Would you buy a self-driving car?

I think the revolutionary impact of self driving cars (especially in the future) is that we won't have to actually actual own a car. Think about it, even with a long commute, most people do not actively use a for the majority of their day. So long as the market can supply a reliable transportation, for a fair price, at a moments notice we wouldn't need to own a vehicle.
This is a future I dream of.

 

Yeah totally! Hopefully I won't have to drive. Ideally, roads will be reserved completely for self-driving cars... That'd be a dream come true for me, not so much for the car-owning people out there.

 

^^^This is one consumer preference, especially the California "Car Culture," that Wall Street wants to slip under the rug while trying to pitch the computers on wheels. A car that looks like a watermelon, without pedals...just what every red blooded California "car nut" wants to buy. :roflmao:

For elderly people who cannot drive, there is a market. However, if Wall Street wants us to buy a car that nannies us to death and won't let us drive, I guess their perceived success in getting us to pay for anything they decide we want has gone to their head.

 

Yes absolutely. I fucking hate driving and I get car sick quite frequently. The less I have to do the better.

 

If there were a way for me to, if needed, override the autopilot function then absolutely. I don't much like driving and can get easily overwhelmed. So it would be a weight off if the car drove itself. I'd only seriously consider it though, if the technology was tried and true and had very little probability of a mistake.

 

I doubt they would work out here where I'm at, there are still dirt roads here in town. Besides, I hate the way new cars look.

 

I wouldn't trust my life to a machine that I have no control over

 

You also avoid elevators and such? Seriously, there are many machines we have "no" control over. Many situations we have no control over as well.

It's not directed at you specifically, but I find it interesting to see people's distrust in these kind of developments. I don't really see why self-driving cars would be considered less safe than humans driving cars. At least self-driving cars are thoroughly tested.

 

For road trips, I'd use the self driving feature. For short trips, I'd drive on my own, using a wheel and pedals.

 

I would use a car with autopilot (able to switch lanes, keep stable speed, and keep in direction i'm going). I wouldn't want a car that is fully automated with no manual overdrive (although maybe in the future when all cars are automated, it'd be fine)

 

Once the technology is fully developed, self-driving cars will be a very good thing. Road accidents still claim far too many lives (something like 1.2-1.3 million a year globally) and this technology, properly refined, has the potential to eliminate most of those.

As well as the safety aspect, it also has the potential for societal change - the possibility to eliminate the need for individual car ownership, reduction in emissions, cutting back on congestion and also buy back time for people who would no longer have to drive (once the tech is ready for there to be no need for a driver).

There are many hurdles to overcome such as the whole insurance/liability issue, refining the technology etc but it will surely get there. Probably sooner than most think!

There will be a time when people look back at the current destruction of the roads of our era with horror. And I say that as someone who loves driving and cars!

 

Hard to understand sarcasm through text ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

The passenger in an automated car, presuming they have no control over how it drives, cannot be held liable because control is a necessary element of negligence. If the navigation system was responsible for the crash, then liability would fall upon the designer of that system.

What's important to remember is that human error is at the heart of most car accidents. Very rarely do people die or become injured in truly unavoidable circumstances.

The greatest problem with design of the navigation system is whether or not it should seek to save the passenger or a greater number of passers-by when those two possibilities are mutually exclusive. In a world where everyone drives automated cars and the roads are much safer, it seems fairly reasonable for the car to adopt a utilitarian approach that sacrifices its owner - after all, it's far safer than the status quo where people drive cars. But if it's a mixed driving system, then it seems unfair to sacrifice the passenger of a self-driving car when an accident is most likely to be caused by a negligent driver. Drivers will seek self-preservation above all, so it's quite a high burden to risk being sacrificed due to others' error if you are in a self-driving car. That disincentivises their use while also just being unfair on principle - people contributing to public safety in most circumstances then get sacrificed if they're caught up in an accident caused by others.

But generally I think self-driving cars are a positive development. If widely adopted, I believe they will increase road safety, reduce individual car reliance and contribute to an increasingly flexible, technology-driven, environmentally sensitive, congestion-reducing shared economy, better adapted to modern urbanisation than the current model of car ownership. That is desirable, provided it's coupled with investment in public transport infrastructure. Otherwise, you just get individual reliance on automated cars, which improves only safety and flexibility without dealing with environmental or congestion concerns. I'd like that cultural and economic shift to occur for those public policy reasons.

People do enjoy driving, but I imagine relatively few people enjoy the hassles of driving in peak hour in large cities, finding parking and the associated waste of time and money.

 

Elevators actually do terrify me :lol:

 

Yeah, if I could still drive it myself

 

I'm undecided. I love to drive but get bored on long drives and think self driving would come in handy. I make a 3 hour drive down to NYC twice a month and it gets old after a while.

Now, I would HATE if they replaced all cars with self driving cars (will never happen)

 

No, absolutely not. Even if they got the safety issues ironed out, I'm a miserable passenger. My brain craves the stimulation of all the information that has to be processed while driving.

 

Tesla driver dies after Autopilot fails to see semi truck

I'm not sure how any of you think a car with that much computer power and the senors it needs to function is environmentally friendly. The more stuff you cram in it, the more natural resources and energy you use up to produce the final product. Not to mention that all of that crap needs power, which has to come from the engine or the batteries. Either consuming more fuel or draining the batteries quicker.

Also lets not forget the whole computer hacker thing:
https://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/

The best way to make roads safer is for drivers to put their phones down and actually drive. Take it seriously, which most people don't do.