you just go with the flow and don't hit anythingAs an engineer, would you ever program a machine to "just go with the flow", if that meant contravening the local rules and regulations that apply?
How would you justify that decision, in court if necessary?
And he's entirely innocent of blame for not stopping his vehicle when unable to see where he was going.
He's not completely innocent, but he shouldn't take majority of responsibility.
Current Chinese laws says if a motor vehicle hits a non-motor vehicle or a pedestrian, the motor vehicle takes at least 70% of the responsibility, and the only exception is intentional suicide. That's just bullshit.
Instead of self driving cars, I think they should have started with something easier like self piloted airliners.
Now here is something weird for the conspiracy types. There is a satellite view of the car and surroundings. Under some conditions, the image is so 'real time' that it can change the image as you put your arm out the window. Now that's "real time". No matter where I am, there is a satellite watching my car. How cool is that?
Just basic stuff like accidents, temporary road work speed limits etc are no doubt going to cause issues for driverless cars.
The permutations of possible issues is effectively infinite.
you just go with the flow and don't hit anythingAs an engineer, would you ever program a machine to "just go with the flow", if that meant contravening the local rules and regulations that apply?
How would you justify that decision, in court if necessary?I would not program "my" self-driving car to studiously adhere to the speed limits on controlled-access expressways as one concrete example. No good comes from that.
Do you suggest in court, that it was safer to program the car to do this? Statistically speaking, it may well indeed have been, but that defence rarely if ever goes down well in front of a magistrate when the driver is human, and especially so when personal injury has occurred.
I'd hate to be the engineer hauled up in front of a judge and jury, and asked to explain why I've deliberately programmed the machine to contravene regulations. I suspect pragmatism would be in short supply.
They sell cars for $3000 in Tunisia? Interesting.
Last time I looked (more than a decade ago) the cheapest new cars in the US cost around $15,000. I think that the cheapest self driving cars here in the US will probably cost at least $50,000 more likely twice that. And they likely will have to be replaced much more frequently than the ones we have today. Thats the goal. Driving will become like flying, a rich persons game. Many countries are like that now, with huge taxes and permits, etc. which are required if you want to own a car inside of a major city. Just the cost of a parking space in SF or Manhattan is more than the cost of buying a home in many other places.
They sell cars for $3000 in Tunisia? Interesting.
Last time I looked (more than a decade ago) the cheapest new cars in the US cost around $15,000. I think that the cheapest self driving cars here in the US will probably cost at least $50,000 more likely twice that. And they likely will have to be replaced much more frequently than the ones we have today. Thats the goal. Driving will become like flying, a rich persons game. Many countries are like that now, with huge taxes and permits, etc. which are required if you want to own a car inside of a major city. Just the cost of a parking space in SF or Manhattan is more than the cost of buying a home in many other places.
Andy and coppice, the answer to your question seems to me to be that each self driving car will have a regulatory database of "the rules" that apply in its country, and it has to obey them. Whatever flexibility is in the law now will have to be removed for the corporations. Also, there will be a period, say five years, where self driving features will only be enabled in larger roads that have the technology to manage the traffic flow automatically. Of course initially, like now, some areas will be mostly old fashioned non-self driving cars so they will have to be given some time to buy new cars. Some areas - "off the beaten track" may remain non self driving indefinitely.
OK, good example.
At some point, one of your self-driving cars is going to be involved in an accident on one of those roads. An injured party will claim that the vehicle was speeding - which it was! - and that this is was a contributory factor to the damage which resulted from the crash.
Do you suggest in court, that it was safer to program the car to do this? Statistically speaking, it may well indeed have been, but that defence rarely if ever goes down well in front of a magistrate when the driver is human, and especially so when personal injury has occurred.
I'd hate to be the engineer hauled up in front of a judge and jury, and asked to explain why I've deliberately programmed the machine to contravene regulations. I suspect pragmatism would be in short supply.
So what if a self driving car drives perfectly on a highway, and some jaywalker attempts to cross the red light? No algorithms can predict someone standing and waiting for signal, and suddenly decides to jaywalk, and when computer vision system detects it, it's gonna be too late.
I encountered this once, and I was so lucky that that day was rainy and I drove exceptionally slow so I didn't hit the bastards almost rushing to me, seems to be on high. I swear to god I sweated for quite a while.
So what if a self driving car drives perfectly on a highway, and some jaywalker attempts to cross the red light? No algorithms can predict someone standing and waiting for signal, and suddenly decides to jaywalk, and when computer vision system detects it, it's gonna be too late.
I encountered this once, and I was so lucky that that day was rainy and I drove exceptionally slow so I didn't hit the bastards almost rushing to me, seems to be on high. I swear to god I sweated for quite a while.I would hope it would do what I do when I drive near pedestrians, namely slow down. If the pedestrian is close to or moving towards the curb I slow down more. It could do a much more accurate job of calculating the fastest that it could safely go and still stop if the pedestrian lept out.