Autonomous cars

[Candystore]

I read an article on driverless cars and I was wondering when will they be a common thing on roads here in SA? And in the USA.

Are the traditional motor companies already doing some planning for that scenario? Because they will lose a lot of money once driverless cars are a common feature.

 

[saor]

I think we're still a few years away from fully autonomous vehicles capable of sharing the road with regular vehicles & human drivers. Self-driving cars like the Tesla Model S still use a relatively crude means of tracking the environment - crude in the sense that it cannot respond intelligently to the unpredictability of human drivers and their out-of-control vehicles, people running across the road, a cyclist falling over...intelligent situational awareness from which it can extrapolate the best possible course of action.

The Tesla S:
[video=youtube;2iwfNs8j2FI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iwfNs8j2FI[/video]

 

[agentrfr]

Motor companies are happy with making autonomous cars - they can charge more for them, they are driven by less hooligans and will therefore be looked after better in general. Engineers can spend more time making the cars safer / economical / more advanced without having to spend all that time/money/effort idiot proofing everything.

First world cities and highways will be the first to get them, but as for rural places all over the world I don't think they'll ever catch on.

 

[konfab]

Autonomous cars need the following to work in South Africa:
Hood mounted shotguns with intelligent threat detection.
A taxi acclimation, detection and ranging system.
A routine to know that crashing(softly) into the car in front of you is a better option than being hijacked.
A blue light brigade avoidance system.