Robocars - Autonomous Drive, Self-driving, Driver-less cars

Oh, that sounds amazing! Almost like a... Taxi.

The great thing about owning a car is that it's more than just a form of transport. It's a piece of design, a personal space, something that you can rely upon as a constant. It can also function as a refuge, a place to sleep, entertain, escape.
Tell me;
Will these autonomous 'public' cars clean themselves (inside, I mean) after every single use? I don't currently know of any form of transport that can do that. Piece of piss to keep my own car clean though.
Will these things be able to swallow/carry a shitload of stuff from Ikea? Mattresses strapped to the roof, tailgate tied down with rope, etc?
How about camping and exploring? Can I drive one out into the woods and sleep in it if I want to get up and surf at 5am? Are there going to be air-conditioned charging stations in Death Valley?
Then there is also the small (well, massive, actually) issue of Motorsport. You know, that technological behemoth fuelled by enthusiasm, passion and most importantly a fucking shitload of private money that develops the technologies that currently trickle down into our road cars. Do you expect anyone to race Autonomous vehicles? Or do we just leave Morgan and Caterham to carry on making their bread and butter for petrolheads to blast around in?

I don't think you're right.

It IS a Taxi!

1. "It's a piece of design" That Ford Mondeo is a stunning piece of work right...You talk about the average persons ownership, but I don't see many affordable cars these days that I would even glance twice at.
   
2. Why...would they need to clean themselves? There are humans for that, either that or I don't understand the point you're making.
   
3. "..refuge, a place to sleep, entertain, escape" I'm not even going to debate how you came to these points but I'll ask this, are we still talking about cars?
   
4. Why...wouldn't they be able to go to ikea, camping, mattress carrying, and death valley driving? It's a car....again, I don't understand the point to your post. It's not a a magical pumpkin caravan that runs on unicorn farts. The google car was tested in Nevada for months...and it...ran perfectly. How about this
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge
   
5. Charging stations are a part of something called "the future". Does it take a week to build a dam? No. The same applies to infrastructure.
   
6. Motorsport. Let me ask you something, you really think the most innovative part of the automotive world runs on 3 pedals and a tank of Petrol? Have you SEEN the amount of automation and computing/aids an F1 car has? Why would Motorsport be replaced? Those who complain about the pollution from Motorsports need to educate themselves. The time, frequency and methods used in the sport produce a negligible amount of pollution in the grand scheme of things, so I doubt its going anywhere. That's like saying we should all stop racing Bicycles because Motorbikes exist. Different things
   
   

No one is saying Automation is going to be the end of all things cars. The same principle that applies to technology making our lives easier applies to cars. Do you still pull out a map if you need to go somewhere? No (If yes, then I rest my case) well then, this is along that same principle.

I don't understand what you fail to see. You're jumping to some wild conclusions that have no basis in the real world.
Do I love the sound of an AMG V12? Damn straight! Do I love an even smarter car that makes my lifestyle and conditions easier? Hell yeah!

Can you still roll down the window, blast shit music and shout "oi, oi darlin'" at passing ladies?

No, the computers do that for you too.

Oi Oi Darling

All that stuff I said

All that stuff you said

My basic point (big picture here) is that I don't see Autonomous PERSONAL transport as true progress, or even necessary.
What's so challenging about your current 'lifestyle' that you need to be ferried around like SirAlanSugar?

I can definitely see a use for Autonomous vehicles in an Industrial context, of course, but I don't believe in creating nannying solutions to problems that can be solved by better education.
I also have a little trouble seeing how Autonomous cars would successfully share the roads with human-piloted conventional cars (from both political and practical points-of-view).

Basically, I'm one of those annoying retrogrouch thirty-somethings that thinks smaller, lighter cars with loud engines, large bright window apertures, stick-thin pillars and an engaging driving feel are safer than lumbering, silenced, blacked-out leviathans covered in cameras.
Whenever the idea of removing human interaction from a basically simple activity (almost always based on an authority's perception of 'risk') rears its head, it makes me sad.

Think ahead to 20-30 years' time. That Autonomous car you're sitting in, what exactly is it affording you the time to do? Look out at all the other hideous, boring autonomous cars whizzing by? More time to surf the Londinium Ceramic Disc and Belt Drive Forum? Talk about all the things you don't have to do any more to all the other people that don't do anything either? Rave about how McLaren make a slightly lighter battery than Ferrari and oh isn't it surprising how a lighter battery can help an Autonomous race car lap a circuit slightly more quickly than a car equipped with a slightly heavier battery?

Driving remains an activity to me. Sometimes it doubles up as a chore, sometimes it's also a sport. Sometimes it's just an escape.
Cars remain pieces of design to me. Mondeos are dull things, white goods really, but right now in the UK you can still buy a working '80s Porsche, Mercedes, BMW or nice old Alfa for under a thousand quid. Cars that make me smile whenever I see them still in operation on the road. The rise of Hybrid Technology, Autonomy and other forms of 'progress' will likely conspire to see these cars legislated off the road in quite a short time frame. Sad times.

And, yes, I still pull out a map if I need to go somewhere. I don't have a Sat-Nav or working GPS on my phone.
In the door-pocket of my car you will find a dog-eared copy of this.

By relying on this (and the plethora of signage clearly visible out the front window, not to mention the position of the sun in the sky) for the past ~20 months, I've been told quite a few times that I now know central LA better than many Sat-Nav-enslaved folk who were actually born here.

I'd prefer to be smarter than my car.

POST - the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology just released a briefing for MPs on autonomous cars:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/POST-PN-443

My basic point (big picture here) is that I don't see Autonomous PERSONAL transport as true progress, or even necessary.
What's so challenging about your current 'lifestyle' that you need to be ferried around like SirAlanSugar?

