I'd be really, really surprised if this happened within 10 years, never mind the 4-5 he mentions. There's a huge difference between having a prototype, and filing some patents, and bringing it to market. The cynic in me says this is a PR event meant to drum up investment.
Hokey smokes! Street Racing Legend 1969 Yenko Camaro 427 Found Parked Since 1979 It's nice to know stuff like this is still out there.
"Whoever keyed this car had some serious time on their hands." Why does the article use the gender-neutral "their?" No man would do that.
Aw, hell no. GM has filed a petition with the gov't to allow them to put self driving cars on the road with no steering wheels and no pedals...in other words, no manual back up if something goes fuck-o. What could possibly go wrong?
Imagine the cost savings of not having to supply any controls on a car. If a car messes up, do you think the average person would react quick enough to a problem? I am thinking I would be too engrossed on the latest Eva Notty porn video or reading a book on my entertainment screen to even know that there is a problem. I am in agreement with you, I just think if you are going to take that step to self driving, then commit. I am going to drive myself around for as long as they will let me.
This kind of reminds me of when I was a freshman in high school, and a representative from GM came by my auto-shop class to tell us about all of the neat-o things that GM had in store for us, one of which was drive-by-wire technology. "You won't need a throttle cable! Computers do all the work!" He promised. I raised my hand: "But what if something goes wrong?" (I was thinking of a car being stuck at wide open throttle) "Don't worry, there are redundant circuits to make sure that it stays functional!" he said. "Yeah, but what if those fail, too?" He basically said "Trust me, it's foolproof" in a tone that said " Shut up, kid, you're fucking up my presentation." Well guess what? Drive by wire throttle bodies/ gas pedals still go bad, just not in the way that I imagined: Usually, it leaves you with no ability to open the throttle at all. The point of my story is this: ALL MACHINES FAIL EVENTUALLY. They should at least give it a brake pedal; I have no faith whatsoever in an ABS module to do all the braking for me. If any of you driverless car fan-boys want to hear about more of the supposedly fool-proof systems on cars that do actually fail, I can tell you more. With that said, even if the government DOES allow GM to manufacture and sell these cars, I doubt the states or local municipalities will allow them on the road; same thing with driverless trucks.
Welcome to the Boeing vs Airbus choice. Even with the insanely good maintenance in the aviation industry, shit goes wrong. I can only imagine how badly that kind of tech would work if it was ignored and abused like most cars.
I am really torn on this whole self driving car bit. I have a 90 year old father that has not driven for five years as my mother is still driving. My mother however is going to give up her license at the end of May and their transportation will be on a recently retired sister and my wife. I am excited with the prospect in my future of never having to give up my auto and the freedom it brings. At the same time I worry about the idea of not being in control of the auto. As Toytoy, Nett and Dixie point out, nothing is failsafe.
I'm curious about the impact self-driving cars will have on organ donations. I mean, it's kinda a moral thing, no? You almost *want* a certain amount of car wrecks in order to get the organs other people need to survive. But then again, well fuck you don't. Which is worse? Or does the human benefit of one outweigh the human cost of the other? It's a moral dilemma.
Wow... that is really, really fucking cool. Everyone's first thoughts are around longevity, and what happens if/when they fail... but seems like it's potentially not a big deal: "There is no rigid mechanical structure behind the valve, so the piston can push the valve assembly back with no counter forces."