Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms what is the point in autonomous cars?

Try telling a twenty year old boy racer that.

I am all in favour of autonomous cars. When you are stuck in a side road waiting to get out you can just drive in front of one and it will stop. London's arterial roads will grind to a complete halt and politicians wont be able to get to House of Commons to pass silly laws.

They will be good news for the recovery service and bodyshops as the electronic sensors or processing units start to fail.

I have no doubt our children will be part of convoys of these things on the highways though - at least they will be able to play with their phones or laptops legally on the move then.

Hopefully they will be hydrogen powered by then.

Several manufacturers have working models under evaluation trials they are very close to market, below is Fords ideas for example. https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia...ng-in-2021.html

We have had autonomous aircraft flights in UK air space already so the technology is available.

Autonomous trains would be a better idea. The fact they are on rails and there will be so little external factors to manage makes them an easier option. I will probably get lynched by the rail unions for that!
Just think of the complexity that cars would have to contend with! Other traffic, other road users,pedestrians, traffic management, speed bumps, potholes, fuelreplenishment, weather,.........
There will be uses for them but not in many places. There are too many conflicts for them to deal with as an individual vehicle. Junctions, converging lanes, crossroads,roundabouts.
How will they decide who gets priority, avoiding action etc..?
Try it next time you are driving....on a quiet stretch/junction/roundabout think about the data you take in, assess, make a decision, act.
Do we have the computer ability yet?
I seriously doubt it.
Would I use an autonomous car? Only in a restricted place to get from Ato B. Not on a normal highway.

Actually, in terms of raw data processing capability, autonomous cars will have 2 enormous advantages over human-controlled vehicles: precision of measurement and communication.

Autonomous cars will be able not only to know exactly how fast other cars are going (a common cause of accidents I understand is for drivers to fail to assess the speed of other vehicles), but they will also be able to communicate with each other and negotiate for road space, even when they are out of sight of each other.

Human drivers have to guess at the motivations and intentions of other drivers, based on the subjective assessment of many subtle signs - is that car going to pull out in front of me? Can I see how wheels turning? - whereas an autonomous car is going to be able to simply ask it.

In a human/autonomous mix, humans will quickly learn to depend on the intentions and behaviours of autonomous vehicle as they are not likely to do anything stupid, but they will still be at a disadvantage of not being able to predict this speed very accurately, so care will still be needed.

If you pull out in front of an autonomous car leaving insufficient space for it to stop safely, there will still be an accident and it will still be your fault

I wouldn't worry about the software/electronics/technology. This will have been sorted by the time autonomous cars are fully released. As for worrying about speed limits and accidents, there will be less accidents than with human drivers (but not zero accidents). These cars will be ideal for those boring commutes and journeys in heavy traffic. Bring it on!

Not if the penny pinchers have their way it wont...

My concerns are for the mix of autonomous/people controlled situations in areas of high traffic density and complex road layouts (e.g. multi lane and exit roundabouts, merging roads,for example).
How will decisions be made instantaneously with complex data input and algorithms to cope with it?
I can see some areas where there will be good use. Overnight HGV on motorways in an HGV lane. Restricted lanes for lighter vehicles.
Plus I believe human drivers will need to be educated in how to drive again. A huge issue when you think that you presently pass your test and go onto a Motorway without any experience.
It is much more than simply designing the cars/software.

A good friend of ours lives in Milton Keynes and has a lodger who is working on the Google autonomous car project. His current work is in the area of applied ethics and morals e.g. would you swerve to avoid hitting a woman and baby if it meant hitting a crowd at a bus stop (that sort of thing). There's a lot more to developing these cars to operate on the roads than many people think.

Exactly!
Someone writes the software with that scenario in mind.......the decision is to hit the woman and baby (say) as it is deemed by someone to be the lesser evil.
The lawyers for the woman and baby would have a field day.
If the car was driven by a human then they would be held liable for their decision made.
Who would be liable for an autonomous car decision?
Similarly, how will insurance companies react to incidents involving autonomous car incidents?
A minefield is being created!
There IS a place for autonomous vehicles but in tightly defined areas where there is less to deal with as there are so many potential problems to include in their control.