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In a driverless future, drivers will do anything they like

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Consciousness lags behind the material conditions of society. We are living in an era of change as technology is slowly stripping bare the old conditions of society and bringing forth new realities that could not exist before. As the population of the world slowly approaches the ten billion mark and more and more people, world wide, have the availability of driving, there will be an increase in accidents caused by the misuse of the auto, more air pollution and congestion on highways and city streets. The auto may soon be able to drive itself but will it really end the nightmare of long commutes and traffic congestion in the major metropolitan centers around the world, and at what price will all this luxury come to be priced at? Who will be able to afford this new technology, and who will not be able to afford it?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Seems like a massive telecommunication infrastructure is need to support this initiative with data transmission, as well as systems on the car side. Who will pay for it? The driver!

The implications for Big Data are also huge. Analytics will be able to track your travels, purchasing habits, business and recreational destinations, everything you do that is related to travel by car, and then throw it back at you through targeted marketing programmes, insurance premiums, etc..

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Johnny-Cab here we come.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Imagine all those cars obeying all those ridiculously low speed limits.

And tell me, with these cars be able to spot a deer in the woods at night that is about to leap in front of the car?

How will it react if there is some impact from underneath or the side? You hear a bang, and you don't know what it was, what do you do? Does the car just keep going? If it turns out somebody got hurt, do you get charged?

How does the car react to a policeman on the road demanding you pull over? How does the policeman react to a failure to react?

I think I would want this to get me through mile a minute traffic and that is about it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I imagine these cars will always have a "manual drive" mode. There are just too many places where it wouldn't be cost-effective to install the technology to support auto-drive. (think: rural roads, people with large plots of land and therefore driveways on the order of miles-long instead of feet-long)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Please hurry up and send it to USA. I am ready to buy it as I am getting older.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I think that some people are thinking, once autonomous driving is incorporated into cars, the once simple pleasure of driving a car will be gone. But that is entirely true, I have heard that, once this technology is put into place, car dealers or manufacturers will give the option whether you wish to have the technology installed in your call.

Surely even if its installed, there is a manual mode you can switch to. The pleasure of driving will still be there.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The first application (and, very possibly, the last) will be on major highways (interstates, trunk roads, dual carriageways, whatever they're called in your country). Limited access, no need for anything more complex than keeping the car in its lane and not hitting the car in front of it. The driver will be responsible for getting the car to and from this highway.

Not long after this becomes a reality, it will be considered no more remarkable than cruise control is now.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

“Once I can drive autonomously, would I want to watch while my steering wheel turns happily from left to right?” asked Rinspeed founder and chief executive Frank Rinderknecht.

The article throws the word "autonomous" out there quite often, but driverless cars better NOT be "autonomous". They BETTER be linked together in some manner in order to avoid trying to occupy the same piece of real estate at the exact same time another car/pedestrian/obstacle is there. They're still going to have to obey established rules of the road.

"AUTONOMOUS": having autonomy; not subject to control from outside; independent: a subsidiary that functioned as an autonomous unit.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Scrote

Good point. Most cars sit idle a lot. My friend has sold his car and uses the local "coop"one when needed. Good for place like danchi etc with lots of people and places for a few cars that can be used by several people. We need ours though as my wife drives around an area half the size of Hyogo for her job.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Anbinh, indeed. Today if you can't drive a car -- let's say you have eyesight below 0.6, or have epilepsy, or one of several other physical problems -- you either live in the big city or endure a life of underemployment and a restricted social life. Driverless cars will open up the same range of motion that elevators did for people in wheelchairs. I can't wait to see them become a reality.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So interesting. It means that everybody, from young children to very old people can just simply get inside a car and tell it where to go ! Its heaven. There will be no driving school , no driving test , no driving instructors, all will disappear. There will be no offence like drink driving, over speed limit ,or red light camera ..etc...and any responsibility for accident or offence will go back to manufacturer. Can't wait. :-).

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If cars do become driverless then presumably taxis will also be driverless. Without the driver's salary taxis will become cheaper to use. There would be no real difference between using your own car and using a taxi. In that case, why bother owning a car at all? Why buy an expensive model over a cheaper one when the computer drives both in exactly the same manner?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Note: "Anything you like" does not include making the air unbreatheable.

Rinderknecht acknowledged there are obstacles, but insisted “they can be overcome.”

I hope he doesn't mean pedestrians.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

They'll have to solve the leaglity issue first namely who's fault is it if a fully autonomous car causes an accident, the car manufacturer or the owner?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

How about solving the problems of funding Japan's society problems such a lower population, food production, energy needs, and _____ (fill in the blank.)

History has demonstrated time and time again that a healthy and vibrant private science and technology sector creates a healthy and vibrant overall economy, not only in the jobs those technologies create, but also in the infusion of new tax revenues for governments and society to use to tackle issues like a shrinking population, food production, energy needs, et cetera. High tech cars are not the cause of Japan's social ills.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Hahaha, so now they can go down on you, no problem?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Will this cause the government to provide "relief" funding for the love hotels? The cars should not have a back seat, the windows need to be heavily tinted, and the radio continually plays "Joy to the World." How about solving the problems of funding Japan's society problems such a lower population, food production, energy needs, and _____ (fill in the blank.) The concept will probably be developed and the cost of a vehicle will increase, which would be good, especially when the consumption tax reaches 10%+.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Soon to be heard phrases in automated cars:

"Manual override engaged...malfunction...."

"Please shut door completely...please shut door completely".

"Weight capacity has exceeded normal limits...please exit door"

2 ( +2 / -0 )

No drivers, no more DUIs then? I can drink tequila at the backseat? :)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

drivers will do anything they like

They already do!

8 ( +8 / -0 )

So next will be the mile long club instead of the mile high club? :P

7 ( +8 / -1 )

If the option to take the wheel is incorprated into automated cars, I could get behind this. Those long commutes between prefectures bite, especially during GW and O-bon. If I could sleep, watch a movie, read a book, etc., during that singularly painful time on the road, I'd be elated.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Driving is one of life's simple pleasures (although I question my sanity during Obon week). You can't take this away from us! :)

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Anything we like? I like driving better than any of those things they suggested.

Engaging with reality sharpens my senses and deepens my concentration. Do they want to take that pleasure away from us? Is it really 'inevitable'? :8(

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Does this mean we can start drinking and driving?

9 ( +10 / -1 )

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