GM Claims Advanced Cruise Control By 2008

pavelvp writes "Economist is reporting that General Motors is working on the prototype of the self-driving car. From the article, "The car uses updated technology combined with several existing innovations and, according to the manufacturer, could be in production by 2008. But, while the technology takes some of the boring bits out of driving, it falls far short of an automatic taxi service and, anyway, various legal, technical and social barriers to its introduction remain.""

Comments

Priorities

[morcheeba]

As long as the system can distinguish what is running into the street ahead of you if you're boxed in and the vehicle behind you is tailgating (or its driver isn't paying attention). If it's a dog, the the answer is to hit it instead of risking getting run over yourself. If it's a kid, then slam on the brakes and get rear ended.(*)

Also, the price target of $1,830 seems a little optimistic. That's close to the cost of a nav system, but will require more components.

(* Alternate answer: deploy the tire spikes and drag chain to force the car behind to stop)