NHTSA proposes requiring vehicle to vehicle comm systems

[MicroBalrog]

Problem with that thought is that our population is not moving to the cities in great numbers and in fact the opposite is happening.

It is moving to suburbs, not out into the trackless wastes.

[Tallpine]

It is moving to suburbs, not out into the trackless wastes.

Doesn't matter.  You think people only go somewhere and make one stop and then come home 

Robo-cars might be great in someplace like NYC, where they would replace foreign born taxi drivers 

But Mrs. Soccer Mom is not going to want to carry an increasing load of stuff in her arms because she has to get into a different robo-car for each leg of her shopping day 

I'm not sure what life is like in The Promised Land, but here in suburban/rural America, non-steering wheel robo cars are not going to go over well.

[KD5NRH]

But Mrs. Soccer Mom is not going to want to carry an increasing load of stuff in her arms because she has to get into a different robo-car for each leg of her shopping day

Don't forget most stores aren't going to let you wander through with an armload of bags, nor do they provide any sort of secure storage area for them.  I've even had some throw a fit about my briefcase when I was riding the train home from work and stopped to grab a couple things.  No way in hell I was going to leave it by the door like they suggested.

[MicroBalrog]

But Mrs. Soccer Mom is not going to want to carry an increasing load of stuff in her arms because she has to get into a different robo-car for each leg of her shopping day 

Why does she need to do this? What have I missed?

[Tallpine]

Why does she need to do this? What have I missed?

Everything, apparently ...   

If a public robo-car is called up like a taxi for a trip point A to B, where she buys X items, then calls up another robo-car for a trip from B to C, where she buys Y items, then she is going to have to carry the X items into the Y store because she can't leave them in the robo-car which is now going to be called up by somebody else.  This goes on all day until there is quite an armload.

Even if its your own private robo-car, I don't quite see how it's going to find a parking place for you at Walmart 

[MicroBalrog]

And that's where the vehicle-to-vehicle comms come in. XD

[MicroBalrog]

New Google Self-Driving Car Prototype Ready to Try Roads

[Ron]

This will have to be foisted upon Americans by force.

It will not be chosen by even 51% of the people.

If it happens it will happen by government dictat. 

[MicroBalrog]

Driverless vehicles, should they become wide-spread, will obviate many of the existing government interventions in the field.

[Nick1911]

Driverless vehicles, should they become wide-spread, will obviate many of the existing government interventions in the field.

Of this, I am not convinced.  If anything the necessity of moving data - as has already been proposed by NHTSA - only provides an easier, more convenient way to covertly archive and analyze identifying information of hundreds of millions of people at bulk.  Driverless cars are surveillance state wet dream.  You're kidding yourself if you think it will be an open source type movement, IMHO.

[MicroBalrog]

Why?

It is already technologically possible to know where a modern car is - simply by collating traffic camera data, or by getting the data from the owner's cell phone, or the car's GPS anti-theft device (which more and more cars have today).

The state will know where your car is, whether or not your car is driverless - because the technology exists today to cheaply observe anybody who is in public, and then collate and analyze the data. Because the public doesn't see anything wrong with this (in the US), this data will inevitably be collated. Certainly at least in the cities and suburbs, where most people live.

Driverless cars offer getting rid us of:

1. Driver licensing and its attendant nonsense. (I am not driving, why do I need a permit?)

2. DUI laws and their attendant nonsense. (I am not driving, why does it matter if I am drunk?)

3. Texting laws and their attendant nonsense (I am not driving why does it matter if I am texting?)

4. Taxi medallions and their attendant nonsense.

[MicroBalrog]

Relevant.

[freakazoid]

I don't see why there wouldn't still be a steering wheel for cases that MicroBalrog talked about, just onlock it when you need it. Ever seen I, Robot? Also I don't think they would need to be 100% GPS guided. Could simply put some things on the roads every now and then that can communicate with the car to let it know what road it is on.

[tokugawa]

if we could interview him, I wonder what Michael Hastings would say about driver-less cars?

[TommyGunn]

if we could interview him, I wonder what Michael Hastings would say about driver-less cars?

---Or David Hasselhoff ......

[MechAg94]

See the fights over the internet taxi services and tell me again that we would get rid of taxi medallions?  Too much entrenched politics.

