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I know this might seem like a naive question but, is there any requirement for a driverless car to have windows at all? perhaps a biological or neurological dep

I know this might seem like a naive question but, is there any requirement for a driverless car to have windows at all? perhaps a biological or neurological dependency?

baseethrowaway 9y ago
Or for safety reasons? Easier to get out of the vehicle in case of emergencies, when the door is stuck, or easier to see which side of the vehicle is unsafe to exit, easier for humans to take over in emergencies when they have vision outside of the vehicle. Similar reasons apply to any vehicle which is not driven by you. Bus, airplane, train... Yes, it is a naive question.
eloff 9y ago
It's pleasant to be able to see out, it's important for avoiding motion sickness for many people, and it helps you trust the vehicle is not going to drive you off a cliff or into oncoming traffic. So, no, it's not a hard requirement, but I can't see a windowless car being a success.
- Splines 9y ago
  What's the engineering tradeoffs required for windows? Would eliminating windows result in a safer, cheaper car? Would projecting the outside world on the inside of a tin-can car meet the benefits ascribed to windows? (I could imagine some dystopian future where windowed cars are considered to be luxury items).
  - roywiggins 9y ago
    > Would projecting the outside world on the inside of a tin-can car meet the benefits ascribed to windows The motion-sickness reducing benefits of staring at the horizon is usually ascribed to the horizon being very far away and not moving along with the car. Until your projections are holographic, it won't help.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    It's probably not going to be cheaper in an interesting way. The up front cost of a vehicle is something like 1/3 of the cost per mile (probably less for commercially operated vehicles), so even a pretty big decrease in the purchase price will only have a moderate impact on overall cost.
ukulele 9y ago
No more or less than the back of a bus I imagine. People seem to prefer windows there while being driven, and I don't suspect removing the driver changes that.
- Angostura 9y ago
  I believe back in the 90s there was a plan to have passenger jets without windows as they added weight, cost and reduced fuselage strength. Never got anywhere.
LeonM 9y ago
Windows are definitively required by law in many countries, as it allows other drivers (in other cars) to see through a vehicle to anticipate for what's happening in front of it. In my country (the Netherlands) even tinted windows are prohibited for this reason. Also, for most passengers in a driverless car, windows would be important. As many humans (including myself) get motion sickness if they have no reference of the outside world.
bryananderson 9y ago
Just user friendliness. Humans really like being able to see out of the vehicle they’re moving in. Hence passenger windows in airplanes, even though this is structurally problematic and requires expensive reinforcement around the windows. Not to mention windows in metro systems that are entirely underground. It’s just a comfort thing. Removing it would likely decrease customer demand.
- rurounijones 9y ago
  Wonder if it would be cheaper / safer / lighter to remove windows from airplanes and just mount window shaped monitors in their place that display footage from fuselage mounted camera. Wonder how people would react to that.
  - sky_rw 9y ago
    They are already doing this https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/emirates-virtual-windows/ https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/emirates-virtual-windows/
  - bryananderson 9y ago
    It would be cheaper, and also lighter, which means even cheaper. It would not be safer; the reason windowed planes are heavier and more expensive is because they must meet full safety standards while also having windows. This concept has been brought up numerous times and has never taken off (ha). I don’t think passengers would react well unless it was literally indistinguishable from a window, and we’re a long way from that.
    - crysin 9y ago
      I'd be willing to give up windows in planes if they had the ability to switch to different perspectives around the plane from like a tablet or something. Like being able to have a view from the Pilot's perspective or being able to look directly beneath the plane. That'd be pretty neat. Maybe add the ability to link up some type of account where you can save photos from the flight if you saw something cool.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
oblio 9y ago
Even subway cars have windows :)
masklinn 9y ago
* distraction, being fully enclosed is boring * mitigation of motion sickness * mitigation of claustrophobia * free lighting * they're using a standard car body, or they could have not put the mechanical steering wheel in
jogjayr 9y ago
So that you can roll them down and don't need to run the air-conditioning/heating all the time? Examples: 1. Good weather, sub-freeway speeds. Large parts of the US (and the world) have good weather for most of the year. 2. Going uphill in hot weather, where running the AC would put too much strain on the engine

