Now this is some seriously cool shit.

[unixronin]

Volkswagen has built a self-driving VW Golf that can plan its own routes in real time around obstructions and traffic cones, then race through the route at up to 150mph -- no creeping around the test course at 10mph here.  VW claims it can drive a laid-out test course faster and more precisely than their own engineers can drive the car manually.  VW says features of the car will be appearing in production VWs "in a few years".

Now THIS could cut down on traffic fatalities -- and maybe traffic congestion too.

(Thanks to midiamin for the out-of-band pointer.)

Comments

[yndy.livejournal.com]

While I agree that at least 50% of the people out there driving shouldn't be allowed to have licenses (okay, that's lowballing it seriously...) my problem is this -- my computer crashes, locks up, is vulnerable on levels I'm not.
I'm an aggressively defensive driver... I trust my own instincts to avoid those horrid drivers you mentioned above fairly well. I avoid accidents on a regular basis because I don't just drive 'defensively' but rather 'paranoidly' - I'm convinced that the moron isn't going to stop for that light/stop sign/other moron and so I manage to avoid him when he doesn't.

But what happens when the computer-driven car gets locked up? emergency reboot? that could be fricking dangerous.

I'm reminded of that joke email that went around years back about microsoft v. ford... http://www.usd.edu/~bwjames/humor/ms/microsoftcars.html

If you built in a manual override (which would be the only way I'd feel safe) the morons you mentioned would be the first to utilize it.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

my problem is this -- my computer crashes, locks up, is vulnerable on levels I'm not.

Yeah, but your computer -- like 95% of the other personal computers out there -- is built from bottom-dollar commodity components engineered for low price, not for reliability, because the manufacturers figure it doesn't really matter if it fails -- you'll just buy another. To make matters worse, almost all of those personal computers are running a festering pile of insecure-by-design compiler turds scarcely worthy of being dignified with the title of "operating system", produced by a software company that thinks it's perfectly acceptable for an operating system to crash multiple times a day and has only just now -- after over twenty years -- grasped that malware is a serious problem. (At least, it's currently making mouth noises that suggest it may have finally grasped that. Only time will tell.)

A self-driving car has to be reliable, and it has to work every time. Just like the engine control computer that's probably in the car you have now does. Can you imagine the lawsuits if Volkswagen put a car on the market with an autodrive system that was as unreliable as Windows?

No auto manufacturer will put a car on the road with an autodriving system that isn't as close to 100% reliable as they can possibly make it. Because they know that the very first time it fails and causes an accident, they're going to get sued, and it's going to hurt.

[blackcoat.livejournal.com]

Also, it's significantly less likely that you're going to be running 3rd party software, installing that video card that had a driver conflict, or surfing the net for virus laden porn.

After all, unless you're driving a car that is totally manual, you're already depending on computers to keep your engine running, shift for you, intermediate between your steering wheel and your tires, and in some newer cars work the brakes. So I don't wanna hear about how "I don't trust computers in cars."

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

We trust computers to run our heart and lung bypass machines during surgery and our respirators afterwards....

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

i drive a 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe, 3 speed column shifter, points and a carberator! ain't no 'puter in my ride!

[blackcoat.livejournal.com]

...well, ok. You're strange. And, as I said, "unless you're driving a car that is totally manual," which yours fits the bill.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

~grinz~ i'm not strange, i just happen to be a mechanic that hates new cars!

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

At times, I miss my considerably-worked 1970 Camaro SS350. But at the time I sold it, it was about to start consuming large quantities of money, because it needed the engine reworked to run happily on unleaded gas, and could have used new front fenders to REALLY fix the body cancer.

At that, though, I'd installed a Purolator breakerless electronic ignition with a Hall-effect sensor and a trigger ring in the distributor, so it was no longer EMP-hard anyway.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

i don't have hardened valve seats, i just dome lead additive in the tank when i fill up!