[Daewood]

Originally Posted by santhosh_kumard

Most modern aircrafts fly with the help of computer and from what I know pilots take over during take-off/landing/turbulence.

True. Even landing is on auto-pilot mode in modern aircrafts.
And some trains in the europe/gulf don't have drivers. It's controlled by a central control room.

I would be very glad if my daily commute is taken over by computers which act as my driver. However on a vacation or long drive i would love to drive myself.

[shortbread]

The comment is as ignorant as someone going up to him and saying, Im suprised that we still have to type/enter info into computers rather than say them being voice activated maybe. Perhaps he should look into that rather than passing vague comments.

The population of aircraft in relation to air space available is negligible, in the case of road transport this is not the case and therefore the risks far greater. We are not dealing with digitised info but peoples lives. Then comes greater issues like varying standards of infrastructure globally and also the standards of vehicle maintenance, Imagine a self driving autorickshaw thats 25 years old and maintained by a negligent owner. Its a recipe for disaster.

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by shortbread

Im suprised that we still have to type/enter info into computers rather than say them being voice activated maybe. Perhaps he should look into that rather than passing vague comments.

Imagine sitting in office and 'verbally' entering comments in Tbhp, without disturbing your next desk colleague.

When he says computerised commute he wouldn't have meant fixing a microchip in our existing city cars/ auto rickshaws to take over the driver's job. He must have meant a whole new system, something like a tunnel which has individual chairs on wheels and move from point A to B. It will become a necessity in the future as cities get more crowded.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by shortbread

The comment is as ignorant as someone going up to him and saying, Im suprised that we still have to type/enter info into computers rather than say them being voice activated maybe. Perhaps he should look into that rather than passing vague comments.

Off topic but can't voice recognition software achieve this? Even if it can't in its current state, surely, its just a matter of time?

[SkyWalker]

Everything starts as idiotic. I am sure a lot of people would have laughed at Wright brothers and made funny quips about how silly they were in thinking they could ever create a machine that could fly before 1903.

oh, yeah - how silly of them!

[Guna]

Isn't it the same guy who told that youth should be able to change their identity to escape the past (of being googled)?

May be he has not heard about old jokes about 'what if Microsoft made cars...' If Microsoft made cars

Yes there are accidents caused by human errors (it is multiple humans involved in almost cases) but there will be more accidents if cars are driven by robots/technology, at least in the current congestion and population density.
The way human mind can deal with ambiguity, makes sense out of utter non-sense is mind boggling and and a machine even with 1000 sensors can never match that.

How long does it take for a machine to learn to anticipate things like we do while driving, just by reading the body language/signs of other drivers and co-relating with the situation around to come to a decision instantly, without even thinking about it? Not going to happen during Eric Schmidt's time. It is far more complex then picking few keywords from a email and inserting a 'relevant' ad to the recipient.
I agree it makes sense to automate certain type of transportation/mobility in some situation but finding it ridiculous to see humans driving and saying that it was a bug that cars came before computers is stretching things too far.

[KiloAlpha]

I have seen a lot of comments comparing computer driven cars with auto-pilot/computer flown aircraft. Before you all settle down with your opinions about "computers flying aircraft", read this column:

Ask the Pilot - Salon.com

As far as Google CEO's comments are concerned - there are two opposites to consider.
1. The human urge for free choice. Yes, traffic is chaotic and other people's stupidity irritates and angers us no end. But, search your soul, you wouldn't want things to be any other way.
2. The comfort and hassle-free journey. Some people would rate this above freedom/free choice when it comes to making journeys in a car. For this, we already have a solution and it is called the "Chauffer" or "Driver".

I, for one, rate freedom and free choice way above comfort. So, even if I was earning a zillion bucks, I would still insist on driving everywhere myself.
Add to that the fact that I am in the software industry, so I know how and why softwares are built - so I am kind of naturally mistrusting of any complex software system.
And yes, you all are right. The software to control thousands of vehicles to drive by themselves is going to be hugely complex!

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

Add to that the fact that I am in the software industry, so I know how and why softwares are built - so I am kind of naturally mistrusting of any complex software system.
And yes, you all are right. The software to control thousands of vehicles to drive by themselves is going to be hugely complex!

Why would a system that runs on a technology similar to escalator require a complex software.
I use 2 escalators in the railway station everyday and they work seamlessly to transport around 50 people per 10 seconds.
At the station where my journey ends there is no escalator. It's the same crowd but you should see the chaos 'free citizens' create on the steps.

Now imagine a much bigger and flat 'escaltor with chairs' system connecting all major streets and roads in a crowded city. It doesn't have to move at 100kph. A speed of 20kph is enough. ( the current average speed of city traffic in chennai is 20kp and in tokyo it is 12kph)

No amount of flyovers or metro trains are going to solve our traffic woes.
Something completly new has to be invented soon.