I know this might seem like a naive question but, is there any requirement for a driverless car to have windows at all? perhaps a biological or neurological dependency?

baseethrowaway 9y ago

Or for safety reasons? Easier to get out of the vehicle in case of emergencies, when the door is stuck, or easier to see which side of the vehicle is unsafe to exit, easier for humans to take over in emergencies when they have vision outside of the vehicle. Similar reasons apply to any vehicle which is not driven by you. Bus, airplane, train... Yes, it is a naive question.

eloff 9y ago

It's pleasant to be able to see out, it's important for avoiding motion sickness for many people, and it helps you trust the vehicle is not going to drive you off a cliff or into oncoming traffic. So, no, it's not a hard requirement, but I can't see a windowless car being a success.

Splines 9y ago
What's the engineering tradeoffs required for windows? Would eliminating windows result in a safer, cheaper car? Would projecting the outside world on the inside of a tin-can car meet the benefits ascribed to windows? (I could imagine some dystopian future where windowed cars are considered to be luxury items).
- roywiggins 9y ago
  > Would projecting the outside world on the inside of a tin-can car meet the benefits ascribed to windows The motion-sickness reducing benefits of staring at the horizon is usually ascribed to the horizon being very far away and not moving along with the car. Until your projections are holographic, it won't help.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  It's probably not going to be cheaper in an interesting way. The up front cost of a vehicle is something like 1/3 of the cost per mile (probably less for commercially operated vehicles), so even a pretty big decrease in the purchase price will only have a moderate impact on overall cost.

ukulele 9y ago

No more or less than the back of a bus I imagine. People seem to prefer windows there while being driven, and I don't suspect removing the driver changes that.

Angostura 9y ago
I believe back in the 90s there was a plan to have passenger jets without windows as they added weight, cost and reduced fuselage strength. Never got anywhere.

LeonM 9y ago

Windows are definitively required by law in many countries, as it allows other drivers (in other cars) to see through a vehicle to anticipate for what's happening in front of it. In my country (the Netherlands) even tinted windows are prohibited for this reason. Also, for most passengers in a driverless car, windows would be important. As many humans (including myself) get motion sickness if they have no reference of the outside world.

bryananderson 9y ago

Just user friendliness. Humans really like being able to see out of the vehicle they’re moving in. Hence passenger windows in airplanes, even though this is structurally problematic and requires expensive reinforcement around the windows. Not to mention windows in metro systems that are entirely underground. It’s just a comfort thing. Removing it would likely decrease customer demand.

rurounijones 9y ago
Wonder if it would be cheaper / safer / lighter to remove windows from airplanes and just mount window shaped monitors in their place that display footage from fuselage mounted camera. Wonder how people would react to that.
- sky_rw 9y ago
  They are already doing this https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/emirates-virtual-windows/ https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/emirates-virtual-windows/
- bryananderson 9y ago
  It would be cheaper, and also lighter, which means even cheaper. It would not be safer; the reason windowed planes are heavier and more expensive is because they must meet full safety standards while also having windows. This concept has been brought up numerous times and has never taken off (ha). I don’t think passengers would react well unless it was literally indistinguishable from a window, and we’re a long way from that.
  - crysin 9y ago
    I'd be willing to give up windows in planes if they had the ability to switch to different perspectives around the plane from like a tablet or something. Like being able to have a view from the Pilot's perspective or being able to look directly beneath the plane. That'd be pretty neat. Maybe add the ability to link up some type of account where you can save photos from the flight if you saw something cool.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

oblio 9y ago

Even subway cars have windows :)

masklinn 9y ago

* distraction, being fully enclosed is boring * mitigation of motion sickness * mitigation of claustrophobia * free lighting * they're using a standard car body, or they could have not put the mechanical steering wheel in

jogjayr 9y ago

So that you can roll them down and don't need to run the air-conditioning/heating all the time? Examples: 1. Good weather, sub-freeway speeds. Large parts of the US (and the world) have good weather for most of the year. 2. Going uphill in hot weather, where running the AC would put too much strain on the engine