Driverless Cars

[Evermore]

Agony; A man dies in auto pilot Tesla wreck! http://fortune.com/2016/07/03/teslas-fa ... lications/

Because he was an idiot who thought he was in a self-driving car. In reality, it was simply another car with a set of driver assistance capabilities (found in most higher end cars now). It's unfortunate that the news has tended to make it sound like the car was self-driving, or close to it. If he'd actually been driving as he should have been, he'd still be alive.

Or if that car had a radar unit instead of an optical unit, because the optical unit mistook the colorr of the van for the colorr of the sky behind the van.

In general, driverless cars might even now save lives, because you can't get a computer drunk or stoned .. '31% (9,967) of 2014 traffic fatalities in the U.S. involve alcohol impairment' .. that is not counting drug impairment. http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/i ... sheet.html However, I have seen other stats saying 50,000 fatalities per year in the U.S. on the highways.

[Evermore]

I'd trust a well-tested, well-engineered driverless car more than I would trust, say, a random cabbie and possibly more than I would even trust myself.

There have been times when I've made errors in judgement which nearly resulted in catastrophe. Just for a moment I was distracted by some cones, wondering why they were in the shoulder when I looked up and there was a stopped lane in front of me. I braked and entered the left lane without even checking if another car occupied it and got lucky. Another time in Chicago I was merging into heavy traffic in darkness on a highway and only after getting into my lane did I see a car without lights in the ramp. I have no idea how close I came to colliding with it but it scared the crap out of me. I would happily trade my fallible nature for a computer that doesn't get distracted, sleepy, angry, or fails to see things in the dark.

I don't think a lot of people share my opinion, though.

I would trust a regular taxi driver more than myself or most other drivers .. not so for Uber though, who are those most others. Taxi drivers are in business, if they get in an accident they lose money, they are 'drivers by nature' or they wouldn't generally be driving for a living, they have learned from much experience, their cars are probably safer because they're regulated although that's not a big factor today when most cars on the road are safety regulated. Driverless cars will definitely save many lives.

[geckzilla]

My father-in-law is a retired taxi driver. You should not trust him over any other random driver based on the simple merit that he's a taxi driver. He is still subject to all the flaws that every other human being is subject to. Everyone has the same motivation to not wreck their vehicles. It costs a lot and it might get you injured or even killed.

Taxi drivers have an extra motivation during their driving, which is to make money. They also have extra rules to abide by and get extra fines even when it's their passenger's fault, ie the passenger gets out at the intersection and runs off. It's not allowed. They'll still drive as hard as they can and flout the rules when they can to try to earn that extra dollar. By that, I mean they want to deliver their customer to their destination as quickly as possible so they can pick up another fair. Some are more conscientious than others.

I do suggest that you treat them with special regard in another way, though. They are largely immigrants with a lot of stress. Just being extra nice to them, making sure your tip is adequate, and showing them appreciation for the work they do can make a huge difference in their days. Most of the time they are treated like dirt by people who either don't like or just barely tolerate immigrants, especially ones who speak with that fresh-off-the-boat accent, and their customers think they are scamming them. I took an Uber cab once and even he was an immigrant. There's no reason to treat Uber cabbies with any less respect.