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Do you think self-driving cars will take away the fun of being at the wheel of your vehicle?

48 Comments
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48 Comments
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I think it depends on who you ask. If it is someone who doesn't drive for fun and just uses vehicles for utility purposes, self-driving cars would be a boon for them. But try asking this to an off-road enthusiast or a sports car owner, self-driving cars would probably be an iffy thing for them since it takes out the fun and danger factor in driving for sport. I personally would like to have a self-driving car.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

NO. They won't take the FUN out of anything. I long for the day where I can punch in Navigation in my RV, get drunk, and wake up in my desired destination. It will be a relief. Not to mention the roads will be safer from senile senior drivers.

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

Since I hate driving, absolutely NOT. Bring them on!

2 ( +6 / -4 )

The key expression here is "your vehicle". Self driving will take the fun out of sports cars, but very few people have them.

The fun has already been taken out of lots of cars due to the switch from saloons, coupes and station wagons to SUVs and people carriers. These may be more practical but are heavier, boxier, and have way more body roll.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I would rather be safe than fun.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

I generally like driving outside of the city. I don't need a sports car for that. Any car will do. It relaxing to hit the road and just wander and explore and see what you stumble upon. That said, I welcome self-driving cars, the sooner the better. Too many accidents as is, it will give older people mobility, and we will be able to make use of time currently wasted on daily commutes.

I just hope there's a setting where I can tell it "Hey, let's check out that weird looking road going up that mountainside and see what's there."

4 ( +5 / -1 )

As a car enthusiast, I'm not too keen on "self-driving" cars. Sure, I'd opt for some advanced safety features or functions you find on most modern day cars such as BSM, cruise control of lane assist on my own car, but I'd rather do the driving myself. Self-driving public transport is another story.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I think similar discussions erupted when AT became popular, and nowadays everybody except Europeans drive AT.

I believe that for a while, both driving and self-driving will be available, so you can switch between them at convenience. I love to drive on a mountain or ocean road, but not on a 30 km traffic jam on the express way. Even now, the "auto-pilot" function of new cars (a more sophisticated cruise control) is quite helpful.

And it would be nice to be able to drink and not worry about driving home.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

As a car enthusiast, I'm not too keen on "self-driving" cars. Sure, I'd opt for some advanced safety features or functions you find on most modern day cars such as BSM, cruise control of lane assist on my own car, but I'd rather do the driving myself. Self-driving public transport is another story.

It should have read "cruise control or lane keeping assist".

I shouldn't be typing comments before my second cup of coffee in the morning.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

As long as I can take control when and where I want, it shouldn't be a problem.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Driving isn't fun for me, and shouldn't really be a leisurely activity imo. Not to say you can't have enjoyment out of it, but the result is so much more important than the journey.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

It all depends on how much driving you do. My in-laws live in Shizuoka, and the drive there, in and around the town they live in, and the drive back to Tokyo are more tiring than fun. I sure as heck don't enjoy getting behind the wheel for hours at a time. Also, I don't think I'll ever be able to relax letting AI drive the car - technology flips out every once in a while.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

That is a loaded question.

I hate driving, so there isn't any fun to be taken out of it from my perspective. So no.

But at the same time, I do think that eventually self driving cars will become the norm and take us all out from behind the wheel. So yes.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

No: Reason being that I have eye issues and cannot drive myself.

By the way, does the clutch go in and out by itself between gear changes?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I think it's like cruise control and ABS (anti-lock braking system) in cars, driverless options would make it convenient and safer for car owners to drive their vehicles while being less hassled and can probably turn them off to have a little fun on the road and on the dirt. I really do not enjoy driving my car in bumper-to-bumer traffic, and I'm pretty sure nobody does. I'm more of a two-wheeled fan and ABS on motorcycles make them more safe on the tarmac but less fun on the dirt.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Who is to blame if a car crashes? The car maker or the computer with no empathy and feelings?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

They simply won’t come for the mass market, because they are potentially not capable to AI process all the incoming real-time data correctly. The traffic will even all stop even if there’s only a picture of a child or a dog at the side, instead of a real child or a real dog. Until their expensive car computer has calculated that the picture isn’t moving and therefore the probability to safely drive on is slowly reaching 51%, the car’s power supply is emptied and the ice cream in the truck behind you has become a hot fruits soup. ROFL

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I prefer to be in control not some computer. Kyakusenbi_Arimasu raises a very moot point, is the computer programmed to sacrifice the passengers or others external to the vehicle in a crash and how does it make the decision? Does it sacrifice your children in the car or an old lady crossing the road? These are moral judgements a human can make in an instant according to the circumstances but not a machine.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

As someone who does not have 0.6 eyesight and (as of now) is permanently banned from operating a car, self-driving cars can't come fast enough.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I don't see why it can't be both.

One of the best things about being behind the wheel are those impromptu moments. Many of our family treasured memories is when we see something along the way and decide to explore it further. This also includes getting lost. :-) There are many places we would have never knew about if we hadn't gotten "lost".

That being said, I can also see how enjoyable a road trip can be for all if the driving was left to "someone else" (i.e. the car). There has been many times where I had to focus on driving a mountain pass and could not enjoy the scenery until I could find a safe place to pull over.

