Driverless cars now street legal..........in california.

JClarke

JClarke

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Driverless cars now street legal | Information, Gadgets, Mobile Phones News & Reviews | News.com.au

Get Excited. The future is here.

Driverless cars are now street legal.
In California.

Google had been working with the Governer of California, Jerry Brown, to legally get its vehicles on the road.

Yesterday it became law.

Governor Brown signed a bill known as "SB1298" at Google's Mountain View headquarters which created "a legal framework and safety standards for autonomous vehicles on state roads and highways," Mashable reported.

Google co-founder, Sergey Brin said during a speech at its California headquarters - that self driving cars could "transform lives and communities - providing transportation to those not currently served, increasing safety on the road, reducing or eliminating congestion, and turning parking into parkland”.
Governer Brown added that the driverless cars demonstrated had turned "science fiction into tomorrow's reality".

Google has been testing its driverless cars for almost two years. The vehicles operate using sensors, computer navigation and radar. Rather than being the driver, the technology sees humans become the "back-up" option of last resort.
The cars have reportedly recorded more hours without accidents than the average US driver.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (the US equivilent of the RTA) now has two years to figure out how to license the driverless cars.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers opposed the law because of concerns over whether carmakers would be held legally liable for cars that are made autonomous. Consumer groups also raised security concerns because the computers would be tracking the driverless cars' every movement.
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.... ok that kinda scares me to be honest.

"Hal3000 stop the car! stop the car!"

".....I'm sorry David, I just can't do that"
 
The thing that makes me nervous about this, is that it relies on technology- when technology is never 100%. My concern is what happens when there is a glitch in the system...

The upside to this is that it opens the doors to individuals who are blind, being able to use the car independently.
 
Or hackers or someone with technical experiences could tamper the driverless cars' system. Oh, yeah. It can happen.
 
Oddball said:
Or hackers or someone with technical experiences could tamper the driverless cars' system. Oh, yeah. It can happen.
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Or machine come alive and take over world. Oh no! Include CI. bwhahaha...
 
Wow this is really exciting and interesting! I do agree technology isn't 100% but then again even cars aren't 100% reliable. I'm assuming google has an appropriate backup system of some sort in case something fails, e.g. might have duplicate radar systems so in case one fails the other can still work.

For one thing I think this has a great potential to improve safety and even increase speed limits. The problem with human drivers is that we all have bad days and we get distracted but robots and software don't need breaks. I can just see the day when cars go 100mph on a daily basis and barely any incidents.
 
Gee, another prediction by movie-makers may be correct. This reminds me of movie called "Demolition Man".

I read the article, it said that the 300,000 miles has been logged with only one record of accident, believe it or not that accident were not computer error, it is driver's error.
 
Perhaps, but it was computer controlled cars vs an overwhelming majority of human controlled cars. If they're all computer controlled, who's to say they won't all grind to a halt trying to avoid a collision with each other? Whereas humans would keep driving because they can see a safe path where the computer can't?

I think this is inevitable anyway. I'm reminded of a computer game called "Omikron: The Nomad Soul" where you could press a button on your wrist-mounted device and the next unoccupied car on the street would stop and collect you, and drop you off right outside your destination.
 
I am wary about that too. I don't know what the future will bring us especially when there is new technologies trying to make our life sooo much easier. We are going to be lazy with the help of robot doing the house cleaning and cooking plus having a driverless car to take us wherever we want to go. Yep, I feel there will be a glitch if we are not careful about it. Remember that computer only last few years like 5 to 7 years old. So it depend how long those machines would last..... :(
 
Well, it does give me the beejees and the jitters....."Look Ma!...No Hands!"
 
If it happens to faill, the system have a back up to take over however there is a back up driver which is yourself, and the driver can override the system of the car and drive it manually. That is how it works and it is simple but the technology will advance a lot over time. Volvo in europe already has similarity developed and I have seen the video and its awesome. They have done a lot of tests.
 
diehardbiker said:
Gee, another prediction by movie-makers may be correct. This reminds me of movie called "Demolition Man".

I read the article, it said that the 300,000 miles has been logged with only one record of accident, believe it or not that accident were not computer error, it is driver's error.
Click to expand...

Running by Maps app from Apple. Oh no! That's human's error, who they develop.
 
The way people drive today we'll already have cars that drive on their own. I once saw a guy eating a sandwich and talking on the phone while driving the truck using his knees... I kept far away from that moron .
 
whatdidyousay! said:
The way people drive today we'll already have cars that drive on their own. I once saw a guy eating a sandwich and talking on the phone while driving the truck using his knees... I kept far away from that moron .
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I had the misfortune of being in the back seat of a car with a lady looking at facebook, text messaging and eating a taco at the same time. I decided she wasn't reasonable enough to try to reason with and just sat back and prayed. I made it back alive but still... :jaw:
 
I don't want a car to drive for me, come on its 2012 going on 2013... where are the flying cars already??? :-D
 
CSign said:
The thing that makes me nervous about this, is that it relies on technology- when technology is never 100%. My concern is what happens when there is a glitch in the system...

The upside to this is that it opens the doors to individuals who are blind, being able to use the car independently.
Click to expand...

Well, you're relying on technology every time you get behind the wheel. You're trusting that the steering wheel will turn the car, the brakes will stop the car, and when you press the gas pedal just a little bit, it won't zoom off at 120 miles per hour.

Self-driving cars will improve driver safety, by minimizing driver's errors, which is where most auto injuries and deaths result from.
 
we are just a few years away from now,
walle-e-humans-in-the-spaceship.jpeg
 
ladysolitary85 said:
.... ok that kinda scares me to be honest.

"Hal3000 stop the car! stop the car!"

".....I'm sorry David, I just can't do that"
Click to expand...

No more dangerous than cars being driven by people numb on pot...only in California.

Laura
 
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