Google's self-driving car

edo · May 10, 2012

You can now legally drive an autonomous car on the roads of Nevada. Didn't think it would happen this quickly!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/09/google-self-driving-car-nevada

monaghan · May 10, 2012

I don't know that I could sit behind the wheel and not drive, I'm too much of a control freak

edo · May 10, 2012

It would certainly take some getting used to!

Apparently, as the article states, you can take control of the vehicle at any point by touching the steering wheel if things started to malfunction.

It seems to be inevtiable that these kind of cars will be commonplace in 10 years. Jeremy Clarkson will rant and rave that they take the fun out of driving, and he's right, but safety will always come ahead of pleasure. You can get pleasure from many things in life, but not if you die in a car crash, which is nearly always caused by human error.

boxerdog · May 10, 2012

I freak out when my merc parks itself, I dont think I could cope if it drove me to the shops :???:
Like monaghan I need to be in control.

doodlebug · May 10, 2012

What happens if a speeding car eg joy rider comes in line with the auto car does it quickly try to get out of the way, does it make sure there are no pedestrians going to get hit by the auto car quickly moving away ?

Sorry but I think human beings can react to different circumstances much better than an auto car.

How can see if there is ice up ahead like a human can or does it only know when it's to late, maybe a Deer runnning out into the road, I bet a human would handle the situation much better.

What about moving out of the way of emergency vehicles, for what I read it wouldn't go onto the pavement to get out of the way because that would be illegal according to it's computer.

I think these cars shouldn't be on the road unless every single vehicle is auto and all connected on a network and make sure the car can deal with unexpected events.

edo · May 10, 2012

I think anyone who drives a car now will feel like that. Only natural.

Next generation though may feel very differently.

And actually I think a fair few people now would get used to it very quickly. After all, you're not in control on an aeroplane or a train and those are widely used transport methods...

monaghan · May 10, 2012

I'm not against the general idea, however, if I'm not driving, I'd not want to be next to the controls. Give me a comfortable seating area with a simple method of telling the car where I want to go and enjoy the ride or give me the controls and let me do it myself.