Self driving cars....

There are more important things to worry about than self driving cars, imo. More important applications for technology.

Self driving cars are a want, not a need.

desol said:

There are more important things to worry about than self driving cars, imo. More important applications for technology.

Self driving cars are a want, not a need.

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Want is what drives capital investment. Lots of people want self driving cars, especially the taxi/truck driver/ride service firms trying to get away from messy human employees.

JR

PS: There are currently shortages of truck drivers, but nobody in their right mind should expect to make a career doing that.

JohnRoberts said:

Want is what drives capital investment. Lots of people want self driving cars, especially the taxi/truck driver/ride service firms trying to get away from messy human employees.

JR

PS: There are currently shortages of truck drivers, but nobody in their right mind should expect to make a career doing that.

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There are many people that enjoy being truck drivers, I'm pretty sure. Maybe not for everyone. We can't expect machines to fix everything for us...to make up for a person's lack of interest or responsibility. It's obvious to me that there are more important things to focus on. Self driving cars seem more akin to an idealistic hollywood fantasy, when it comes to down to earth reality. Electric cars on the other hand aim to serve real, practical and important issues.

Many vehicles come with enough amenities to maximize comfort, while expecting you to at least be responsible enough to steer.

Gene Pink said:

Agree with texting and driving being flat-out stupid, but I am not sold on putting my safety in the hands of computers.

Can software at this complexity actually be written that is completely bug-free?

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No.

(Of course, people can't be made "bug free" either.)

Furthermore, the way these things are "programmed," it's virtually impossible to verify that it works by "looking at the code." It's just a bunch of numbers that happen to be weightings for simulated neurons in an artificial neuron network. This application is to recognize spoken numbers, but visual recognizers (to recognize lane edges, stop signs and read text on other road signs) work similarly.

After seeing this, not only may you not want to ride in such a car, you might want to move to some rural area in some third-world country so a self-driving car will never get within miles of you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9FPqkuoEJ8