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Driverless cars poised to transform automotive industry

Wednesday, April 1st 2015 - 08:26 UTC
Full article 17 comments

The newest Mercedes autonomous car looks like a car on the outside but like a lounge on the inside, with four swivel seats facing each other in a multimedia bubble of padded leather and walnut veneer. Read full article

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  • Conqueror

    'It is likelier to be legal and liability issues that slow down actual deployment. That and social acceptance of such a radical change could dampen the trend more than a lack of technology.'

    I can see that. When the driverless car in front of you suddenly brakes and your driven car hits it, who's at fault?
    How many cameras in this driverless car? Any blind spots? Is the car still allowed to move if one of its £400 cameras isn't working? Do these cars have the technology to ask someone else to move?
    '
    Also, there will be fewer cars on the road because a single driverless car per family can take both parents to work, drop the kids off at school, pick them up afterwards and obviate the need for the two or three-car family'.
    And when they all have to be at 'work' or school at the same time?

    And for the people w2ho want to decide for themselves whether to turn left or right?

    Who uses a satnav? And those occasions when the road has been altered and the icon on the screen is in the middle of nowhere?

    And the servicing bills?

    Why don't they try this with commercial aircraft and ferries first?

    Of course, I forgot, drivers are more expendable.

    Apr 01st, 2015 - 11:21 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • inthegutter

    If manufacturers can demonstrate that their vehicles are “safe” (and I think they will be able to) I don't really see much of a legal problem. I think however it depends on whether the car is fully autonomous (essentially it's then just a taxi and all the liability lies with manufacturer) or can be driven (in which case it is more more complicated).

    For fully automated systems I think we'll move towards a system where you essentially just lease the vehicle (like your own chauffeured car) with the company leasing the vehicle responsible for insurance, maintenance etc. However, I suspect most people will use community automated vehicles. There will be a large pool of vehicles that can be called upon at any time, in times of peak demand you may have to wait. I imagine this community pool will eventually replace rural bus services as it will be more efficient and convenient (I can see pensioners being given a number of “free” trips each week instead of a bus pass).

    There are however a couple of remaining legal/moral issues, essentially the runaway trolley problem: should an autonomous vehicle change its direction (or whatever) to minimise casualties even if that means killing someone who would otherwise have been unhurt.

    Apr 01st, 2015 - 01:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Idlehands

    1 Conqueror (#)

    “When the driverless car in front of you suddenly brakes and your driven car hits it, who's at fault?”

    ...if you don't know the answer to that you probably shouldn't be on the roads.

    Apr 01st, 2015 - 03:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Tik Tok

    Expect it to arive to South America in 2065

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 12:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • STroll with the_TroLL

    Why would I ride on a driverless car? I might as well take the train. And btw this takes all the interest in cars in the first place, or buying any particular model, since the driver would find it pointless to invest on performance or power if a computer will predetermine your speed and acceleration, turns, etc.

    With driverless cars, the industry is sewing the seeds of their own destruction.

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 01:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    5 SNOT BALLER

    Worry not!

    You will never be able to afford a car anyway- I wonder if you ever got your license?

    The Chinese might have a model you can afford - bit of a death trap, I think!

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 03:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • McCool

    @5

    Spot on.

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 11:07 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • STroll with the_TroLL

    If posters 6 and 7 don't prove my racist thesis (their thought process “you are argie, you can't afford a car”), then what could possibly convince anyone on the fence?

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 12:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • McCool

    I'm a racist because I agree with you? I think you need to have a look at your own thought process.

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 01:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Rick from Maryland

    Whoohoo!

    Sure will make going out to the local pub more fun!

    Where can I get one???

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 01:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • STroll with the_TroLL

    @9

    I apologize, I misread your answer and thought it was @6 not @5.

    Forgive me but I don't have many allies here in the search for truth and honesty. Anglos usually aren't born with an interest in those fields.

