autonomous cars
 

Well the "futuristic experts" have now concluded that in between 2021 and 2030 we will all be renting driverless cars and will be charged for the disposal of all cars with a steering wheel!
But what will happen with motorcycles ,bicycles,boats,scooters,hover boards,shopping trolleys and baby prams?
We might even survive satellite guided shoes that respond to voice control , so that we cannot become lost walking!:burnrubber:

Was your source Motoring.AU?

this topic depresses me so much. More realistically, eventually the largest autoroutes MAY become autonomous, then the smaller ones will follow, and just like smoking, the analogue car will be pushed further and further off the road until the only place you can drive it is the track.

I think this thread and the one about the Twins future should be combined as both require crystal ball gazing based on what the individual wants to see or believe.

I don't care. I will be dead by then.
I also heard it was going to happen by 2001, 2010, 2015 all based on how long ago they predicted it.

Hell, "experts" predicted it in place by the late 1960s.

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...usvehicles.jpg
http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm...-with-pipe.jpg

I found what pipe dude is reading!

The pipe isn't going to last that long and then he's got to find something else to do with his idle hands.

Frankly, I'd feel safer with either one of these "tech" solutions (rails in the pavement, or embedded electronics) than the current method of combining GPS, cameras and "good guessing" on where the lane is.

I, for one, look forward to this future where I sneak out of my room at the old folks home and create as many autonomous car traps as possible in the dead of night...

https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordp...4&h=400&crop=1

I hope i'm around for Minority Report type cars

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrxyr1CjiSM"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrxyr1CjiSM[/ame]

The Eyesight system in the wife's new Impreza is... well... impressive.
I had strong doubts about it's effectiveness but am a true convert to the fact that this technology is well developed and only getting better. If anybody had said that to me before driving the car I would have laughed in their face but the thing is one control unit program away from being self driving.

Lane assist - If you get too close to the lines without signaling the car yells at you. If you start too sway back and forth too much it screams at you. The only time this doesn't work well is if there are no lines or the lane is really narrow and you are almost on the lines on both sides. It would take some serious infrastructure for this to be self driving.

Back up assist - It WILL stop if you get too close to something, it sense movement behind or beside you. This works extremely well and I have not managed to get it to fail.

Blind spot sensors - Almost perfect. This one only blinks a light on the mirror if there is a car beside you or approaching at a speed that will put it beside you shortly but I can see how it would indeed work for self driving. Again have not caught it failing it's task. I would like this feature on the FRS since even though it does not eliminate the need to check mirrors and shoulder it at least let's you know if you should even bother looking (if lit no sense considering a lane change).

Collision avoidance - This is the biggy. It works and it works WELL. I tried driving the car into various sized boxes and the car just so "NO BLOODY WAY". It stops several feet away every time. Now there is no doubt there could be times it won't but it is probably more reliable that most of the human drivers out there.

Auto cruise control - You set the maximum speed you want to go and just sit back and drive. Car in front of you slows down you slow down. It speeds up you speed up. You can set three different distances that it stays back and I bet it stays within an inch of the distance you set it for. This is a gift from god for anybody that spends as much time on the highway as I do.

Now, if you take all these and have the road system to support them I can see how self driving cars would be a practical things some day. The tech is there and it works but the infrastructure to support it is a long way away I think.



http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/...d7fd6fryce.gif

someday the robots will replace us for everything :(

http://www.iainclaridge.co.uk/blog/w..._robot_sex.jpg

And all was well until someone figured out how to issue the "immediate left turn" and "accelerate" commands to every single (insert car brand here) in (insert country here) during rush hour.