[joslicx]

^^

Well Google are NOT the first one to develop or demonstrate such a car. Many car companies have done that already.

Problem is a legal one. In case there is an accident who is responsible? Normally in our cars the driver is responsible if he/she causes the accident. In a self-driven car if something fails (not entirely out of question) and there is an accident (worse if there is a death of a human as well because of the accident or damage to property) then who is going to be responsible for that??? Thats why these cars are still not on streets.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by joslicx

then who is going to be responsible for that??? Thats why these cars are still not on streets.

I think the name on the driving license will be responsible. I'm sure in this case, if Google got a driving license, it must be in some name (a company name or so), so theoretically they should still be carrying insurance and the like. So once such tech becomes more mainstream, it will lead to better written rules on who is responsible etc. I would think that Google will have to test this out in more challenging environs as in India with highly random traffic behavior before they can globalize this product. Till then it will stay as US/Europe experiment only.

[NinadJoshi]

A discussion on this topic is already in progress at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ve-cars-4.html

Would the mods merge this thread into the one above, so we can perch more birds together to chirp on one line ?

[NinadJoshi]

Originally Posted by joslicx

^^

Well Google are NOT the first one to develop or demonstrate such a car. Many car companies have done that already.

Problem is a legal one. In case there is an accident who is responsible? Normally in our cars the driver is responsible if he/she causes the accident. In a self-driven car if something fails (not entirely out of question) and there is an accident (worse if there is a death of a human as well because of the accident or damage to property) then who is going to be responsible for that??? Thats why these cars are still not on streets.

I quote Nevada News" "Google Prius cars have already traversed more than 200000 kilometers in width and breadth of the US and so far it remained accident free. The only time a Google self driven car is reported to have been involved in an accident, it was being driven on human mode and automatic mode was turned off. So when the car was involved in the accident, a man was sitting behind wheel and driving himself."

A Google spokesperson says: "Though Nevada has given license to Google’s self driven car, it has made it mandatory for Google cars to at least have two people in the car all the time with one person sitting in the front and the other on the back seat manning the computers and sensors. After the incident involving a self driven car a Google official said, “Safety is our top priority. One of our goals is to prevent fender-benders like this one, which occurred while a person was manually driving the car,” said a Google spokesperson, adding that the cars have traveled more than 160,000 miles autonomously “without incident.”

1 accident in 160,000 miles, that too by a human, not by the vehicle's autonomous electronic driver, is an amazing feat.

Point to note is that the technology aspect of these self driven cars seems to be solid, and congratulations to Google and pre-Google technologists for that. No doubt there are unanswered questions about the legal aspects. This is one more case where technology may have taken a lead over existing laws/regulations, and those laws and regulations will have to be amended before this concept can be ok-ed for the masses.

[arbj2]

but where is the fun in driving these days, with cities bursting to the seams, driving has become more of a pain than pleasure. Apart from this one also has to find a suitable parking place in crowded areas.

Its probably a pleasure when driving on highways.

At least for cities a driverless car would be a very good option.


thanks
a

[clevermax]

After 10 years of research by Mercedes Benz, their automated car screwed it up while going through the autobahn on a test.

It changed lane by checking whether there are any vehicles behind, but did not accommodate for the speed of the vehicle going in front of it. Suddenly the car in front braked, and the engineer behind the wheel had to take control of the automated car in order to avoid a hit.

So much for automated driving.


I really want to see how the Google car performs in Indian City traffic. Who knows, may be that heavy processing need will make them 'Evolve' on their own and it will be the start of computers taking control over humans

[roy_libran]

We'll see how this does on Indian roads. 20000 or 200000 kms on US roads is insignificant when compared to 20 kms on Ring road on any average day. :-)

[joslicx]

Well automated cars would have to have lot of cameras and sensors + numerous levels of checks, at least 3 or 4 levels so that even multiple failures still dont prove fatal. It would be a very costly affair, at least for now. The real challenge would be to design and make fail-safe sensors and rock solid software to control. Khudos to Google if they manage that.

[NinadJoshi]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

We'll see how this does on Indian roads. 20000 or 200000 kms on US roads is insignificant when compared to 20 kms on Ring road on any average day. :-)

Indians are way smarter. They already use a much easier and cheaper system for driving automation....they employ human drivers.

[wildon]

Originally Posted by joslicx

Problem is a legal one. In case there is an accident who is responsible?

It would be interesting to know;

who will be responsible for the accident, in case an Aircraft met with an accident in Auto-pilot mode. The law may be the same. Does any one know about it ?

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by wildon

It would be interesting to know;

who will be responsible for the accident, in case an Aircraft met with an accident in Auto-pilot mode. The law may be the same. Does any one know about it ?

Well mostly an airplane is in autopilot mode only while cruising. But yes its interesting to know who would be responsible if it met with an accident while in auto-pilot.

There was a novel by Michael Chrichton called Airplane (or Airframe maybe) that explored something like this. I read it long back and have forgotten most of the details now.

I can totally remember reading somewhere about the legal aspects with these self-driven cars being the only reason why they were still not on roads. The technology has been there with many car giants for quite some time now.

[gthang]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

We'll see how this does on Indian roads. 20000 or 200000 kms on US roads is insignificant when compared to 20 kms on Ring road on any average day. :-)

I think the success of the Google Car largely depends on the preface that a large percentage of the other motorists will obey traffic rules. For example right of way in a 4 way stop, etc.

Last time I looked, I didnt see any road rules being followed except "Stay Alive" on Indian roads ( saw many flaunt that as well), so I dont think the Prius will have enough room inside for the computing power required to vector a course in our chaos

Cheers

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by gthang

I think the success of the Google Car largely depends on the preface that a large percentage of the other motorists will obey traffic rules. For example right of way in a 4 way stop, etc.

Last time I looked, I didnt see any road rules being followed except "Stay Alive" on Indian roads ( saw many flaunt that as well), so I dont think the Prius will have enough room inside for the computing power required to vector a course in our chaos

Cheers

Awesome. You said it way better than I did!

As you said, the "Stay alive" factor....

It would be very interesting to see how algorithms fare in front of extremely fast, haphazard, lawless, and random happenstances. What happens when the algorithms run out of contingency plans? What happens when they can't compute a trajectory quick enough, and they end up slamming the brakes, just in time for that truck or SUV tailgating you, to blast you into oblivion. This is the question, Google needs to successfully answer.

Sorry, but I am a sceptic.

[gthang]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

This is the question, Google needs to successfully answer.

Sorry, but I am a sceptic.

Even though we are both saying basically the same thing, I am not so much of a sceptic.

I cant expect Google to develop algorithms good enough, because I doubt it will ever be good enough to overcome human irrationality. We have not crossed that AI threshold yet.

Rather, I wish that Indian road sense would improve so that a Google Car could drive here. Now that's science fiction!!

But the technology is sound, and right now, quite novel.

Cheers

[Durango Dude]

Heralding in the era of iRobot. I think its going to be a reality; whether we like it or not. If we live to see those times we can tell our grandchildren how we used to 'drive a car' ourselves. When I spun a top in Dakshina Chithra near Chennai a small crowd of 'awestruck' kids gathered around; funny thing is I'm really not that good at spinning a top with a thread; they are more familiar with 'beyblades' than the top. So in this world the only thing thats constant is "change" prepare to change for the good or the bad or be prepared to be "shortchanged" by life. Adapt and move on or be prepared to become extinct like the dinosaurs.