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GM Will Make an Autonomous Car Without Steering Wheel or Pedals By 2019 (theverge.com)

General Motors plans to mass-produce self-driving cars that lack traditional controls like steering wheels and pedals by 2019, the company announced today. From a report: It's a bold declaration for the future of driving from one of the country's Big Three automakers, and one that is sure to shake things up for the industry as the annual Detroit Auto Show kicks off next week. The car will be the fourth generation of its driverless, all-electric Chevy Bolts, which are currently being tested on public roads in San Francisco and Phoenix. And when they roll off the assembly line of GM's manufacturing plant in Orion, Michigan, they'll be deployed as ride-hailing vehicles in a number of cities. "It's a pretty exciting moment in the history of the path to wide scale [autonomous vehicle] deployment and having the first production car with no driver controls," GM President Dan Ammann told The Verge. "And it's an interesting thing to share with everybody."

232 comments

  1. I've got a bad feeling about this by npslider · · Score: 2

    That's no steering wheel, it's a docking station!

    1. Re: I've got a bad feeling about this by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      I look at it this way, I cannot steer it? I cannot slow it down? It is a pretty death box. GM can use it.

    2. Re: I've got a bad feeling about this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your bad feeling is based on emotions, not logic.

      If a human can steer it or make it go faster, it's definitely a death box. This way, we can reliably find out why it failed and fix those issues.

      Nightmare scenarios which get drivers or passengers killed in autonomous cars are unlikely rationalizations formed to protect your big metal tiny-tackle-replacement. They will be much less common than the human mistakes we see all the time now.

      Star Wars is fundamentally about human-skill = good, faceless technology (or other out of our control entity) = bad. This is a fundamental emotional response for humans. It is also based on a hero's journey storyline which goes back thousands of years. It's not about thinking, it's about emotions, and the later movies represent the truly infantile knee-jerks of George I-surround-myslef-with-yesmen-because-I'm-a-complete-putz Lucas.

      Your emotional response will kill people. With all the crumple-zones in that metal box of yours, it probably won't be you. Time to grow up, dude.

    3. Re: I've got a bad feeling about this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So a big Roomba with seats?

    4. Re: I've got a bad feeling about this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >your penis is tiny
      >something something Star Wars
      >"Time to grow up, dude"

      lmfao

    5. Re: I've got a bad feeling about this by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Poor A/C, no one is stopping you.

    6. Re:I've got a bad feeling about this by hambone142 · · Score: 1

      GM also brought us the Vega.

  2. Driverless car by Nukenbar · · Score: 2

    Does anyone really think they will be taking a driverless taxi/uber anywhere before 2025?

    1. Re:Driverless car by b0bby · · Score: 4, Informative

      Some people in Phoenix might be doing it in the next few months. Google/Waymo has the cars are seem to be almost ready to let users use them. GM is similarly planning to restrict the geographic areas for their trial, so I can see that it could happen.

    2. Re:Driverless car by alvinrod · · Score: 2

      A fully blown automated vehicle that's going cross on cross-country trips from arbitrary start and end points? Probably not.

      However, if you told me that some city had some kind of automated mini-cabs that could ferry people around certain parts of downtown or other restricted areas, I wouldn't be surprised in the least.

    3. Re:Driverless car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes there will be public tests by 2020.There will be commercial implementations at least in limited contexts. Driverless cabs for a full major metropolitan areas may be not were by 2025. Adoption of driverless vehicles will be phased in it will not be all or nothing from the beginning.

    4. Re:Driverless car by atrex · · Score: 1

      There are already self-driving ubers out in Pittsburg. Granted, self-driving is different than "driverless", since I'm pretty sure insurance laws right now still require an operator to be in the seat. But the industry is really pushing the tech and R&D for these vehicles, so it's not impossible that we'll see test runs by the end of 2019 of vehicles without steering wheels in a city or two.

    5. Re:Driverless car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does anyone really think they will be taking a driverless taxi/uber anywhere before 2025?

      Well it's only a quarter to four now, so they have time to get here. Unless there's a pile-up or something.

    6. Re:Driverless car by InvalidsYnc · · Score: 2

      Welcome to Johnny Cab!

    7. Re:Driverless car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think that you have it backwards. Cross-Country trips are ideal for Autonomous vehicles. Few stops, few turns, few lane changes, featureless scenery. This is perfect for, among other things, Trucking. Long trains of Trucks going 70MPH cross country, spaced 10 feet apart, with no mandatory rest stops.
      Hell, in the middle could be a Refueling Tanker.

