Autonomous Cars

[Soup DeVille]

Will autonomous cars have an option for driving style? Tailgater, left-lane hogger, newly licensed 16 year old...

If you want to go full dystopia, how fast your car gets places may be dependant on how much you pay in "right of way" fees.

[AutobahnSHO]

If you want to go full dystopia, how fast your car gets places may be dependant on how much you pay in "right of way" fees.

take out the "may"...

"Get out of the way, I'm a tier 12 hire" says the Autocar.
"Ok," say the rest of them.
"BOOYA!" says the hacked tier 5000 car. (Max is 15)

[Soup DeVille]

take out the "may"...

"Get out of the way, I'm a tier 12 hire" says the Autocar.
"Ok," say the rest of them.
"BOOYA!" says the hacked tier 5000 car. (Max is 15)

There would of course need to be an "emergency response vehicle" tier...

[AutobahnSHO]

There would of course need to be an “emergency response vehicle” tier...

15

[CaminoRacer]

There would of course need to be an "emergency response vehicle" tier...

15

Nah, the tier will depend on the patient's pre-determined/pre-paid "Emergency response package"

[shp4man]

We'll, I take comfort in the fact that if there is an EMP attack or some electronic hack of modern cars, it won't affect me at all.

[Morris Minor]

Perhaps this is a case for open sourcing all vehicle autonomy software.  Millions of eyes scrutinizing & auditing the source code...

[AutobahnSHO]

Perhaps this is a case for open sourcing all vehicle autonomy software.  Millions of eyes scrutinizing & auditing the source code...

+1

Problem is no one will want to share their work.

[Morris Minor]

+1

Problem is no one will want to share their work.

If you're Ford or GM - paying big dollars to heavy-hitting software engineers - you don't want cold-pizza eating malodorous cellar dwellers from Croatia or somewhere finding flaws in your precious code.

[Onslaught]

They need to hold off for another 20 years until I'm not working.

[Soup DeVille]

They need to hold off for another 20 years until I'm not working.

I don't think you have anything to worry about. There will still be cars to fix, and the guys that hold onto theirs will be more willing to have them repaired.

[12,000 RPM]

They need to hold off for another 20 years until I'm not working.

Wow, welcome back.

[AutobahnSHO]

Even the Russians are looking towards the future. Fun video of WINTER driving in the city:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx08yRsR9ow

[12,000 RPM]

Damn, pretty snazzy

[giant_mtb]

Heavy snowfall?  The roads are clear...

[AutobahnSHO]

Heavy snowfall?  The roads are clear...

that's in the other video I posted many moons ago, rural white covered roads (Norway?)

[Morris Minor]

Morris Jr has started his Udacity nanodegree course in this (autonomous cars). I think I'm more pumped than he is.

[Morris Minor]

Not full autonomy, but most of the driver-assist systems rely on lane markings: they need those clean, crisp, clear lines. This is fine if the roads are well-maintained, but plenty of roads here in Georgia have old worn, low-contrast markings, and this state has a road-friendly mild climate. I'm guessing it's even less wonderful in colder parts of the country.

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/165320-what-is-lane-departure-warning-and-how-does-it-work

[12,000 RPM]

I am trying to think how I process lane placement. These autonomous guys need to set up shop in NYC. If an autonomous car can navigate any of the toll lines and bridges/tunnels of NYC everything else will be a breeze.

[Laconian]

Not full autonomy, but most of the driver-assist systems rely on lane markings: they need those clean, crisp, clear lines. This is fine if the roads are well-maintained, but plenty of roads here in Georgia have old worn, low-contrast markings, and this state has a road-friendly mild climate. I'm guessing it's even less wonderful in colder parts of the country.

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/165320-what-is-lane-departure-warning-and-how-does-it-work

All the vendors are getting millimeter-accuracy lidar mappings of roads. You can combine GPS with sensor data to get a very precise fix on the road and only falling back on sensor-driven dead reckoning when that fails (probably still very good given access to highly accurate wheel position and speed data) Human drivers can only use visual dead reckoning.

[AutobahnSHO]

Not full autonomy, but most of the driver-assist systems rely on lane markings: they need those clean, crisp, clear lines. This is fine if the roads are well-maintained, but plenty of roads here in Georgia have old worn, low-contrast markings, and this state has a road-friendly mild climate. I'm guessing it's even less wonderful in colder parts of the country.

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/165320-what-is-lane-departure-warning-and-how-does-it-work

Few pages back though I posted a video of a car driving itself on 100% snow-covered roads. There was no traffic but it's all coming along.

[CaminoRacer]

All the vendors are getting millimeter-accuracy lidar mappings of roads. You can combine GPS with sensor data to get a very precise fix on the road and only falling back on sensor-driven dead reckoning when that fails (probably still very good given access to highly accurate wheel position and speed data) Human drivers can only use visual dead reckoning.

Visual has to be a part of it. Construction zones change lane locations and have weird markings. There are also tiny two lane roads across the country that might have the shoulder break off and erode down the hill. Can't just rely on mapping for that.

[Laconian]

The Waymo Pacifica parked next to me again today. Whirrrrrr

[AutobahnSHO]

The Waymo Pacifica parked next to me again today. Whirrrrrr

you have a cyber stalker 

[Laconian]

The shitters! I'm being plagued by the minivan version of Christine!

[MexicoCityM3]

Relevant here:

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/02/the-cadillac-ct6-review-super-cruise-is-a-game-changer/

They like the Caddy system more than Tesla's.

[Laconian]

Yeah, I think a more risk avoidant rollout makes a lot of sense for this type of technology.

I am happy that Tesla is pushing the envelope though.

[AutobahnSHO]

Ruh roh!!   We'll have to wash cars more often, and more carefully.

The amount of dirt on our cars here in the winter is obscene. We were laughing though a few weeks back when the line for an automatic car wash was out onto the street- and it was forecast to snow a bunch the next day.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/for-self-driving-cars-car-washes-are-a-nightmare/ar-BBJtkR7?li=AA4Zoy&ocid=ientp

[giant_mtb]

People are stupid about washing their cars in the winter.  Everybody goes to the car wash when it's warm and sunny...when all the roads are wet, sloppy, dirty messes.  It's like taking a shower before you go play in the mud. 

[Soup DeVille]

Its more about getting the salt off than staying clean.