Auto-driver still need full attention

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by ElectricFetus, Jan 19, 2017.

  1. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38678494

    I'm all for cars driving themselves, at present though the technology is bleeding edge, so much so that companies like Tesla (whom I love overall) will use the legal excuse that the driver needs to keep both hands on the wheel and full attention while the "auto-driver" is active... so what is the purpose then?
     
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  3. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    It is very nice when you're stuck in traffic.
     
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  5. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    Well sure you won't die if your crash, but you will sill be found liable if you were not attentive and had both hands on the wheel.
     
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  7. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    I'll be found liable whether or not there's an autopilot there. The autopilot just greatly decreases the odds of said crash.

    In terms of legal liability, it is ALWAYS better to avoid the incident that you might be liable for in the first place.
     
  8. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    Your missing the point: do you trust it such that you take your hands off the stirring wheel and do something else while it is driving?
     
  9. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    I think that I will choose to trust a self-driving car.

    IMO, the distrust of a self-driving car is entirely attributable to the highly fallacious but virtually universal assumption that oneself being at the wheel is safer.

    Car accidents due to driver error are a virtual epidemic; we are pathologiclly incapable of acknowledging that we, as the driver, are the biggest risk to our own safety.
     
  10. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    Depends. At 75mph in traffic? No. Creeping along at 5-10mph? Yes.
     
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  11. youreyes amorphous ocean Valued Senior Member

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    This reasoning...that we as individuals are incapable of keeping ourselves safe and for that reason should give our lives and trust and control into the machine's hands...is beckoning of a great catastrophe to come. One of those who preach against rise of AI are Mr. Musk and Mr. Bostrom, both highly respectable men. But what an irony, those who preach against AI, are themselves involved in its development.
     
  12. youreyes amorphous ocean Valued Senior Member

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    To safeguard the company from wrecks like this, that surely darken the image.

    http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-autopilot-photo-20160726-snap-story.html

    You heard inspectors, they found no wrongdoing in the car's AI.

    So why is it, that Tesla required the drivers to keep their hands on the wheel, soon after?

    Think about it, humans are by themselves, kill one and it ends there. But machines, they represent an industry, a company, a conglomerate. And any faults with these machines are sure to be erased by very talented lawyers.
     
  13. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Not for the guy who spends the next few years in jail for vehicular manslaughter. His life is destroyed.

    Or did you mean merely it ends there as far the news is concerned?
     
  14. youreyes amorphous ocean Valued Senior Member

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    yes I am talking about media exposure and the effect it has on the rest.
     
  15. Walter L. Wagner Cosmic Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    Two weeks ago I was nearly creamed by an inattentive driver doing 85 in a 70 maximum zone (4:30 am, no traffic, 4 lanes each way on a freeway). I was in the slow lane, doing 60 (mph), as there were occasional patches of ice (20 F). I was fortunate; he saw me at the last split second, and veered sharply to the right, passing me on the right shoulder. He was unfortunate. At that stretch of the freeway, we were elevated about 3 meters above the surrounding fields, and his car rolled. He slid to a stop on the roof of his car. (I stopped, backed up, checked he was OK, he was, then proceeded on.)

    Had we had cars with communicators, the communicators would have prevented that from happening.
     
  16. youreyes amorphous ocean Valued Senior Member

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    Communicators? He saved your life by risking his own...and you didnt help him?
     
  17. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Well, first the guy put Walter's life at risk by doing 25 over the limit on icy roads in the right (wrong) lane.

    For all Walter knows, if he had tried to stay and help the guy, the guy might have casually spilled gas all over both of them then gone to light up a smoke...
     
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  18. Walter L. Wagner Cosmic Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    two other cars also stopped that had been behind us. one of those drivers stopped and helped him out. he was ok. nothing to do but call the tow truck and the police (which was done).

    He didn't 'save' my life, any more than anyone else 'saves' my life by not crashing into me. He almost killed me. He was lucky he didn't kill himself by avoiding crashing into me at the last instant. I was braced and ready for the impact, as I had been watching him in my rear view mirror for 4-5 seconds, expecting him to pass. When he did not appear that he would pass, I braced for impact, and started to accelerate, which apparently gave him enough room to pass me without colliding, by only a meter or so .
     
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  19. youreyes amorphous ocean Valued Senior Member

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    Would be nice if you mentioned before that other car drivers helped him out. Its human nature to help those who are in danger.
     
  20. TheFrogger Banned Valued Senior Member

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    Should cars become autonomous would we "see" an end to all those car horns beeping??
     
  21. Walter L. Wagner Cosmic Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    From my original post: "(I stopped, backed up, checked he was OK, he was, then proceeded on.)" I didn't see the necessity to detail that 2 others drivers who had stopped at the scene, before I was able to return by backing up, determined that he was OK. The post was about the necessity for 'communicators' to avoid such situations.

    Planes have them, at relatively minimal cost. Cars should too. The Tesla has a system that prevents accidents (most of the time, anyway - one notable exception) by braking the car if a collision is imminent. Uber is bringing in self-driving cars presently. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-uber-self-driving-cars-20160818-snap-story.html
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2017
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  22. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    This is one area, where computers can do much better. One example is GPS which tracks the position of the cars individually and relative to each other. Some rail-way systems are completely controlled by computers, flawlessly.
     
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  23. youreyes amorphous ocean Valued Senior Member

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    Except you are forgetting that when errors happen, the engineers are there to fix them. GPS works smoothly? GPS signal gets lost from time to time. Spacecraft is fully autonomous? They fail quite often and need commands from Earth to get up to speed, Rail-way systems are flawless? Ever heard of numerous derailment accidents of trains?

    Nothing is flawless and everything requires human intervention. However in a case of autonomous cars carrying people, it becomes an Appollo case, where an error can lead to death.
     

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