SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the vote-for-the-motion,-or-roko's-basilisk-will-run-you-over dept.
United States House Republicans expect to introduce bills later this week that would bar states from setting their own rules for self-driving cars and take other steps to remove obstacles to putting such vehicles on the road, a spokeswoman said.
The legislative action comes as major automakers are joining forces with auto suppliers and other groups to prod Congress into action.
Last month, a US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing on a Republican draft package of 14 bills that would allow US regulators to exempt up to 100,000 vehicles a year per manufacturer from federal motor vehicle safety rules that prevent the sale of self-driving vehicles without human controls.
[...] GM, Alphabet Inc., Tesla Inc., and others have been lobbying Congress to pre-empt rules under consideration in California and other states that could limit self-driving vehicle deployment.
As the number of self-driving cars on the road grows, will drivers proceeding on manual game the self-driving algorithms and lead to a ban on non-self-driving cars?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday August 08 2017, @12:00PM (4 children)
Will an autonomous vehicle still require a drivers license? This could have interesting implications. Will the DMV go away? The entire drivers education market will more or less be eliminated and wiped out. Manual driving will, or could become, be a very limited niche segment.
If self-driving becomes the norm then eventually it will probably lead to the ban on non-self driving. After all if it is found that self-driving is safer and better then non-self driving would be a risk and if not out right banned it will probably be squeezed out of the market by just having a giant insurance requirement that will be unsustainable for most people. Non-self driving cars will become a luxury item in the common market. There will still be vehicles that have to have manual control options tho -- law enforcement vehicles comes to mind but also probably more common out in the countryside. But in suburbia and the cities it will just die and go away, there will be no room or need for people to have self-driving-vehicles.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by rondon on Tuesday August 08 2017, @12:56PM (3 children)
I think there are a ton of edge cases that will be incredibly hard to automate, which will mean we have human drivers for a loooooooong time. Few examples off the top of my head:
- Pulling a boat (and putting that boat into the water at a boat ramp)
- Pulling a horse trailer (with incredibly valuable horses inside - some dressage and race horses valued at > $1 million)
- Off road
- Gravel roads
Each of these provides unique challenges that will be much more difficult to program than simply worrying about 4 wheels on a well defined track. The variables involved with simply pulling a trailer that can have different weights... doubt that commuter trucks will ever be totally self driving.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 08 2017, @01:43PM (1 child)
Forget the trailer edge cases, some pickup truck already comes (or has demonstrated) smart reversing that does a "perfect" job of handling the trailer.
The edge case I'm interested in is going out for a drive in the country like Chuck Berry[1]. A self-driving car is unlikely to have any curiosity about what might be found down that little country lane, or understand the concept of "no particular place to go."
[1]
Riding along in my automobile
My baby beside me at the wheel
I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile
My curiosity runnin' wild
Crusin' and playin' the radio
With no particular place to go
Riding along in my automobile
I was anxious to tell her the way I feel
So I told her softly and sincere
And she leaned and whispered in my ear
Cuddlin' more and drivin' slow
With no particular place to go
No particular place to go
So we parked way out on the Kokomo
The night was young and the moon was gold
So we both decided to take a stroll
Can you imagine the way I felt
I couldn't unfasten her safety belt
Ridin' along in my calaboose
Still trying to get her belt a-loose
All the way home I held a grudge
For the safety belt that wouldn't budge
Crusin' and playin' the radio
With no particular place to go
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 08 2017, @08:57PM
I to elude Facebook on the weekends and hop the turbine freight to far outside the Wired. My uncle has a country place that nobody knows about, says it used to be a farm. He preserved for me an old machine for 50-odd years.
Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge
Well-oiled leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware
Just have to keep an eye out for those Canyonero drivers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 08 2017, @11:53PM
Also - drive thru's, parking on lots without lines, detours, accidents, drunk drivers, etc ad nauseum