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Well, so much for Asimov's laws keeping us safe.....

Are people actually 'buying' these things or are they given away for beta testing?

Anyone know?

P.S. I wouldn't accept one free, heck, I wouldn't accept one if they paid me...

This post reminds of this song and where we are headed.
https://youtu.be/uukZgfHZIoc

JustSomeOldGuy wrote:

OneGun wrote:So, who goes on trial for vehicular manslaughter? Can the self-driving car be tried as an adult human?

probably a 'defective product' and/or 'wrongful death' lawsuit. No criminal culpability because no one is 'in charge'.

If there was a human in the vehicle who could have prevented the accident, but failed to do so, then that human could be negligent. Otherwise, it is probably the same as the case with a Ford (?) model where the company knew that a potentially deadly defect existed and could be repaired, but decided that it was cheaper to pay a few settlements than to issue a recall. If I recall correctly that didn't end well for the company, but I also don't think that anyone was criminally charged.

This all assumes that the pedestrian wasn't solely at fault by doing something stupid like jumping in front of the car, etc. Even if that is the case, I would expect a quick settlement in this case.

I can think of two easy possibilities.

1. Make self-driving part of the safety inspection. No pass no registration renewal.

2. Require human-driven motor vehicles to be registered with the Bureau of Automobiles, Trucks and Four-wheelers. Registration will require fingerprints of the owner/driver, a $200 registration fee, and a background check showing no traffic tickets. Ever. SCOTUS agrees these are reasonable restrictions.

For the self driving cars, they still require a person to be in the vehicle. Any accidents will and should be the fault of the "driver."

Self driving motorcycles will be even further away than self driving semi-trucks. My wife and daughter both enjoy riding on the back with me.

Some predictions never arrive, some arrive much slower than predicted, and some faster. I think self-driving cars will happen fairly quickly, because they are the only means to ease traffic in those areas where people insist on living too close together.

Eventually when vehicles are all communicating, things will be very safe. Until then, while there's a mix, SDVs have to be very well designed and tested. Incidents will fall into 2 categories - failure (as in sensors) and conditions outside of design. The failure part can be minimized the same way safety sensors on dangerous equipment are monitored for proper operation.

In short order, SDVs will be the safer alternative to drivers.

I have a 2014 Nissan with a gadget that squawks at me when I stray from my lane. Sounds good on paper but...
Every morning taking I610 to work, it squawks when drive over the sandblasted lane markers near the galleria
I've had it squawk when I drove away from the sunrise. I guess the sensor is in the back.
I had to turn it off on the narrow curvy roads on the scenic route around Ft Stockton Texas.

I am unsure that our Texas roads are up to the standards needed by SDVs

https://www.wired.com/story/ubers-self- ... d-jaywalk/

Credit the above link to wired.com, dated 11/5/19.

Uber's software had no ability to deal with a jaywalking human.

People......they're so darned unpredictable.

SIA

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51645566

The above link details a stupid driver who died trusting his life to his self driving Tesla.

He was aware from multiple previous occasions, that his car wanted to drive itself into the barrier, and had even complained to Tesla about it.

Did this mean he was always in full control of his vehicle? No, he was playing a video game on his cellphone at the time of the crash. Prior to the crash he never touched the steering wheel or the brakes. Tesla said that the car wasn't designed to react correctly to the barrier. This is just another glaring example of why humans should be driving vehicles. There's too many variables in the real world for the software to handle.

Yes, this qualifies for a Darwin Award, Modern Technology edition.

When viewing the photo of the death car, I thought it was possible that the car had been cut up with the jaws of life by the first responders. Oh no, the front clip (everything ahead of the firewall) went one way, and the rear of the car went another. It's bad enough that the car steered itself into the barrier and killed its owner, but think about how other non-Tesla sedans look after a crash. They have much more structural integrity, even after hitting a fixed object at 71 MPH, as in this case.

SIA