[ExI] self driving cars

[Emlyn]

On 16 May 2012 14:41, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

> Google and Stanford have shown that controls technology is now sufficient
> to make a car drive itself in traffic at normal speeds.  Here’s your chance
> to work your mind, think deeply and be a techno-prophet by really thinking
> through the question of how this will change how we drive and how we live.
> ****
>
> **
>

My 2 cents:

1c - Emancipation:

People who can't drive now will be able to drive. Elderly. Handicapped. And
children.

Kids in cars on their own will be really interesting. If you as a parent
can trust the car to get them from A to B, and can even track where it is
at any time, then why not? So suddenly, kids can get around.

When you empower a group like that, then they start wanting more. Where
will the emancipation end?

2c - New Rock & Roll lifestyle

If the car drives itself, then why do you need a responsible adult in
charge of the vehicle?

When you think about it, there's nothing morally wrong with being drunk in
charge of a vehicle if you can't actually cause any problems.

How long will the driving-under-the-influence rules survive?

And that is the kind of thing which causes large scale social change. The
pendulum of morality in the anglosphere has swung waaaay to the right over
my lifetime. Self driving cars, and the freedom from responsibility that
they bring, might just push the pendulum back the other way. We could have
the new 60s on our hands.



>  **
>
> I would say the three technologies have had the biggest impact on our
> lives are computers, internet and cell phones.  I expect self-driving cars
> will be the fourth biggie, and perhaps displacing cell phones for third
> place in the list of huge changes.****
>
> ** **
>
> Impacts: it allows cars to have vastly lower overall performance if the
> human is out of the loop.  If a car is programmed to go no faster than the
> speed limit ever, then there is no need to have the capability of going
> faster than that.  All else being equal, the weight of a car scales as the
> square of the top speed, so cars become dramatically lighter, and more fuel
> efficient.****
>
> ** **
>
> We could have bathrooms in our cars.  That would be cool.****
>
> ** **
>
> Roads would need to be smoother, since the robo-car would not be as likely
> to avoid road irregularities.  They will not swerve to miss holes.****
>
> ** **
>
> Once market penetration takes hold and there are more robo-cars than human
> operated cars on the road, the humans might be tempted to drive very
> aggressively.  Reasoning: the robo-cars would unquestioningly yield to
> them.  The human in the robo-car would scarcely notice that his is
> constantly being cut off by aggressive assholes, since he might be in back
> in the bathroom reading his tablet.  Driving aggressively doesn’t
> accomplish much, since most of the cars on the road would be going right at
> the speed limit.****
>
> ** **
>
> Eventually: way fewer accidents.  Robo-cars do not get distracted, they
> don’t text, they don’t get drunk or stoned, they don’t get pissed off and
> aggressive.  They just drive, faultlessly.  It isn’t that hard to do really.
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> Although trips generally will take a little longer, they become more
> predictable.  So if you need to leave two sigma ahead of average, the
> standard deviation for any given trip goes down.****
>
> ** **
>
> What else?  This is your chance to peer into the future and record your
> musings for future generations to ridicule or marvel at your wisdom.****
>
> ** **
>
> spike****
>
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>


-- 
Emlyn

http://point7.wordpress.com - My blog
https://plus.google.com/u/0/100281903174934656260 - Google+
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