
California bill would set rules for self-driving cars - phreeza
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120304/AUTO01/203040305/1148/rss25
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Gustomaximus
Self driving cars are going to be a defining point of our generation. I don't
think people realise how disruptive this will be. The way cars look will be
great to see evolve as mobile lounges or offices once the driving position is
not needed. Or even a bedroom so you can travel medium distances while you
sleep and not waste time on this any more. And as systems get better we might
see allowable speeds increase greatly.

And beyond personal cars this is going to be huge in the transport and
delivery industries. It will make it easy to car pool by being a member of a
group of cars that stay around the city and I think owning one car for one
person will be much less common. It will be a boon for online businesses as
the cost of delivery will be reduced with the removal of drivers. Combine this
with faster warehousing systems and when we order that product online it could
be delivered in the time it take to deliver a pizza today.... unless you
decide to just 3D print it. I find this quite exciting.

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electromagnetic
I've realised who disruptive this will be, and have pointed it out to my wife
many times.

The first that comes to mind is that driverless cars can literally end drunk
driving. I've seen many bars close down due to lack of service, because no one
wants to spend $40 in a night just on cabs.

I know people whose cottage is almost 12-hours away through rural roads, and
go up every other weekend. It would entirely change their time if they weren't
stopping in motels and getting there mid-day on a saturday. If they had a
driverless vehicle, they would get there at 6 in the morning and be fully
rested.

Greatly increased speed limits is what excites me the most if only because
it's the next step in making our physical world that little bit smaller. When
you double vehicle speeds, you're changing the world. There would be less
overloading on urban centres due to the convenience of short commuting
distances.

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FreeFull
One thing though, when you increase the speed that cars go at on a road, you
decrease the bandwidth of the road (due to the way halting distance increases
with speed, the cars have to be further apart).

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Gustomaximus
This can be offset by the reaction time of computers (assuming braking
distance being equal between cars) as the gap is really for reaction time. Or
driverless vehicles could take it even further where a lead car could
communicate with a following vehicle so when the lead cars brakes are applied
simultaneously the cars behind do also reducing the delay even further.

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analyst74
It's exciting to see future getting closer and closer to life!

What's more interesting, however, is the comments from the news site. Somehow
I have a feeling the general public is between "this is not important" and
"omg this is such a bad idea"

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electromagnetic
I think there's lots of things people don't realize what a driverless car
means.

Most people claim they like driving, but sit in a car with any of them and
most don't enjoy it. Beyond the people who road rage at the simplest of
things. Everyone gets stressed when people drive erratically, can't merge
properly (getting stuck behind someone on a centre-turn lane road because they
can't get their vehicle out of the driving lane), can't turn faster than 1mph,
etc. and keep that stress throughout the drive.

What I look forward to with driverless cars is: \- I can go to a bar without
paying $20 for a cab there and back for $1 in gas and a 30 minute wait \- My
wife (without a license) can use my car without me having to drive it, plus I
can pick my wife up from work without having to take the 30 minutes daily (5
1/2 days a year simply picking my wife up from work) \- I can make the 3 hour
drive up north on a friday night after work and not have to fight to stay
awake if it's been a long day. Shit I can make the 20-hour drive to the east
coast to where my wife's family lives without having to spend 20-hours
driving.

Whats more, the trucking industry is one of the biggest employers in NA.
They're restricted to 10-hours driving a day. Not only does driverless mean
more cost efficiencies, potentially less vehicles on the road, but it means
goods move faster. Here in Ontario I get California strawberries and 1/2 the
time they're beginning to mold. California is almost a 40 hour drive away.
Meaning those strawberries are at least 4 days old. Not 2 days old. Meaning
they might actually be edible.

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artmageddon
"Whats more, the trucking industry is one of the biggest employers in NA"

I Agree with everything you say but I'm willing to bet that those who depend
on their driving for their livelihoods will fiercely protest against this.

For the record, I'm all for driverless cars, but I suppose it's easy for me to
say that as a programmer.

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electromagnetic
True, but it's inevitable. The car manufacturers won't give a shit, and
neither will their workers cause they're still in jobs and heck there might
even be more job openings.

I agree the truckers will fiercely protest this, but so did the luddites on
the industrial looms, and so the swing rioters against the industrial
thresher.

Technology has led to civil unrest for centuries, literally. It doesn't matter
whether the truck drivers want it or not. Tell a transport company "you can
fire your drivers and get your vehicles there in under 1/2 the time". Often
truck drivers get a bonus if they get their shipment in "on-time" or early
(which is often ridiculously close to the ideal estimation of driving time).
When one transport company realises they could potentially make every bonus
then if the others don't follow suit, one company will rapidly dominate the
market.

Also, the truck drivers might not technically get unemployed, because a
driverless truck can't change its own tire.

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drewblaisdell
Can anyone explain to me why the comments on that article are so full of fear
(about the economic impact and it being a waste of time for California)? While
there will certainly be a large economic impact that could affect certain
jobs, I can't see that as an apt reason _not_ to progress technologically.

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gersh
You can have a whole economy without operations jobs. The futures jobs will
only be innovating and fixing when things have problems. The self-driving
tractor will plow the fields or harvest the mine, and send it to the factory.
Robots make it, and the self-driving delivers it.

