[ExI] self driving cars

[spike]

-----Original Message----From: spike [mailto:spike66 at att.net] 

>...Answer to the problem: make the caravanning feature work only on
interstate highways...spike

Hey cool, I gave me a great idea.  We now have software that can drive cars
and we have potential to make cars much more efficient if we tolerate the
danger of low profile, less visible, lower speed cars.  As these cars show
up, there will be a transition period where human drivers get accustomed to
seeing them, a process which could take perhaps five to ten years.  

Suggestion: we create a special class of self-driving vehicles specifically
designed for delivery purposes.  It wouldn't haul people, only groceries,
would not go on the freeways or any road that has speed limits over about 40
mph.  It could have a top speed of about 30 mph.  They would be very low
profile, lower than any passenger self-driver.  It would be an ultra-light,
less than a typical motorcycle, so it would be unlikely to seriously damage
a Detroit, should it collide with one.

What this would do is allow us to gain lots of data for safety purposes,
perhaps improve algorithms, get the neighborhood dogs accustomed to seeing
these things humming around and so forth, establish the legal groundwork for
what happens when anyone attempts to steal one for instance.  I can imagine
it being small enough that three husky lads could physically hoist it into
the back of a pickup truck.  I can imagine it being driven by a single
cylinder 250cc gasoline motor.

With that arrangement, we could find out if drunken yahoos in raised pickups
will run them over, and if so, you just have only lost a couple thousand
dollar vehicle and smashed the arugula, as opposed to crushing some
honeymooning couple doing their thing in the robo-car.  That stage might
need to predate human-carriers.

Wouldn't that work?

spike