      Cities are much more complex. There are Bicyclists darting in and out, Motorcyclists straddling lanes, staggering Pedestrians with eyes glued to iThingies, Cabs stopping in the middle of the street to pick up or let off fares, kids playing Stickball, Mail trucks, Garbage trucks, Utilities trucks, Street sweeping, Cats, Dogs, Voles, Birds that attack anything mirrored, and the Homeless waving cardboard signs and considering letting an Autonomous Vehicle run them over some, for the Insurance. (You can be sure that Insurance Companies are worrying about this right now.)

      Much more progress has been made with Autonomous Shipping, if it wasn't for that pesky COLREGS Rule requiring a Manned Watch. Yes, that is what really is holding up Roboships. COLREGS is an International Convention, and many Nations are quite protective of their Merchant Marine... _especially_ the US.

    8. Re:Driverless car by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      The last long cross-country trip I went on involved driving through quite a few cities. You can't really have one without the other unless you are willing to go out of your way to stay on a highway.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    9. Re:Driverless car by Mkkby · · Score: 2

      Remember, this article is about a car WITHOUT MANUAL CONTROLS. On your cross country trip, how are you going to maneuver thru gas station lines, parking lots, drive thru's, etc.

      Yes, it's pretty easy to just send a computer down a freeway via GPS. But that last few meters of getting the car positioned correctly. Very hard without a human driver.

      Computer, park on the left side of the garage. Computer, park next to the second gas pump for regular unleaded. Answer... .

    10. Re:Driverless car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's easy, the steering wheel is replaced with a toy car that sits on top of a touch screen. You use it as a stylus and push the car around on the rendered map of the surroundings and the car you are in goes to the same place. If you make "vroom vroom" and "uuhhhrrr" noises while doing it, the car will go faster too.

    11. Re:Driverless car by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Does anyone really think they will be taking a driverless taxi/uber anywhere before 2025?

      Given how far we've come in the past 2 years, yes. Yes I do.

    12. Re:Driverless car by jrumney · · Score: 2

      Self parking was one of the first autonomous features available in production cars. It all happens at low speeds, and simply stopping if any input is unexpected is an option. In confined spaces, cameras and sonar are far more essential than GPS.

    13. Re: Driverless car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd love to try this, in a town with curbs, onna sunny day, with a speed limit of 25 max.

      Worries me if someone on my 3 mile long, "2 way by 1 lane" gravel road gets one. It's just gonna sit there. What we do is pull over in folks driveways. Could that be taught? Sure.

    14. Re:Driverless car by toddestan · · Score: 1

      I seem to remember that the Johnny Cabs were of the old way of thinking - where the car itself is as dumb as it always has been, and we'd have a robot driver to chauffeur us around. I seem to remember at one point in the movie Arnold's character actually rips Johnny out of the cab and drives it himself.

      That the car itself would be smart and essentially a giant robot we could ride in didn't seem to occur to a lot of people.

  3. I welcome this by gameboyhippo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Autoautomobiles will be a life changer for those with disabilities.

    1. Re: I welcome this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or those about to acquire disabilities.

    2. Re:I welcome this by b0bby · · Score: 4, Insightful

      One of my kids' friends has eyesight which precludes her from driving without some pretty major corrections. I half jokingly said she should just wait 5 years for self driving cars and she half jokingly replied that she was going to move to California to get one sooner. People with disabilities and the elderly are going to be helped a lot, but all of us will be helped by the lower chance of getting in an accident, lower insurance and health care costs, increased productivity, etc. I'm not sure if traffic will improve or get worse though.

    3. Re:I welcome this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...lower insurance and health care costs...

      LOL

    4. Re:I welcome this by slew · · Score: 1

      ... I'm not sure if traffic will improve or get worse though.

      There is some indication that even a small number of self-driving cars might improve traffic a bunch...

    5. Re:I welcome this by Pascal+Sartoretti · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Autoautomobiles will be a life changer for those with disabilities.

      And for those who can't drive anymore (eldery people).

      And for those who can't drive yet (children under 18).

      And for those who fail the licence exam.

      And when you are drunk.

      Etc...

      When you add all these niches, you have a market.

    6. Re:I welcome this by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure if traffic will improve or get worse though.

      it will be better and better as more Autos get on the roads. And once they're all talking to each other and cooperating traffic will be a breeze.

    7. Re:I welcome this by fmoliveira · · Score: 1

      Uber is probably keep cheaper than that cars in our lifetimes

    8. Re:I welcome this by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      When you add all these niches, you have a market.

      The limiting factor that will make this a niche market for a long time yet is not who would use them, but where they can be used, and when.

