Self driving cars good for cyclists?

[PhilDawson8270]

A bit of a short, and random thread post. But I am just finishing off writing a report with regards to self driving cars, and the technology.

I was looking for a citation to back up one of my claims and came across this article http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-te...s-the-ultimate-guide-to-self-driving-vehicles

While many think that this kind of technology will be good, what worried me is this statement
"The tech will allow more accurate driving so, for example, cars could overtake cyclists more closely"

I mean seriously, wtf?!

 

[Tin Pot]

Honestly couldn't care less what motorists think - do you think manufacturers will want cars out their taking risks with people's lives?

And talking of risk, I'd like to know how manufacturers are wording the legal so that it's still the owners fault if a crash occurs.

 

[fossyant]

A self driving car would be less prone to erratic driving.

 

[dim]

so, if one of these self driven cars smashes into me while I'm cycling, who do I sue? ..... the owner of the car, or the manufacturer of the car?

The owner of the car will say that it's not his/her fault, as they were not driving

 

[Markymark]

Self driving cars.....a triumph of techie spin over reality. They aren't going to be a regular sight in my life time, thank goodness.

In 10 years they'll be the majority in urban driving.

 

[Jody]

In 10 years they'll be the majority in urban driving.

We might see an increase but they will be far from a majority. 20-30 years might be a little more realistic for a majority share

 

[Yellow Saddle]

A bit of a short, and random thread post. But I am just finishing off writing a report with regards to self driving cars, and the technology.

I was looking for a citation to back up one of my claims and came across this article http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-te...s-the-ultimate-guide-to-self-driving-vehicles

While many think that this kind of technology will be good, what worried me is this statement
"The tech will allow more accurate driving so, for example, cars could overtake cyclists more closely"

I mean seriously, wtf?!

Obviously that is plain stupid and should have read "overtake with better safety."

I'm all for self-drive cars. They beauty of software-driven cars is that software can learn from a mistake and replicate the new learnt behaviour across all other cars. Humans also learn from mistakes but every human has to make that mistake before that newly-acquired skill/avoidance action is eliminated from the pool. With cars like Tesla, if one car makes a mistake - as it did the other day by misinterpreting something in certain light conditions - then the software can be fixed and updated to all the other cars.

Collectively humans don't learn from mistakes. But I'm labouring the point.

 

[Markymark]

We might see an increase but they will be far from a majority. 20-30 years might be a little more realistic for a majority share

Once they become viable I would see the majority of new and young drivers switching as it would be cheaper than the exorbitant insurance they already pay. This will take hold and after about 5 years it'll be the norm on new cars bought as people see it working, see the positive aspects and see the massive saving in insurance premiums. There'll be a critical mass and I reckon it's about 7-8 years after they become viable which I think is 2-3 years away.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Once they become viable I would see the majority of new and young drivers switching as it would be cheaper than the exorbitant insurance they already pay. This will take hold and after about 5 years it'll be the norm on new cars bought as people see it working, see the positive aspects and see the massive saving in insurance premiums. There'll be a critical mass and I reckon it's about 7-8 years after they become viable which I think is 2-3 years away.

Now there's something I didn't consider. Insurance cost. That's a good reason for youngsters to adopt it, not that they don't adopt anything new in anyway.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I like the idea of taking the human out of the driving on the road, but I'm bothered by the thought of errors and faults in the programing and possible vulnerability to hacking.

 

[Markymark]

Now there's something I didn't consider. Insurance cost. That's a good reason for youngsters to adopt it, not that they don't adopt anything new in anyway.

Not only that, young drivers' insurance is high for a reason. They're mostly idiots. I can see large number of parents wanting self drive cars not just for insurance but their safety too.

 

[Tin Pot]

I like the idea of taking the human out of the driving on the road, but I'm bothered by the thought of errors and faults in the programing and possible vulnerability to hacking.

As a cyber kinda guy I'm less worried about hacking, car hacking has been focussed on the last couple of years and the sheer immensity of the risk posed I don't think we'll see much by the time we get to mass adoption in thirty or so years.

Until then you'll definitely see some spectacular cock ups.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I like the idea of taking the human out of the driving on the road, but I'm bothered by the thought of errors and faults in the programing and possible vulnerability to hacking.

Agreed. As a software engineer who works on very complex software, I'm well aware that for all the bugs you find and fix, more are likely to still be present, but hidden. Given that the software on these self-driving cars is safety-critical, the safety requirements on the software, for developing, testing, etc. would be very stringent. They still may not find all the bugs, though.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

As a cyber kinda guy I'm less worried about hacking, car hacking has been focussed on the last couple of years and the sheer immensity of the risk posed I don't think we'll see much by the time we get to mass adoption in thirty or so years.

Until then you'll definitely see some spectacular cock ups.

Part of my concern is a terrorist attack targeting the infrastructure rather than than an individual car with the idea of creating chaos and bringing a city to a standstill.

 

[swee'pea99]

They still may not find all the bugs, though.

Surely it's a given that you'll never find 'all' the bugs. No piece of software will ever be completely perfect, any more than anything else is. But as Yellow Saddle says, with ironed-out bugs being immediately made universal, the level of bugginess will surely compare very favourably with that among the 'non-networked' human population, making driverless cars, overall, far safer - above all, perhaps, and crucially, far more predictable.

I for one, eg, would have no problem with cars 'overtaking cyclists more closely', if I could be sure that none of them would overtake too closely. That would certainly be preferable to the current situation, where some excessively nice drivers pass on the other side of the road, while others seem to enjoy the game of brushing you with their wing mirror as they go by.

It seems to me very unlikely that they'll be the majority by 2026, but by the time the century hits the halfway mark, I think the roads will look very different from the way they do today.