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Bob Lutz, former General Motors Vice Chair, opines:
It saddens me to say it, but we are approaching the end of the automotive era.
The auto industry is on an accelerating change curve. For hundreds of years, the horse was the prime mover of humans and for the past 120 years it has been the automobile.
Now we are approaching the end of the line for the automobile because travel will be in standardized modules.
The end state will be the fully autonomous module with no capability for the driver to exercise command. You will call for it, it will arrive at your location, you'll get in, input your destination and go to the freeway.
...
The vehicles, however, will no longer be driven by humans because in 15 to 20 years — at the latest — human-driven vehicles will be legislated off the highways.The tipping point will come when 20 to 30 percent of vehicles are fully autonomous. Countries will look at the accident statistics and figure out that human drivers are causing 99.9 percent of the accidents.
Is he right? Is the age of the automobile coming to an end?
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Monday November 13 2017, @05:35PM (1 child)
I've been pulled over for 'I don't like the way you look' citations in the 30 years I've been driving. (Wish my dashcam was available back in the day)
I can't believe speed trap cash is going to be given up easily. So, what will the ticket trap for a self driving car look like? Pop up speed limit signs/changing limit signs? Signs disguised in a way that humans see but that don't meet the car AI standards for a limit sign? Contradictory signs? Tickets for arbitrary 'unsafe for conditions' where the only arbiters are the agents of the municipality that wants the cash?
There better be some sort of protection/cloud copying of data or cars will be impounded and returned only once the trip data was wiped. (as happens to photographers now - along with a resisting arrest and assaulting an officer charge - once the photo evidence to the contrary is destroyed naturally - I've seen it done in person in NOLA, + a night stick to the head for trying to document police hippy beatings) The end result may be making every road a toll road since it will be so easy. It'll probably start as a 'congestion zone' tax and spread.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @03:11AM
No, they'll ticket the non-autonomous cars that exceed the speed limit by 1 MPH, since the autonomous cars will refuse to. Even with 75% autonomous, there's still 25% non- , and they can hit that 25% 4 times as frequently. And it will make sense, too, since the insurance companies will have the stats to show how the 25% are the unsafe ones.
It's a lot like smoking, in that regard.