      "Within a city that still allows automobile traffic (or where automobile traffic is still reasonable) when the roads are not obscured by snow or other covering" is the niche.

    9. Re:I welcome this by b0bby · · Score: 1

      Yes, but I think you might see a lot more use which could offset the efficiencies, at least in the short term.

    10. Re:I welcome this by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      What if the autonomous cars drive side by side at the speed limit while all the human drivers are stuck behind them losing their minds?

      I'm lucky that I don't have to drive on a daily basis on congested expressways. It drives me crazy that people insist on tailgating, merge early across the blend line, or refuse to slow and leave a gap for the onramp traffic. They don't even seem to realize they're the ones creating the stop and go traffic. Everyone can drive a lot faster when people give the cars around them the space they need.

    11. Re:I welcome this by b0bby · · Score: 2

      You don't think that with a drastic reduction in accidents auto insurance rates will come down? Or that taking away 2.5 million emergency room visits wouldn't lower health care costs? Insurance is a pretty rational game, when the expenses go down it's pretty easy to adjust rates.

    12. Re:I welcome this by b0bby · · Score: 1

      Yeah but in the meantime an increase in trips taken might make things worse. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out.

    13. Re:I welcome this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Insurance will all but disappear for rational people who buy self-driving cars. It will SKYROCKET for people who do not, because your reserving the right to be behind the wheel constitutes negligence and judgements against human drivers who made choices which got people killed long before the golly-we-all-make-mistakes-accident will go through the roof.

      Right now when you, an able-bodied driver with no brain issues, accidentally kill/maim someone it's really a mistake which could happen to anyone.

      When there's an alternative to you driving, one we all can see is safer from the statistics, and you chose to continue driving, the damage you do is no longer something out of your control. That's going to cost you, and therefore your insurer. That will be reflected in rates.

    14. Re:I welcome this by lgw · · Score: 1

      Insurance companies raise your rates enough to make a profit after any accident. Therefore, reduction in accidents means rates will have to go up to maintain profits.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    15. Re:I welcome this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interestingly, autonomous cars can REALLY tailgate other autonomous cars and be completely safe. Since this reduces fuel use it's a good idea to do it.

      Expect to see not 3 cars side by side keeping everyone at 55, but rather a block of 30 cars with no spaces in between.

      Just stay in the right lane all the time. You might want to get off the highway at some point.

      Probably this won't be a problem after a couple of years, because it'll be so frustrating that you'll dump your steering wheel to get in that block of 30 cars which never stops, never has an accident, never has trouble getting through the block, etc. Everyone else will too.

      Probably humans will only be allowed in the right lane after a couple of years.

      And exits on the left will need some interesting fixes. Expect at least to see new signage and some detours.

    16. Re:I welcome this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if the autonomous cars drive side by side at the speed limit while all the human drivers are stuck behind them losing their minds?

      Maybe natural selection will be allowed to run its course.

    17. Re:I welcome this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought so initially, but there could be the case that prices (rates) can go down, and insurance companies make the same, or more. Most of the money goes to lawyers, autobody, towing, health care, etc. Instead, more of that will be available for the insurance company to keep - so they don't have to raise rates.

    18. Re:I welcome this by painandgreed · · Score: 1

      And for those who can't drive anymore (eldery people).

      Ya, good luck with that. In my experience it's not finding them a way to get driven around but getting them to admit they can't drive and taking away their keys that is the real hurdle. As it is, when I ride with my dad, I just politely tell him when he is on the wrong side of the road despite his claims he is not.

    19. Re:I welcome this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If driving the speed limit (or just seeing cars driving the speed limit) makes you lose your mind, then maybe you shouldn't be driving at all.

    20. Re:I welcome this by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      What if the autonomous cars get their own version of a Diamond Lane, where they can drive 180km/h bumper to bumper, unhindered by slow-ass meatbags?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    21. Re: I welcome this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ????

    22. Re:I welcome this by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Insurance rates won't go down, because everyone is only expecting self driving to be 'at least' as good as a human. It's got to be much better than a human to add up to a drop in insurance rates. There will be no noticeable safety increase until they are much better than humans AND they reach a critical mass of 80%. Before that they are likely to confuse humans by being robotic (think stopping too late to allow room for a truck to back up) and therefore cause more accidents overall.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    23. Re:I welcome this by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      So in other words, you're going to have to watch 30 cars go by before you can merge. Wonderful.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    24. Re:I welcome this by antdude · · Score: 1

      I will be waiting for KITT. ;)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    25. Re: I welcome this by tomhath · · Score: 1

      Drunk driver.