.

[roy_libran]

We should actually start stopping ourselves from using Google and it's services, everytime we need something. These guys are getting better at fulfilling everything we need and may soon become our masters. This is not a doomsday prediction but something I am afraid may happen, if the likes of Google go unchecked.
However, coming back to the topic, I already detest driving luxury cars and automatics, that have a lot of gizmos, and have admittedly made driving very easy. I'd any day root for cars that obey their masters completely and give them full control.
Recently I saw a hollywood movie, whose plot was on the lines of a new computer system that would take over ALL aircraft operations from a Pilot and apparently make better decisions than a human being. The problem was it got hit with a virus, and flew the 747 into a thunderstorm. Even today, computers struggle with viruses and other security threats, and that's not going to disappear anytime soon. Moreover, the human brain is still the most advanced computer that is there, around. So, I'd never relinquish control of a vehicle in which I am sitting, to a computer.

[diabloo]

He did. In 1998 COMDEX. After GM's reply, its been an email joke.

Originally Posted by santhosh_kumard

This was an email-joke-fwd.

You might want to replace the name Google with Facebook, since Facebook will be many times Google in next 5 years. But let me warn you, you will lose your competitive advantage among your peers if you stop using Google, since your peers will find precise information with Google, while you cannot.

Originally Posted by roy_libran

We should actually start stopping ourselves from using Google and it's services, everytime we need something. These guys are getting better at fulfilling everything we need and may soon become our masters. This is not a doomsday prediction but something I am afraid may happen, if the likes of Google go unchecked.

Recently I saw a hollywood movie, where a man was flying with a ring attached to his heart

Recently I saw a hollywood movie,

All Mr Schmidt opined that we humans aren't very good at driving. Seeing our folks on road. I cannot disagree with him. Coming to automated cars, technology is already there. Just that its expensive. One day I hope to see a car goto a gas station after finding that it has less fuel, without its master telling it.

[AdityaLN]

Computers/Technology might be efficient but are they fail safe? I have no stat to back me up here but it's safe to assume that around the world computers crash more than the number of accidents. Agreed, flying is safer thanks to technology but they cost $$$ as well and then if there is a problem, humans have to take over. So, even with all the money spent, it's back to humans at the first sight of trouble. It, simply means however bad we are, we still are better than the computers. We still do not trust the computers to take decisions for us. But, they can help us drive efficiently.

The article says "Oh, and don't forget that drivers are becoming increasingly distracted by electronic gadgets like smart phones" my take of it is, It makes sense for him to say all that. He wants humans to give away the keys to the computer so that we get more distracted or involved by electronic gadgets and smart phones and thats means business to them.
Probably the car computer which would be seamlessly integrated to a grid can stream adds on on the billboard on topics related to whatever we are doing , it can intimate us of the sales happening on the street we are passing through. That's money for them. No wonder he wants us off the steering wheel and doing other stuff.

[mallumowgli]

Oh she ridicules humans driving cars, does she? And what am I supposed to drive? I cannot drive a hard disk drive, can I? Now I need to drive and does she give me an alternate option as to what I should drive?

Let the computerised system or whatever take me from one point to another - to my office, to the market, to the shopping mall. But when I want to drive - dont you dare take away that key from me!!

[mxx]

In an era where every effort is made to reduce human intervention- in machines, aircrafts etc, to reduce unavoidable human error, Google CEOs comment is not out of place.
But for many driving is not about getting from point A to point B, there is that un-explainable feeling joy that comes from driving.

OT, I feel the same for battery, fuel cell cars. Sure they reduce emissions and all that. But they cant come anywhere near the thrill that ICE gives, battery cars are like toys.

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by diabloo

He did. In 1998 COMDEX. After GM's reply, its been an email joke.

You might want to replace the name Google with Facebook, since Facebook will be many times Google in next 5 years. But let me warn you, you will lose your competitive advantage among your peers if you stop using Google, since your peers will find precise information with Google, while you cannot.

I agree with you Diabloo. But, it doesn't dilute the fact that Google/FB can be very dangerous to human society as we know it. Whilst the advantages are huge in the short term, I am not so sure about the longer term. But, that is another discussion.

Now, if we were to look at the next stage of evolution in transportation, why not focus on other kinds of propulsion, that are sustainable and non-polluting, I would be willing to spend some of my hard-earned money on that. But, a computer controlled vehicle? NEVER!

(By the way, I work in IT, hence my distrust for computers. More than half of us in the industry get paid only because, with computers, things go wrong a lot more than they should).

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

Oh she ridicules humans driving cars, does she? And what am I supposed to drive? I cannot drive a hard disk drive, can I? Now I need to drive and does she give me an alternate option as to what I should drive?

Eric Schmidt is a guy :P

But seriously, its a fair point. It could very well happen in a while.