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

No. Not unless there is bad turbulence.

Trains, rarely.
Buses, yes.
Boats, often.
Helicopters, always.
Cable cars, rarely.
Your mum, always.

I get travel sick in a car if I'm not driving.

A) #CSB
B) I bet Oliver thinks I should have called it motion sickness.

I have no idea what that's called pwoperly. I used to get it when I tried to read in cars, not otherwise.

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National Infrastructure plan prioritises broadband and driverless cars
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http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/public-sector/3492156/national-infrastructure-plan-prioritises-broadband-driverless-cars/

“Underground, overground, on shore, offshore, wired or wireless, tarmac or train track. You name it, we’re building it right now,” said chief Treasury Womble

"The Treasury also hopes to make the UK a “world centre” for the testing and development of driverless cars. "

I love how every couple of years, big numbers concerning infrastructure get thrown around only to be forgotten in a twinkling of an eye! I actually wonder what percentage of the populace would agree with electric cars let alone driverless ones.

http://m.thelocal.se/20131202/volvo-to-test-driver-less-cars-in-gothenburg

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25653253

http://www.ciht.org.uk/en/events/events-listing.cfm/driverless-cars

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/01/safety-self-driving-car/

Point of view on R4 yesterday discussed the ethical decisions drivers make all the time - Such as...
'Shall I swerve to avoid a lamp-post so not to damage my car and passengers and crash into a cyclist' 'Should I knock over that nurse who stepped in front of me or swerve and crash into that beggar' 'What about swerving to avoid a cat or a squirrel' 'A school bus full of kids or an ambulance'

So self driving cars would need to have an ethical decision making programme for such instances. What values would such an engine be based on. A Utilitarianist engine would have to asses which decision would bring the great net benefit. A christian engine would be programmed to act like jesus. (Not drive the fucking thing in the first place but ride a donkey). A capitalist engine would decide based on the best economic outcome etc.

This is quite a serious issue and equally as relevant to any AI humans create to to perform functions on our behalf.

(wasn't there a film made about this issue.. running knives or something?)

I think they'd just be programmed to only ever go as fast as is safe - so swerving would only ever happen if some human screwed up ahead.

What us considered 'Safe' varies all the time and is relative. (Which renders the word safe meaningless)
Need to set parameters.

You'd need to set speed relative to conditions- so for example you are taught that any manoeuvre such as an overtake should not need to be completed to be safe.

By which I mean that if a lorry pulls out to overtake a cyclist they should be able to abort and apply the brakes and pull in behind, rather than pull sideways into the cyclist in time to avoid a head-on collision with oncoming traffic.

I think a machine would be a lot better at following the rules- it's what they do, after all.

Following rules. Yes machines will have no problem. Its the moral choices based on human values that AI will struggle with. drivers make these choices all the time. The public domain where these cars will interact with a whole host of other things where they will need to make judgements which won't be easy to program

Is the fact that these choices will end up needing to be made much less often offset getting them wrong more often? Especially if the overall amount of wrong choices is less?

So far robocars have mainly been used in convoy on motorways behind a human driven car. Limited choices in such a sterile environment. Put them in the city at rush hour where simple rule following won't be enough.

I suppose that focus on such devices for short urban trips is a distraction from trying to get more people on bikes.

I don't mind how they make the choices it's the idea of them being driven off sensors which is worrying. The sensors will be an overiding factor in how well it makes the decisions which is all fine when they are maintained well and tested on a regular basis which they currently are as the cars are checked each time they go out in the testing period. Once you hand them over to the public then they will be just like any other part of the car and so putting off a sensor check/calibration will be just like squeezing another 1000miles before the next service or driving a bit more than you should on a skinny emergency tyre or whatever.

Also I can think of a handful of junctions with multiple sets of traffic lights facing the car(left turn, center, right turn on individual sets) and I can't think what the car would do without human input or something wireless from the traffic lights.

http://www.ciht.org.uk/en/events/events-listing.cfm/driverless-cars
Bump.

Not quite on the robocar topic but interesting given the way cars are moving to more and more computing and fly-by-wire controls:

"Miller spent an extra $1,000 or so to replace his lawn mower and repair his house after he digitally disabled the SUV’s brakes, sending it crashing through his garage"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/04/08/darpa-funded-researchers-help-you-learn-to-hack-a-car-for-a-tenth-the-price/

http://www.wayfinder.co/pathways/53469fbfe784e1170000000d/how-autonomous-cars-will-unravel-society

I don't buy his argument that there'll occasionally be car crashes that kill ~3,000 people. What's that based on?

9/11

It's maths, duh.

I do get the impression that it was a way to use the 9/11 meme and attempt to induce outrage though[t].

That web page design induces outrage for sure. Fuck.

That web page design induces outrage for sure. Fuck.

Fuck, I linked to it from mobile before reading.

I bailed on that site.

#fail

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-27008863

A man has died after his car crashed into a railway bridge in Stirling

Meanwhile in Dundee, an 18-year-old man is seriously ill in hospital after his car collided with a wall

I assume that Autocars are common in Scotland though they're not very good ones since they keep crashing into things
(or is it just poor BBC crash reporting?)