    26. Re:I welcome this by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      Especially if you let them use bus-only lanes.

  4. Within 2 years?! by the_skywise · · Score: 2

    (including end of 2019) I think they overestimate their chances!

    1. Re:Within 2 years?! by slew · · Score: 3, Interesting

      (including end of 2019)
      I think they overestimate their chances!

      Don't underestimate Detroit's ability to produce a car without a steering wheel, they've done it before...

    2. Re:Within 2 years?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ARTICLE: "General Motors plans to mass-produce self-driving cars that lack traditional controls like steering wheels and pedals by 2019"
      ACTUAL ANNOUNCEMENT: "General Motors has plans to begin producing a self-driving car by 2019. There will be an option to order the model without pedals or steering wheels"
      ENGINEERING WRITE-UP: "By late 2019 GM will have a prototype of an autonomous, self-driving car ready for mass production. And yes, autonomous would mean it would not need a steering wheel or pedals although those would, of course, be included."
      WHAT THE ENGINEERS ACTUALLY SAID: "I think that by early 2020 we could have enough of the self driving prototypes produced and ready for testing."

    3. Re:Within 2 years?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We've analyzed their design plan, and there is a danger.

    4. Re:Within 2 years?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for posting this, your link led me to watching the YouTube about this 'steering solution' then that was never needed nor warranted. That video led me to how Chevrolet's video promoting the 'Corvair' ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X5m4emm0OM ), the car that made Ralph Nadar famous when he wrote his book, "Unsafe At Any Speed" ( http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/unsafe-at-any-speed-hits-bookstores )

      The film promoting the Corvair used famous TV celebrities of the day. Anything to sell the 'next, greatest and latest innovation' in order to sell cars. Now well before autonomous cars are proven the big car companies are doing the same thing again. This is not real world proven technology. Yet GM's ready to sell a car without a steering wheel in a couple of years? Many will die. In my opinion we'll need 10-20 years before self driving cars are considered safe. One hacker can control any device. I am not trusting my life to unproven tech. Some hacker with a grudge against me can take control of my vehicle at any time, no thank you.

        And yes, meatbags in charge of 2+ton vehicles is not ideal either. We have a long way to go before it's proven that autonomous vehicles are bulletproof.

    5. Re:Within 2 years?! by the_skywise · · Score: 1

      Enough of this - Nader, relase him!

    6. Re:Within 2 years?! by Mkkby · · Score: 3

      Can't wait to see this in practice. Without manual controls, how do you adjust it's position in a parking space or garage? How would you go thru a typical drive up window? How would you maneuver around a barricade, accident or temporary police detour? How about going around and around a parking lot or underground garage?

      None of these things will be possible from GPS maps, nor radar images. Not in 2019 or 2030.

    7. Re:Within 2 years?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here I was, expecting the link to go to a story about the hey days of bad quality, with cars coming off the factory line w/ missing pieces...

    8. Re:Within 2 years?! by vtcodger · · Score: 1

      Without manual controls, how do you adjust it's position in a parking space or garage? ...

      The force man .. Use the force!!!

      =============

      Actually, putting the brake and accelerator controls on the steering wheel might --- and I emphasize MIGHT -- be an OK idea. Doing directional control with a mouse, joystick or verbal commands almost certainly isn't a good idea except for a small number of handicapped individuals who are used to controlling stuff with whatever parts of their body they can still move.

      Can GM bring an autonomous vehicle to market in 2019? I suppose they could. Probably be viewed by the legal profession as a gift from God. I wonder if anybody will be willing to underwrite liability insurance policies for such a vehicle?

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    9. Re:Within 2 years?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      putting the brake and accelerator controls on the steering wheel might --- and I emphasize MIGHT -- be an OK idea

      You want the gas and brake controls to be things that require a large (both spatially and forcefully) physical effort to operate, both to reduce the chance of accidental engagement and to make it easy to subtly change the acceleration/braking without needing a lot of physical practice, and the feet/legs are the only part of the body that an average person on the street can be expected to have a reasonable amount of physical strength in.

      Also, the hands are busy with steering - the job requiring the most precision to avoid trouble - so forcing them to multitask is just begging for trouble.

    10. Re:Within 2 years?! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Google had self diving cars without a steering wheel years ago. They worked fine, just confined to a limited area and routes and 25 MPH max.

      They would be fine for a lot of uses, like airport transportation or city public transport.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    11. Re: Within 2 years?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Excuse me. Motorcycle. Brakes, clutch, lights, steering, all on one position.

