Driverless cars to have a tremendous impact on our cities

Here's a few questions. What happens if one of these cars gets into a wreck? What if it destroys public property? Who pays for the damage? Is the company who manufactures the car sued? What if the driverless vehicle is at fault for say, running into the back of a driver? What if two driverless cars collide? Who pays for that damage? What if a driverless car kills someone on the road. Who is to blame?

People are so fast to accept things when they are "cool" before expecting or excepting the liability.
 
I drove the WV Turnpike yesterday without touching the brake OR gas due to my adaptive cruise system. I handled the steering while my car handled acceleration and distance. That's the first half of the driverless equation and it's here now. Get an adaptive cruise system and see for yourself. It's amazing!
 
"Member of anonymous hacks self driving car database... creates roads which arent really there, and alters safety functions of self driving cars to drive straight off bridges and cliffs. "

hahaha... not really very funny
 
Hmmm...what an interesting speculation. Its much like the movie I,Robot except I liked those cars better since not only was it automated, but you could also take over the wheel if you felt like driving.
 
I like the idea, this would definitely solve my road rage problem. I enjoy driving, but other drivers piss me off too easily. Being able to kickback while my car drives for me would really be great. Plus my insurance would probably be cheaper.
 
"Member of anonymous hacks self driving car database... creates roads which arent really there, and alters safety functions of self driving cars to drive straight off bridges and cliffs. "

hahaha... not really very funny

When they go from being annoying to causing property damage, injuries and potentially death... I think those hackers would find a world of hurt following them, and much more extensive resources being used to track them down... And you can guarantee their punishment would be severe, public, and extensive to make an example out of them. Plus, most hacker-types I know would completely shun anyone who crosses that line into maliciously causing injury/death.
 
Vehicle thefts may also go up...

"Hey Mark, stand in front of that car coming. When it stops I'm going to break the window and cancel the driverless system and take it".

*Drives off with car*

Now maybe that is a bit far fetched, and there can be some technologies to counter this type of issue. But anything is possible and some thieves are quite crafty.
 
Vehicle thefts may also go up...

"Hey Mark, stand in front of that car coming. When it stops I'm going to break the window and cancel the driverless system and take it".

*Drives off with car*

Now maybe that is a bit far fetched, and there can be some technologies to counter this type of issue. But anything is possible and some thieves are quite crafty.

You mean similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DshK4ZXPU9o

This is arguably the biggest issue for current and next gen autos as everything from the power steering and throttle/brake input to the transmission and suspension settings is being routed through a computer. Autonomous cars would seem like an easy target, but I'd imagine that manufacturers would actually put some decent security measures on the vehicle computers to avoid the obvious liabilities.
 
Yup, security has to be improved before this can be a success.
Yup. And much, much more. Which is why this could NEVER happen within the next decade. There needs to be (at minimum, just few things that come to mind)
  1. A secure driver database. That includes BOTH secure onboard data PLUS secure real-time updates that must be sent in near "real-time" over the air to all those cars on the road
  2. Guaranteed transmission bandwidth to assure all the info and updates for all those cars are guaranteed to make it over the airwaves.
  3. Area Coverage. Points 2 and 3 almost certainly mean infrastructure investment and build-out including several earth orbiting satellites plus "urban canyon" coverage. (Urban canyons for areas of downtown sky scrapers, tunnels, and other forms of interference and blockage, etc)
  4. Minimum safety standards set by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety). No auto manufacturer would attempt take on liability issues before minimum standards for accuracy, reliability, etc. are set by the US DOT
  5. New laws from Congress regarding liability and meeting minimum safety standards for these new vehicles (and Congress, of course, can't get anything done)
  6. Also consider it takes 3-5 years of assembly line planning and preparation before an automaker can build out the current year car model
And those are just things off the top of my head. So no way this happens within a decade!
 
Yup. And much, much more.
  1. A secure driver database. That includes BOTH secure onboard data PLUS secure real-time updates that must be sent in near "real-time" over the air to all those cars on the road
Thats where a back door could reside for remote access. Any over-the-air feature for controllability would be a security risk. OnStar starting engines and unlocking doors is one thing, but control of steering and brakes is a whole new ballgame.
 
Thats where a back door could reside for remote access. Any over-the-air feature for controllability would be a security risk. OnStar starting engines and unlocking doors is one thing, but control of steering and brakes is a whole new ballgame.
Perhaps we mean the same thing.. but I don't think "direct" control is so much the issue (e.g. starting engines, unlocking doors or "telling" a car to brake) but rather by corrupting the vehicle's sensor data (such as the real-time data and database about road curvature, conditions, speed, lane placement, etc) all of which could result in the vehicle taking in-appropriate and deadly actions... all with the best of intentions!
 
Yup. And much, much more. Which is why this could NEVER happen within the next decade. There needs to be (at minimum, just few things that come to mind)
  1. A secure driver database. That includes BOTH secure onboard data PLUS secure real-time updates that must be sent in near "real-time" over the air to all those cars on the road
  2. Guaranteed transmission bandwidth to assure all the info and updates for all those cars are guaranteed to make it over the airwaves.
  3. Area Coverage. Points 2 and 3 almost certainly mean infrastructure investment and build-out including several earth orbiting satellites plus "urban canyon" coverage. (Urban canyons for areas of downtown sky scrapers, tunnels, and other forms of interference and blockage, etc)
  4. Minimum safety standards set by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety). No auto manufacturer would attempt take on liability issues before minimum standards for accuracy, reliability, etc. are set by the US DOT
  5. New laws from Congress regarding liability and meeting minimum safety standards for these new vehicles (and Congress, of course, can't get anything done)
  6. Also consider it takes 3-5 years of assembly line planning and preparation before an automaker can build out the current year car model
And those are just things off the top of my head. So no way this happens within a decade!
Well said.
 
You will still have to get insurance. It will still be your cars fault and your insurance will cover it The only change will be they can't blame you and raise your rates. And if lets say the accident rate dopes by 90% then it will not cost as much to get insurance in the first place. If people die they will investigate then go after the company who made the care and system and they will have insurance for this as well on there end. but man the lives this could save will be amazing in the end. I don't see a day go by without hearing about a drunk driver killing someone on the highway.
 
Sounds a lot like a taxi to me. But that's ok, as long as they don't charge the huge rates they do now.
 
Hmmm.... One more significant barrier to entry that probably deserves a topic of its own:

Would the public be willing to buy or use autonomous driving vehicles if they came equipped with a black box data recorder? Could autonomous driving be allowed without data recorders? How else could engineers determine what went wrong and what needs to be fixed without them?
 
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