7 replies to this topic

[Kalimaster]

The Uber, Driverless Car, hit and killed a pedestrian. Now, if these cars are what is deemed safe, it makes me dread the future when we give up our foot on the brake.

Driverless Car hits Fire Truck. Okay, good for a laugh.
Driverless Car runs over person. No Okay.

So, is this technology something we really want. Yeah, seems great in sci-fi, but even in sci-fi we have pilots, and people who can drive cars or "Mechs". Call it a computer glitch or what ever, while the future concept may be sounding great, I want to at least have some control of my vehicle, just incase I have to avoid something, such as a 20 ft. hole in the ground, small dogs, etc. Sorry, guys, I think I'll keep my brake pedal.

[Rogue Jedi]

I look at this from a diferant viewpoint.
I do not have a driving license, I am a cyclest, pedestrian and occaisional user of public transport

I persionaly would be more inclined to trust a robot to drive than humans,
I reguraly (as in most weeks) get "near misses" on my 2 mile cycle ride to/from work. because the id10ts driving on the main road through my home vilage which often has cars parked on both sides do not notice a car coming the other way until they are overtaking me then they have to pull in and stop imeadiatly after overtaking me, leaving me barely enough reaction time to avoid a crash.
there are also the id10ts who overtake then imeadiatly turn off down a side road cutting me off and forcing me to turn to avoid hitting them
those things literaly happen to me most weeks, and my siblings who are motercyclists report simular behavior from car drivers, recently my mother reported somthing simular to that while she was driving her car, and was shocked when we told her that happens to us very reguraly.

I am not disagreeing that driverless cars are dangerous, but how many people are killed on the road with human drivers due ether to stupidity, incompetance, inattention or mechanical failure?
I am pretty sure it is a hell of a lot more than 1 a day.


would I trust a self driving car? no.
would I trust a self driving car more than a human driven car? probably.

[Kalimaster]

I understand your point Rogue Jedi, as I have a bike myself. Although it's not fancy it gets me where I want to go. And yes I have had near misses. Compare the rates so far. Test Drive a person gets run over compared to the thousands of human controlled cars on the road. If I thought that the technology could handle it I would say yes. But we are not quite there yet, unless you count the "Terminator" series of driverless cars.

.....and yes, that is a reference to the movie "Terminator". Sorry Uber, but your cars are now a line of bad gallows humor.

[Fox the Apprentice]

Kalimaster, on 21 March 2018 - 11:36 AM, said:

[...]
Compare the rates so far. Test Drive a person gets run over compared to the thousands of human controlled cars on the road.
[...]

You said it yourself: it's a test drive. Don't discard driverless cars; they are getting there (though we all know they aren't yet ready for prime time - nobody is saying they are).

Edited by Fox the Apprentice, 21 March 2018 - 12:30 PM.

[Rogue Jedi]

I agree, the technoligy is not there yet, and it will probably be a decade or more before it is.but I suspect it will be within my lifetime, and as I said I do think self driving cars will be safer than human driven cars.

[Tarl Cabot]

In that accident, the ped walked out in front of the car (which did have a person in it), and it was not at a crosswalk. With the information received any driver would have been able to react face enough to stop from hitting the ped. The ped likely did not even check if the way was clear.

Quote

the Uber vehicle was traveling around 40 mph when it hit Helzberg immediately as she stepped on to the street.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 21 March 2018 - 03:02 PM.

[Kalimaster]

One of the problems I see with this whole incident is that our laws and legal system has not adapted to technology. If a driverless car kills someone, such as in this case, what does the legal system do. We are entering an era without the possibility of a human offender.

On the other hand, it also lends itself to humor: A car rigged with a two way speaker system gets pulled over by a cop, plus driver. Person with computer modulated voice starts speaking as if the car is talking, "Why did you stop me. I need a oil change and the Human who services me will leave to ingest organics in twenty minutes."

[B0oN]

No surprises there .
It was never a question of "if", but of "when" .