Automakers Discover The Key To Safe Autonomus Driving Might Be In Adding Human Elements To The Code

Though a newly released study by AAA found that Americans are slowly becoming a little tiny bit less afraid of riding in newfangled autonomous cars—which, of course, aren’t actually here yet—we still have miles to go before we’ll feel safe and happy falling asleep behind the wheel of these still-largely-fictional future-beasts. At the moment, 63 percent of Americans still aren’t down with the idea of letting a machine do the dirty work on the roads, the study found.

Of course, this likely has a great deal to do with the fact that consumers a) don’t have a lick of experience with autonomous cars and probably won’t for years to come, and b) have no earthly idea how these machines will do what they do when they do get here. Of course there’s going to be trepidation on a massive scale. Time will solve much of this problem—which, again, isn’t actually a problem yet—but the study nevertheless represents an opportunity to reflect on what will be necessary for us to get there, for humans to have faith in the mysterious robo-cars of tomorrow.

TomM - 2/7/2018 11:35:03 AM

+2 Boost

Recently we have had several major crashes on Railroads. THAT scares people. After ALL these years.

Now - put a car into the equation - that has NO human driver - and expect it to be as reliable = and I do not think we have yet reached a time when a computer will be able to react to unusual circumstances - as well as a human. Computers - we have been taught - are good for repetitive tasks that do not require major judgement. However - since humans will be driving their cars too - it will take some time for computers to reach a level field with humans.

However - at least for me - why would I want a computer to have all the fun!

carloslassiter - 2/7/2018 4:01:28 PM

-6 Boost

I defy anyone to take a 10 minute drive through a major metropolitan area and then try to argue that human drivers are safer than computers. It's a ridiculous notion.

MDarringer - 2/7/2018 7:19:09 PM

+2 Boost

Specifically which computer and which human did you use for your comparison, or are you just pulling facturds out of your butt again?

SanJoseDriver - 2/10/2018 5:34:17 PM

+1 Boost

I think the point is that people in general are bad, distracted drivers. Computers have a lot to "learn" but once they do they will not make the same mistakes over and over like we do. A great example is the game of Go, one of the most complex strategy boardgames played for a thousand years. In three years AI went from barely being able to beat a good player to being able to beat every player in the world 100% of the time and inventing new strategies that humans never discovered. Over those 3 years, Google also made the AI more efficient to require 1/10th of the processing power.

The same thing will apply here. AI will go from driving like a drunk 15-year-old to all of a sudden being better at driving than any human that has ever lived (maybe not in 3 years, but eventually it will happen). I would be lying if I said that didn't scare me a little bit, but this is what will happen whether we like it or not.