Safe or not so?
The technology behind self-driving cars has been around for quite some time. However, its commercialization – from companies offering and operating ride-share services to those selling self-driving cars – is still rather new. One well-known taxi company is Waymo, which, despite its successes, is now under federal investigation due to traffic safety concerns.
So, what do you need to know about this investigation? Is Waymo still considered safe? What about other self-driving cars? Is it time to get in on this trend now, or is it better to wait until this technology improves before stepping into a self-driving vehicle? Here’s what you need to know.
Full article, HERE from Fox News.
I don’t know what y’all think, but I’m still leary of ANY self driving software, taxi, Telsa, GM, or anybody else!
Edit-
Intarwebz problem- Go read the folks on the sidebar please.
Posted from my iPhone.
I sure will not ride in a self driving car. It is just like with the EVs no way they are feasible as of todays technology. I worry about these self driving cars and now some want self driving semis on the highways. I can see nothing but a lot of major accidents in cities and on the Inter-States with a massive increase in injuries and deaths.
Trains. They are limited to the rails. Are there any FULLY automated SURFACE (freight) trains? I do not know of any. And that says a *lot*.
Hi. FYI Pilbara railways used by Rio Tinto. Large iron ore trains (about 35,000 tonnes of iron ore per train I think) in the Pilara region in Western Australia. In 2020, Rio Tinto completed their “AutoHaul” project fully automating their 200+ engine fleet into a driverless configuration”. Yes, there have been derailments etc., I do not know if they are safer than manned trains. On the mine site itself they operate autonomous haul trucks and the mine is or close to being fully automated. I also believe other mines site around Australia are moving in the same direction. See https://www.royhill.com.au/our-operation/our-smart-mine/ and https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_driverless_train_systems#GoA4_%E2%80%93_Oceania
Thanks
Dan
Iirc, there have been some automated freight trains in mine to powerplant operations. General freight train operations are poor candidates for automation, given the manual activities required outside the locomotive for switching – adjusting track switches for industrial sidings, flagging some seldom used crossings, uncoupling, etc.
Guess I needed to pay attention to that feller introducing Fat Albert and be careful… I might learn something.
I have always wondered if one could be given a DUI if offense occurred in a self driving car . Not a concern for me personally , as I have but rarely use a class A CDL , and don’t drive after imbibing alcohol , no need . And no , I wouldn’t ride in a self driving car , sounds foolish , bad enough people feel overly secure with lane change sensors , self parking sensors etc
The presumption in the articles is that the self driving vehicle is at fault. I’ll go out on a limb and say that is not the case in 95% of the accidents.
Automation is not distracted while texting, talking on the phone, hangovers or screaming children. In most cases but not all it can overcome the Darwin nominees and organ donors we all see everyday while driving. Neither can I.
I don’t know if I mentioned it here before, but I live within a mile of https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2023/08/i-94-could-host-self-driving-vehicle-lanes-between-ann-arbor-and-detroit-heres-how-to-learn-more.html
That’s my route home.
and right next to the old B-24 bomber plant a couple miles from my house: https://acmwillowrun.org/
And then a few miles further away: https://mcity.umich.edu/what-we-do/mcity-test-facility/
I am not a fan.
Keeping the car between the lines is easy enough. Dealing with the unexpected? Not so much. What’s it going to do when a tire blows out? Or an animal, child, or inanimate object is suddenly in front of it? How about they put these things on a closed course and let people throw new conditions at it to train/test it.
There’s a joke to the effect that we should never build any vehicle that is not completely controlled at all times by human intelligence, and that is why the navy needs to make all missiles large enough for dwarves and midgets to operate.
I have some inherent concerns for self driving cars, but I might be persuadable with the right method, and enough data.
Where I have major concerns not so easily addressed, is legislative mandates. I’m fundamentally skeptical of the idea that these people can be competent to make some of the decisions that they force. No matter what obstacles one places in theory on whatever route to power, the power hungry are determined, and can put a lot of energy into figuring out bypasses. I think they can easily by accident screw up complicated technical decisions, and have done so in this case.
I think by malice, not pure accident. I suspect that their motivation is that people who are enough of a drugged up psychological disaster to be pliant in their hands are also in their judgement unsafe behind the wheel. If one wants more biddable go alongs, driving is one of the obstacles to keeping them alive and out of prison.
If one is an idiot, the answer is to wave the technology magic wand, and bypass that need for safe judgement.
One would then ignore that a hasty forced schedule can result in architecture compromises that are fundamentally a lasting problem.
All- Good quesitons/comments. And yes, the Aussies ‘have’ automated that train line, but it is out in the middle of nowhere, and it’s the ONLY user of the line!
A good friend was just rammed from behind at a stop sign by a woman in a large pickup. Her excuse, “my automatic self braking didn’t work!” Whole affair was on video in the State Police cruiser behind her. Nothing in a vehicle should be “automatic” except the transmission.
You think self driving cars are risky? Just wait till the criminals in power mandate self driving semis… 49 tons of steel and aluminum controlled by a silicone chip.
Herky- Yep, that’s happened here too!
Dan- Scary!
This may seem like a joke reply. It is not completely.
I just think “I, Robot” and say “No.”
I don’t think these techno ideas ever completely get off the ground without problems and issues. Wasn’t Amazon supposed to have one hour drone delivery by now?
Self-driving cars are great until they turn you off, a bit like bank accounts.