The Queens Speech

[threegee]

On 5/23/2016 at 08:40, mercuryg said:

...They don't have to wait for the number 31 autonomous car to drop off its current passengers - which is why they don't take the bus....

Is the Queen, by the way, investing in a driverless Range Rover?!

Why would you call your smartcar number 31 (unless you had a large collection)?  I'd call mine Rover!

You are talking like this was some government imposed "planned" technology.  Did you ever see the French Minitel?  What you are missing is that this delivers a mechanism for the market to decide the optimal path, and government only gets involved to provide the common glue.  Of course government will see opportunities too and add to the technology mix.

Wait is what we do now.  Uber and others have disrupted the market by the simple innovation of removing the person in front of the radio in a taxi firm, and placing positional information in the hands of customers.  Bus companies will cotton on to this soon - assuming they haven't already.  The real problem with transport is not that people need to be at the controls, it's that they need to know exactly what is going on and be able to use that information to exercise market choice. People don't thump the counter of airport check-ins over inevitable delays, they get angry about not being told exactly what's going on.  Smart vehicles don't limit information, choice, and available routings, they greatly expand them all.

I suspect that I will be in a position to post a link of "a royal" in a autonomous vehicle a lot sooner than any of us might now imagine - and that might even be HMQ.

[mercuryg]

Frank, mine would be called.

" Smart vehicles don't limit information, choice, and available routings, they greatly expand them all."

But what people need, day in, day out, is being taken from point A to point B in x minutes, in order to get to work/school/the shops when desired. I can't see an expensive, capacity-limited car taking the place of a bus any time soon (and by that I mean in my lifetime). I agree with the Uber points, but they don't really apply to buses, do they? Bus companies do tell you what is going on, and also offer you positional information (lovely phrase); I have an app on my phone that tracks buses, in real time, so I can leave the house at precisely the moment the bus reaches Guidepost roundabout and be at the stop within half a  minute of it arriving to pick me up. It allows me, to my great relief, to see when a bus is late (or early) and how so, also. It is reliable and free. I guess the same would be true of the driveless cars, but I still can't see the advantage of, in the example of the X22, 18 cars on the road instead of one bus.

 

 

[threegee]

They do not USE GPS for primary navigation or collision avoidance; they only use it in the same manner as a human does.  It could be dispensed with, but is a useful adjunct.  I'm not sure why you are even arguing this!

It's not about "having to worry about driving".  The highways are usable because people conform to a common rule-set and there is an acceptable degree of predictability in people's actions. Those who drive unpredictably get rapidly weeded; smart vehicles do not change that paradigm in any way.  Why on earth does a smartvehicle have to conform to a "predetermined route" or operate on a schedule?  It's entirely up to the owner(s) how they are operated.

We SEEM to have gone from the proposition that they are too dumb to one that they are too smart for humans.  It's a false dichotomy either way.

[webtrekker]

Mine would be called Sally, the same as all my previous vehicles, after Sally Gunnall,.........  not much to look at, but a great runner!

[webtrekker]

This is the future!....... 

 

 

[mercuryg]

""They do not USE GPS for primary navigation or collision avoidance; they only use it in the same manner as a human does."

But they do use it, and Volvo seems to think it rather important to the concept:

"This technology lets the car know about speed limits and temporary road signs and always selects the quickest, most efficient route.""

So, GPS tells it how to get to where it is meant to go. How else could it know? Surely, if you tale away the GPS system, it can't navigate correctly? Or am I missing something here? Volvo, see above, says it uses GPS to select the route?

** I googled 'ford autonomous cars' - well actually I googled autonomus cats by accident and it says theirs uses a laser system (LIDAR?) and 3D maps. 

 

Edited May 26, 2016 by mercuryg

[Canny lass]

I think you guys are missing the most important  point. Does it matter if GPS is being used or not? Does it matter if idiots are sitting on motorway bridges with spoofers? Does it matter if these cars are using the same spatial clues as humans? NO!! What matters is where they place the make-up mirror and the mug holder!

[webtrekker]

US opens investigation into Tesla after fatal crash

Quote

US authorities are investigating the first death potentially caused by self-driving technology.

The driver of a Tesla car died in Florida in May after colliding with a lorry.

Under scrutiny is Tesla's Autopilot feature, which automatically changes lanes and reacts to traffic.

In a statement, Tesla said it appeared the Model S car was unable to recognise "the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky" that had driven across the car's path.

The company said the crash was a "tragic loss".

The collision led to the death of Tesla driver Joshua Brown, 40. The driver of the truck, which was pulling a trailer, was unhurt.

A video on YouTube, which appears to have been posted by Mr Brown, shows a dashboard camera recording of a previous incident, with the car steering to avoid a lorry in the next lane.

He wrote: "Tesla Model S autopilot saved the car autonomously from a side collision from a boom lift truck.

"Hands down the best car I have ever owned and use it to its full extent. It has done many, many amazing things, but this was one of the more interesting things caught on the dashcam."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36680043

[pilgrim]

we are at the Royal garden party at Holyrood on Tuesday - I'll let you know how Maj arrives!

[Canny lass]

Maj has been and gone here. So has Juni and now we are into Juli.

[pilgrim]

I wondered about that? the weather forecast this am said today would be muggy .....but muggy was at the start of the week and then we had tuggy then weggy ang thuggy  making today er.....