Paul Clancy wrote:
How is any of that worse than a semi locking its brakes in front of you? I get being paranoid of new tech that alters the old way of driving, especially on this board that leans older demographic and conservative. The same arguments were made against seat belts, airbags, stability control anti lock brakes etc. Nanny state in my car -no way. This tech will save lives when used properly and won't when not. I choose to have it given the choice. It not only makes me safer but those around me. Many will not see the benifits until they experience it. Some not then either.
Well I don't fit your assumed demographics. I'm not afraid of new tech and I don't think it's a bad thing per se.
However, I don't think having an example with only auto-driven cars on the road proves anything. Guess what, if people kept to proper distances and equal speeds on the road, then they too could brake like that without hitting.
But, PEOPLE don't do that. And as long as they are on the road, the abilities of these self-driving cars will be limited and adversely impacted.
Another concern is how to react in a similar but different scenario. I was always taught to not swerve if a deer appears in the road. But if it were a child in the road, there is NO WAY I wouldn't swerve. While a self-driving car can brake if a deer appears, can it know to swerve if it's a person that appears - or will it do the same "emergency procedure" regardless of what is there?
Will it be better in the future? Sure - once they have found ways to minimize the outside factors.
Until then, the benefits will be in a back and forth with the negatives.
I accept change fairly well (having done process improvement for work for years, it's something i've seen almost daily). But I don't assume change won't happen without a hitch. I don't assume technology will have resolved all the problems. Understanding where technology will be less than effective is an important part that can't be ignored. And right now, self-driving cars are not a change that will happen smoothly.
