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PostPosted: August 31, 2017, 7:50 pm 
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-selfdriving-idUSKCN1BB2BT

So congress is set to vote next week to block states from being able to regulate the number of "Self Driving" cars on their roads.
If it were up to me AV's would be flat out illegal! :boxing:

After decades of be castigated for driving a "Gas Guzzler" and "Gross Polluter", or for "Driving alone" by self-rightous greenies claiming to "Save the environment" we are now being pushed to embrace these waste of fuel?

Cars that will be "Dispatched" to run errands WITH NO OCCUPANT, "Hailed" to pick up passengers so running empty in one direction, etc.

If you've ever had a computer glitch you should also have a clue why I do not trust this tech to share the road with me.
I expect the inevitable failures to be spectacular and catastrophic.

Despite decades of "Autopilot" use in commercial aircraft they still require TWO pilots in the cabin.
But cars that will see much more common use and are a new application should be trusted with no one in control?

My main concern of course is that once AV's (Autonomous vehicles) become more common they will soon be mandated, and our enthusiast cars restricted or banned outright.
Maybe the iPhone generation has no problem with that, but I find driving to be just about the last Semi-Free activity we are allowed to participate in without having to make special arrangements.
Do we really want our classic and enthusiast cars restricted to "Track days" and 10 MPH parades?
As always I expect the uber-wealthy will be given a special consideration of some sort, the pols cannot have the folk who fund the campaigns getting PO'ed as they lose the investment value of THEIR classics!

I've already called my congressman today to oppose this garbage, I suggest the rest of us do so as well.

This is a real threat, and yes it is political, but to ignore it is to ensure the destruction of our hobby much sooner than most folk realize.
Remember when "lead" was mandated to be removed from our gas, and the conequences to MANY cars.
This will be MUCH worse!
All they have to do is refuse to register any car without approved AI.

Posted to this specific forum to try to avoid being locked for being " Too Political".
Trying to spread the warning before it is too late.

An article proclaiming that this "Utopia" is closer than many realize.
http://fortune.com/2015/10/02/google-self-driving-cars-soon/

Quote:
Most auto executives have predicted that a commercial autonomous car is a decade or more away. But Google seems to be on a path to have a self-driving car on the market far sooner.
Chris Urmson, Google's director of the self-driving cars division, was asked when, specifically, such a vehicle might be available for purchase, he indicated a four-year time horizon. “I have a 12-year-old son," he said. "My goal is for him not to need a driver’s license.” In California, you can get a driver's license at the age of 16.

(Pity his kid, the car will report EVERYWHERE he goes, goodbye to any chance at a normal teen-age social life!)

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PostPosted: September 1, 2017, 3:00 pm 
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
....and once the deaths start to occur due to technological "glitches", it will suddenly become a crisis.

No doubt, it will be claimed to be the fault of Russian hacking, Trump, & man-made global warming...

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PostPosted: September 1, 2017, 7:27 pm 
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Google is dreaming. Auto execs are being kind. Much more than a decade is more likely. The technology is here, except for a few minor issues that are total show-stoppers. Rain, for example. More technology is needed, certainly more infrastructure, and maybe a few breakthroughs in other areas.


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PostPosted: September 1, 2017, 7:32 pm 
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If that's the biggest concern in your life, you're doing pretty well.

I'm sure elderly people who've lost their license are just as concerned. Imagine someday having a car in which they can say "take me shopping", and it does. Yeah, they're worried...

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PostPosted: September 1, 2017, 11:57 pm 
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Have just returned from a trip to East Sacramento.
Not familiar territory so I programmed the address into my GPS.
Paid more attention than usual to the directions along the way and noted how VERY often they were in conflict with reality.
My favorite was telling me to remain in the left lane, then telling me I missed my exit and should make a U-turn ASAP.
Yah, self driving cars. :roll: :boxing: :ack:

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 12:43 am 
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Quote:
I'm sure elderly people who've lost their license are just as concerned. Imagine someday having a car in which they can say "take me shopping", and it does.

^This^

It will be a huge boon to a lot of people that struggle with driving for many reasons. We're all going to be to old to drive well someday, maybe someday soon even.

Think of all the fun things this will lead to. No more need for speed limits, cars will be able to run flat out even on short trips because computers will do it better. Imagine how fast cars will be able to go when they start bumper drafting down the highway in groups of 10, that would be like a 2000 HP car!

You will be able to picnic by the side of the road and watch the cars go by, people's horrified faces plastered against the windows screaming in terror - but they get to work in only 10 minutes.

