Raise your hand if you own a computer.
Keep your hand up if your computer has ever glitched while in use, i.e. lost its internet signal or crashed or done some other annoying thing that basically ended its functionality if even for a few seconds. Ahhhh … all of you 
Now imagine a computer driving a car.
Yes, that idea is absolutely insane.
Now, as a technical and scientific curiosity aimed at learning more about what we can get computers to do, I’m all for messing around with the driverless car. Looks like great fun!
But, in practical application, what happens if the car loses its GPS signal for even a moment? What happens if the computer hits a glitch even for a moment?
Disaster.
Disaster is what happens.
Disaster is what the State of Nevada is asking for in passing regulations to pave the way for driverless cars.
People will pay with their lives for this stupid mistake.
But … we already pay with our lives for a human-controlled system — upwards of 40,000 deaths per year (up with which we would not put if these lives were lost to airplane crashes or terrorist attacks). So, really, what’s a few more deaths to advance fossil-fueled technology?
Comments 10
“…or done some other annoying thing that basically ended its functionality if even for a few seconds…”
Kinda sounds like like a distracted driver, eh, Andy?
I really doubt most motorists (if you could still call them that) would instantly regain control again and make cool decisions. How many of our motorists are on a par with, say, Chesley Sullenberger?
So this does worry me, but not as much as it might worry some. Many of our high reliability systems reach an acceptable level of reliability by taking the human out of the loop–machines, for example, don’t text their friends at critical moments. But these systems achieve reliability with two caveats: one, high levels of maintenance and robust build and two, high levels of human performance so humans can intercede intelligently and smoothly when the shit hits the fan. Again, Chelsey Sullenberger is the extreme example.
Our existing highway system is the exact opposite of a high reliability system (e.g., Scott Sagan, etc).
But we do need to talk about this. My fear is not of computers, but of how such a system would be implemented. For example, would automated cars be subject to routine safety inspections? In New Mexico, we don’t even have safety inspections.
Posted 17 Feb 2012 at 11:38 am ¶Khal… It appears the idea here is that this system will drive cars better than humans. Methinks we have seen that some computer-driven industrial machine make things “better” than humans, but this idea, IMO, will not translate into a system as complex as traffic. making precision parts? that’s a controlled environment where no one is likely to get killed. Traffic? Hahahahahahaha! This is simply hubris of the dangerous sort.
Posted 17 Feb 2012 at 11:47 am ¶The devils will be in the details. A system similar to air traffic control might work, i.e., something that keeps track of all the traffic and routes you to your destination as part of a many-vehicle system.
I’m not sure humans are all that good at driving and especially given the low standards of operation we tolerate. We have made cars into rolling home entertainment systems where driving is incidental. Plus, in many of our urban areas, we are at or below an acceptable level of service during heavy commuter periods of time, so failure can occur due to minor glitches.
Either we go back to the basics of driving and manage congestion or we need to give up control to an intelligent system. Probably a false dichotomy somewhere in there, but I think you know where I am going. I do suspect such a system would have to be very fast, very complex, and very robust, so those are admittedly costly hurdles to jump.
By the way, does anyone remember if George Jetson drove his jet car or was it on autopilot?
Posted 17 Feb 2012 at 11:56 am ¶Related: http://www.freep.com/article/20120201/BUSINESS01/202010331/U-S-to-decide-next-year-whether-to-have-rules-for-crash-avoidance-systems?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
Posted 17 Feb 2012 at 12:01 pm ¶But Andy, Google can’t make any money off of walkable neighborhoods!
Posted 17 Feb 2012 at 2:50 pm ¶I disagree. I think that in the long term, removing the human element from automobiles will save hundreds of thousands of lives, around the globe, per year.
We have no ability to comprehend what technology will be in 20 years. Id wager that it’s more reliable than the average American motorist, however.
Posted 17 Feb 2012 at 5:21 pm ¶ON THE OTHER HAND, driverless cars do not make up imaginary rules to hold against cyclists. Nor do they hang out in bars. Just sayin’
Posted 20 Feb 2012 at 6:18 am ¶Steve,
That made me laugh out loud for sure. : )
Posted 20 Feb 2012 at 10:22 am ¶This doesn’t worry me that much. While there will most assuredly be glitches, I would be willing to wager they will be far less frequent than the human glitches which plague the current model.
Posted 20 Feb 2012 at 11:37 am ¶I’d rather take my chances with the computers over drunks, druggies, and bad attitudes.
For a time (I think most of these systems are out-lawed now) Formula One (F1) racing cars (the fastest in the world under the prescribed conditions) had a number of computerized systems. They could accelerate at a maximum rate with little to NO wheel spin. They could adjust suspensions systems to each corner in milliseconds, something NO human could do. Where there was a maximum speed in pit areas, instead of depending on the driver to maintain a certain speed, he was merely required to push a button on the dash to maintain the max speed allowed.
In the mid 70′s (pre GPS), there were systems available that could land any airplane within a 6 foot spot any where on the earth. Humans opposed this technology.
I was recently impressed by an old girl friends (from High School) who had I nearly new hybrid vehicle. It mostly ran on batteries, averaging over 33 mpg in town. It had sensors that gave warnings when getting ‘too close’ when parking. It had a rear view camera which alternated with it’s GPS display. Very impressive.
– Coy
Posted 06 Mar 2012 at 9:41 pm ¶