Autonomous cars could be so inconveniently safe that you can't get anywhere

[qubit]

Millard-Ball contends that pedestrians and drivers are engaged in a game of chicken, in which one party eventually decides to yield to the other based on the psychological perception of risk.

With a human behind the wheel, there's always a chance the driver will behave unpredictably or won't see the pedestrian.

Automated cars, however, are programmed to be perceptive, predictable and law abiding. So pedestrians will be able to take advantage of that tendency toward deference. If they do so, it could make traveling in a self-driving car exceedingly slow.

"Secure in the knowledge that a car will yield, pedestrians can cross with impunity," Millard-Ball wrote. "They merely need to act unpredictably or step into the street to force the risk-averse car to slow down. From the point of view of a passenger in an automated car, it would be like driving down a street filled with unaccompanied five-year-old children."

www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/27/selfdriving_cars_will_be_bullied_by_pedestrians

Perhaps the solution is to make autonomous cars behave more like humans?

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

This has the potential to cause mayhem in the UK where we can cross where we like, we dont have to use a designated crossing place.

Thete is no law in the UK to stop jaywalking.

 

[64K]

Even if I see automated cars in my lifetime I wouldn't own one. There are too many things that could go wrong. i.e. the issue with the chip in the Camry that caused the car to accelerate at full throttle for no reason causing crashes. Automated cars would be perfect if the humans that made the systems and programmed them were perfect but we're not. If the systems are connected to the net then there is also the possibility that they could be hacked with malware as well.

I've owned many cars over my lifetime and I can say from experience that the more electronics that they put on cars the more that can go wrong. I currently have a Camry with power everything and a couple of months ago my power door locks engaged and the button wouldn't release the locks. I couldn't manually release the lock nor open my door using the door handle until I physically pressed the lock so hard that it finally broke and wouldn't close again.

 

[Caring1]

Wont happen, autonomous cars are programmed to sacrifice pedestrians in the case of a potential collision.

 

[cdawall]

Even if I see automated cars in my lifetime I wouldn't own one. There are too many things that could go wrong. i.e. the issue with the chip in the Camry that caused the car to accelerate at full throttle for no reason causing crashes. Automated cars would be perfect if the humans that made the systems and programmed them were perfect but we're not. If the systems are connected to the net then there is also the possibility that they could be hacked with malware as well.

I've owned many cars over my lifetime and I can say from experience that the more electronics that they put on cars the more that can go wrong. I currently have a Camry with power everything and a couple of months ago my power door locks engaged and the button wouldn't release the locks. I couldn't manually release the lock nor open my door using the door handle until I physically pressed the lock so hard that it finally broke and wouldn't close again.

There was reason why the camry's had "uncontrollable" acceleration it is a DBW system and someone put the decimal point in the wrong position that is why Toyota was able to fix them with a simple ECM reflash. Human nature also should have told people to put the car in neutral. Hard to accelerate when the vehicle isn't in gear, very easy for a computer to accomplish that same task.

Ironic is the fact that you never saw this issue with any of the manual camry's which actually make up quite a large portion of sales in that generation and were plagued with the same issue. Interestingly enough manual drivers know how to do more than put the transmission in 'D' and press the skinny pedal. With their crazy ability to not only press the clutch, but move the gear lever they managed to thwart certain death.

#manualsforlife

 

[remixedcat]

Not trusting this because hackers can fuck you up and kill you with very minimal effort.. also if you missed a payment they can kill you.

Or some SJW type can target people that don't fit their agenda.... just so much potential for abuse with this shit.

 

[RejZoR]

Bullshit, they can put gazillion sensors on cars and they'll never have even 1/100th of predictability of a human. The way humans can observe things and predict ahead, I just can't see it how computer can do it unless you specifically place a logic for that in it. For example, if the opposite lane is empty and I have a group of children pedestrians on a side walk on my side, I'll preemptively make an arch around them, despite them being on a sidewalk and everything looks "normal". Have a bad experience with kids pushing each other out of the blue, potentially right in front of my car. Tell me, what computer will EVER do this on its own? Or even tiny things like avoiding a puddle next to a side walk to avoid spraying pedestrians next to it? It comes naturally for a human driver, for a computer, it'll have to be a specially included rule and sensors to recognize a puddle. Who's going to invest millions into "puddles" recognition? Very unlikely.
Not to mention laws are different in different countries. Imagine such car traveling from France to UK and it has to suddenly drive on the wrong side of the road. How are they going to work that out? Just mirroring the rules or having an entirely separate rules to include both scenarios in its entirety?

