Toyota To Show Off Autonomous Prototype Car At CES Show

coondoggie writes "Toyota is going to show off its autonomous car/accident avoidance technology at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas nest week. The 2013 Lexus LS uses what the car company calls its Intelligent Transport System and is fitted with on-board radar, video cameras and sensors to monitor the road, surroundings, and the driver all with the goal of preventing accidents and avoiding problems."

Comments

Re:Never really understood the point.

[WaywardGeek]

Self driving cars will be huge. They'll start changing the world as soon as California allows these cars on the road without licensed rivers. At that point, a fairly expensive self-driving car will have plenty of uses.

• Zipcar/taxis: now it picks you up where you want and drops you off where you want. They show up much more reliably and are cheaper.
• Old people and people with vision impairments would buy them. The increase in personal freedom is worth a lot.
• Working parents could schedule self driving cars to pick up their kids and get them to soccer practice.
• Workers who's time is very valuable would by these cars so they could do their work while commuting.
• When self driving cars start networking, they could save gas and improve traffic on freeways by linking up like a train.
• Instead of having 2 cars in my garage, where they sit unused for 95% of the time, we'll be able to share a small fleet of cars among a large number of owners, saving tons of money.
• For real cheapskates, and environmentally concerned citizens, these cars could automatically form car-pools, getting people around with a lot less gas per person, with a fraction of the hassles of carpooling today.

I personally suffer from Stargardt's disease, and am losing central vision. I'm expecting to be in a financial position to buy one of these. My preference would be a self-driving Tesla Model S, though beggars can't be choosers. I'll buy whatever is offered. I'll even move to California to be able to own and use one.

Here's a tough question: Should I start planning to move to California in a couple years, in anticipation of being able to own a car that can drive me around? What's the likelihood that California will be first by enough time to make the move worthwhile?