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Waymo Patent Shows Plans To Replace Steering Wheel, Pedals With Push Button (driverless.id)

Posted by BeauHD on from the go-go-gadget dept.

nesaefendija shares a report from Driverless: Waymo just received approval on a patent for a push-button console that replaces not only a steering wheel in a car but the brake and gas pedals, too. This reflects Alphabet's driverless arm could remain true to its original mantra of developing cars that pilot themselves without human intervention. In many ways, the push-button controls give the riders the same level of control you might have in an elevator, largely confined to just being able to make an emergency stop or to set the vehicle into motion by pressing the "GO" button.

9 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. New control by hackwrench · · Score: 2

    I want to decide how the car goes by drawing the route on a map display.

    1. Re:New control by sycodon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I WILL decide where the car goes by driving it myself.

      After rebooting my laptop twice today, I have no confidence in a computer to

      1. Take me where I want and...
      2. Do it safely.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:New control by sycodon · · Score: 4, Informative

      Jet Airliners and Jet Fighters have someone in a cockpit. They have yokes and Sticks and can take control of the aircraft at anytime.

      Neither of them take off or land by themselves.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    3. Re:New control by Hylandr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No for the love of God NO.

      For the sake of anyone that has been taken into bad areas and killed, or in Seattle where Google maps wants to take you off then back on I-5 in the middle of the city to going to the *completely* wrong place.

      Don't get me started on the worse ones like Bing and *shudder* apple.

      Do not tie these apps to an autonomous machine on public roads moving at lethal speeds without intelligent oversight in between. Don't even try and pretend that current "AI" or "machine Learning" is better than a human. All testing so far has been done under perfectly ideal conditions without having to account for degraded infrastructure or vandalized signs. ( https://www.bleepingcomputer.c... )

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    4. Re:New control by MobyDisk · · Score: 2

      Jet Airliners and Jet Fighters...Neither of them take off or land by themselves.

      Actually, then do:

      Jet Airliners:
      Every major Jet Airliner must have an automatic land feature.

      Jet fighters:
      The F/A-18 Hornet and the EA-6 Prowler have it. Looks like it is used for carrier landings since they are so difficult. Ooh, so does the F-35. The experimented with it on the F-16

    5. Re: New control by Ralgha · · Score: 2

      That quora is full of bad information. Auto land is only a requirement for some CATIII approaches. You can certify CATIII hand flown as well, using a HUD.

      If an airplane is not certified for CATIII autoland, then its autopilot doesn't have to be capable of landing. Even if it is, the autopilot can be downgraded, it just can't do a CATIII autoland approach until the autopilot is fixed.

  2. Yaaaayyyyy!! by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Funny

    An elevator with the Mac interface would have a single button, "There". After all, I'm already "Here". By all means, let's take that kind of thinking and apply it to several tons of metal with passengers aboard. What could possibly go wrong?

    1. Re:Yaaaayyyyy!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      What could possibly go wrong?

      Everyone onboard dies when the car's computer fails to avoid a collision a human could have given enough control.

      No, this needs to be said. We have too many people who think: "That won't happen because of the magic box! There won't be a reason to have a steering wheel because everyone will be drove around by the box and no-one will be in direct control of the vehicle. So there's no need to control it directly. Unless you want to cause a wreck that is."

      The reality is that only has a chance of working if there are no manually controlled vehicles on the road period. That reality also completely disregards the fact that an auto-drive system is a high value target for would be criminals, and would be abused. Leaving the victims no possible means to defend themselves, completely at the mercy of their captors for committing the greatest offense of "getting in a car".

      Good luck convincing these people of this though. They are blinded by the promise of greater convenience and can't see the real threat to their lives (and the lives of others) lurking underneath the surface. Nor do they want to.

  3. Because a button is better than a wheel by quonset · · Score: 4, Informative

    If these people truly believe their software and systems will never make a mistake, will never have a problem, will never be hacked, will be the perfect antidote for what ails us, they should be fired right now.

    The steering wheel and pedals are as simple as driving can be. Especially for how lazy the vast majority have become by driving automatic rather than manual gearboxes. What they are planning to do is increase the complexity which increases the chances for something to go wrong which increases the likelihood of problems.

    Simplicity is the key to everything. This is not simple.