I like technology and all that, but I have great doubts about 100% self driving cars. I do like the basic helpers like brake assistance to avoid rear ending another car, but that's very simple straight forward logic and a function to design.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Only fools would walk in front of a moving vehicle and physics still apply to autonomous cars. Autonomous cars will reduce the number of avoidable accidents but they will not eliminate them. Additionally, pedestrians walking where they are not supposed to be is already a misdemeanor (e.g. jaywalking) and that doesn't change. Autonomous cars could actually decrease incidences of misdemeanors like jaywalking because they could record the crime in progress with their many cameras and upload it directly to authorities.

And let's not forget that 100 years from now, there will still be some cars that are not autonomous (e.g. recreational vehicles) so those fools are rolling a dice every time on whether or not the vehicle will stop.

 

[Caring1]

People will become more complacent about their vehicles than they already are. They will expect to hop in and do nothing apart from telling the vehicle their destination and possibly refuel if they don't have an at home recharging station.
It's bad enough now with people driving without a clue how to check fluids or change tires. How many people know someone that drives around with a red light on their dash? I know of a couple that have done this, one even ran out of oil.

 

[jboydgolfer]

This has the potential to cause mayhem in the UK where we can cross where we like, we dont have to use a designated crossing place.

Thete is no law in the UK to stop jaywalking.

Everywhere there may not be a law......but there is ALWAYS a precident.

BUMPER V SKULL
WINDSHEILD V FACE

to cite a couple

 

[cdawall]

Bullshit, they can put gazillion sensors on cars and they'll never have even 1/100th of predictability of a human. The way humans can observe things and predict ahead, I just can't see it how computer can do it unless you specifically place a logic for that in it. For example, if the opposite lane is empty and I have a group of children pedestrians on a side walk on my side, I'll preemptively make an arch around them, despite them being on a sidewalk and everything looks "normal". Have a bad experience with kids pushing each other out of the blue, potentially right in front of my car. Tell me, what computer will EVER do this on its own? Or even tiny things like avoiding a puddle next to a side walk to avoid spraying pedestrians next to it? It comes naturally for a human driver, for a computer, it'll have to be a specially included rule and sensors to recognize a puddle. Who's going to invest millions into "puddles" recognition? Very unlikely.
Not to mention laws are different in different countries. Imagine such car traveling from France to UK and it has to suddenly drive on the wrong side of the road. How are they going to work that out? Just mirroring the rules or having an entirely separate rules to include both scenarios in its entirety?

I like technology and all that, but I have great doubts about 100% self driving cars. I do like the basic helpers like brake assistance to avoid rear ending another car, but that's very simple straight forward logic and a function to design.

Thing is most drivers wont care about spraying kids with a puddle. Humans as of late are also known very well for not paying attention to what is around them. The self driving car would help that.

 

[RejZoR]

Those were actually two separate examples... Unless if you meant people don't care about blood puddles created by kids being ran over...

 

[cdawall]

Those were actually two separate examples... Unless if you meant people don't care about blood puddles created by kids being ran over...

I mean it is easier for a car to spot people with its 100's of sensors of a human who has their face buried in a cell phone.

 

[RejZoR]

A portrayal of Skynet makes sense now. We are such threat to ourselves we have to get exterminated in order to solve the problem. Don't use the damn phone while driving. Is that so hard of a task now or what? There are bunch of rest stops or behold, the mighty function of hands free talking if you really have to pick it up. There is literally nothing so important you can't wait till you get home or wherever.

 

[Jetster]

In the US even though we have J walking laws, pedestrians still have the right of way, always. The question is would people just step in front of an autonomous car because they know it would stop every time

SO then would people just step in front of cars because they will become complacent

But as far as automated cars, humans make way more mistakes then computers