Are driverless cars ready to hit the road full time?

Self-driving cars from companies such as GM’s Cruise and Google’s Waymo are now on the roads in California, but these tech-enhanced vehicles may still have some issues to work out. Join NBC Bay Area’s Bigad Shaban as he takes an autonomous car for a test ride.

Connect with NBC News Online!

#NBCNews #Cars #Driverless

[snoopy]

I think self driving cars can be good for me. I’m handicapped can not drive. The transportation service in my town are awful. I can’t go anywhere by my self unless somebody drives me.

[dayeeoliver]

I almost joined Cruise as a software engineer a few years ago.
These things have a long road ahead to be safe and trusted.
The best solution at the moment is,
Driverless only roads and roads with digital infrastructure (sensors and such) which would help the driverless car make a decision

[ammitra]

According to the survey n this clip, it seems like
there has
been WAY LESS accidents WITH driverless cars than casual cars... .

[NicholasDeLaat]

You would think that during this testing, they would make it so someone still has to sit in the drivers seat for extra safety, ready to turn off auto-driving and take the wheel themselves...at least during these testing periods.

One thing, these companies only care about your safety as far as their reputation is concerned.

[XX-rrlg]

Law firms lawyers rubbing their hands in all those future lawsuits brought over incidents with these vehicles. Almost like free money for them.

[footfoot]

Unexpected construction zone?
So, just about everywhere.

[sweetloren]

My uber driver was on the wrong side of the road and another jetted for the highway before getting a location. So i would rather trust a robotaxi.

[bradfordjhart]

it failed on a clear dry day, show me this on a dark snow covered road in Boston.

[egodreas]

I'm not the biggest champion of self-driving cars, but I think way too much of the conversation is sensational rather than inquisitive and informative. It's easy enough to find a few silly situations to ridicule, but I don't think the news reporting we are getting will age very well. At the rate things are developing, it seems likely that self-driving cars will be safer than the average human driver relatively soon. Now that they are considered safe enough to operate and learn in a live environment, they will evolve even faster. We shouldn't let these companies get away with murder, but it doesn't seem like they are trying to. Seems to me like they are just trying to do their best in a somewhat dismissive (and sometimes outright hostile) media environment. Progress is inevitable, and in the case of self-driving cars, perhaps mostly for the better. At least if we take it seriously enough to prepare for it. There will probably not be much need for human drivers in the future, and it's important no to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that isn't going to happen.

If we look at the history of automation though, the most likely way this will play out is something like this:

*Yesterday:* _What do you mean self-driving cars? Don't be silly! That is total science fiction and will never actually happen._
*Today:* _Look at all those silly autonomous cars! They can only drive as well as a human 99% of the time, and sometimes they stop for no apparent reason. How hilarious._
*Tomorrow:* _We have to stop all these self-driving cars that are so massively outperforming human drivers! We can't compete and are losing our jobs! This isn't fair!_

[samuelsilver]

Soon you can call your boss during morning and say "Sorry cant come to work my car wont allow me to leave driveway"

[Dwayne-mbuj]

I am a school bus driver and I can tell you there are many driverless cars on the road all ready because they drive thru bus stop arm every week .

[laskey]

"Our vehicles don't get distracted."
That means nothing if your vehicle cannot interpret how to drive through a construction zone.
My flashlight doesn't get distracted or drunk either but I don't claim it can drive.

[officer_steofficer]

They should make separate infrastructure for self driving cars for maximum efficiency and safety. A fellow driver might not understand how self driving cars think or work or what it might pull off on public roads. We could see separate infrastructure especially for self driving trucks carrying freight and goods in the near future. Don't put self driving cars with human drivers, its best if its separated. It also depends on where you are using it in, a downtown area will be much harder to use vs a normal suburb with mostly straight roads.

[JohnSmith-qefb]

I was driving a city bus and a driverless Waymo van made a left turn without enough room. I almost collided with the van, which would have injured me and my passengers. You guys really need to work out the kinks!

[matthewwriter]

A five year old in 2075: "You guys won't believe this, but my grandpa has a car that he actually has to drive himself...yeah, no the car doesn't do the driving. Grandpa has to actually hold this big circle and guide the car himself. "

[mooing_cowmilk]

1:33 misleading statements to push a narrative. The Numbers given was total count, not a comparable rate. it is like saying For regular cars it is 216, 366 crashes in California just the past year (2022)! The number should factor in market share of EV to internal combustion as well as miles driven. Otherwise it is comparing apples to oranges.

[DerekDavis]

Tesla FSD has been in development for years, but even today it makes mistakes on any challenging route.

A high school kid can drive better than the FSD computer .

[zacok]

They will hit the roads and other drivers/pedestrians

[Wildboy]

Being involved in 200 crashes means nothin, i can promise the robot was never at fault... that guy was not gonna be hit by the robotic car, but the robot didnt have the courtisy to wait for him to hit the sidewalk like most humans would

[Technoirz]

I saw one today, the person in the back seat left the car, it stopped on a railroad track before, everyone went nuts because car wasn’t moving at all.