    12. Re:Within 2 years?! by stevelinton · · Score: 2

      Can't wait to see this in practice. Without manual controls, how do you adjust it's position in a parking space or garage? How would you go thru a typical drive up window? How would you maneuver around a barricade, accident or temporary police detour? How about going around and around a parking lot or underground garage?

      At a guess, you select the appropriate view on the dasboard console and drag the rectangle that denotes the car to where you want it to go. A bit like the current systems that show you a rear view camera with the path of the car marked on it, but with the screen controlling the steering instead of vice versa. These cars will have radar or lidar and lots of cameras, as well as GPS.

    13. Re:Within 2 years?! by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      I suppose I have been over-estimating how hard it would be to make a safe self-driving car. After all, they can achieve arbitrary safety levels by going arbitrarily slow.

      How could a car sitting parked by the side of the road cause an accident?

  5. Talk about a captive audience by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 2

    And if anything goes wrong with the guidance system, don't worry -- it will simply slow down, pull over, and stop.

    And then...

    1. Re:Talk about a captive audience by npslider · · Score: 2

      ... Sit in big city rush hour traffic for hours?

    2. Re:Talk about a captive audience by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 2

      And if anything goes wrong with the guidance system, don't worry -- it will simply slow down, pull over, and stop.

      And then...

      Call AAA?

    3. Re:Talk about a captive audience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And then when the passenger tries to get out, the car will start again and crush all the occupants against the median wall.

    4. Re:Talk about a captive audience by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      Right. My point is that if something in the guidance system fails (as well as a number of other marginal failure modes where the computer will force a more conservative call), you're dead in the water rather than just driving the car home and fixing it or getting it fixed at your convenience.

    5. Re:Talk about a captive audience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And this is different from any other major breakdown how exactly? Roadside assistance exists for a reason...

    6. Re:Talk about a captive audience by Khashishi · · Score: 1

      Better renew your AAA service.

    7. Re:Talk about a captive audience by businessnerd · · Score: 1

      ...hail yourself a new autonomous taxi to come pick you up and tell the owner of the first autonomous taxi to send a tow truck. I wouldn't be surprised if the car sends its own distress signal for service and a new car for the passenger automatically without any passenger input. Sounds like a better experience than your non-autonomous car. If you break down on the side of the road, you sit and wait for the tow truck.

      --
      "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you get." -- H. J. Simpson
    8. Re:Talk about a captive audience by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      So you'll be riding through a bad neighborhood at night, someone will throw something in front of the car to get it to stop and then carjack/rob/murder you when it pulls over?

      How about red lights and stop signs? Will it be able to run them if a threat is approaching the vehicle?

    9. Re:Talk about a captive audience by ceoyoyo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As opposed to now, where if something in the guidance system fails the car generally goes out of control and there are multiple injuries. See "I want to die like my grandfather, peacefully in my sleep while everyone else is screaming."

      Or just like any of a number of other major non-guidance systems failures on a current car, e.g. catastrophic radiator failure.

    10. Re:Talk about a captive audience by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Perhaps the US is not a good place for autonomous cars. GM should find good markets in the rest of the world though.

    11. Re:Talk about a captive audience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're not paying the insurance. The manufacturer is.

      So if the tire is low, it's gonna slow down, pull over, and stop.

      If the left blinker stops working, it's gonna slow down, pull over, and stop.

      Etc.

      So we're going to see a rapid pick up system and a tow system very soon. It's gonna be a big problem and it'll affect people with money first.

    12. Re:Talk about a captive audience by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      As opposed to now, where if something in the guidance system fails the car generally goes out of control and there are multiple injuries.

      You and I clearly have different things in mind by "guidance system." In today's cars, the human driver is the guidance system. That's being replaced by a CPU and a bunch of sensors/actuators/other components that can and will fail, at which point you're dead in the water for no good reason. You're making a lot more failures showstoppers rather than something you can limp through.

    13. Re: Talk about a captive audience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea, cause the US is the only place that has car jackings and crime. Lul

      https://www.clements.com/resources/articles/Countries-with-the-Highest-and-Lowest-Crime-Rates

    14. Re:Talk about a captive audience by Kjella · · Score: 2

      ... Sit in big city rush hour traffic for hours?

      So what do you do today if your car has some sort of mechanical failure? Sensors and processing is for the most part passive units, they'll probably have quite high durability and uptime. With some redundancy and error correction they'll probably not be significantly worse off than human-driven cars. A bigger concern is that the sensors are fine, but the AI doesn't understand where to go. But I imagine there'll be some form of remote driving capability built in to resolve that, assuming you're in good range of a cell network.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    15. Re:Talk about a captive audience by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Nope, I think we have exactly the same thing in mind as the guidance system.

