[blackwasp]

BMW has revealed that it will offer driver controls on its future autonomous cars. The German carmaker wants to offer the choice of self-driving or autonomous driving to the user.

Robert Irlinger, the head of BMW’s i division, said that the company wants to offer the best of both worlds to the user - autonomy when they want it and driving pleasure when it suits them. The automobile company wants to design a system that will hide away the driver controls when not needed.

Different carmakers have different takes on the autonomous cars. Volkswagen has said that their autonomous car will not get driver controls, while Lamborghini has declared that they will not be making self-driving cars at all. BMW's stance on autonomous cars suggests that they prefer the middle ground and will offer the better of the two. That being said, Irlinger also commented that there is a possibility that BMW would come out with a self-driving car without the driver controls, although that isn’t their goal.



Source - Topspeed

Link to the Team-BHP News

[The Rationalist]

Whatever they do, it is inevitable that the world will move to autonomous cars sooner than later. There would be no place for driver centric cars and the enthusiast crowd will be long gone once autonomous cars become the norm. There is no guarantee that the coming generations will have any interest in driving cars to start with. Better to adapt to such a world rather than making fools of oneself. Does this guys look around them to see what happened to those who resisted change!

[abhishek46]

Well, I know what they might come up with!

While a pedantic AI system will keep the controls of the car, the passengers will be provided a thrilling G force experience, thanks to the below 'superb' powered seats.



Of course, individual passengers will be free to chose from an array of 'fake' G Force experiences, along with Fake engine notes to accompany them.

/s

[bhavik.1991]

It will be mandatory by law to let computers do the job a few years down the line. The governments won't risk lives of others for the driving pleasure of a few.

Originally Posted by The Rationalist

Whatever they do, it is inevitable that the world will move to autonomous cars sooner than later. There would be no place for driver centric cars and the enthusiast crowd will be long gone once autonomous cars become the norm. There is no guarantee that the coming generations will have any interest in driving cars to start with. Better to adapt to such a world rather than making fools of oneself. Does this guys look around them to see what happened to those who resisted change!

Agreed, Self driving will have place only in sports in the future. You want to drive a car? Fine, do it on a track. There would be no place for self driving on public roads.

[StarrySky]

I don't really think governments need to make self-driving cars mandatory. With enough of such cars on the road, there will be many "eyes" on the human driver at all times. This means that human drivers will not be able to get away with any law-breaking as there will probably be several "eye" witnesses to the crime, some or all of whom may be programmed to report the crime in real time to the authorities with evidence. I think human drivers may actually start to drive more carefully with the self-driving cars around.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

BMW has revealed that it will offer driver controls on its future autonomous cars. The German carmaker wants to offer the choice of self-driving or autonomous driving to the user.

That is one 'aha' moment. All the autonomous driving news had a fellow like me worried. Indeed, why not give the choice to the car owner .

Originally Posted by The Rationalist

Whatever they do, it is inevitable that the world will move to autonomous cars sooner than later.

I will be very surprised if we see 100% self-driving cars in India in our lifetime (I'm already 40). Autonomous cars need perfect driving conditions & infrastructure. In terms of the latter, how have Indian cities really developed in the last 40 - 50 years? Sure, a couple of flyovers and some sea bridges have come up, but has the urban road infrastructure really improved?

It's going to take a LOT to ever see only self-driving cars in India. And even then, remember, labour is cheap in India. Are you going to pay 2, 3 or even 4 lakhs more for a car because it is self-driving? The Automatic transmission is almost a century old, yet the proper ones cost 1 lakh rupees over their MT counterparts.

[parsh]

Hope it doesn't turn out like this in Demolition Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnyq2Bp5Rxo