Sunday, April 10, 2016

CAUTION ABOUT SELF-DRIVING CARS? ABOUT TIME!


WASHINGTON (AP) — Engineers, safety advocates and even automakers have a safety message for federal regulators eager to get self-driving cars on the road: slow down.
Fully self-driving cars may be the future of the automotive industry, but they aren't yet up to the demands of real-world driving, several people told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during a public meeting Friday (April 8).

This reminder to US regulators that the infrastructure and the community are NOT ready for driverless cars is a welcome note of caution.

Why the hurry? I cannot see any real world benefits in having driverless cars. Especially as no-one at this stage can assure the community that the computers on board driverless cars cannot be successfully protected from hacking.


Mark Rosekind, the NHTSA's chief administrator, said the NHTSA can't wait too long for appropriate regulations, because early self-driving technologies are already in cars on the road. Tesla's "autopilot" function, for example, enables its cars to automatically steer down the highway, change lanes and adjust speed in response to traffic.

Tesla's auto-pilot function
"Everybody asks, 'When are they going to be ready?' I keep saying they're not coming; they are here now," Rosekind said. Without federal instructions, "people are just going to keep putting stuff out on the road with no guidance on how do we do this the right way."

Spot on! Let’s not deviate from the laws we already have in place to ensure that if autonomous driving is coming, we legislate to ensure it works – properly!


There are major impediments to early introduction:

* Poorly marked pavement, including parking lots and driveways, could foil the technology (cameras/radar/gps), which relies on clear lane markings.

* Bad weather can interfere with vehicle sensors.

* Self-driving cars can't take directions from a policeman.

* Inconsistent traffic-control devices such as horizontal versus lateral traffic lights.

Until the technology has advanced beyond the point where ordinary conditions are problematic, "it is dangerous, impractical and a major threat to the public health, safety and welfare to deploy them," said Mark Golden, executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers.


Self-driving cars simply aren't ready to safely manage too many routine traffic situations without human intervention. 
 
A legally-blind man drove a Google self-driving car in 2014!
What about blind people driving cars!

Now, here's another scary scenario: 
James Niles, president of Orbit City Lab, a New York think tank, told the meeting that there is a complete absence of federal regulations and standards to prevent self-driving cars from being turned into weapons by "bad actors."

"The concern that an autonomous vehicle could be used as a weapon has gone unnoticed by the general public and probably by the majority of government officials," he said.

Does the community at large (the global community) really want driverless cars?

The massive investment in autonomous infrasctructure (roadside sensors, line marking, radar units and embedded road sensors) will all be paid for by the public purse remember!

Then we have to pay to ride in these autonomous missiles! 




In Australia probably only the really amateur politicians – the Socialists and the Greens – will add them to their lists of unrealistic aspirations!

17 comments:

  1. Extremely pleasant article, I appreciated perusing your post, exceptionally decent share, I need to twit this to my adherents. Much appreciated!.  theorie 1 dag

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing blogs that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. automotive data mining.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have done a good job with your knowledge that makes our work easy because you are providing such good information. linemarking

    ReplyDelete
  4. excellent blog. fully attrective!!!
    keep going on ...
    for car park line marking we are ready with experts to make attrective lines of car parking by car park line marking

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your article is valuable for me and for others. Thanks for sharing your information. get one of the best line marking then visit on our website.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I read this article. I think You put a great deal of exertion to make this article. It's a blog which shows the working apparatuses as by their regarded work. I'm so happy to peruse this significant information. traffic control person training online

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This information is so useful and informative which you have shared here. It is beneficial for beginners to develop their knowledge. It is very gainful information. Thanks for share it. pressure cleaning newcastle

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent job, this is important information which is shared by you. This information is meaningful and factual for us to increase our knowledge about it. Always keep sharing this type of information. Thanks. line marking gold coast

    ReplyDelete
  10. You have provided valuable data for us. It is great and informative for everyone. Keep posting always. I am very thankful to you. car park line marking Sydney

    ReplyDelete
  11. Cleaning will be an important day-to-day task to get done extraordinary reasons. Reasons reasons how come you clean your workplace space, work community or your house is to supplies a suitable environment for everyone and the additional people available you. Some many people would moreover hire a pro cleaning agency just to give you that boost. Here can be some reasons why should you hire an important cleaning small business or agency. cleaning services

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is excellent information which is shared by you. This information is meaningful and magnificent for us to increase our knowledge about it. Keep sharing this kind of information. Thank you. Read more info about mobile car wash

    ReplyDelete
  13. You've written a fantastic article about dmv approved certificate in california. This article provided me with some useful knowledge. Thank you for providing this information.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I got information from your article which you have shared here. I will be sharing with my friends who will need this info. Thanks for it, Keep posting.Factory Line Marking

    ReplyDelete
  15. You have done good work by publishing this article here. I found this article too much informative, and also it is beneficial to enhance our knowledge. Grateful to you for sharing an article like this. Practical Driving Test Cancellation Checker Dsa

    ReplyDelete
  16. this is one of the best blog about the caution of self driving best smtp services
    smtp relay service provider

    ReplyDelete