    16. Re:Talk about a captive audience by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I see what you're saying now, but is a human driver falling over dead while driving really an apt comparison to a fouled sensor? How often does the former really happen? And less catastrophic failures generally don't (a) come on really quickly or (b) don't prevent me from continuing to drive when they do.

      Look, if nobody but me sees an issue with self-induced gridlock due to a bevy of self-driving vehicles super-safely stopping in the middle of the street because they have the digital sniffles, then party on. I'm just suggesting there's a global picture to keep in mind here that should materially factor into local design choices.

    17. Re:Talk about a captive audience by jrumney · · Score: 1

      ... Sit in big city rush hour traffic for hours?

      So basically no perceptible change then.

    18. Re:Talk about a captive audience by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      By the time you realize that there is a problem, AutoUber will have already dispatched a replacement from nearby.

  6. Yeah, right by Shogun37 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What happens if the guidance system goes out? If the map the computer's using isn't fully up to date? If I need to move the car only a short distance, or park in a place without parking spaces? This is the same kind of thinking that removed guns from fighter aircraft because "dog fighting is obsolete." I haven't seen any self guiding car system that I would trust to act, with no ability to override. Build one that can handle New York or LA rush hour and I may change my mind.

    1. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also needs to be able to handle bad storms. Snow. Rain. Hail. Fog. That sort of thing. It's not all about traffic. Weather is also dangerous.

    2. Re:Yeah, right by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Informative

      Answers:

      GPS doesn't go out.
      If any critical sensor fails, it's slow down and move to the side of the road.
      The launch will be in a limited geographical area, so they'll have ensured the map is completely up to date and keep it that way.
      It's a ride-hailing service (taxi) so micromanaging where it moves or parks is none of your business.

    3. Re:Yeah, right by PPH · · Score: 1

      What happens if I'm going someplace without mapped roads? Like my cabin.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    4. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Human drivers in snow are much worse than a car with radar. Weather is only about sensors (with small adjustment to road slippery, which is just math, in which I hear computers also beat humans) and humans can never be better that machine sensors in the long run.

    5. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there might be a touchscreen drive mode that's restricted to say 5mph for precisely these scenarios... (e.g. if the automatic mode cannot reliably operate the car, then restricting human operation to 5mph may not be a bad idea---especially when the user is controlling it by touchscreen or voice command).

      e.g. a Roomba can navigate some terrible terrain, with very few safety features (like don't drive off the staircase, or bump into things [one I have hardly bumps into things]). The manual mode (``ok car, drive forward'') could be similar, drive at a very slow pace such that even if you bump something, it won't be too bad, until you just can't drive anymore... or follow a dirt road, etc.

    6. Re:Yeah, right by R4D4R · · Score: 1

      ... If the map the computer's using isn't fully up to date?

      I imagine there will need to be a shift in the way construction/road closures are handled. A route may need to be "taken offline" in a central database, which forces all cars to re-route, until construction/closure is complete, then said database updated with route online. This is a people/resource/procedure problem, not a technical issue.

    7. Re:Yeah, right by plague911 · · Score: 1

      Then the rest of the world laughs are your edge use case and says "suck it up"

    8. Re: Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      say hi to george jetson for me.

      millennial & younger's expectations of their future are hilarious

    9. Re:Yeah, right by Known+Nutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What happens if I'm going someplace without mapped roads? Like my cabin.

      I'd like to take a Boeing 737 to my cabin. Guess what? That mode of transportation isn't available to my cabin. Maybe I'd like to go off-roading in a Corvette. There are probably better options.

      It seems that every time autonomous vehicles come up for discussion, every single possible use-case must be addressed. And when one oddly-specific use-case cannot be filled, the entire idea is garbage and without merit.

      It's pretty simple. You don't get to take your autonomous vehicle to your cabin in the woods. Not yet.

      --
      Beware of the Leopard.
    10. Re:Yeah, right by atrex · · Score: 1

      You don't drive one of these up there. The advent of stage 4 self driving cars doesn't mean that all other cars are going to be banned from the roadways. It's the same with an electric car, you don't drive one if your goal is to travel across the country.

    11. Re:Yeah, right by bws111 · · Score: 1

      Bullshit. I have a brand-new car with 'lane keep assist'. Here is my experience with it:

      In good weather, with a clean road, I don't notice it is there at all

      Prior to a recent storm, it started continually telling me I was not staying in my lane. This was jarring to say the least. Turns out this ever-so-smart computer could not tell the difference between lane markings and the lines of brine that the highway dept put on the road. Have yet to see a human confused by that.

