say some dumb cyclist suddenly crossed without paying attention to the stop sign or light...

[OverVolt]

It isn't, it's a dumb 'sociology' experiment with black and white results which are supposed to derive 'something', probably just to see what kind of hits/eyeballs they get for anything related to self-driving cars.. Realistically in every scenario listed the car would bank into a wall and friction + failbrake itself to a stop instead of barreling over people or faceplanting into a concrete barrier.

Its yet to be proven in the real world actually. An autonomous car isn't going to change your tires when they're bald or drive you to a mechanic when your rotors are warped and put $600 into your bank account.

If all cars were driven by a team of google mechanical engineers they'd better have a lower accident rate.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Not really sure what you were responding to, as I don't see the connection between a vehicle doing self-maintenance and passenger/pedestrian decisions. Also, nothing really specific about google's mechanical engineers which should make them superior drivers to anyone else, they're still human.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

A lot of cyclists around me thing like cops, that they are above the law (ahem, road rules).

 

[OverVolt]

Not really sure what you were responding to, as I don't see the connection between a vehicle doing self-maintenance and passenger/pedestrian decisions. Also, nothing really specific about google's mechanical engineers which should make them superior drivers to anyone else, they're still human.

Have you ever tried to get car insurance in a poor neighborhood or am I just arguing with someone naive? Education can typically reduce your rates as well. Yes, upper-middle class educated professionals get into accidents less than the average joe. I'm referring to the accident rate of the google car in testing, not that it even applies to the real world anyway. The thing is driven by a team of engineers.

Going by what I'm sharing the road with people can barely afford an alignment and a good set of tires. Electronic control can't compensate for a lack of car care. Autonomous cars won't turn risky commuters into safe commuters if they can barely afford to maintain a car.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

What the hell are you talking about? A self-driving car is driven by an AI, not a 'Google Engineer', hence the 'self-driving' part. It won't be subject to anything similar to current vehicle insurance policies. I didn't even know we were having a discussion about socioeconomic policies when it came to vehicle insurance rates.

And yeah actually, a self-driving car with shitty tires and bad brakes still has a better reaction time than a person driving that same vehicle, so by definition it will be better. It probably also wouldn't be hard to create some monitoring systems which can monitor tread depth, wheel alignment, brake efficiency, etc, and let the commuter know they're coming due for whatever. Then just refuse to drive anywhere other than a repair shop once it's past some threshold. You can do all sorts of fun stuff once the control is taken away from the person.

 

[OverVolt]

What the hell are you talking about? A self-driving car is driven by an AI, not a 'Google Engineer', hence the 'self-driving' part. It won't be subject to anything similar to current vehicle insurance policies. I didn't even know we were having a discussion about socioeconomic policies when it came to vehicle insurance rates.

And yeah actually, a self-driving car with shitty tires and bad brakes still has a better reaction time than a person driving that same vehicle, so by definition it will be better. It probably also wouldn't be hard to create some monitoring systems which can monitor tread depth, wheel alignment, brake efficiency, etc, and let the commuter know they're coming due for whatever. Then just refuse to drive anywhere other than a repair shop once it's past some threshold. You can do all sorts of fun stuff once the control is taken away from the person.

The only autonomous car right now is by google and its followed during testing by a team of 5. I think you just read too many yahoo and Huntington post articles and then imagine something that exists that doesn't.

Just one of the more recent articles: https://www.wired.com/2016/02/googles-self-driving-car-may-caused-first-crash/

There's more, but there's the fluff stuff they post for hits and then there are articles that actually explain how the technology works and you're reading the former.

 

[Ruptga]

Replace trolley with AI car and...

http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/trolley-problems

 

[quikah]

The only autonomous car right now is by google and its followed during testing by a team of 5. I think you just read too many yahoo and Huntington post articles and then imagine something that exists that doesn't.

They are not followed, at least not by any marked vehicles that I have noticed. One of them was t-boned last week

https://9to5google.com/2016/09/23/g...in-what-appears-to-be-its-worst-accident-yet/

wonder what would have happened had it been one of those prototype golf cart vehicles. Those things look like death traps.

 

[Chaotic42]

Apparently I always vote against the elderly and scofflaws. Seems about right.