Reported at IEEE Spectrum is the news that Holland has just allowed self driving cars onto the roads, although only approved cars as part of test programs:
As the government's announcement makes plain, only manufacturers, universities and other recognized research outfits will be allowed to play, and then only if they've already tested their vehicles under controlled conditions. There's a lot of paperwork to fill out, and as the announcement notes, "Please expect an average 3-to-6-month-turn-around time from sending in your application to executing the test."
The government announcement is available here.
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Holland to Open Roads to (some) Experimental Self Driving Robots
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(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday July 01 2015, @06:29PM
Would Nikola Tesla have been recognized as a researcher?
Many researchers work in secret, and have done so for thousands of years.
While I recognize the need for safety I am dismayed that any government would concern itself with who was a researcher and who was not.
Pierre Fermat wasnt really a mathematician, in reality he was a judge. Disprove his theorem and hed send the headsman your way.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by RobotMonster on Wednesday July 01 2015, @06:47PM
I'm sure if he filled out sufficient paperwork, he'd be fine.
Don't want to fill out the paperwork? Then you can't test your robo-car on public roads. As much as I hate bureaucracy, this seems fair to me.
(Score: 2) by skullz on Wednesday July 01 2015, @06:49PM
If you read the www.rdw.nl it lists "research institutions" as possible candidates. That could be a one person shop.
I think this is mostly about the liability of allowing these on public roads. I assume the reason for restricting to larger, more established groups is that they likely have well established test protocols and have done most of the grunt work already. Not saying that one person can't do it but it is a LOT of paperwork and prep. This is moving the "I got my great idea working in my garage!" product to the "we can sell this without killing people!" stage. You really do need a full time team.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday July 01 2015, @08:33PM
Many researchers work in secret, and have done so for thousands of years.
Jeepers! You mean they figured out how to removing the aging gene several millenia ago?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 01 2015, @10:48PM
Many researchers work in secret, and have done so for thousands of years.
Jeepers! You mean they figured out how to removing the aging gene several millenia ago?
Sometimes is just happens by accident, like being bitten by a radioactive echidna that has been dosed with carbon nanotubes. But in any case, when you have been doing research for a couple thousand years, it is best to kind of keep quite about it. On the other hand, researching for a couple of thousand years makes you really appreciate how profound human ignorance is, how slow the uncovering of truth can be, and how bogus most claims of breakthroughs are.
Aristarchus of Samos
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Thursday July 02 2015, @11:54AM
I'm Dutch and I saw this headline 4 times on this site before realising it referred to the country of the Netherlands, and not the French Prime Minister Hollande.
We stopped calling The Big Apple "Nieuw Amsterdam", can you guys start calling our country by it's current name as well? Maybe, for starters, at least not "Holland" right here on Soylentnews?
(Score: 2) by gidds on Thursday July 02 2015, @01:20PM
I for one (can't speak for the original submitter) will be happy to refer to your country by its correct title — but I'm ashamed to say that until I saw your post, I wasn't sure what that was!
I'm English (and I know my country has its own naming issues...), so I guess I share some of the Anglophone ignorance of continental Europe, even though I try to be reasonably well-informed. I'd sort of gathered that 'the Low Countries' wasn't very specific (even though it's a sort of literal translation of 'Netherlands'). But I thought that 'Holland' referred to the whole country; I now see (from its Wikipedia page) that that's only a region on the western coast (and an informal term for the whole country — possibly an offensive one).
I expect the original submitter and/or editor was acting only out of ignorance, and that no offence was intended. Thanks to your post, I think we've all learned something :-)
[sig redacted]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2015, @02:27PM
Most Dutch people don't mind 'Holland', used as a pars-pro-toto. When someone in a foreign county asks where I'm from I'll answer 'the Netherlands' first, and add 'Holland' if they look puzzled.
It is ofcourse a national sport to be pedantic about it (as long as it's not financially disadvantageous).
Inside the Netherlands, 'holland' is sort of used offensively by everybody not living in holland. All the government stuff and most big cities is/are in holland, and 'hollanders' (people from holland) have a reputation of being loud and bossy. Probably like New Yorkers in the U.S. or Londoners in the U.K.
But I meet very few people who are genuinly offended if the country as a whole is called holland.
p.s.
When on holiday in France, most dutch people would say they were from 'la hollande' because 'les payes-bas' is more difficult to pronounce correctly :-)
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Thursday July 02 2015, @05:23PM
True enough - and apologies if my tone was a bit grumpy.
On a side note: my English pronunciation and a taxi driver's English comprehension once collaborated to work out that I was from Poland. Had to correct him thrice before it sank in - and I used the phrase "Holland" exactly as parent explained: when the term "Netherlands" was not understood.
But I was amazed when my on-the-spot invented spanishfication of the french term, "paios bajos", actually is close [wikipedia.org].