertising invoices? Buy this WSO and learn this weird black hat method for jumping in front of self driving cars and suing google for millions without actually getting hurt.

Just $9.95
 
I'm curious as to why Google isn't pushing solar roadways more? You think they'd be all over it, as it'd compliment their self driving cards massively, wouldn't it?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU]Solar FREAKIN' Roadways! - YouTube[/ame]
 
I doubt it will be more than 10 years, already as a hobbyist you can make drones that follow courses you set on google maps, both aerial or ground based.

Open source and all that...

MP-FD-Screen.jpg



Set waypoints for autopilot course:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZGWmNXylMs]Survey with Mission Planner and Ardupilot - YouTube[/ame]


So then for cars you could just plug in your destination and it'd follow that course while using various sensors to monitor the area surrounding the vehicles to respond to potential collisions. All the pieces already exist and are cheap, hobby level electronics are getting to mind blowing levels, let alone someone with a massive budget.

For $20 you can buy an arduino which you write code for and it can control various sensors/electronic devices. It allows you to program for the physical world...similar to how you'd make AI for a video game, you can make it in real life with some cheap sensors. You can even integrate them in your own mobile apps to control shit with your phone.
 
This is CA's attempt to maintain power and authority.

Autonomous cars have been a given for a generation. Politicians are left with the option to regulate the technology or risk losing control of it. Losing control has a snowball effect; lose it in one area and it erodes in other areas. So pols create more rules and laws to retain control, and in the process increase producers'/consumers' costs and limit the variety of goods available.

If you're president of GM and you're several years away from prototyping your own self-driving car, then regulation is good news for you. You'll send a few lobbyists to CA to make the case. You'll also make contributions to CA pols - party is irrelevant - who are in a position to get new legislation on the books.

It will happen in every state.
 
shindig said:
I doubt it will be more than 10 years, already as a hobbyist you can make drones that follow courses you set on google maps, both aerial or ground based.

Open source and all that...

So then for cars you could just plug in your destination and it'd follow that course while using various sensors to monitor the area surrounding the vehicles to respond to potential collisions. All the pieces already exist and are cheap, hobby level electronics are getting to mind blowing levels, let alone someone with a massive budget.

For $20 you can buy an arduino which you write code for and it can control various sensors/electronic devices. It allows you to program for the physical world...similar to how you'd make AI for a video game, you can make it in real life with some cheap sensors. You can even integrate them in your own mobile apps to control shit with your phone.
Click to expand...

You underestimate the level of AI required to have a car that responds to traffic signals, other cars, and tries to anticipate other people's behaviours.

If there weren't pedestrians, and people driving other cars around, then the task would be much simpler. Comparing it with developing a drone is laughable.

It's also not just a matter of the technology being there, but a huge cultural shift. Whilst the technology may be there in 10-20 years, people won't be, in terms of their acceptance of it. It'll take time for people to trust the cars.

(Just check out all the people getting beaten up wearing Google Glass)

You also have the phasing out of current vehicles to deal with. What proportion of cars on the road were released in the last 5 years?

Whilst they'll become increasingly common sights, it takes decades to implement change on this scale.

There's huge security challenges too.

Napolean said:
When all cars are autonomous, imagine how fast they can drive since reaction time no longer dictates what a safe speed limit is.
Click to expand...

Whilst the cars are automated: wildlife, people, boulders and hundreds of other obstacles which move dynamically are not. This also counts on every car on the road being automated.
 
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