      During the storm, a small amount of snow built up on the highway. Lane assist disabled itself (no lane markings to use). Human drivers had no problem.

      After the storm (like, more than a week after) lane assist is still disabled. The roads are completely covered in salt, so lane markings are hard to see. Human drivers not having a problem.

      Now, maybe the self-driving cars have MUCH better sensors and logic, but that seems hard to believe. If the self-driving cars are at all similar to these 'assist' features then I expect to see a lot of self-driving cars just sitting there waiting for better conditions.

    12. Re:Yeah, right by m2shariy · · Score: 1

      Or you need to stop in the exact spot to insert a card into card reader when exiting parking. Or there is a road work and a person is redirecting traffic. Or you just need to move the car a little bit.

    13. Re:Yeah, right by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      GPS doesn't go out.

      Let's hope the auto-makers aren't also making that assumption.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    14. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmmm good point. Seems like you've finally pointed out the huge flaw in the this whole thing that makes it an impossible pipe dream that will never be solved. We should just give up.

    15. Re:Yeah, right by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      If any critical sensor fails, it's slow down and move to the side of the road. . . . It's a ride-hailing service (taxi)

      So I miss my appointment across town, the ride-hailing service pays for a tow/repair cycle, etc., if a bird craps on one of the cameras?

      And if the car is on a crowded city street with nowhere to pull over, what then? Does it simply stop in the middle of the street and jam things up for everyone? Or does it keep going with the supposed critical sensor failure? Things can get jacked up in a hurry when your automation can't make good judgment calls and there's no way for critical-thinking humans to intervene.

      Cool factor is not going to rescue this one, methinks. This is a solution in search of a problem.

    16. Re:Yeah, right by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      I haven't seen any self guiding car system that I would trust to act, with no ability to override. Build one that can handle New York or LA rush hour and I may change my mind.

      You could be sanest guy on the planet. Your reasoning could be correct. But, the market does not care whether you trust it or not. It does not care whether you change your mind or not.

      If enough people trust it, and if enough people buy it the market will satisfy the need.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    17. Re:Yeah, right by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      I imagine there will need to be a shift in the way construction/road closures are handled. A route may need to be "taken offline" in a central database,

      Government database. I see the fun now. Hacker takes all roads in a city offline. All autonomous vehicles stop, wait, frozen in place. All non-autonomous drivers get blocked by autonomous traffic. Hilarity ensues.

      This is a people/resource/procedure problem, not a technical issue.

      A secure, highly-available, high-volume massive database of all roads and their status, maintained on an hourly basis and how a few million cars access it isn't a technical problem?

    18. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't picture one able to pull into my driveway ATM. Hell, I can't hit the driveway ATM in all the snow.
      How do I tell to park in front driveway vs rear driveway/garage vs in the street cause I want to pull out my vintage car later?!?
      Seems like a hassle to tell it more from driveway to street cause I want to drive the vintage one in front of it...pretty sure the command will take as much or more time as just moving it 30ft :O
      How does it find a parking spot when it drives me to work? Does it really know to pull into farthest open (unmarked) spot? How the hell does it even find the parking lot in back?!? It is going to know the access in in alley if I give the right address for parking lot as opposed to office address?

    19. Re:Yeah, right by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 2

      I'm willing to bet that if the entire GPS system (US GPS, EU Galileo, Russian GLONASS, and what ever the Chinese and Indian systems are) all go out we have bigger problems than just missing GPS. The systems all operate at similar frequencies, because they wanted to ensure that if someone tried to jam theirs it would also jam the attackers. So I would say if they all went down we either just experienced a massive CME and soon will have melted power lines and transformers, someone nuked them and the whole planet is going to have a really fucking bad few hundred years shortly, or we are going to be enslaved by aliens who just took them out. Much like the people who horde gold and say what if the US dollar collapses not realizing that the lack of regular currency will be among the least of their problems if things get that bad.

      --
      Time to offend someone
    20. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is a technical issue. You cannot have the car rely on a central database. It HAS to be able to drive by what it gets from its sensors alone, and of those, the cameras need to win if there is a disagreement. Forget about Lidar in heavy rain for example.

      Otherwise the idea is a non-starter for any weather but a sunny summer day in locations with good mobile network reception.

      Oh, and a central database will be a juicy target for hackers. Want to cause absolute gridlock? Mark certain roads as 'unusable/blocked'. If the self driving car believes the database over what it sees, there will be empty roads on one side and gridlock on the other. No human driver would fall for this.