Also, no bureacracy goes down without a fight.  No way all those agencies and revenue sources disappear easily.  Yeah, they may not be needed (and really are not now), but that means little to the govt.

Why?

It is already technologically possible to know where a modern car is - simply by collating traffic camera data, or by getting the data from the owner's cell phone, or the car's GPS anti-theft device (which more and more cars have today).

The state will know where your car is, whether or not your car is driverless - because the technology exists today to cheaply observe anybody who is in public, and then collate and analyze the data. Because the public doesn't see anything wrong with this (in the US), this data will inevitably be collated. Certainly at least in the cities and suburbs, where most people live.

Driverless cars offer getting rid us of:

1. Driver licensing and its attendant nonsense. (I am not driving, why do I need a permit?)

2. DUI laws and their attendant nonsense. (I am not driving, why does it matter if I am drunk?)

3. Texting laws and their attendant nonsense (I am not driving why does it matter if I am texting?)

4. Taxi medallions and their attendant nonsense.

[KD5NRH]

Also, no bureacracy goes down without a fight.  No way all those agencies and revenue sources disappear easily.  Yeah, they may not be needed (and really are not now), but that means little to the govt.

"It took fifty years to secure the approval of all the Councils for the Candle, and to decide upon the number needed, and to re-fit the Plans so as to make candles instead of torches. This touched upon thousands and thousands of men working in scores of States. We cannot alter the Plans again so soon."

[Hawkmoon]

http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2014/NHTSA-issues-advanced-notice-of-proposed-rulemaking-on-V2V-communications

I admit I have never heard of this tech before now.

The only vehicle to vehicle comm system I want or need is a CB radio.

[MicroBalrog]

See the fights over the internet taxi services and tell me again that we would get rid of taxi medallions?  Too much entrenched politics.

I'm seeing the taxi people losing these fights.

[Hawkmoon]

And once it is answered, it will most likely guarantee that they don't exist for a long time.

Look at the number of serious failures vehicles have already; you think any manufacturer wants to add to their risk by being at fault in every wreck their cars get into?  Every nav app comes with a "don't use this as your only means of navigation" warning, so it's a pretty safe bet no GIS company wants to be on the hook for a fatal wreck every time they misplace a road or oversimplify a curve. 

It would be impossible to keep GPS updated.

There's a major interstate highway construction going on about 15 miles from where I live. Intersection of two interstates plus a feeder into/out of downtown, plus two or three exits/entrances all concentrated in a stretch about a mile long. Some left-hand exits have been converted to right-hand exits. Entrance ramps that originally came in on the left are being reconfigured to merge from the right. Periodically, they shut off something and bring the new (and opposite) component on-line over the space of a weekend. I updated my wife's GPS just a few months ago. Drove through that mess a couple of days ago, and the GPS would have had me in the river if I had followed it.

[KD5NRH]

There's a major interstate highway construction going on about 15 miles from where I live. Intersection of two interstates plus a feeder into/out of downtown, plus two or three exits/entrances all concentrated in a stretch about a mile long. Some left-hand exits have been converted to right-hand exits. Entrance ramps that originally came in on the left are being reconfigured to merge from the right. Periodically, they shut off something and bring the new (and opposite) component on-line over the space of a weekend. I updated my wife's GPS just a few months ago. Drove through that mess a couple of days ago, and the GPS would have had me in the river if I had followed it.

I've been fairly impressed with how quickly construction mixups on TX121 and US380 make their way into Waze, but even with community updates, somebody has to deal with it being wrong before they go in and make the changes.

[MechAg94]

I'm seeing the taxi people losing these fights.

does that matter?

If the Taxi companies can use driverless cars, they would I think.  It remains to be seen if taxi passengers would want to ride in them.  Would the concept survive long enough to prove itself?

[Strings]

I'm guessing that "driverless taxis" will be the testbed for this tech

[Hawkmoon]

You wanna trust your GPS auto-drive here:

I wouldn't want to try it by GPS, but that's the kind of trail I used to love for weekend treks in my Cherokee (at least, on a nice day such as in the photo). Where is that, if I may ask? I might have to add that to my "One of these days ..." list.

[Hawkmoon]

Driverless vehicles, should they become wide-spread, will obviate many of the existing government interventions in the field.

It might put the red light camera leaches out of business.

See -- it's not ALL bad.