6 ms·

> I bet if you look at polls from the 1990s about the internet, you'll find a lot of people saying they're just fine without it, thank you very much, and they p

by duaneb 11y ago

> I bet if you look at polls from the 1990s about the internet, you'll find a lot of people saying they're just fine without it, thank you very much, and they prefer the warm, personal experience of calling up a real human to book their plane tickets or whatever instead of punching their credit card number into some newfangled machine. The enjoyment of driving is not about human warmth, it's about control and adrenaline. I don't think the comparison makes sense. I'd be more excited about autonomous cars if I could turn it off in the country (as some cars today allow) for recreation. I definitely agree with what you're saying—I know I'm probably in the minority for enjoying driving at all—but I frankly can't imagine anyone enjoying reading their credit card over the phone.

helloworld12345 11y ago
I'm sure someone said the same thing about horses. They love the experience of riding a horse.
- qbrass 11y ago
  If someone had invented self-driving horses, we could have skipped the whole car thing. Is Waze for horses patentable?
  - zardo 11y ago
    Prior art in camels: http://pix.avaxnews.com/avaxnews/dc/16/000016dc_medium.jpeg http://pix.avaxnews.com/avaxnews/dc/16/000016dc_medium.jpeg
- spc476 11y ago
  The thing about a horse though, is that it knows the way home. You might think that this means you can get drunk and still have a way to "ride" home. I mean, that has to be better than driving drunk, right? The US laws are crazy: http://duiwise.com/dui-dwi-answers/can-you-get-a-dui-dwi-on-a-horse/ http://duiwise.com/dui-dwi-answers/can-you-get-a-dui-dwi-on-...
- duaneb 11y ago
  There are many roads you can still ride a horse on. Will that be true with self driving cars on the road?
dsjoerg 11y ago
"On average, Americans drive 29.2 miles per day, making two trips with an average total duration of 46 minutes."[1] For how many of those 46 minutes do you think they are enjoying control and adrenaline? I would guess approximately zero, and once you tell them that they can spend that time instead surfing the internet, or eating breakfast, or videochatting with their family, they will. [1] http://newsroom.aaa.com/2015/04/new-study-reveals-much-motorists-drive/ http://newsroom.aaa.com/2015/04/new-study-reveals-much-motor...
- duaneb 11y ago
  What part of what I said are you disagreeing with? EDIT: ...or replying to?
  - dragontamer 11y ago
    Obviously, whenever someone responds to you, they're ALWAYS against you. Because people never agree with you. Never ever ever in the history of communication.
- stoozer 11y ago
  It's far more likely that for many people it will just mean working on your commute to work. Personally I would rather be driving.
  - hexagonc 11y ago
    I think there's a lot of things I'd rather be doing on a commute than drive or do work. For on thing, with a self-driving car, I could do things that many people are already doing while driving, albeit unsafely. Things like eating breakfast, talking on the phone, and fiddling with the radio. Hell, if the commute was long, I might use the time to catch up on sleep.
    - duaneb 11y ago
      You can already do this on public transit; why wait for self-driving cars?
zyxley 11y ago
> I'd be more excited about autonomous cars if I could turn it off in the country (as some cars today allow) for recreation. Why assume that you won't be able to? Even the most elaborately "uncarlike" self-driving car concepts have a steering wheel hidden somewhere, for the simple reason that there's always the chance of some extreme conditions that a self-driving car can't navigate.
- tropo 11y ago
  This isn't the right way. An in-car steering wheel will always require a licensed driver. Several better ways: 1. For minor uncertainty, the car could ask what to do. For example, the user might confirm that an object blocking the road is harmless and can be run over or bumped out of the way. This is not real-time; the car only asks after it comes to a stop. 2. The above can be done by remote humans. 3. When the car is really confused, you should get power assistance while you stand outside and push. It should be possible to push the car up any San Francisco hill with just one person. Put your hands on the bumper, press hard, and the car responds to the pressure. Unlike traditional car pushing, the steering should respond. You should be able to parallel park, park on grass, force the car up onto the sidewalk a bit, go the wrong direction, and so on.
- duaneb 11y ago
  > Why assume that you won't be able to? Because the attractive argument for driverless cars that makes sense (to me) is that they're safer than human drivers. Presumably at some point humans will not be allowed to drive anymore.
qbrass 11y ago
>...they prefer the warm, personal experience of calling up a real human to book their plane tickets or whatever instead of punching their credit card number into some newfangled machine. That was before they turned calling up a company into an audio version of the 90's internet.
TheCoelacanth 11y ago
For me 100% of the enjoyment of driving is from getting somewhere that I want to be. If I could get away with never touching a steering wheel again, I would.

