What did Irk say at the end? “Every great advancement has those who will per-perurlize dem.” is all I hear after 4 listens. Somehow, I doubt that’s correct…
My recently-retired mom drives so seldom and her liability insurance (without comp/collision) alone is high enough (despite her spotless driving record) that it would be cheaper for her to Uber a few times a week instead of owning her modest used car, which also costs her in maintenance and depreciation. Her type of scenario is where I think driverless will make huge inroads (nyuk nyuk). Another one is teens costing parents 300-350 extra a month, and climbing, in insurance premiums the minute they pass the written test. Also, how about: Hey, you’ll be free to text/post/tweet while you commute!
I’m still on the fence whether I’m for or against it, but sorry Irk, I don’t see it very difficult for them to infiltrate the market at all. The hardware part of the tech will just be installed in more and more vehicles under the guise of lane-keep-assist, adaptive cruise control, emergency braking, etc and have the auto-driving gradually turned on later via software updates, like Tesla is doing. Hardware-wise their cars are fully capable of self-driving, but the software was disabled as it continues to be tweaked. I can drive over 50 miles in highway traffic without touching the steering wheel or pedals in my not-really-that-special 6 year old infiniti. It won’t navigate for me, but it steers to the center of the lane like a laser, and maintains safe distances from cars ahead and to the sides. If it had better brains it could probably be made to go point-to-point since it has the physical tools in place. Thankfully, with a button press I can turn it all off and drive free without a nanny, but it is nice to have the help on occasion. Now, having the car handle the whole trip? Again, dunno yet if it’s for me, but it’s coming.
@jester747 Yup. Driverless cars and trucks are going to be here, and they are getting here incrementally. Nervousness about them won’t stop the tech any more than the saboteurs stopped the weaving of cloth by machine rather than by hand; the replacement of horses and carriages by cars; or the replacement of handwritten mail by e-mail.
There’s a certain irony in it, too. Before cars we relied on “self-driving” vehicles (horses) that could get scared and go out of control, causing a crash. Or they could have their owner dumped on after a night at the bar, and transport him safely home “on autopilot” without human control.
11 years old? Mine is 20 and 240K miles and I have no issue driving 1000 miles in one shot with no cruise control. Not that it wouldn’t be nice.
Assholes who don’t touch the steering wheel for 50 miles at a time in a car clearly not designed to drive themselves… Well as long as it only kills them.
Streamlining traffic around large cities? Via networked self driving cars? That’s WAY out. Unfortunately us normal people who don’t live in giant cities still get to use those highways we pay for.
Who the hell buys a teenager a new car? That cost $350 a month in insurance?
Semis will be the first mass acceptance of driverless.
Then taxis. Uber is betting heavily here.
Eventually, cars will come (and MUCH sooner than most of you think). But all the legacy cars (which are now lasting 15-20 years) will have to be accounted for as well.
Don’t know where that leaves us motorcycle riders, tho…
I didn’t say ANY of those things!
What did Irk say at the end? “Every great advancement has those who will per-perurlize dem.” is all I hear after 4 listens. Somehow, I doubt that’s correct…
@Aristocracy “…those who will pooh-pooh it, I suppose.”
My recently-retired mom drives so seldom and her liability insurance (without comp/collision) alone is high enough (despite her spotless driving record) that it would be cheaper for her to Uber a few times a week instead of owning her modest used car, which also costs her in maintenance and depreciation. Her type of scenario is where I think driverless will make huge inroads (nyuk nyuk). Another one is teens costing parents 300-350 extra a month, and climbing, in insurance premiums the minute they pass the written test. Also, how about: Hey, you’ll be free to text/post/tweet while you commute!
I’m still on the fence whether I’m for or against it, but sorry Irk, I don’t see it very difficult for them to infiltrate the market at all. The hardware part of the tech will just be installed in more and more vehicles under the guise of lane-keep-assist, adaptive cruise control, emergency braking, etc and have the auto-driving gradually turned on later via software updates, like Tesla is doing. Hardware-wise their cars are fully capable of self-driving, but the software was disabled as it continues to be tweaked. I can drive over 50 miles in highway traffic without touching the steering wheel or pedals in my not-really-that-special 6 year old infiniti. It won’t navigate for me, but it steers to the center of the lane like a laser, and maintains safe distances from cars ahead and to the sides. If it had better brains it could probably be made to go point-to-point since it has the physical tools in place. Thankfully, with a button press I can turn it all off and drive free without a nanny, but it is nice to have the help on occasion. Now, having the car handle the whole trip? Again, dunno yet if it’s for me, but it’s coming.
@jester747 Yup. Driverless cars and trucks are going to be here, and they are getting here incrementally. Nervousness about them won’t stop the tech any more than the saboteurs stopped the weaving of cloth by machine rather than by hand; the replacement of horses and carriages by cars; or the replacement of handwritten mail by e-mail.
There’s a certain irony in it, too. Before cars we relied on “self-driving” vehicles (horses) that could get scared and go out of control, causing a crash. Or they could have their owner dumped on after a night at the bar, and transport him safely home “on autopilot” without human control.
What was the name supposed to be? Van Slater Co seems the right translation, so I’m horribly confused.
11 years old? Mine is 20 and 240K miles and I have no issue driving 1000 miles in one shot with no cruise control. Not that it wouldn’t be nice.
Assholes who don’t touch the steering wheel for 50 miles at a time in a car clearly not designed to drive themselves… Well as long as it only kills them.
Streamlining traffic around large cities? Via networked self driving cars? That’s WAY out. Unfortunately us normal people who don’t live in giant cities still get to use those highways we pay for.
Who the hell buys a teenager a new car? That cost $350 a month in insurance?
Semis will be the first mass acceptance of driverless.
Then taxis. Uber is betting heavily here.
Eventually, cars will come (and MUCH sooner than most of you think). But all the legacy cars (which are now lasting 15-20 years) will have to be accounted for as well.
Don’t know where that leaves us motorcycle riders, tho…
/giphy ride or die
