3 ms·

Just curious, I know nothing about these things, how would it know what's a human and what's e.g. a dog? It couldn't even rely on the fact that there must be a

Just curious, I know nothing about these things, how would it know what's a human and what's e.g. a dog? It couldn't even rely on the fact that there must be a human sitting in the driver's seat because the concept of the driver's seat is meaningless in a truly self-driving car.

Nadya 11y ago
FRS is always a possibility. That being said - self-driving cars will likely allow manual overrides or require a driver in the case of a manual override for the same reason space shuttles have a cockpit and give astronauts the ability to manual override the controls. People will want the ability to have control just in case. If a system fails, or says it is failing, and you feel you know it will work or have an alternative that might work. Having manual overrides as a fail safe for software failure can be life saving. For example, what if your brake sensor malfunctions and your car ceases to be able to operate it's brakes? A manual pedal to brake the car could save your life. Although arguably redundant it will likely remain as part of the car until enough time has passed that such fears are considered completely unfounded. "There hasn't been a brake sensor failure in over 25 years." Such a statement could probably convince people a manual override brake system isn't needed and they can save money by ditching it.
- mod 11y ago
  Not to mention there will always be situations where you need to take control. A flooded (but passable) road is an example that comes to mind--I don't envision us programming our way out of that one. Surely there's dozens of similar examples.
tthayer 11y ago
They can use an array of sensors in the seat and passenger compartment. My car isn't terribly smart so if I leave my bag in the passenger seat it will chime at me incessantly until I shove the bag onto the floor. Cars already use a lot of this kind of information when making decisions around airbag deployment. I was in a frontal accident last year that didn't trigger any airbags because I was firmly belted in and moving at low speed.

Nadya 11y ago

FRS is always a possibility. That being said - self-driving cars will likely allow manual overrides or require a driver in the case of a manual override for the same reason space shuttles have a cockpit and give astronauts the ability to manual override the controls. People will want the ability to have control just in case. If a system fails, or says it is failing, and you feel you know it will work or have an alternative that might work. Having manual overrides as a fail safe for software failure can be life saving. For example, what if your brake sensor malfunctions and your car ceases to be able to operate it's brakes? A manual pedal to brake the car could save your life. Although arguably redundant it will likely remain as part of the car until enough time has passed that such fears are considered completely unfounded. "There hasn't been a brake sensor failure in over 25 years." Such a statement could probably convince people a manual override brake system isn't needed and they can save money by ditching it.

mod 11y ago
Not to mention there will always be situations where you need to take control. A flooded (but passable) road is an example that comes to mind--I don't envision us programming our way out of that one. Surely there's dozens of similar examples.

tthayer 11y ago

They can use an array of sensors in the seat and passenger compartment. My car isn't terribly smart so if I leave my bag in the passenger seat it will chime at me incessantly until I shove the bag onto the floor. Cars already use a lot of this kind of information when making decisions around airbag deployment. I was in a frontal accident last year that didn't trigger any airbags because I was firmly belted in and moving at low speed.