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What Will It Take To Make Automated Vehicles Legal In the US?
ashshy writes Tesla, Google, and many other companies are working on self-driving cars. When these autopilot systems become perfected and ubiquitous, the roads should be safer by orders of magnitude. So why doesn't Tesla CEO Elon Musk expect to reach that milestone until 2013 or so? Because the legal framework that supports American road rules is incredibly complex, and actually handled on a state-by-state basis. The Motley Fool explains which authorities Musk and his allies will have to convince before autopilot cars can hit the mainstream, and why the process will take another decade.
So Elon Musk is planning to revive the DeLorean?
How about a compelling reason?
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Automated vehicles that work?
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
both his biggest existential threat and time itself to make it happen by 2013.
Q: What Will It Take To Make Automated Vehicles Legal In the US?
A: A lot of bribes for people at various levels of government.
Wait, did I say "bribes"? Sorry, I meant "lobbying and campaign contributions". I have a hard time telling those things apart.
Call me when they can make an automated car that car drive in snowy conditions when no lane landmarks are visible. Or one that can turn into a lane of busy traffic that currently requires you to make eye contact with another driver to get them to slow down and let you in. Then we can worry about legalizing it. Legalization is trivial compared to the technical challenges. Personally, I suspect that there won't be a truly automated cars in my lifetime.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/15/tesla-driverless-cars_n_5990136.html
I blame the lack of autopilot for these human fingers.
#o#
O Moo.
A few months ago, I attended a talk on autonomous vehicles at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles. The executive from the California Department of Transportation told us that they’ve met with dozens of representatives from different states and countries, and they are all waiting to see what happens here.
California already has laws allowing the testing of autonomous vehicles, and many manufacturers have enrolled. They counted fifteen companies that were working on autonomous cars, including Toyota, Volvo, and most every car company you could name.
They described the five categories of vehicle automation, and explained that the first autonomous (not Musk’s so called “autopilot” which isn’t) vehicles will hit the road in the summer of 2015.
Though, I'm not quite sure in which direction.
:|
On the one hand, the number of claims should bottom out once self-drive cars are in place and the bugs sorted out.
On the other, they'll have to re-calculate how they determine premium rates since the " human driver " factor will be (mostly) removed.
So, while they won't be paying out nearly as much in claims, they won't be taking in nearly as much in premiums either. Should be interesting.
Speed Traps will no longer be the revenue-cow that many towns rely on. Red-light cameras and similar tech will become a waste of time. How WILL Law Enforcement pay for their Soldier-Wanna-Be toys . . .
Hell, these things, once mainstream, will also shift the entire traffic structure around. Stalls, wrecks, weather, and other rubber-neck variables will pretty much go away meaning a much better driving experience. Great for the driver (passenger ?) , but probably not so great for the State / City governments who just LOVE congestion because it pushes the traffic onto their Toll Roads which they seem to be building in greater numbers these days. I would expect to see the Toll Roads become ghost roads ( in those areas where the Toll Roads are a means to bypass highway congestion and not the ONLY means into or out of an area ) as the reasons for utilizing them in the first place will become irrelevant.
Will need to put some more thought into it, but I bet the introduction of the self-drive vehicle will impact quite a bit of modern day revenue-generators which will probably cause a major panic along some lines. lol
We will never have truly *autonomous* vehicles driving on the same lanes in the same traffic as regular diver vehicles.
The problem is *not* technical in nature ultimately (now, the tech is not near sufficient, but assuming it could improve), the problem is *liability* for when something goes wrong.
What will happen: Dedicated lanes on interstates
Like HOV lanes, basically.
The only way it will actually be implemented is in controlled zones where there are much fewer variables...
To think anything else is magical thinking and not connected to reality
Thank you Dave Raggett
It's hard to imagine how autonomous vehicles can exist safely amongst vehicles driven by inebriated, distracted, careless, or angry humans.
An IR camera can see a dear hiding in the grass from much further away than you can see.
We need to better address security implications before autonomous cars become mainstream. How do you stop someone from programming a car to drive to a destination and then explode? If the driver doesn't have to be in the car, that same single "driver" can continue to cause mayhem with multiple cars.
I'm curious how insurance companies will deal with proper maintenance for automated cars. It's no mystery that bald tires don't handle as well in bad weather as new tires. What happens when an autonomous vehicle gets into an accident because it attempted to stop, but the lack of tread on the tires caused it to hydroplane much more than normal? I imagine insurance companies will want documentation of regular maintenance to prove that the error was not neglect on part of the owner.