The state of self-driving cars

As the race for self-driving cars accelerates, experts weigh in on their status and just how long until they think it will be until autonomous automobiles take over. Brook Silva-Braga took a test drive.

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[mtnv]

Somehow this report forgets to mention cell phones. Drivers are distracted. PERIOD.

I’d rather have the vehicle watching and responding 100% of the time than a driver 70% of the time. Look up how many crashes have been prevented already by this technology.

[markmedley]

I would like to see these cars drive on snow and ice.

[claireconover]

“the car really does drive itself”….
meanwhile, the whole story is about how you CAN NOT trust the technology to drive by itself.

[hyperboytkl]

As an auto fan and enthusiast all my life, to me driving my own car myself is part of the fun. I prefer to drive than be driven.

[mikezoltan]

Can they make these cars avoid hitting animals? That would be a true game changer for the world.

[jabari]

If someone is late on they’re payments the car could drive itself back to the dealership

[johnpaulgarcia]

What about roads riddled with potholes and old faded lines from previous roads covered up hastily. Or soon to be roads with no lines at all just indents where construction workers intend to put dash lines or solid white lines

[patricksokoloski]

It’s great that we have the self driving and self parking technology already. I know that someday when motor vehicles become fully autonomous self driving, people are going to trust it, laws are going to be changed and there will be no more accidents, no more speeding tickets, no more stop sign/red light running tickets, no more DUIs, no more distracted driving, no more texting while driving tickets, no more idiots swerving or drifting in & out of traffic or lanes and hopefully no more road kills either. I know that with self driving cars, everyone will have an easy way to get around, including the elderly and disabled or who ever has difficulty getting around. I know that there will be self driving trucks and RVs too. What's the point of needing a drivers license when you can get a self driving car lol? More charging stations need to be built for electric and plug in hybrid vehicles.

[jeffw]

All the new stories about self drivers are under ideal conditions. When they are up to self driving in rain, snow, construction zones, not to mention something suddenly getting in the way from behind a blind spot. There is a long way to go.

[mylesmadison]

If you really wanna improve safety on our roads I suggest we revise our drivers Ed system. Many of accidents are due to driver incompetence, lack of education, lack of awareness. Using Technology in attempts to improve safety is nothing more than a stop-gap solution.

[Wafaloo]

What happens when the cars become so autonomous that they begin to develop road rage against other self-driving cars..

[AFMCarlos]

Imagine being drove by your car across two states throughout a rainy day, huge dream

[taith]

Love how Americans seeing pedestrian crossing the road jaywalking, they even made an effort to use crosswalk
Yea, us drivers sure are entitled

[ninemilliondollars]

Level-5 system Self-Driving Vehicles (SDVs) – the most “intelligent” are supposed to be able to predict all environments. But that’s based upon the knowledge and artificial intelligence programmed into them. Humans make instantaneous decisions (many good and some bad) based upon intelligent analysis, even with no previous knowledge of the situation and succeed navigating them. SDVs will be hard pressed to do this.


I’ve yet to see an SDV have to backup. Recently I found myself at a 4-way stop intersection where I needed to turn left. Undetectable to me at first was the landscaping truck pulling a trailer stalled at the left stop sign making the vehicle behind it drive around so it occupied the opposite of the street making my turn impossible. When it and the others behind it cleared, I turned and found a moving truck not more than 1-1/2 car lengths beyond the rear of the landscaping trailer. Now I had to drive on the opposite side of the street and found myself facing an oncoming vehicle that didn’t try to stop until they got kind of close and this was while I was still next to the moving truck. I’d like to see an SDV take my place.

And there’s countless of situations where pavement is missing or full of pot holes or lane markers are obscured. And new infrastructure is being built all the time like roundabouts. And then there are traffic accidents where you may have to drive off the road to get around. Or reverse and drive up an entrance ramp. And how about an SDV trying to rock itself out of a snow plowed-in parking spot on a urban street like in Chicago during the winter? Good luck!

The final consideration is how will SDVs play when human-driven vehicles don’t follow the rules?

[KEE_Wii]

30 years is a bit much considering how fast technology develops. Even that foot the Tesla missed by it appeared someone nailed that guardrail before. If technology doubles every decade there’s no reason full autonomy can’t be here in the 2030s saving thousands of lives. Especially if we limit it to highway driving which is far simpler.

[bobweiram]

Let's hope this doesn't work. Millions of good paying jobs will be lost.

[astrahcat]

AI is way better as an EXTENSION to human capability not to override it or replace it.
An example, automated farming and gardening. You still need someone monitoring the automated tractor, but it really is useful technology in making everyone's life more efficient.

[dustintaylor]

I haven’t heard on the news or commercials about self driving vehicles but hopefully, I’ll hear about them on T.V.

[smartass]

Ask any farmer that has self driving tractors how good the technology is at just 10 mph in an open field. Ask them how many times a computer glitch shuts down there tractor and they can't fix it. Now imagine what would happen when you have millions of cars all trying to navigate lanes when the lane lines are not there or have been ground off to change liens during construction. Or a plastic bag blows across a freeway and all the cars suddenly stop.
A farmer only going 10mph still has to sit and monitor there equipment because it malfunctions so many times a day. Now imagine cars going 75mph on roads with millions more hazards.

[mrakw]

In the future, if someone steals a car, the cops could possibly remotely shut it off