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Google car pulled over for being too slow


Still Waters

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A Google self-drive car has been pulled over by police in Mountain View, California, for driving too slowly.

No action was taken but it does raise questions about whether the cars, in their current form, are too cautious.

In a post on Google+, the net giant joked: "Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often."

An accident report recently filed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles described a Google automated car as "over-cautious".

http://www.bbc.co.uk...nology-34808105

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Would they rather it be "too reckless?"...

Must have been a slow enforcement day and the officer needed to meet his quota of misery....er tickets.....to hand out.

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But, but officer, I didn't run over that kid, my car did.

Oh, ok, have a nice day sir.

Edited by pallidin
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When I was a kid I watched the original black and white Astroboy cartoons. The whole premise of the story was that the boy's father built the robot because his son was killed in a driving accident as the passenger of an autonomous car. It seems even Japanese animators foresaw the potential problems of robotic self-driving cars long before they became a reality.

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But, but officer, I didn't run over that kid, my car did.

Oh, ok, have a nice day sir.

That scenario happens all the time because driver's aren't paying attention. Computers don't get tired, don't check texts and don't get distracted - as long as the sensors are working and the programming is solid, it's exponentially safer than a human driver.

Besides, every one seems to forget that airplanes have been flying by computer for years now and statistically they are still considered the safest form of travel.

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Ah, do we relinquish autonomy for a potentially higher degree of safety? Is risk taking an essential quality of being human? I crank through the gears of a manual transmission because I thoroughly enjoy the adventure of driving ... there are many times when the journey is far more rewarding than the destination.

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in Canada the cops will have sent Kudos and regards to google. In many places here the traffic has been limited to 40 km an hour on 4 lanes roads. Even so some drivers will do just 30 , it is faster riding your bicycle . Ridiculous !

Edited by qxcontinuum
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Saw a demo on the news of one - stopping test - they had a cut out of a child on the track ... boy did that car smack it down !

OOPPS!

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Besides, every one seems to forget that airplanes have been flying by computer for years now and statistically they are still considered the safest form of travel.

Isn't autopilot for passenger aircraft generally only used within a safe, non-near air traffic environment?

They don't turn autopilot on during take-off, or landing, or when close to other aircraft in the air.

Edited by pallidin
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Isn't autopilot for passenger aircraft generally only used within a safe, non-near air traffic environment?

They don't turn autopilot on during take-off, or landing, or when close to other aircraft in the air.

I don't see where that is relevant -- the two are not at all comparable, although I don't doubt that in time completely automated aircraft will appear.

The hope with automated cars is to eliminate human error -- sometimes better described as human stupidity.

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I don't see where that is relevant -- the two are not at all comparable, although I don't doubt that in time completely automated aircraft will appear.

The hope with automated cars is to eliminate human error -- sometimes better described as human stupidity.

Technology can provide for faster response time, but in no way does it currently (or conceivably in the near future) replace the hazard discernment afforded by a trained human brain.

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Technology can provide for faster response time, but in no way does it currently (or conceivably in the near future) replace the hazard discernment afforded by a trained human brain.

I might have agreed with that fifty years ago.
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What's the point of these Google cars again?

Really? How about less traffic, faster commute times, less pollution, no more accidents, no more drunk drivers, no more road rage. The list of long term advantages is really pretty long.
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Driverless cars = Bad idea

That's what I used to think but now I truly believe that it will be illegal to drive on most roads in America in the not too distant future, 30 years or less. If you look into swarm technology for robot groups you can easily see how roads filled with automated vehicles would be much safer and be a much quicker commute.
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Technology can provide for faster response time, but in no way does it currently (or conceivably in the near future) replace the hazard discernment afforded by a trained human brain.

It won't have to. Again, see swarm technology.
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Ah, do we relinquish autonomy for a potentially higher degree of safety? Is risk taking an essential quality of being human? I crank through the gears of a manual transmission because I thoroughly enjoy the adventure of driving ... there are many times when the journey is far more rewarding than the destination.

Yes that's all true and I agree. But realistically the future will be something like this. You will walk out to the sidewalk in front of your home and using your phone or future equivalent, summon a car that will take you where you're going. during the ride you'll play video games, do social media, take a nap, drink alcohol or whatever you want to do that you can't do while driving. Within a couple of years of this technology becoming part of every day life people will vow never to go back.
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Really? How about less traffic, faster commute times, less pollution, no more accidents, no more drunk drivers, no more road rage. The list of long term advantages is really pretty long.

Seems more like a cheap gimmick to me.

Also, I don't see how automated cars can reduce traffic. Faster commute times? This thing was pulled over because it was going slow. I also don't see how it can do anything about drunk drivers, "Hey I can have even more beers now! The cars my DD!" Automated systems can still fail, and when they are in a ton of metal and plastic, that can lead to some nasty accidents. What if one of those hints decides to take a shortcut off a cliff? I honestly don't see any reason these "Google cars" should exist.

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Seems more like a cheap gimmick to me.

Also, I don't see how automated cars can reduce traffic. Faster commute times? This thing was pulled over because it was going slow. I also don't see how it can do anything about drunk drivers, "Hey I can have even more beers now! The cars my DD!" Automated systems can still fail, and when they are in a ton of metal and plastic, that can lead to some nasty accidents. What if one of those hints decides to take a shortcut off a cliff? I honestly don't see any reason these "Google cars" should exist.

That's because you're just looking at a primitive prototype version. Once every car on the road is automated there will be no more traffic jams because traffic will move as one cooperative entity rather than 700,000 individual entities all trying to get there first. There will be no more drunk drivers because there will be no people driving. Imagine the technology below applied to traffic

It's gonna happen, it's pretty inevitable.

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You reall think everyone on Earth will give driving up to the machines?

I for one am not letting a computer drive me around.

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You reall think everyone on Earth will give driving up to the machines?

I for one am not letting a computer drive me around.

61202596.jpg

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