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Posted: **Wed 23 Sep 2015, 00:38:16**

pstarr wrote:You can do all that from home and not have to burn all that foreign oil. Or you can keep on smoking whatever it is that brings those visions on. I'm sure it is very good stuff lol

Well, yes, one can do all those things at home.. but not while traveling to somewhere 2 hours away. Unless one has somebody else to do the driving, and can tolerate how they drive.

Hm..

You really think this is fantasyland, "visions" stuff? Pstarr, seriously, the driverless car tech has been in development for years. It's definitely coming. It's definitely the next big thing.

(driverless feature will be standard on all cars, that's definitely coming. It's amazing the tech has gone as far as it has, don't you know about this whole issue? The google cars? Test vehicles have been driving on california roads and highways for years already).

Posted: **Wed 23 Sep 2015, 01:07:39**

Some driverless car news:

Why Would Apple Make an Electric Car, Not a Driverless One?

There are a few ways to think about this, but it should be pointed out that we don't actually know that Apple isn't committed to a driverless car.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/09/why-would-apple-make-an-electric-car-not-a-driverless-one/406645/

Project Titan: Apple Eyes on a Revolutionary Driverless Car Technology

http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/65943/20150923/apple-icar-project-titan-car-technology-driverless-car-technology-electric-car.htm

Silicon Valley vs. Detroit: Who Will Conquer the Driverless Car Revolution?
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/09/20/silicon-valley-vs-detroit-driverless-cars.aspx

Driverless car legislation to be introduced in South Australia
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-22/driverless-cars-bill-to-be-introduced-in-sa/6795518

Posted: **Wed 23 Sep 2015, 05:51:19**

I would like to see how it handles a construction work zone without killing the workers or the passengers.

Even as a cornie, I find the idea ludicrous.

Posted: **Wed 23 Sep 2015, 07:09:49**

Cog, check out the mining machines related to what I posted above. When you own the whole site & you can afford to safety audit & beat standard operation parameters off the charts, save a million per truck per year- & it is happening now. (I drive trucks for a living, about to go for my 55 meter road train license. My current little 38 tonne rigid already has- cruise control, semi automatic gearbox, power steering, power windows, near silent in the cabin with fingertip at the wheel control of everything, all I do 90% of the time is steer.) I can't see it being too hard to do by bot most of the time. However, when you throw wildlife & pedestrians & potholes & variant black ice, the bots are in trouble. If you get a flat in the middle of nowhere you get out & swap it. Easy right!

Posted: **Wed 23 Sep 2015, 07:38:31**

Nice post, Newfie.

What's your favorite mode of transport?

Walking!

Posted: **Wed 23 Sep 2015, 13:22:26**

Cog wrote:I would like to see how it handles a construction work zone without killing the workers or the passengers.

Even as a cornie, I find the idea ludicrous.

Construction zones are pretty chaotic, but driverless trucks and equipment can replace human drivers in many industrial sites. As Sea Gypsy notes, driverless trucks are a good fit to mining operations. At a mine the trucks often go round and round transporting the mined material from the mine to a mill and then the trucks go back to the mine to pick up more raw ore, and then back to the mill etc.

Autonomous trucks could do that.

Same thing with farms. You could program the tractors and other equipment to travel through a pre-set path that goes down the field and does the work and then they could come back and park themselves in the barn.

John Deere already has an autonomous tractor for sale.

Posted: **Wed 23 Sep 2015, 14:50:57**

So what?

What exactly is the problem this is to solve?

Unemployment?

Posted: **Wed 23 Sep 2015, 15:32:34**

its like a religious belief, technology will get us out of this jam we are in.

All hail technology, all hail consumerisim.

Grrrh indeed! :-x

Posted: **Tue 13 Oct 2015, 14:48:49**

Public transport solves many problems. Driverless public transport is most likely to be successful if it is on rails rather than roaming the streets free. Much less memory required. I still believe personal rapid transit could have many useful applications, will use much less energy and may obviate the need for personal ownership of vehicles for many people. If there is a really viable public transit system, that could really free up a lot of income for other purposes.

Posted: **Mon 02 Jan 2017, 11:20:38**

Sixstrings wrote:

First driverless pods to travel public roads arrive in the Netherlands

The WEpod will be the first self-driving electric shuttle to run in regular traffic, and take bookings via a dedicated app
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11879182/First-driverless-pods-to-travel-public-roads-arrive-in-the-Netherlands.html

Definitely a wave of the future.

