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I agree. I've been confused by this notion of driver-less cars up until now because at the end of the day it didn't seem workable or acceptable to have cars on

I agree. I've been confused by this notion of driver-less cars up until now because at the end of the day it didn't seem workable or acceptable to have cars on the road with no human attendant. Musk clears that up when he says he doesn't like the term driver-less and it's much more like auto-pilot on an airplane that will assist drivers. He predicts it will be a common accessory in high end cars in 3 years and in all cars in 10 years. One scenario where this would be very helpful would be in the dense fog which occurs in the California Central Valley.

maxerickson 13y ago
Driver assist is a common feature in currently available high end cars and is working down through the model tiers. (Lane keeping, adaptive cruise, accident avoidance (brake pressure priming/auto braking), in some sense traction control is a driver assist feature)
- michaelwww 13y ago
  I shouldn't have said "assist drivers" because I took it to mean full auto-pilot like an airplane. The car could drive itself from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible without human intervention, while the licensed human driver remained ultimately responsible for safe operation. I wonder if activities like texting or reading a book while piloting a car will become legal in this case.
  - maxerickson 13y ago
    Yeah, fair enough. I think that is the worst case situation, because people won't pay enough attention (so to allow it the pilot has to be good enough to anyway work/license/stand up to liability alone).
  - infinotize 13y ago
    That isn't really what aircraft autopilots do (intend to do a full point A to point B without human intervention). Texting and reading won't become legal if the driver is still responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle.
    - michaelwww 13y ago
      A few minutes research shows mine is a common misconception in modern commercial flight [1] and "Autopilots exist that automate all of these flight phases except taxi and takeoff" [2]. I think this speaks further to the difficulties with driver-less cars. I was taught not to swerve when an animal ran out in front of the car, even if it meant hitting the animal, because the car might roll. If a driver-less car makes this calculation, there will be ramifications. Should a driver-less car destroy itself rather than hitting an animal? [1] http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/24/travel/autopilot-airlines/ http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/24/travel/autopilot-airlines/ [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopilot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopilot
      - stcredzero 13y ago
        The driverless vehicle can probably calculate a lateral acceleration for the vehicle that won't roll it over but still avoid the animal, then monitor the application of turn input to further ensure the vehicle doesn't roll over.

maxerickson 13y ago

Driver assist is a common feature in currently available high end cars and is working down through the model tiers. (Lane keeping, adaptive cruise, accident avoidance (brake pressure priming/auto braking), in some sense traction control is a driver assist feature)

michaelwww 13y ago
I shouldn't have said "assist drivers" because I took it to mean full auto-pilot like an airplane. The car could drive itself from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible without human intervention, while the licensed human driver remained ultimately responsible for safe operation. I wonder if activities like texting or reading a book while piloting a car will become legal in this case.
- maxerickson 13y ago
  Yeah, fair enough. I think that is the worst case situation, because people won't pay enough attention (so to allow it the pilot has to be good enough to anyway work/license/stand up to liability alone).
- infinotize 13y ago
  That isn't really what aircraft autopilots do (intend to do a full point A to point B without human intervention). Texting and reading won't become legal if the driver is still responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle.
  - michaelwww 13y ago
    A few minutes research shows mine is a common misconception in modern commercial flight [1] and "Autopilots exist that automate all of these flight phases except taxi and takeoff" [2]. I think this speaks further to the difficulties with driver-less cars. I was taught not to swerve when an animal ran out in front of the car, even if it meant hitting the animal, because the car might roll. If a driver-less car makes this calculation, there will be ramifications. Should a driver-less car destroy itself rather than hitting an animal? [1] http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/24/travel/autopilot-airlines/ http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/24/travel/autopilot-airlines/ [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopilot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopilot
    - stcredzero 13y ago
      The driverless vehicle can probably calculate a lateral acceleration for the vehicle that won't roll it over but still avoid the animal, then monitor the application of turn input to further ensure the vehicle doesn't roll over.