Driverless cars from $20k

[J o h n S m i t h]

No I prefer real people rather than spending all my time on the phone or on internet forums

I also prefer to be in control of the car I am driving. When I can no longer drive I will get a gopher.

I wonder how long it will take before Gladys's driverless trains create havoc.

and driver less cars won't force you to use your mobile to talk to your husband when he's sitting across from you, nor will they force you to use the driver less option if you prefer to drive yourself.
DO you realise most planes fly themselves, including take off and landing, and have done so for years? The only reason pilots turn off the auto pilot for takeoff and landing is to train their reflexes.

[Black Orchid]

No I prefer real people rather than spending all my time on the phone or on internet forums

I also prefer to be in control of the car I am driving. When I can no longer drive I will get a gopher.

I wonder how long it will take before Gladys's driverless trains create havoc.

and driver less cars won't force you to use your mobile to talk to your husband when he's sitting across from you, nor will they force you to use the driver less option if you prefer to drive yourself.
DO you realise most planes fly themselves, including take off and landing, and have done so for years? The only reason pilots turn off the auto pilot for takeoff and landing is to train their reflexes.

Train their reflexes among other things. I am glad you agree that it's necessary.

They need to be alert, up to date and have fully capable handling skills. Only an idiot would get on a plane without a physical human pilot and just depend on auto pilot to get them from A to B.

[J o h n S m i t h]

Train their reflexes among other things. I am glad you agree that it's necessary.

I never said it wasn't ... neither have I said that driverless cars are a good idea, I only pointed out what I think are flaws in your argument. In the end, I think they are inevitable. The oldies will resist with the technology, myself included as I enjoy driving, but my kids will probably not know any better. there is a good chance that many of the kids born today will never have experienced anything else. If you'd asked me 20 yrs ago about phasing out of manual cars I would have probably said it won't happen. However these days many models don't even come in a manual. Automatic is all they've got, or that clutchless sports shift which is the same as an auto. No fun.

[Neferti]

Back in the Old Days (in Melbourne at least) if you got a Licence driving an "automatic" your Licence was marked that and you weren't licenced to drive a car with gears. I learnt to drive in an MG sports car, so loved to drive changing gears (and the wind blowing my hair). If you can't work a clutch and change gears all you really are doing is steering the car. Kids have it easy getting a licence these days with automatics all the go.

[J o h n S m i t h]

Back in the Old Days (in Melbourne at least) if you got a Licence driving an "automatic" your Licence was marked that and you weren't licenced to drive a car with gears. I learnt to drive in an MG sports car, so loved to drive changing gears (and the wind blowing my hair). If you can't work a clutch and change gears all you really are doing is steering the car. Kids have it easy getting a licence these days with automatics all the go.

It's still the same now. My wife's not allowed to drive manual because she did her test in an auto. (she learnt to drive when she was 30). She doesn't like driving, she does it because she has to.

I'd like to buy an old MG one day and restore it with my boys when they're older, of course, it would be a manual so the missus can't touch it. .

[AiA in Atlanta]

I haven't driven a stick shift in years. I owned only one, a Honda. Can't imagine ever owning another ...

[Neferti]

I had a female friend who had a Red Honda sports car back in the 70s.

Honda.jpg

The MG I learnt to drive in was an MGB, British Racing Green, naturally.

MGB.JPG

[J o h n S m i t h]

that little honda might be a better option than the MG ... less rust to deal with

[Outlaw Yogi]

So far several autonomous vehicles have caused crashes and been ordered off the road.

If I was dictator, you would be free to buy one, but only as an ornament for your garage prestige, because I would make them unregisterable by designating manual controls a mandatory part of ADS (Australian Design Rules).

EDIT ADDITION: People who desire driverless cars do so because they know they lack the competence to drive properly.

it's all new technology,

It's junk technology. Google's driverless cars ordered off the road in California. Tesla's driverless car was so focussed on the car in front of it, it couldn't merge from a minor to major road without forcing its way in to traffic. A Driverless truck got confused by lights on road side advertising and caused a major accident.
A safety panel questioning a Mercedes Benz engineer asked "If a child ran onto the road, and the car's computer had the options of running into a tree or running over the child, which would it do?
The Merc engineer admitted the computer is programmed to save the occupants and so would run over the child.

Driverless trucks and machinery is fine on wharves and mine sites when random factors are almost eliminated.
Driverless cars on public roads should be illegal, full stop.

you're always going to have a few accidents while they work out the kinks.

Computers fuck up constantly. If I had a car that fucked up as much as my current laptop, I'd go back to a horse.

Compare that to the number of accidents by cars with drivers?

Compare the number of glitch related accidents with the number of manually driven vehicles on the road and the autonomous vehicles look pretty bloody dangerous to me.

I

think they all have manual controls anyway.

For now yes, but the stated aims of the manufacturers is to ultimately sell cars with no manual controls, thus no manual over-ride except and emergency kill switch.

The day vehicles with manual controls become a restricted item is the day I go back to high powered motorbikes and see if the bot cops can catch me.

[Outlaw Yogi]

My father had an MG. He put truck valves in it and a cam that made it rev so hard it sounded like a Jap bike.