We'll be seeing this everywhere within the next ten years. Uber is already popular; driverless car taxis (pods) will exponentially increase convenience and efficiency and lower costs.

Everyone will have an app on their phone and just push the button and the EV pod picks you up, takes you where you want to go.

I had to use google translate to get this because foreign language is not my skill. Blame any errors on them TYVM!

WEpod autonomous vehicle developed with European funding

Published on December 27, 2016

The European subsidy 'Interreg Automated Transport' was granted last week. Allows the WEpod project with the two self-propelled vans, WURby and Welly be continued for three years. Interreg funding is a joint application by the Province of Gelderland and 27 partners in the Netherlands German border, including TU Delft. WEpod the project will be extended to the North Rhine-Westphalia region.

Cross-border test runs WEpod

The test runs and further development of the WEpods in Food Valley software continue. The vehicles remain between Ede and Wageningen drive. There will also be cross-border test runs. At Weeze airport is going to be tested with people and packages and there will be a test autonomous driving trucks in convoy. Major issues remain the continued development of technology and software, regulatory and security. Characteristic of the project is to share knowledge. Both the technical knowledge and the knowledge about social issues related to self-propelled transportation.

TU Delft and WEpods

Several TU Delft researchers involved in this project. Pieter Jonker, Professor of vision-based robotics, together with Robot Care Systems continue the investigation into the sensor system WEpods. Riender Happee, Programme Manager Automotive, will look at the human-machine interaction: the interaction between an automatic moving vehicle and other motorists. For this, he will work with other researchers investigating various traffic scenarios with different (vulnerable) road users. He also investigates the acceptance and the vision comfort of the users of a self-propelled vehicle.

http://duurzaam-actueel.nl/autonoom-voe ... -subsidie/

Posted: **Sun 08 Jan 2017, 01:43:09**

We'll have to wait a few years before we know whether the Dutch pods become a success. Meanwhile, what is foremost on most American's minds when it comes to driverless cars? Right - who am I going to sue?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... answer-to/
Hey, the first to come up with a joke about driverless ambulance chasers wins a bicycle.

In the meantime, am I wrong or could a single fun-loving person ground a whole fleet of driverless taxis in one night, using only a $2 spray can? Call one, spray the camera, walk down the block, repeat. Don't forget to wear a hoodie. That could become a popular urban sport. Unless they introduce armed driverless cars, of course. Although you could counter them with a spray-can-equipped drone.

Finally, since the WaPo tried in vain to wring a statement out of the insurance companies: imagine it is the year 202x; driverless is all the rage and the numbers tell us that driverless cars drive 150 times safer than... you. Will your insurance premium go up 15000% if you insist on driving yourself?

Will they require graphic warning labels on vintage cars, like on cigarette cartons? "Human driving kills. Save yourself and your loved ones - quit driving today!"

Posted: **Sun 08 Jan 2017, 14:09:09**

Newfie wrote:its like a religious belief, technology will get us out of this jam we are in.

The only jam we're in is being the victims of our own success. Technology has made our lives comfortable, easy and rich beyond the dreams of kings of 200 years ago. The species may have to go back to that when the energy runs out but I'll never regret what we achieved. Just that we didn't have the wisdom or the will to hold on to it.

Posted: **Mon 09 Jan 2017, 12:20:58**

When a riderless car becomes beat up and obsolete, will it drive itself to the scrap yard and right up into the hammermill?

Posted: **Mon 09 Jan 2017, 13:17:31**

You don't want self-destructive behavior in your car's programming. Instead it will hack your smart, self-ordering I-fridge to get your credit card number and then has itself fixed up with the newest, biggest engine it can get.

Or sue you for negligence.

Posted: **Mon 09 Jan 2017, 18:22:43**

"...it will hack...your credit card number". Have you heard about the new Chevy Bolt...you can get it now in Skynet blue.

Posted: **Mon 09 Jan 2017, 21:48:09**

This pod will be diverting before resuming toward the original destination, Mr. Smith in the middle rear seat will be taken to the IRS office, and Siri has informed me that Mr. Jones is a putz and will just have to get his ass out and walk once we stop. As a courtesy to the two acceptable riders this pod will dispense two foil packets of 4 each, honey roast peanuts, once we resume our scheduled journey. We know you have your choice of pods, and we are proud you have chosen to travel on our pod today. Thank You. Please keep your seat belts fastened, except for Mr. Jones, as we may attempt to toss him around inside the cabin like a rag doll for being a putz with some vigorous steering and braking sequences.

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