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It would really depend on what the specific system was. How much personalization was available for navigation, route determination, stops along the way, etc...
As an applied mathematician and computer scientist, I am curious what percentage of the public would accept the conversion from using human-driven automobiles to self-driving automobiles. The necessary technology is clearly realistic. Let's assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the cost will be relatively the same. Here is just an initial list of benefits of my proposal:
Some of these even have benefits as a consequence, such as improved fuel efficiency as a result of fewer/no traffic jams. What support or opposition does anyone wish to provide?
- Prevention of DUI
- Prevention of accidents due to poor driving skills
- Prevention of traffic jams
- Potential to increase speed limits
- Freedom to focus on other things (child, eating, work, etc.)
- Auto-navigation
I think it would depend on how easy it would be for the actual live driver to take over the vehicle
Under what circumstances would you want/need to do so?
That's a good question and I'm not sure I have the answer yet. I think I would just want to know that I could take control of the vehicle by simply pressing a button .. this way if some kind of technical difficulty occurred, there would be no accidents occurring due to technical glitches and the fallback of human operator could take control.
I am curious .. what would you propose people would do if there were automated vehicles if they wanted to simply enjoy the act of driving?
As an applied mathematician and computer scientist, I am curious what percentage of the public would accept the conversion from using human-driven automobiles to self-driving automobiles. The necessary technology is clearly realistic. Let's assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the cost will be relatively the same. Here is just an initial list of benefits of my proposal:
Some of these even have benefits as a consequence, such as improved fuel efficiency as a result of fewer/no traffic jams. What support or opposition does anyone wish to provide?
- Prevention of DUI
- Prevention of accidents due to poor driving skills
- Prevention of traffic jams
- Potential to increase speed limits
- Freedom to focus on other things (child, eating, work, etc.)
- Auto-navigation
Self driving cars on highways and freeways gives you the most benefit and is the easiest to implement. Computers can more easily handle the limited number of variables and most long trips are spent on high speed roads. Cars networked together would also improve traffic flow. I am more skeptical for robots driving streets. Dealing with pedestrians and parking rely on having social knowledge that is very hard to program.
Sounds great, but we'll need smart roads as well as smart cars.
And how would legal liability work? No fault to the occupant of a smart car, so the manufacturer of the car or the builder/operator of the the road will be the defendants. Add that to the price tag.
This is a ways off.
As an applied mathematician and computer scientist, I am curious what percentage of the public would accept the conversion from using human-driven automobiles to self-driving automobiles. The necessary technology is clearly realistic. Let's assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the cost will be relatively the same. Here is just an initial list of benefits of my proposal:
Some of these even have benefits as a consequence, such as improved fuel efficiency as a result of fewer/no traffic jams. What support or opposition does anyone wish to provide?
- Prevention of DUI
- Prevention of accidents due to poor driving skills
- Prevention of traffic jams
- Potential to increase speed limits
- Freedom to focus on other things (child, eating, work, etc.)
- Auto-navigation
I've long supported this concept but I have a few major reservations. What you don't mention is where the locus of control resides. Will traffic control be centralized to some facility which will send out commands to the cars or will the control be decentralized with each car making decisions about the situation it faces in it immediate environment?
I fear that a move to self-driving automobiles will be like a honey-pot for hackers and those with some hacking skills who are intent on causing accidents. If someone with bad intent gains control of either a centralized system or other people's decentralized cars, then all hell will break loose. What do you have in mind to maintain system integrity?
Google has developed a self-driving car that has driven over 150,000 miles on both highways and city streets in California. It's only had two accidents...and both of those were caused by the other driver. If you're still skeptical about cars driving themselves on streets where there are lots of random variables, I suggest you look up "DARPA Urban Challenge" on YouTube. As early as 2007, there were a few cars that could do this fairly accurately (although they were by no means ready for public release in 2007). Since then, the technology has continued to improve by leaps and bounds.
People don't want cars that drive themselves and rob them of the fun of driving and making mistakes with accidents or killing other people, etc. Their refusal to ride mass transit systems is evidence of that.
As an applied mathematician and computer scientist, I am curious what percentage of the public would accept the conversion from using human-driven automobiles to self-driving automobiles. The necessary technology is clearly realistic. Let's assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the cost will be relatively the same. Here is just an initial list of benefits of my proposal:
Some of these even have benefits as a consequence, such as improved fuel efficiency as a result of fewer/no traffic jams. What support or opposition does anyone wish to provide?
- Prevention of DUI
- Prevention of accidents due to poor driving skills
- Prevention of traffic jams
- Potential to increase speed limits
- Freedom to focus on other things (child, eating, work, etc.)
- Auto-navigation
While I like the idea of being able to do something else during my 2.5 hours a day in the car to and from work, the idea of sitting at the wheel of a car doing 80 and not being in control of it would make me real nervous.
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