If you’re still one of those people who thinks of self drive cars as the stuff of science fiction, it’s time to get used to the reality. Volvo has announced one of the largest UK trials of such vehicles, which will include families being transported in “autonomous” cars on public roads in London as soon as next year.
According to a report in The Telegraph, there will be up to 100 of these vehicles driving themselves around the UK by 2018. With the speed that technology moves, it’s reasonable to expect plenty more trials of this nature in the next couple of years. Another has already been announced for Greenwich this summer.
Learning to “drive” self drive cars
Meanwhile, the European Transport Safety Council is discussing how to adapt driving tests to take account of the continual development of self drive cars.
One of the key points is in training drivers when to decide to “take back control” of a vehicle that is designed to be autonomous. One can imagine this being quite a judgement call when trust is placed in the hands (or wheels) of a machine! It will therefore be key to ensure drivers understand how the underlying technology works. According to the report, the self drive cars themselves will also have to be capable of passing a driving test!
In other related recent news, The Telegraph has also been discussing autonomous features that are already reasonably widespread, specifically autonomous breaking, which can spot upcoming hazards and brake if you fail to yourself.
Apparently, studies show that cars with these systems can reduce incidents of driving into the vehicle in front by nearly 40%. However, thanks to confusion over the naming conventions of these systems, they’re not being adopted by drivers as quickly as would be ideal.
As the functionality of self drive cars improves, the real battle will be to persuade traditional drivers to trust them. A recent study suggested that 75% of US drivers “fear” these autonomous vehicles. Let us know what you think in the comments!
Automonomous is great for people who have health problems that could be a risk to other drivers, like high risk of heart disease etc, otherwise leave the controls in our hands
All cars “break” autonomously at the moment – they fail without any intervention whatsover!
😀 – I think you meant “autonomous braking”….
Surely it should be “Autonomous Braking” not “Autonomous Breaking “. Last thing I want is for my car to break itself. 😉
If a car driving by itself hits something, is the manufacturer of the car at fault
I think you hint at the real issue when talking about training drivers to “take back control”. It is nonsense to imagine that a driver could resume control in time to avoid an accident and here lies the real problem. The authorities will always want a human to be responsible for any accident otherwise who can you take to court? I think the hype over autonomous cars will never become reality.
Incidentally I know what “braking” is but I’m not sure what “breaking” means.
I can’t wait till I can give up the tedious chore of driving! I am sure the robots will do a better job of it than I do – and they won’t lose their temper! Come on Petrol prices – can’t you put in a good word for me with Volvo? I’ll even happily do a blog during part of the time I don’t waste driving!
How will driverless vehicles pick up the signals given by other drivers and act appropriately and safely?
Flash of headlights to let the other car turn right across you, pull out to overtake, come on past an obstacle etc
When you are entering a main road and an approaching vehicle indicates they are turning into your side road, a human driver will recognise the opportunity to proceed.
Could a machine do this?
I’ve just commented on the “congested roads” topic by promoting this idea. My point is that, contrary to what Vic and Tony wrote above, truly autonomous vehicles must eventually be the only ones on public roads. They will drive us much more safely, much more compactly, and much more efficiently than the most skilled driver could today. Such cars will have no steering wheel – perhaps only a small joystick for low-speed maneuvering. They will use, not only vision systems giving them at least the information available to a human driver, but also short-range communication with nearby vehicles and connection to centralised control systems, as well as GPS and map data. The travelling experience may be rather boring to those accustomed to driving themselves, more akin to public transport, and speeds may seem pedestrian, but journey times will be greatly reduced and many limited resources saved. If you really want to own a car, you will be able to drive it yourself in privately-run tracks away from the public road system – a development of quad-biking, perhaps. It will, unfortunately, take several decades to achieve, in spite of the current surge of development.
Automonomous is great for people who have health problems that could be a risk to other drivers, like high risk of heart disease etc, otherwise leave the controls in our hands
All cars “break” autonomously at the moment – they fail without any intervention whatsover!
😀 – I think you meant “autonomous braking”….
Surely it should be “Autonomous Braking” not “Autonomous Breaking “. Last thing I want is for my car to break itself. 😉
If a car driving by itself hits something, is the manufacturer of the car at fault
I think you hint at the real issue when talking about training drivers to “take back control”. It is nonsense to imagine that a driver could resume control in time to avoid an accident and here lies the real problem. The authorities will always want a human to be responsible for any accident otherwise who can you take to court? I think the hype over autonomous cars will never become reality.
Incidentally I know what “braking” is but I’m not sure what “breaking” means.
I can’t wait till I can give up the tedious chore of driving! I am sure the robots will do a better job of it than I do – and they won’t lose their temper! Come on Petrol prices – can’t you put in a good word for me with Volvo? I’ll even happily do a blog during part of the time I don’t waste driving!
How will driverless vehicles pick up the signals given by other drivers and act appropriately and safely?
Flash of headlights to let the other car turn right across you, pull out to overtake, come on past an obstacle etc
When you are entering a main road and an approaching vehicle indicates they are turning into your side road, a human driver will recognise the opportunity to proceed.
Could a machine do this?
I’ve just commented on the “congested roads” topic by promoting this idea. My point is that, contrary to what Vic and Tony wrote above, truly autonomous vehicles must eventually be the only ones on public roads. They will drive us much more safely, much more compactly, and much more efficiently than the most skilled driver could today. Such cars will have no steering wheel – perhaps only a small joystick for low-speed maneuvering. They will use, not only vision systems giving them at least the information available to a human driver, but also short-range communication with nearby vehicles and connection to centralised control systems, as well as GPS and map data. The travelling experience may be rather boring to those accustomed to driving themselves, more akin to public transport, and speeds may seem pedestrian, but journey times will be greatly reduced and many limited resources saved. If you really want to own a car, you will be able to drive it yourself in privately-run tracks away from the public road system – a development of quad-biking, perhaps. It will, unfortunately, take several decades to achieve, in spite of the current surge of development.