My wife and I would also "tag-team" the driving duties but I can see how enjoyable a trip could be if we didn't have to do that as well.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I do not even trust nor like to get on elevators. Cars that drive themselves, absolutely not!!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I voted 'no' because I'll never, ever own a self-driving car.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Nope, love driving, love cars, never! Manuel is best, people and society are becoming lazier and lazier, not good.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The key expression here is "your vehicle". Self driving will take the fun out of sports cars, but very few people have them.

I can have fun driving just about any car, and some of the most fun cars on the road are certain small economical sedans like the early 1990s Mazda Protoge or Nissan Sentra, the most recent iteration of the Ford Focus and believe it or not, the van built on the Focus platform called the Transit Connect. Old Plymouth Valiants and Dodge Darts with the Slant Six and a manual trans are great fun. The old Datsun 510 was a blast in its day too. The top of the line Protoge came with the same engine as a Miata, had a much stiffer body so no flexing in corners like a ragtop, and it had a fabulous suspension and steering. I have an old late 1980s Audi 90 with some suspension and engine work that is a blast on a mountain road. You emphatically don't need a sports car to have fun driving. Oh, don't forget the Focus RS; 350 horsepower, four wheel drive, Brembos on all four corners and a six speed manual (no automatic offered) in a four door sedan. I'd love to put that driveline under my Transit Connect!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Never mentioned is how the engineers envision mixing self driving cars with cars driven by humans. Is the self driving car going to see my turn signal and let me change into its lane so I can exit a freeway or make a turn , say, into a driveway? Also how do self driving cars handle motorcycles filtering between rows of slow or stopped cars? Most of my travel is by motorcycle and in the big city much of that time is spent between the lanes of cars since that is legal where I live.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

AI will take the fun out of everything, Musk has said that many times.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Maybe, but if we reach a point where self-driving cars are demonstrably capable of causing fewer accidents on the roads, that should be more important.

I once bombed around a racetrack in a high-performance car. I’m no petrol head, but that was exhilarating. Maybe that could get some their fix.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Driving isn’t fun.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

enter my car, just stay sitting and waiting to reach the destination ?

no thanks, at this point I take a bus, it's the same... japanese cars are already boring to drive due to automatic shift, if I use the acceleration control I even don't need to push the pedal and just hold the wheel like when I play Gran Turismo on my playstation...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Long distance trips are difficult, this will allow a person to change the radio station or even read a book.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Automated everything takes the fun and thinking from most things.

The fun about a driving trip is spontaneity, suddenly stopping someplace you notice.

But then the next generation will probably be either the one with the most dementia even before they get really old or be fully dependent on drugs to keep their mental abilities.

Research is showing that the key to avoiding dementia is to keep one's mind active.

Today young people can't even remember to turn off the lights because a gadget does it for them.

Cooking, no need to learn that, just order prepared meats pop them into the special oven/microwaves don't even need to press a button the barcode tells the oven exactly how long.

Why read a book just ask your smartdevice to read and "Audio book" for you.

Why go out to meet people, let the latest APP show you available dating options.

It is going to be one boring world if the tech companies and the bubble wrap people get their way.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I don't see why it can't be both.

Because we all know once the "Safety" bubble wrap people start up about how having self driving cars is safer, they will then move to the next phase. That will be saying that letting people drive themselves makes it unsafe for others and that all car need to be self driving.

We know this is how it will be because that is how things like this went in the past.

Take a simple thing like peanut butter. Sure some people are allergic to peanuts, so logic of bubble wrap, ban all children without allergy from bringing a PB&J sandwich to school in their own lunch.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Considering there may not even be a "wheel" in front of you, I'd say yes. That said, the fun of "being at the wheel" will simply be replaced by something else; like the experience of being chauffeured by an auto driving system in your car.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well if you’re not driving, there’s no fun to be derived from the act. There’s no doubt self-driving cars will make the roads safer, which is fine. As long as the option to drive yourself remains for those that want to, and those that want to have their fun appropriately.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

NO. They won't take the FUN out of anything. I long for the day where I can punch in Navigation in my RV, get drunk, and wake up in my desired destination. It will be a relief. Not to mention the roads will be safer from senile senior drivers.

That's actually pretty funny.

I enjoy driving when I go back to the states for a while then I think "I could be reading a book instead of trying not get pulled over for speeding."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I once bombed around a racetrack in a high-performance car. I’m no petrol head, but that was exhilarating. Maybe that could get some their fix.

Great fun, isn't it!

But Jimmy, don't you get any satisfaction out of your current car?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

you DO have a car?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

 I long for the day where I can punch in Navigation in my RV, get drunk, and wake up in my desired destination

Perhaps driving isn't your biggest problem...

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Driving isn’t fun.

Not if you're driving a 2004 Suzuki Mira.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

As someone who clocks many Ks on the road, a self driving car would save a lot of time I could use to do the things I want to do...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The kinesthetics will be there . . . but I just hope such a vehicle will be able to be safe for those around it, other vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

at that point there will be no need to even own a car, it will be effectively public/private transit

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yes and No for me. I don't like driving in the city (prefer bicycling), but love it on mountainous roads.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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