Driverless shuttle crashes on first day
Only hours after initiating service, a driverless shuttle in Las Vegas crashed.
No one was hurt, nor is the accident described in any detail at the link. However, I think this incident highlights a reality about driverless cars: Either every vehicle on the road must be one, or none of the vehicles on the road can be one. It will be almost impossible to program a driverless car to handle the unpredictability of human drivers. If we want to leave the driving to computers (which I don’t), we will have to ban humans from driving.
Such a ban will be a terrible loss of freedom. And not surprisingly, I think the whole a push for driverless vehicles is a push in that direction.
I found a second article that describes the incident as caused by a truck driver backing into the shuttle, thus blaming the human driver (who was given a ticket by the way) and using the incident to argue against human drivers.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Only hours after initiating service, a driverless shuttle in Las Vegas crashed.
No one was hurt, nor is the accident described in any detail at the link. However, I think this incident highlights a reality about driverless cars: Either every vehicle on the road must be one, or none of the vehicles on the road can be one. It will be almost impossible to program a driverless car to handle the unpredictability of human drivers. If we want to leave the driving to computers (which I don’t), we will have to ban humans from driving.
Such a ban will be a terrible loss of freedom. And not surprisingly, I think the whole a push for driverless vehicles is a push in that direction.
I found a second article that describes the incident as caused by a truck driver backing into the shuttle, thus blaming the human driver (who was given a ticket by the way) and using the incident to argue against human drivers.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I believe your conclusion that it’s all or nothing is unjustified, but agree that others will have the same conclusion. We as a society have already decided that other peoples freedom is forfeit. Too bad for us.
Finding these kinds of flaws in the system is probably why Google has been testing — in traffic — their autonomous autos for so many years.
Since cars, shuttles, and buses carry people, defensive driving is going to be paramount. The use of the horn was appropriate in that case, since the purpose of the horn is to warn other drivers of potentially hazardous situations.
Those people could have been watching a truck barrel out of control at them, knowing that they were going to die if the shuttle didn’t “step out of the way.”
I think that Google is showing that autonomous and human-driven vehicles can coexist safely. Las Vegas may have merely put into use a system that was not yet ready for prime time.
We all need something like this instead:
http://images.realclear.com/349842_5_.jpg
Laurie,
I like the way you think.
However, I am concerned about the stability of riding a two-legged animal. Maybe four legs would be better. Elephants seem nice and stable, but they are large and probably require a lot of food. Horses are smaller and probably eat less than elephants, yet probably retain similar stability. They may even be easier to mount, probably self-avoid accidents with trucks, and may even be able to find their way back home if the rider is too drunk to steer.
If we switch from cars to animals for transportation, what could go wrong? Why did we never think of it before? I’m buying stock in a buggy-whip company.
http://www.nyhistory.org/community/horse-manure
Edward,
All good points ;) I was thinking about speed with maneuverability. I expect they shoo away the parking enforcement officers, too.
Laurie,
You wrote: “I expect they shoo away the parking enforcement officers, too.”
I forgot about that. According to the movie “Sideways,” those things are mean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBS75pQhzXE#t=50
The first A.I. auto death:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/19/uber-self-driving-car-fatality-halts-testing-in-all-cities-report-says.html
It can only get better?