Is Self Driving Technology Fundamentally Flawed?

If language is destiny, then the language of self-driving cars is broken. People are dying because of it, and whatever benefits we might see—from safety to pollution to traffic—will be delayed unless we solve this problem. Everyone is guilty, from the media to automakers, tech companies, marketers and investors, all of whom—whether they know it or not—muddle terms like autonomy, automation, autopilot, driverless and self-driving to suit their own narratives.

Everyone wants to believe, but no one knows what anyone else is talking about.

There are no self-driving or autonomous cars available today, which means that responsibility for every road death—whether in a Tesla or any car whose driver misunderstood the limits of technologies that aren't yet remotely autonomous—falls on anyone slinging the current language.

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TomM - 5/7/2018 12:15:56 PM

+5 Boost

DRIVING IS FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED - regardless of if you drive - or a computer does.

Noting that Cars are made by humans - as well as the computers in those autonomous vehicles - when you put PEOPLE in charge of 2 TON plus projectile going even 25 miles per hour - Mistakes and Human error says that this is not optimal safety - and people die EVERY Hour EVERY day from things that do not go as planned.

BUT your question about the "language" of self driving cars is the first problem - there are NO self driving cars currently on the market. THere are cars that can AID a driver doing mundane tasks - but that driver STILL must be available to take over - that is still the law in EVERY state of the USA. And the "driver" is responsible if they are not in that position - not the developer of the software.

And just as there are people who should not have driver's licenses - there are people who should be in charge of what I prefer to call "Driver aided" cars. I think a written test to get a license to use such a car should be mandatory - to eliminate ANY misinterpretations.

mpls - 5/7/2018 1:14:35 PM

+2 Boost

omly whn it's dpen by Elon..

LexSucks - 5/8/2018 12:46:28 PM

+3 Boost

Who's actually asking for Self-Drive vehicles?

TomM - 5/9/2018 7:39:21 AM

+1 Boost

Clearly - self driving vehicles would be a boon to the transportation industry - eliminating Truck Drivers from the equation. THe same could be said for the Taxi and Limousine industry as well.

However - self driving cars would also be a boon to our aging population in rural and near rural areas where public transportation (even small buses) are not practical. There will come a time for ALL OF US when we can no longer drive a car .

ANother possible use for self-driving technology would be in the Military. Imagine self driving Tanks and Rocket Launchers - etc - where human lives would not have to be put into play to deploy them.

SanJoseDriver - 5/20/2018 7:35:15 PM

+1 Boost

Yeah, who would want hours of commuting time back while reducing their chances of dying and cutting their transportation costs by 50-90%.