Human drivers are still way better than self-driving cars

[FrodosPet]

(From the story, not my headline)

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-tesla-self-driving-cars-human-drivers-171042031.html

By Rick Newman - May 27, 2016 1:10 PM

~ snip ~

Self-driving cars piloted by software are clearly on the way, and once perfected, they could dramatically improve auto safety and transform other elements of transportation. But they’re further off than a lot of breathless headlines suggest. “We don’t have any autonomous car yet where the car, on average, is better than a person,” Gill Pratt, CEO of the Toyota Research Institute, said recently at a conference held at MIT. “People are really good at driving safely. These are the standards artificial intelligence has to beat.”

News snippets on self-driving cars make it sound as if we’ll be chauffeured by robots in just a few years. Nearly every automaker is developing autonomous vehicle technology, and Google (GOOGL) publishes regular updates on its own self-driving car program. Upstart electric-car maker Tesla (TSLA) touts an “autopilot” feature it’s developing, and some enthusiasts are waiting for Apple (APPL) to jump into the fray and revolutionize automobiles.

~ snip ~

The trickiest challenge for self-driving cars -- which may still take decades to hone -- is getting computers to process unpredictable situations as quickly and effectively as a human being can. At the MIT conference, sponsored by the New England Motor Press Association, Leonard showed some dashcam video footage of his own car navigating Boston traffic, which highlighted powers of the human brain computers can’t yet match. In one scene, the car approaches an intersection where the traffic light is red but a police officer is waving cars through. A couple blocks later, the opposite occurs: the traffic light is green but a police officer is signaling cars to stop.

~ snip ~

Judgments about the surrounding environment often determine how we drive. To make a left turn from a dead stop, across a lane of oncoming traffic, into a flow of traffic going the other way, for instance, sometimes requires edging the nose of your car out, or signaling other drivers to let you in. Those are instances in which a bit of aggressive driving may be needed to get where you’re going. A self-driving car programmed only to pull out when there are safe distances in every direction could sit for hours before finding an opening, enraging every car behind and choking the flow of vehicles.

~ snip ~

[Warpy]

1. After the driverless cars are perfected (if they ever are)

I can see them offering transportation to a lot of old folks with poor eyesight who have had to give up their driver's licenses.

Everybody else prefers to be in control, so there's not much future there. They'll never be approved for trucking unless the interstates are closed to passenger cars, and expect people to raise hell and put a board under it in that case.

[MADem]

2. I read an article that talked about a fleet of driverless trucks, all

keying off the first truck, also driverless, but with a human monitor--i.e. one driver for three or more trucks. They'd ride in convoy fashion.

They are working on the driverless trucks in Europe in a rather disciplined way:


http://www.cnet.com/news/driverless-truck-convoy-platoons-across-europe/

[kentauros]

3. I do not agree with this quote:

“People are really good at driving safely."

No. People are just lucky for the most part. They drive as if they're scared of every little thing. Or, they drive as if they're the only person on the roads. Oblivious. Distracted. Uncaring about anything but themselves.

Self-driving cars can't get here fast enough for me.

[PADemD]

4. Accident Avoidance

I wonder how a self-driving car would have avoided a local accident yesterday, where a car was driven at an estimated 80 mph southbound in a northbound passing lane. Luckily, no one was killed.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2016/05/wrong-way_rt_33_driver_faces_v.html#incart_river_home

[Travis_0004]

5. If every car was self driving it wouldnt be going the wrong way on the highway

[PADemD]

6. It's going to take many years before all cars are self-driving.

I don't think I'll see it in my lifetime.