Self-Driving Cars

[All-American]

New government rules for the "autonomous" automobile.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/30/autos/nhtsa-self-driving-car-rules/?source=cnn_bin

Three states now legalize self-driving cars for at least testing purposes. More, no doubt, to follow.

This is the future.

[Walter Sobchak]

No, it isn't.

[clackamascoug]

We'll have levitating cars before self driving car. Sooner, if I have anything to do with it.

[Uncle Ted]

No, it isn't.

Skynet apparently isn't driving Walter's car.

[SandYFan]

I can't wait. One aspect of it I read is that you don't need to own a car anymore. Instead of having a car that sits in your garage and your work parking lot 95% of the time, you just order a self-driving car from a service. It arrives at your home, takes you to your destination, and then picks you up again. A super cheap taxi service.

[Non Sequitur]

I can't wait. One aspect of it I read is that you don't need to own a car anymore. Instead of having a car that sits in your garage and your work parking lot 95% of the time, you just order a self-driving car from a service. It arrives at your home, takes you to your destination, and then picks you up again. A super cheap taxi service.

In my line of work, we refer to that as The Cloud.

[il Padrino Ute]

Unless it's a collectable, why own a car if you aren't going to drive it?

[pellegrino]

I can't wait. One aspect of it I read is that you don't need to own a car anymore. Instead of having a car that sits in your garage and your work parking lot 95% of the time, you just order a self-driving car from a service. It arrives at your home, takes you to your destination, and then picks you up again. A super cheap taxi service.

for some reason I doubt it will be cheap.

[All-American]

No, it isn't.

Well, it's not quite the present yet.

[Moliere]

No, it isn't.

[All-American]

for some reason I doubt it will be cheap.

I don't see any reason it needs to be more expensive than a taxi service already is.

[pellegrino]

I don't see any reason it needs to be more expensive than a taxi service already is.

which validates my point.

[wuapinmon]

I don't see any reason it needs to be more expensive than a taxi service already is.

Taxis are exorbitant.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Google buildings surround our humble office, and I see driverless cars from time to time (although there's always a driver in them). I'm curious how these things will handle short-term changes in a street due to construction (where the crew diverts traffic onto the shoulder or into the oncoming lane). I also wonder how/if it will anticipate trouble (e.g., a group of little kids playing ball just to the side of the road). But I'd love to be chauffeured to and from the office and elsewhere.

[pellegrino]

Google buildings surround our humble office, and I see driverless cars from time to time (although there's always a driver in them). I'm curious how these things will handle short-term changes in a street due to construction (where the crew diverts traffic onto the shoulder or into the oncoming lane). I also wonder how/if it will anticipate trouble (e.g., a group of little kids playing ball just to the side of the road). But I'd love to be chauffeured to and from the office and elsewhere.

I love the idea, I just see it happening later rather than sooner. I would not be surprised if it happened sometime during my lifetime, perhaps when I'm an old man, maybe your age.