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 01:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    @3. Sorry, but you're thinking in terms of two 'driven' cars. And the 'advantages' of a 'driverless' car if everyone else has to drive 100 feet behind it is....? Here's an idea. You want to overtake something 15 foot long. You're 100 foot behind it. Do you try to cover 115 foot or 35 foot? You don't think, do you?
    @5. 'Sowing', dingbat.
    @11. Don't be ridiculous. You couldn't recognise 'honesty' or 'truth' if both stood up, kicked your imaginary balls off and forced them down your throat. You're a pisspot. At best. Although 'pisspot' implies something useful. It might be reasonable to squeeze organs flat in order to cure leather. Better to do this than permit argies to reproduce.

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 02:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • yankeeboy

    11. The reason I started posting here was to give readers the truth and honesty.

    When I first came here it was filled with 5-7 of Think's personas all of whom were retornados from Scandinavia until it was called out then they moved to Scotland and Canada and changed their names.

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 03:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    8 snotty nostril

    Please explain how what I said was racist.

    Did I say you cannot afford a driverless car because you are a certain race, or because of your JEWISH heritage?

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 04:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • STroll with the_TroLL

    I'm tired of explaining this to such feckless noetic deserts.

    You all abuse and insult Argentines with the SAME LANGUAGE that RACISTS abuse an insult “skin-based races”. Just because Argentines are not a “race” in the classical definition (though I believe we are a separate race), does not mean you are not racist. That is like a war criminal saying just because he gave the order to exterminate all Canadians (black, white, brown, yellow, mixed), he isn't guilty of genocide since it was not a “race” or “ethnicity” that was exterminated.

    You all have the same racist overtones towards Argentines as racists do towards “races”. Thus, you are all racists, if not in the literal sense, in the SPIRIT of the concept.

    Sorry, that's the truth.

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 06:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ilsen

    @15 Troll,
    You are such an idiot, so narrow-minded. Just because, in the future, in the modern world, we will all be travelling in these 'driverless car', does not immediately discount that we can't still drive 'classics'.
    For those of with a nice life-style, we can have both.
    Why not?
    Driver-less cars for commuting, and classics for fun?
    You didn't even consider that option, did you?
    Because that is so alien to your normal life...

    Do you ever get to 'have fun'?
    You are so indoctrinated in the ''Krass-Tina' ideologue, that you can only see in 'black and white'.
    Your world maybe monochrome, but for others, it is a rainbow.
    Never any 'fun' for you. Never get to play, just grind out your sad existence and fund the pockets of those they rule you.
    How Sad!
    Think on that....

    Apr 02nd, 2015 - 11:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    16 ilsen

    Tobi “snotty” Nostrils is playing the 'victim game' again, as he has for years.

    “You hate us...” “you all want to see terrible things happen to Argentinians.... ” “you want to keep is down... ” etc.

    Now, he is reaching hard, to classify Argentinians as a race, in order to discriminate against us “ non-ARGENTINIANS”, as “racists”!!

    snotty@15
    ”... Just because Argentines are not a “race” in the classical definition (though I believe we are a separate race).... “

    Then for the spectacular height of hypocrisy,

    snotty@15

    ”...You all have the same racist overtones towards Argentines as racists do towards “races”. Thus, you are all racists, if not in the literal sense, in the SPIRIT of the concept.“

    LOL, ”overtones“.... ”spirit of the concept“!!

    These cries of racism from the very overt racist and bigot that makes fun of Asians and sees no issue with discrimination against blacks and AmerIndians in SA, ARGENTINA, in particular.

    The same bigot that says ”all EUians”... (add derogatory characteristic here)

    or “all North Amoans”... ( add defining sin, vice, insult regarding physicality, social values, etc.)

    “all Muslims”... (add dehumanising insults, godlessness etc. )

    And lets not forget the Briish, who “stole” everything from other races, and are 'genetically-disposed towards murdering other races to steal their wealth.

    Snotty,
    please, how do you expect to buy a an ultra-sophisticated, complex, driverless car, when you are living at home, supported by your mother ( “ALL WOMEN are evil”, right??), and you are unemployed, if not also, unemployable?

    On top of that, you are living in an economy in steep decline, high inflation, growing unemployment, with failing industries and infrastructure, and no money to import goods or technology to repair Paul Cedron's CT Scanners, or other machines.

    CFK can buy any car she wants - but not Tobi Nostrils!

    Apr 03rd, 2015 - 12:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0

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