Google's self-driving car is programmed to speed for your safety

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

google self driving car autonomous car

We've been told all along that self-driving cars are safer that today's human-powered vehicles. By eliminating human error, these autonomous vehicles are expected to drastically reduce the number of auto accidents on public roadways.

What you might be surprised to learn, however, is that some of these cars are being programmed to break the law by speeding. How can that be safe?

As Google lead software engineer Dmitri Dolgov told Reuters during a recent interview, their autonomous car is programmed to stay within the speed limit most of the time. But when the traffic around you is exceeding the speed limit, it can actually be dangerous to maintain the slower (legal) speed.

Under such conditions, Google has programmed its self-driving car to go up to 10 mph above the speed limit to better keep pace with traffic.

While I can certainly see the logic behind the decision, it also opens up a whole new can of worms as it relates to self-driving cars. For example, if you're caught speeding in your autonomous car, who pays the fine? You? The auto maker? The software company that programmed the car? Is it simply waived off?

Along the same line of thinking, who is liable in the event of an auto accident involving a self-driving vehicle? Maybe it's the person in the non-autonomous car? One could argue that it's their human error that caused the accident in the first place.

As you can clearly see, there are still a ton of unanswered questions as it relates to autonomous cars that'll eventually need to be figured out before the technology goes mainstream. Let's just hope these legal issues don't end up permanently sidelining the movement as a whole.

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Are safer that today's human-powered vehicles.

need to be changed to

are safer then today's human-powered vehicles.

better yet

are safer then today's human operated vehicles.
 
Who cares?

I do. The average speed on 285 during the day is 80+. Last thing I need to worry about when driving from A to B is some *******ed Google robo car messing with the traffic flow. There's enough to look out for as it is, what with the ladders, mattresses, couches, tables, would-be X-Games drivers, and occasional overturned chicken/cow trailers we normally have to deal with down here.
 
I do. The average speed on 285 during the day is 80+. Last thing I need to worry about when driving from A to B is some *******ed Google robo car messing with the traffic flow. There's enough to look out for as it is, what with the ladders, mattresses, couches, tables, would-be X-Games drivers, and occasional overturned chicken/cow trailers we normally have to deal with down here.
I think I answered, "who cares", to the syntax question.

As far a robot cars go, I wouldn't touch one with your ten foot pole.
Self driving cars are just another, "safety add on", that you'll be paying for through the nose, plus being a way for Google to try and force itself on the auto industry.

Every crap hole marketer, "consumer advocate", and corporate exec is determined to, "save us from ourselves", at least for a staggering percentage of profit margin.

My dream car is still a fuel injected 1963 Stingray split window coupe. Those sucker have points in the distributor. The only thing I'd change is the tires to radials, and add a modern radio. F*** Google, I just want the free email and search engine. I can't recall even responding to one of their targeted ads, let alone considering buying a self driving car from them.

Google is getting overblown, extremely invasive, predatory and obnoxious. Yeah I know, "so what else is new"...:D
 
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With a friend that died at school last week and 2 at work within 3 months from car accidents, lets just say at the moment I am ALL FOR these new cars and upgrades.
 
With a friend that died at school last week and 2 at work within 3 months from car accidents, lets just say at the moment I am ALL FOR these new cars and upgrades.
Well, "school" usually denotes a high risk driving demographic from the jump.
 
It's an Intel feature. Turbo Boost. Can't wait to overclock the sucker!!!
 
"Let's just hope these legal issues don't end up permanently sidelining the movement as a whole".

I think it's next to impossible. It may slow it down, even hold it up for a bit but it can't stop the inexorable march of ever advancing technology, nothing can, save for a natural disaster of biblical proportions. Laws will just have to be changed, modified and adapted to accommodate it's relentless advance.
 
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Google has programmed its self-driving car to go up to 10 mph above the speed limit.
For example, if you're caught speeding in your autonomous car, who pays the fine?
you won't get pulled over for going 10 over on the freeway. Maybe in a parking lot or side street, but not on the freeway. 10 over is normal. Not to mention, if traffic is moving at 10 over a cop wants to pull someone over for speeding, he/she won't be picking the car with the cameras on top. I bet if a driver of one of these cars to get a speeding ticket will make national news because it'll be so rare.

who is liable in the event of an auto accident involving a self-driving vehicle?
The police officer would evaluate the situation and put in their report. it'll be a judgement call, just like today. And if an automatic car runs a stop sign because it was covered in snow then google will probably be on the hook for it, but not after a lengthy investigation.
 
Why is it that everyone is alright with Google being the next big thing in auto manufacturing? It just seems like an intolerable extension of an already extremely invasive monopoly.

Sort of like M$ trying to take over the oil and farming industries.
 
Will u need a driving licence to drive a self driving car? I know the anwser but one day poeple wont need to take driving test if they the car does everything, and everyone probable rent a car for £15 a month and it will turn up at ur house when u need it.
 
Self driving cars are just another, "safety add on", that you'll be paying for through the nose, plus being a way for Google to try and force itself on the auto industry.

Every crap hole marketer, "consumer advocate", and corporate exec is determined to, "save us from ourselves", at least for a staggering percentage of profit margin.

My dream car is still a fuel injected 1963 Stingray split window coupe. Those sucker have points in the distributor. The only thing I'd change is the tires to radials, and add a modern radio. F*** Google, I just want the free email and search engine. I can't recall even responding to one of their targeted ads, let alone considering buying a self driving car from them.