I can definitely see a use for Autonomous vehicles in an Industrial context, of course, but I don't believe in creating nannying solutions to problems that can be solved by better education.
I also have a little trouble seeing how Autonomous cars would successfully share the roads with human-piloted conventional cars (from both political and practical points-of-view).

Basically, I'm one of those annoying retrogrouch thirty-somethings that thinks smaller, lighter cars with loud engines, large bright window apertures, stick-thin pillars and an engaging driving feel are safer than lumbering, silenced, blacked-out leviathans covered in cameras.
Whenever the idea of removing human interaction from a basically simple activity (almost always based on an authority's perception of 'risk') rears its head, it makes me sad.

Think ahead to 20-30 years' time. That Autonomous car you're sitting in, what exactly is it affording you the time to do? Look out at all the other hideous, boring autonomous cars whizzing by? More time to surf the Londinium Ceramic Disc and Belt Drive Forum? Talk about all the things you don't have to do any more to all the other people that don't do anything either? Rave about how McLaren make a slightly lighter battery than Ferrari and oh isn't it surprising how a lighter battery can help an Autonomous race car lap a circuit slightly more quickly than a car equipped with a slightly heavier battery?

Driving remains an activity to me. Sometimes it doubles up as a chore, sometimes it's also a sport. Sometimes it's just an escape.
Cars remain pieces of design to me. Mondeos are dull things, white goods really, but right now in the UK you can still buy a working '80s Porsche, Mercedes, BMW or nice old Alfa for under a thousand quid. Cars that make me smile whenever I see them still in operation on the road. The rise of Hybrid Technology, Autonomy and other forms of 'progress' will likely conspire to see these cars legislated off the road in quite a short time frame. Sad times.

And, yes, I still pull out a map if I need to go somewhere. I don't have a Sat-Nav or working GPS on my phone.
In the door-pocket of my car you will find a dog-eared copy of this.

By relying on this (and the plethora of signage clearly visible out the front window, not to mention the position of the sun in the sky) for the past ~20 months, I've been told quite a few times that I now know central LA better than many Sat-Nav-enslaved folk who were actually born here.

I'd prefer to be smarter than my car.

Whoa, dude, my apologies. Completely missed this.
Look, since I was around 5, the only thing I love is cars cars cars. I still look at shit like this and squeal: UNNNGH

Does that clarify how I feel about the automobile for you?
What I'm arguing for is the prevalence of technology. There are FAR too many of us for cars to be sensible anymore. You live in LA right? The US is a perfect example. Their transportation infrastructure revolves around the modern car. It's neither efficient, not does it have a stable shelf life. How many more millions do you think LA highways can support before turning into soup?

It's not a case of education, it's case of being logical. You and I to some degree, see driving as more than a means to an end. Most people? It's just that! The needs of the masses outweigh those of a few. The concept of the "personal car" stops being that. For the masses, yes, they really would rather sit there reading Metro 2033.

Ultimately, you can't really halt the progress of technology. Robot cars never sleep, never tire, and have 50 eyes are opposed to two. The public road exists primarily to facilitate car travel. Simple as. Entertainment, getaway, Art. That, alas, comes secondary to the car being a transportation mechanism.

Look, I'm near enough the same as you. I was going to do a degree in Transport Design. I still sketch cars, I still lust after an Alfa T33 Stradale, but my opinion still remains irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, which is, you can't really stop technological advance. A scary, yet exciting concept.

The way I see it though, the car came out, people still race horses though.
I like to see that as a silver lining. I can't wait to start racing this generation M5 in a decades time!

Someone was chatting the other day about cars being mandated to stick to speed limits with the use of cameras or GPS tracking? Anyone hear about this technology being introduced?

Proposed Euro legislation, Intelligent Speed Adaptation scheme.
Cynics point out it that its a ploy to push through the Galileo gps system

http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/the-ethics-of-autonomous-cars/280360/

Interesting read, but I had to laugh out loud at the following:

The owner of a robot car may reasonably expect that its property “owes allegiance” to the owner and should value his or her life more than unknown pedestrians and drivers.

What?!

That compromise may be necessary to get people to run the cars in robot mode. Still a big win if the robot cars work properly - they won't value the lives of others less than the convenience of the owner, so situations where they have to choose between endangering the owner and endangering others will be very rare, and they'll still kill many less non-owner people than manually driven cars would.

"they won't value the lives of others less than the convenience of the owner"

and that is one big reason why I'd love to see them take over. That and the faster speeds you could have them drive at because they're not idiots and could draft each other, merge properly, react quicker, etc.

Could the controller CPU thing in the autocar be hacked to exceed the speed limit by an acceptable 5mph and to drift round every corner? I'd like to recreate the fast and the furious on every shopping trip. How about a 20% reduction in care of others in order to save 25% travel time? There'll be an app for that eventually

Of course. Everything can be hacked.

Fun times ahead :)

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2013/oct/11/driver-less-cars-coming-bike-blog

Carlton Reid suggests that Robocars will be here soon
http://quickrelease.tv/?p=1882

#excited

(What about riderless bikes?)

If you stop in front of one it will automatically come to a stop.
I can't wait

There'd be a FPN for doing that

Robocar passengers will fix cameras on their heads to film such abusive behaviour from cyclists

More about this and the elimination of parking
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682395/imagining-a-future-city-filled-with-driverless-cars-and-without-any-parking-spaces

I can't wait till they develop this tech for bicycles as well!

That would mean that I could go back to reading on my commute, which would be cracking.

Merge? https://www.lfgss.com/thread115463.html

Merged and tweaked.

That's much better hippy though i miss the term robocar