There's every reason to think the maps will get much better. A computer can decide to to just blast a car down a new road at 100 MPH and see what happens. If it doesn't work it will remember that and try something different next time. We can do this and still reduce the death rate, especially after the first year or so.

If it's a Google car, it will pull over every once in awhile and make you watch a commercial - but it will be free. A Microsoft car will actually draw some blood and sell it on Ebay.

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 1:21 am 
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This link has been on the board before but it seemed appropriate to add it to this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHgndLyA0Vg

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 1:56 am 
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The updated story.

Note that the bill is being "Fast tracked", the zealots pushing this do not want you and I to have time to object. :x
Monday is a holiday, so Tuesday is the best day to call or email.

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 9:10 am 
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horizenjob wrote:
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......If it's a Google car, it will pull over every once in awhile and make you watch a commercial - but it will be free. A Microsoft car will actually draw some blood and sell it on Ebay.

Too funny. But I think You've got the Microsoft car wrong. It will lock up doing 100MPH with a blue screen dashboard. You will have to turn off the key and turn it back on again to reboot it. :rofl:

I do have a friend who is convinced autonomous cars is the way of the future and only right around the corner. I dread any discussions with him along those lines. He can't think reasonably about it.

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 12:52 pm 
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Well there is thinking reasonably,

and there is politics.....


Technically it's possible, but in reality not so much.


In the end cars are way too deeply imbedded in our culture and I don't see them ever going away.

At the same time the money grubbers will tax the crap out of them undoubtedly, eventually.

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 1:17 pm 
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We were talking about this topic at the race track last week-end and one of the pundits said that he expected that several large, very congested cities, places like Singapore, Tokyo, New York, would quickly adapt autonomous-vehicle-only policies within the city boundaries (once the technology and supply of vehicles are ready) but that the rest of the world, and particularly rural North America, could never go autonomous easily or at least wouldn't work well. He asked us to imagine a farmer trying to use an autonomous pick-up truck on a farm located 150 miles from a large population center...it wouldn't work. It sounded to me like a very realistic view of the near future.

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 3:03 pm 
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Personally I hate the thought of having a self driving car. However in Florida (voted worst drivers in USA) the roads are getting more and more dangerous. There are lots of old people who tend to slow you down but I can live with that. I hope to be old some day.

However with technology becoming something people just don't seem to be able to turn off more and more drivers are texting, Facebooking, tweeting etc. You see cars wandering all over the road, not going when the lights turn green, drifting in your lane etc. The sooner these idiots get self driving cars the better.

There are other advantages such as being able to travel whilst you sleep. Reading or working if you so choose. When I travel for hours on end to autocross events all over the country it would be nice to just stick it in autodrive, watch movies sleep etc.

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 3:56 pm 
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The problem as I originally posted is that this will too quickly become a Fed. Gov. mandate and non-AV cars outlawed.
I do not see AV and non-AV coexisting for very long.

Just because it would likely be "Phased in" over, say ten years, does not mean we can rest easy as the end result is the same as an immediate ban.

Just like air bags (A great innovation when they do not kill or maim), Seat-Belts (Another great innovation when they do not kill you), Motorcycle helmets (Again, USUALLY benificial, except when they are not), Anti-Lock brakes (Not the panacea they were touted to be), the third brake light (Which is sometimes just too bright, poorly placed, and blinds drivers behind) and many others.
Sure the incidence of "Safety devices" being a problem is low, but it's not zero either.

The auto companies and "Green" zealots are salivating over this, they hate that some of us keep our "Old" cars rather than buying another every couple of years.
If AV's are mandated and non-AV's outlawed, EVERYONE has to buy a new car or do without!
Even many of those who look forward to this :ack: may soon find they made a mistake.
Of course the auto companies will insist that they are not responsible for AV issues, they just make the car, the software and control companies must be the ones liable when it all goes FUBAR.
The software/implementaion/control companies will disagree, so full employment for the lawyers! :boxing:
Speaking of software, how often will it be ubdated so that prior versions are no longer compatible with current use?
If it's like computers you may HAVE to buy a new car every three years!

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 4:04 pm 
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RichardSIA wrote:
...The auto companies and "Green" zealots are salivating over this...


Okay, Alex (Jones) but the reality is that someday we're all going to lose our license due to age. After that, we can either have our autonomous car take us shopping, or take the bus - your choice.

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PostPosted: September 2, 2017, 4:15 pm 
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Ah, but where I live no license is required to drive a tractor on the street. :wink:
I've already looked into hot-rodding an electric scooter. :lol:
Thinking of a hybrid, electric when it has to be and a small bike engine for when I need to keep up with traffic or have some fun. :cheers:

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