Google is getting overblown, extremely invasive, predatory and obnoxious. Yeah I know, "so what else is new"...:D
As history has shown (think Lee Iaccoca and air bags), it will more likely be that auto makers will fight tooth and nail to keep any safety advancement out of the automobile market until consumers and others embrace it; at that point, then the automakers will be touting it as the next best thing to points in a distributor.
 
I want a van for this so I can drive again. Since being fully in a wheelchair with minimal upper-body strength, I can't drive anymore (and GOD don't I miss driving manual-shifted sports cars... I miss my Mustang...).

But a nice van with no internal controls would make me very happy. Get in, tell it where to go and sit back. I would actually cry as to be that happy.

The people that have a problem with this... Tough @#$%. It's coming and thank goodness. If you have an issue with the self-driving cars slowing you down, get over yourself cause no one else cares about you either. God knows no one cares about us cripples with various conditions (Mine's Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis) preventing us from 'living'. As long as we stay home and out of everyone's view as to not bring their day down... We want to get out too without having to wait for someone to take me somewhere. I grew up on a farm and have had a vehicle since I was 9, driving cars, trucks, tractors since 12. Now at 39 I can't even leave the house without someone's help. But if I had a personal Taxi I could go anywhere!!! (and no, there are no other 'taxi services' anywhere around here).
 
you won't get pulled over for going 10 over on the freeway. Maybe in a parking lot or side street, but not on the freeway. 10 over is normal.

Yes you can. They can and will pull you over for 10% deviation from the posted speed (and make it stick, they 'can' pull you over for 1 MPH but it won't hold up in court). So at 75 MPH, that's only a 7.5 MPH buffer difference. That's why around here people do 80 but don't do 84-85 as they will and do give you a ticket. on a 65 MPH highway, you can do 6.5 MPH above. And for the sake of the discussion; My last ticket before my Multiple Sclerosis took all of my driving away was for 73 in a 65 (and the cruse control was on) and my wife JUST got one last weekend for 61 in a 55.

And yes, I've seen them pull over a train of vehicles at one time. Just because they don't happen to do it where ever you are, don't think they aren't capable of doing it. Still the majority of the tickets are above that 10 MPH limit, it is not a national rule. If you don't want to ever get a ticket, I'd lower that to 5. Not to mention the fuel you'll save (I got almost 3 MPG more doing 65 instead of 70 and get there just as fast in reality). Ohh, and around here, if there is one cop and two people are speeding and one is from out of town and he doesn't feel like pulling over both cars at the same time, he goes after the one from out of town every time. Hence why I slow down (or did slow down). It's just not worth it.
 
who is liable in the event of an auto accident involving a self-driving vehicle?
The police officer would evaluate the situation and put in their report. it'll be a judgement call, just like today. And if an automatic car runs a stop sign because it was covered in snow then google will probably be on the hook for it, but not after a lengthy investigation.

The stop sign with the covered snow, where I live it's not the person in the car that's liable, it's the people that are supposed to clear them at the same time they clear roads. They still don't, but if something happens because of a stop sign hidden by snow, it's them that are liable if it's proven that the covered stop sign played an important role (although it never does).
 
Speeding is not dangerous, driving reckless is dangerous....[ ]....
FWIW, IMHO "speeding" is often associated or combined with, other offenses.

People view driving as a right, not the privilege which it is. Accordingly, they also have the "right" to text while, "just keeping up with traffic", and so forth.

The trouble with self driving cars, (at least as I see it), is only the wealthy will be able to afford them. As a consequence, poor people with perfectly roadworthy cars, will be relegated to mass transit.

So, for me the overarching issue isn't the technical aspect of whether or not we can accomplish "driverless cars", but the over arching concern of loss of civil liberties.

And yeah, I'd rather take my chances of meeting up with a loose cannon on the highway, that losing my driving "privilege", altogether.

Will u need a driving licence to drive a self driving car? I know the anwser but one day poeple wont need to take driving test if they the car does everything, and everyone probable rent a car for £15 a month and it will turn up at ur house when u need it.
15 quid a month, really? What planet did you fall off and land here?

Current car leases run at minimum $150.00 a month (USD), and that's usually with a couple of grand down payment,. Plus mandatory liability insurance, and mandatory fire, theft, and collision insurance.

And you think self piloting vehicles are going to cost a 1/5 of that?
 
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Maybe not £15 but does mean u have to be a **** about it, I was thinking cars on the road all driverless kinda like a train where u dont actually own the car, u get which ever cars closes picks u up maybe even share it with someone else.
 
Maybe not £15 but does mean u have to be a **** about it, I was thinking cars on the road all driverless kinda like a train where u dont actually own the car, u get which ever cars closes picks u up maybe even share it with someone else.
Spare me. A "trans-pass" is $130.00 a month here in the big city. And they get to choose where you can go, and where you can get off.

Are we talking about vehicles the you determine the destination, times of departure and return? Because that would be more.

In any event, whatever is under those asterisks, is probably a good guess. I fairly sure it's not "naive", because I would be sorely offended if you called me that.

(At which point, "captaincranky" breaks into song)....., "I gotta be me, I gotta be me"...you catch the drift.
 
Why would I want to be u? so I was wrong about the numbers, if it makes u feel better thats ok u can still go get ur friend to """" " off when u tell him all about this and how u conquered the techspot forum.
 
Why would I want to be u? so I was wrong about the numbers, if it makes u feel better thats ok u can still go get ur friend to """" " off when u tell him all about this and how u conquered the techspot forum.
U, UR, Urs maybe? When did we start conjugating pronouns in baby talk?
 
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