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A lot of comments about potential risks here. I have confidence that just like with the 737MAX, defects will be discovered and dealt with. When that is done all vehicles on the road will get the update and it won't happen again. Unlike human drivers where everyone has to be taught from scratch. Also, if there is a road change the first automated vehicle to encounter it can quickly file a report and notify every other automated vehicle on the road to avoid it. Just yesterday I had to stop, turn around and backtrack with a large heavy trailer because of a poorly marked road closure. That could easily be avoided with automated vehicles. Who knows, we might even be able to get the humans making the changes to post them on a shared data site. Emergency vehicles could broadcast a geofence around themselves and troubled areas.
I like the story a few pages back about the stop sign coming and going. It reminded me of a time when apparently somebody had run over a stop sign. It was a road that I was not very familiar with and I didn't realize that the stop sign was missing until I was blowing through the intersection at 50mph. My wife didn't see a stop sign once due to heavy rain in the dark and did the same thing. Very fortunately, nobody was injured in either incident and vehicle damage was minor though for her it came very close to being much worse. Tesla FSD would have prevented both incidents altogether.
What I am really looking forward to is having the automated vehicles do a lot more of their driving at night to reduce daytime congestion. They can drive around the clock without fatigue to get things where they need to be faster. We won't have acres of trucks idling all night every night to keep a sleeping driver comfortable while consuming fuel and emitting pollution. Heck, we won't even need nearly as many truck stops taking up prime real estate along interstates and won't have nearly as many trucks getting on and off the road for the driver to a leak and get a snack. Automated driving may force us to deal with chronic problems that humans put up with or don't know who to complain to like potholes, ridiculous speed limits and poorly designed intersections. If a truck is involved in an accident it will be well documented as to what happened.
The biggest threat to automated driving is stupid drivers in cars around them or even worse, idiots bullying automated trucks with the knowledge that the trucks will yield to them. Submitted evidence of this behavior should result in traffic tickets being issued to the offending driver. The next big obstacle is how to deal with vehicle failures, like flat tires. It is not widely reported but even John Deere recognizes that tractors need to be equipped with sensors to detect whatever a human drive might, light vibrations, strange noises or smells. It can be dealt with. If it turns into a fire that could be a whole different story but a solution could be found.
All in all though, I see self driving as a tremendous benefit to our society but I don't deny that there will be bugs to work out. The stickiest bugs will be those deliberately caused by humans.
I like the story a few pages back about the stop sign coming and going. It reminded me of a time when apparently somebody had run over a stop sign. It was a road that I was not very familiar with and I didn't realize that the stop sign was missing until I was blowing through the intersection at 50mph. My wife didn't see a stop sign once due to heavy rain in the dark and did the same thing. Very fortunately, nobody was injured in either incident and vehicle damage was minor though for her it came very close to being much worse. Tesla FSD would have prevented both incidents altogether.
What I am really looking forward to is having the automated vehicles do a lot more of their driving at night to reduce daytime congestion. They can drive around the clock without fatigue to get things where they need to be faster. We won't have acres of trucks idling all night every night to keep a sleeping driver comfortable while consuming fuel and emitting pollution. Heck, we won't even need nearly as many truck stops taking up prime real estate along interstates and won't have nearly as many trucks getting on and off the road for the driver to a leak and get a snack. Automated driving may force us to deal with chronic problems that humans put up with or don't know who to complain to like potholes, ridiculous speed limits and poorly designed intersections. If a truck is involved in an accident it will be well documented as to what happened.
The biggest threat to automated driving is stupid drivers in cars around them or even worse, idiots bullying automated trucks with the knowledge that the trucks will yield to them. Submitted evidence of this behavior should result in traffic tickets being issued to the offending driver. The next big obstacle is how to deal with vehicle failures, like flat tires. It is not widely reported but even John Deere recognizes that tractors need to be equipped with sensors to detect whatever a human drive might, light vibrations, strange noises or smells. It can be dealt with. If it turns into a fire that could be a whole different story but a solution could be found.
All in all though, I see self driving as a tremendous benefit to our society but I don't deny that there will be bugs to work out. The stickiest bugs will be those deliberately caused by humans.
