Look...that Car's Driving Itself!

[malfunction]

So, there's been a surge in media attention around "robocars" lately because the UK government has finally caught up with some of the advances in motoring technology. I'm just curious what everyone else thinks of them. Would you be happy in ride in a car without a driver? Or would it just be too freaky?

 

[techen]

Am sure you are talking about Googles new taxi thats due out at sometime. I think it's a great idea maybe for the US but from the UK I can see chavs breaking them.

 

[TheAquariumGuy]

I have to agree with techen there. It Is a perfect oppurtinity for automotive development in America but poses too big a target to vandals in the uk. Some type of police monitoring scheme would have to be put in place to prevent and catch vandals if these vehicles are to be used in the uk.
As far as damp her is concerned I feel the scars would be safer because they'd reduce if not remove the human error aspect of driving but one idea would have to be to have a manual override so that if the car was to go haywire the passenger could shut it down or control it out of a situation.


I could see it being quite fun jumping into a car and telling it where you want to go. It would be a bit like Jarvis from iron man
Lets just hope it doesn't end like Irobot

 

[the_lock_man]

So, there's been a surge in media attention around "robocars" lately because the UK government has finally caught up with some of the advances in motoring technology. I'm just curious what everyone else thinks of them. Would you be happy in ride in a car without a driver? Or would it just be too freaky?

 
I would be too worried that the cars would take after you, and malfunction.

 

[malfunction]

 
I would be too worried that the cars would take after you, and malfunction.

Yes, very good. I actually chuckled out loud when I read that.

Although it's worth pointing out that human beings do malfunction - even more so than machines in some instances. Apparently the google street cars have been in two accidents....one of them when a driver was in control of the vehicle; the other when the car was stationary and was rear-ended by another vehicle.

I can see vandalism being a concern, but do you think they'd be much more of a target than some of the high-powered Ferraris and Lamborghinis we have speeding around London in the summer? What I think would be really useful about these cars is that if you're on a long journey, you can do things you wouldn't be able to do now. For example, read a book, prepare meeting notes, or even post on TFF. I travel long distances by car frequently, and it would make my life much easier if I could sleep in the back of the car whilst it drove me to the other side of the country overnight.