All our bank accounts are already online, credit cards etc. and still everything is pretty safe.
Well they can drive 70mph and crash and kill me. Not even close analogy.
We have drone planes and they are pretty safe.
And while pilotless they are not not necessarily autonomous, a lot of these have pilots just flying by radio. And again not much to crash into up in the air. Closer but still not really close at all.
Yes you can manipulate such things, but you can also just manipulate normal cars. but its still very uncommon.
Its like "OMG I would never drive 80miles/h cus that can be super dangerous if someone throws a rock at me"
But that is the point. Will the computer see the kids with rocks on the side of the road? Will it recognize them? Will it change lanes to avoid that possible hazard? I can.
And you guys are also saying that the AUDI A7 concept of driverless parking is bullshit? and that googles development into autonomous cars is also bullshit?
Not really. Just that I don't think it will catch on in an urban non-interstate situation.
These companies put a lot of thought and money in their technologies.
And Honda as put tons of money into Asimo, and NASA/USA into going to the moon. But the goals of these projects wasn't sell humanoid robots, or exploit/colonize the moon. They were tasks for the sake of it. And knowing that the technology would trickle down into other things. Like making ICBMs.
Its also pretty arrogant to assume a human can drive better than a computer, that is already not the case and in a few years that statement will be as laughable as
"A human can calculate better than a computer"
No humans CAN drive better than computers at the moment. In the future than may may not be the case I agree for most driving. But accidents happen around the fringe. How will an autonomous car deal with ice? How will an autonomous car deal with standing water? How will an autonomous car deal with pedestrians, kids, and other erratically moving objects? How will they deal with animals? And most importantly how will they deal with other non-autonomous vehicles.
Thought here on TMC are more people that are optimistic in future technologies such as battery powered cars.
Well a lot of us on the forums, and probably almost all of the Roadster owners, really
LIKE to drive. So would be opposed to having a computer take that away. I truly like to drive.
If Elon would think along those lines like you guys, this Forum and Tesla Motors would never exist.
I think Elon is someone who genuinely likes to drive also. That is why his cars are a pleasure to drive.
There are 3 scenarios where I think computers will never be 'good' at driving.
In neighborhoods where children are playing in the front yard. I can easily see and process if they are playing something that would cause them to dart into the street. Soccer with a goal towards the street, I need to be careful. Playing jump rope, not going to be a problem. If there are cars/bushes near the street they are likely to pop out between them, as they can't see well over objects. Not to mention I can see the faces of kids and their eyes and can tell if they are paying attention to my car or not. Sure these things can be programmed into a computer but they will never be as good as a human being.
In very dense urban environments with many many things to keep track of. Sure a computer can see 360 all of the time but will it pick up all the obstacles and gauge all of the appropriately? Will it ignore parked cars, or watch each individual one. I can tell by many factors if a parked car is about to move, person in the car, tail pipe putting out steam (this will change), car rocking a little from shifting occupants, seeing the person enter the car earlier. Can a computer make all those connections. Can a computer pick up a child, dog, or other erratically moving pedestrian out of a sea of pedestrians? Will it understand about white canes and know that person can't see?
In poor conditions. How does a computer gauge a puddle? How does it gauge ice? How does it gauge a limited sight turn? How does it gauge an emergency situation? What happens if a squirrel darts out in front of your car? What about a cat? What about a dog? What about a deer? I can tell you squirrels get different treatment than cats. And they depend on where I am and what is following me around. What about a crash?
Sure all of these things could be programmed for. But will it get all those cases 100% correct? And can it be programmed for ALL of those cases, and be able to run all that programming, and run it fast enough to make decisions? Will it know when it can and can't run off the road safely? Will it know when it can and can't hydroplane/skate safely?
The problem isn't that a computer can't drive better, the problem is that the programming will never be able to cover all the insane variability of tasks you have to handle while driving.