by duaneb 11y ago

helloworld12345 11y ago

I'm sure someone said the same thing about horses. They love the experience of riding a horse.

qbrass 11y ago
If someone had invented self-driving horses, we could have skipped the whole car thing. Is Waze for horses patentable?
- zardo 11y ago
  Prior art in camels: http://pix.avaxnews.com/avaxnews/dc/16/000016dc_medium.jpeg http://pix.avaxnews.com/avaxnews/dc/16/000016dc_medium.jpeg
spc476 11y ago
The thing about a horse though, is that it knows the way home. You might think that this means you can get drunk and still have a way to "ride" home. I mean, that has to be better than driving drunk, right? The US laws are crazy: http://duiwise.com/dui-dwi-answers/can-you-get-a-dui-dwi-on-a-horse/ http://duiwise.com/dui-dwi-answers/can-you-get-a-dui-dwi-on-...
duaneb 11y ago
There are many roads you can still ride a horse on. Will that be true with self driving cars on the road?

dsjoerg 11y ago

"On average, Americans drive 29.2 miles per day, making two trips with an average total duration of 46 minutes."[1] For how many of those 46 minutes do you think they are enjoying control and adrenaline? I would guess approximately zero, and once you tell them that they can spend that time instead surfing the internet, or eating breakfast, or videochatting with their family, they will. [1] http://newsroom.aaa.com/2015/04/new-study-reveals-much-motorists-drive/ http://newsroom.aaa.com/2015/04/new-study-reveals-much-motor...

duaneb 11y ago
What part of what I said are you disagreeing with? EDIT: ...or replying to?
- dragontamer 11y ago
  Obviously, whenever someone responds to you, they're ALWAYS against you. Because people never agree with you. Never ever ever in the history of communication.
stoozer 11y ago
It's far more likely that for many people it will just mean working on your commute to work. Personally I would rather be driving.
- hexagonc 11y ago
  I think there's a lot of things I'd rather be doing on a commute than drive or do work. For on thing, with a self-driving car, I could do things that many people are already doing while driving, albeit unsafely. Things like eating breakfast, talking on the phone, and fiddling with the radio. Hell, if the commute was long, I might use the time to catch up on sleep.
  - duaneb 11y ago
    You can already do this on public transit; why wait for self-driving cars?

zyxley 11y ago

> I'd be more excited about autonomous cars if I could turn it off in the country (as some cars today allow) for recreation. Why assume that you won't be able to? Even the most elaborately "uncarlike" self-driving car concepts have a steering wheel hidden somewhere, for the simple reason that there's always the chance of some extreme conditions that a self-driving car can't navigate.

tropo 11y ago
This isn't the right way. An in-car steering wheel will always require a licensed driver. Several better ways: 1. For minor uncertainty, the car could ask what to do. For example, the user might confirm that an object blocking the road is harmless and can be run over or bumped out of the way. This is not real-time; the car only asks after it comes to a stop. 2. The above can be done by remote humans. 3. When the car is really confused, you should get power assistance while you stand outside and push. It should be possible to push the car up any San Francisco hill with just one person. Put your hands on the bumper, press hard, and the car responds to the pressure. Unlike traditional car pushing, the steering should respond. You should be able to parallel park, park on grass, force the car up onto the sidewalk a bit, go the wrong direction, and so on.
duaneb 11y ago
> Why assume that you won't be able to? Because the attractive argument for driverless cars that makes sense (to me) is that they're safer than human drivers. Presumably at some point humans will not be allowed to drive anymore.

qbrass 11y ago

>...they prefer the warm, personal experience of calling up a real human to book their plane tickets or whatever instead of punching their credit card number into some newfangled machine. That was before they turned calling up a company into an audio version of the 90's internet.

TheCoelacanth 11y ago

For me 100% of the enjoyment of driving is from getting somewhere that I want to be. If I could get away with never touching a steering wheel again, I would.