Do you find this scary?

[jtparr]

Sounds great....daily commute isn't exactly the highlight of my week....looking on the bright side...I can have a nap whilst on the way to work....enjoy eating a bacon and egg butty without dropping bits of egg on my lap....get to work on time....go to the pub every night...get trashed....and sleep it off on the way home....should be cheaper all round and avoid either expensive taxis....or having to take network south east trains

Bring it on....presumably I can programmme it to go to the car wash on its own...

[Nick Moss]

go to the pub every night...get trashed....and sleep it off on the way home.

I don't think you will get away with that in a car for a very long time.

[911hillclimber]

Doubt you can be sure you will get to work on time at all.

[sladey]

Yeah and having seen you eat I seriously doubt it's the car that's causing you to drop your bacon butty in your lap

[sladey]

Anyway if you watched tomorrows world in the 70s I'm sure we were all meant to have hoverboots by now and only work for 10 hours a week

[jtparr]

Getting trashed and so on was a lighthearted way of raising an issue...who is responsible for the car in an accident

If you have another person driving you..taxi driver, Chauffeur and so on then presumably any accident caused with them at the wheel...including you having had a few pints in the back is still their responsibility

So..if a driverless car is meant to be safer...then where would the law stand if the car crashed with you sitting in the rear of the car....if these cars are so safe then once we all get used to them we will be relaxed enough to doze off..sober and/or otherwise..do they become taxis with responsibility or are you responsible....which doesn't seem reasonable of you are not driving....so ergo...what does it matter what you are doing in the car at the time....

[Gary71]

It's a difficult line autonomy in vehicles. My (personal) view is that unless it is 100% autonomous and reliable then it should always need a constant driver input.

The middle ground of a driver checking what's going on whilst not actually doing anything leads to complacency behind the wheel and the inability to react appropriately when the software calibration reaches the edges of its ability.




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[Sam]

Mrs Sam's Tiguan has lane assist and adaptive cruise. It is totally capable of driving itself on the motorway or a roads with no input from the driver. It speeds up, slows down and steers itself between the white lines perfectly.

But it won't let you take your hands off the wheel. After a couple if seconds it politely dings. A couple more it impolitely dings. Then a couple more and it suddenly pulses the brakes and scares the shite out of you.

I think we'll get to this point with all new cars very quickly from here and I'm confident traffic flow on motorways in particular will swiftly improve.

[jtparr]

Interested Gary...if it needs constant input then what benefit does it provide..perhaps I am missing a subtlety but if it isn't 100% what is the point of having/using the technology..I would be more concerned in a car that required me to check it as I would always be on edge that it could go wrong and I would have to react quicker than if I were fully in control

Sam..isn't it annoying that you have to hold onto a wheel...for a vehicle that is making its own decisions and moving the wheel by itself...?

I'm not against this technology, far from it...if as Sam says it would assist lane manners then it gets a thumbs up from me

[sladey]

I think the forcing you to keep your hands on the wheel is as much about liability as safety.

I also think the less you are involved in the driving the less attentive you are. I usually have a little nap on those 50 mph stretches on the motorway

[Sam]

Yes. It seems to defeat the object but that's why they've done it. It's also worse than that, because quite often it will tell you off when you actually are holding the wheel, but the road is so straight you're not steering enough for the car to know.

I really like it tho. It's especially brilliant in slower motorway traffic, takes all the stress out as the car just follows the one in front at the distance you choose. I'd tick the adaptive cruise box before electric windows or central locking now. Maybe even before air con.

[sladey]

What if the car in front had a blow-out Sam? Do you think you'd react more or less quickly when you're relying on the systems to keep you safe?

I think there's a danger when you start to blur the lines of responsibility that your brain has trouble adapting to that scenario when it's subject to sudden change - if it's got used to chillin and letting the car sort stuff out, it's not ready to snap out of that mode.

[jtparr]

I think there's a danger when you start to blur the lines of responsibility that your brain has trouble adapting to that scenario when it's subject to sudden change - if it's got used to chillin and letting the car sort stuff out, it's not ready to snap out of that mode.

My point exactly... I don't like the half way scenario....I am perhaps too black and white...but I am preferring 100% automated or none

[Sam]

The car would spot the danger and shout a loud beep and light up the dash to wake the driver up. It does that.

I agree to a point with what you're saying, but easing us in to full automation is the only way it'll happen. Every step since the 1800s has been a bit closer, from auto gearboxes to sat nav.

[jeremyg]

The car would spot the danger and shout a loud beep and light up the dash to wake the driver up. It does that.

I agree to a point with what you're saying, but easing us in to full automation is the only way it'll happen. Every step since the 1800s has been a bit closer, from auto gearboxes to sat nav.

That is indeed right, the onward march of automation cannot be denied, and could bring with it huge societal and environmental gains.

But at the same time, the burgeoning classic car scene, with a growing and deep appreciation for the mechanical and analogue past also cannot be denied, and it is how these seemingly competing interests will survive together that really interests me. I fear that it may become a deeply divisive issue if not handled with skill and compassion.