California To License Self-Driving Cars

DevotedSkeptic writes "Californian senators have passed a bill that looks set to make the state the second in the US to approve self-driving cars on its roads. The bill was passed unanimously by state senators, and now hits the desk of governor Jerry Brown, who's expected to sign it into law. It calls on the California Department of Motor Vehicles to start developing standards and licensing procedures for autonomous vehicles. 'This bill would require the department to adopt safety standards and performance requirements to ensure the safe operation and testing of 'autonomous vehicles', as defined, on the public roads in this state,' it reads."

Comments

Re:Not safe

[njfuzzy]

Oh come on. Both articles you link to are full of nothing but conjecture and opinion, and both are about the same accident. Plus, anecdotal evidence tells us nothing. What I want to know is: how many accidents on average do Google autonomous cars have per mile, and how does that relate to the average for human-driven cars?

Re:Not safe

[Joe_Dragon]

the self diving cars better have the same level of code review that autoplot software get's.

and even if that you can still get errors like this

http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=01201992&reg=F-WWDP&airline=Air+Inter

        While on approach into Strasbourg the aircraft impacted the side of a mountain. The cause of the crash was found to be a faulty design in an autopilot mode selector switch which led the flight crew to inadvertently select a 3,300 foot per minute descent rate on the approach instead of the desired 3.3 flight path angle.

or this

http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=09141993&reg=D-AIPN&airline=Lufthansa

        The aircraft skidded off the end of the runway during landing. The aircraft touched down with sink rate low enough that the onboard flight computers did not consider it to be "landing," which inhibited thrust reverse and brake application for nine seconds.

http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=03101997&reg=A40-EM&airline=Gulf+Air

        A flight control failure at V1 caused the crew to abandon the takeoff, with deceleration beginning at V1+8 knots. The aircraft overran the runway, causing the nosegear to collapse. The flight control problem was traced to a faulty microchip in the aircraft's Fly-By-Wire system.

Re:Not safe

[iamhassi]

I think you overestimate the average human. For example, please tell me exactly how far it would take your vehicle to stop from 60mph in current weather conditions with the current brake wear? Don't know? A computer would, and it could adjust speed accordingly, given condition of the brakes, weather, road conditions, even traffic information, because if all vehicles are reporting their gps location then your vehicle knows if there is another vehicle close by or not.