Self-Driving Vehicles -- Are They that Great a Threat?

[Norm48327]

zugmann

Even with the bugs, they're probably better than most of the morons trying to drive while screwing with their phones.

AMEN!

[zugmann]

Eddie Sand

that "a self-driving car will be here in five years" -- and that started about three years ago.

Well, they are here now.   I'm sure you're aware of the fleet of self-driving Fusions Uber released in Pittsburgh.  The cars seem to be pretty much capable now.  It's the people that are hesitant and the insurance companies trying to figure out how to insure the things that are holding up mass integration. 

Even with the bugs, they're probably better than most of the morons trying to drive while screwing with their phones.

[vintageracer]

If a lawyer that works for a company that builds a self driving car lets them do it they will keep other lawyers busy suing them when things go wrong!

[Eddie Sand]

Recently, no less an eminence than our own Fred Frailey expressed some concern over the possibility of the development of "self-driving" (autonomous) autos and trucks. This subject has drawn a cionsiderable amount of attention at City-Data.com, a site I've been posting on regularly for the past five years. Below is a link to a long thread:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/automotive/2077630-do-you-want-self-driving-car.html

The original poster of the discussion above probably typifies the most vocal of the "self-drving" advocacy -- a 20-something male with the anxiety issues which seem to be incerasingly common among young men raised in single-parent, female-headed households.

Having spent the earliest years of my career in trucking, and continuing to follow industry trends, I really think a lot of years are going to pass before autonomous trucks will pose much of a threat. Within our own favorite industry, little progress has been made toward auronomous rail movements, despite the much smaller route structure, fixed right-of-way and guidance, and well-developed Centralized Traffic Contol systems. When the additional factors of weather, much more frequent movements, and the programming needed to negotiate as simple a matter as a left turn, we're a very long way from implementation -- even in streets with a stable grid pattern, or the closed confines involved in spotting trailers at dock doors.

Still, it seems that every couple of months, some bubbly, outgoing gadfly who majored in Broadcasting or Journalism will show up on a tea-time talk show to reassure Oprah, Ellen or Katie that "a self-driving car will be here in five years" -- and that started about three years ago.

The day might one day come when a hybrid of rail and highway transit will move all our heavy freight in driverless vehicles -- but I doubt that anyone now alive will be around to witness it. And even if it should evolve, It's going to be just about as stimulating as the technology that serves us at present.