    21. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, why would I buy this then IF one still HAS to have a second normal car?!?

      If that is no problem please send me money for something less than 12 years old....

    22. Re:Yeah, right by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Sure. The Jacquard loom will never catch on either.

    23. Re:Yeah, right by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.

    24. Re: Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GPS systems don't work when going through thick mountainous tunnels

    25. Re:Yeah, right by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      The USA's "selective availability" was taken away years ago. And then there are several other systems by other world powers in place.
      LOTs of things rely on GPS. Created by engineers who's idea of GPS isn't stuck in the 1990s.

    26. Re:Yeah, right by PPH · · Score: 1

      The advent of stage 4 self driving cars doesn't mean that all other cars are going to be banned from the roadways.

      Pretty sure they are. And that's admitted by some autonomous car proponents. They had one on NPR a few months ago, saying how great things were going to be ..... and how the I-5 corridor through Washington State would have to be reserved for autonomous cars.

      And the whole bicycle problem has yet to be solved.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    27. Re:Yeah, right by PPH · · Score: 1

      But the edge case have you outnumbered. You "suck it up".

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    28. Re:Yeah, right by lgw · · Score: 2

      Many families have 2 cars. Perhaps the self-driving car will also be the electric car? You know, cheap and easy for the 95% use case.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    29. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're right in your overall point, that with good sensors the autonomous car will be better, and that sensors are improving and will be great some day and WAY, WAY better than humans.

      But your first statement is wrong right now. We're at the beginning of the growth curve and humans are better than autonomous cars in snow/rain.

    30. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you. You are absolutely right.

      People are desperately pitching crap in front of the progress of autonomous cars in an attempt to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

    31. Re:Yeah, right by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      I can only hope the GM engineers taking a similarly cavalier and dismissive attitude toward the real-world problems this will create so we can get over this as quickly as possible and refocus our collective energies on advances that are actually useful rather than ego-stroking stuff like this that people are shoving down our throats for no good reason whatsoever.

    32. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What happens if I'm going someplace without mapped roads? Like my cabin.

      • Rent a meatbag-driven vehicle for the weekend?
      • Invite a friend who has a classic car that predates the 2020s and ask him/her to drive?
      • Offer to pay a friend who has a classic car to give you a lift there and back?
      • Use an autonomous car to get as close as possible and hike the rest of the way?
      • Use an autonomous car to get as close as possible and cycle the rest of the way?
      • Use an autonomous car to get as close as possible, towing a quad or boat or snowmobile. Ride the quad/boat/snowmobile in to the cabin. (Believe it or not, a lot of people already do this and have done for decades with a regular car.)
    33. Re:Yeah, right by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The real game changer here is convenient car rentals. As in: book a car when you need it, have it pull up by itself 30 minutes later, use it, and send it on its way when you are done with it (instead of having to go to the depot for pickup and dropoff, and navigate 5 billion insurance options with the guy at the desk). So when you buy your next car, maybe you will select that smaller electric (self driving or otherwise) that covers 95% of your driving needs, and rent a truck, van, 4x4 or large sedan for the other 5%. Access to convenient rental cars could mean a lot of families owning fewer cars, or selecting more economical ones.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    34. Re:Yeah, right by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Why do you have an ATM in your driveway?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    35. Re: Yeah, right by chihowa · · Score: 1

      Unless you spend all of your time in thick mountainous tunnels, that's a solved problem.

      A pretty inexpensively solved problem, really.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    36. Re:Yeah, right by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Uh.. I see thousands of drivers drive just fine in show every single year.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    37. Re:Yeah, right by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I'm really wondering how they will get around the covered lane markings. Can't go by a GPS map because that's not guaranteed accurate either. At some point you're going to have to fall back to lane markings and signs and no one knows how to make AI understand a stop sign bent over 2' from the ground and half covered in snow either.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    38. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then the rest of the world laughs are your edge use case and says "suck it up"

      ... and by "rest of the world," presumably you're referring to the ~6 billion people,who don't have access to first-world luxuries like paved roads and automated vehicles?

      Yea bud, they're laughing alright... at your dumb ass.

    39. Re:Yeah, right by cstacy · · Score: 1

      I'm willing to bet that if the entire GPS system (US GPS, EU Galileo, Russian GLONASS, and what ever the Chinese and Indian systems are) all go out we have bigger problems than just missing GPS.

      In some areas of the country (such as here in Washington, D.C.) the GPS goes out periodically, on purpose, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is announced beforehand (if you know where to look --- the general public does not) and sometimes it is most definitely not announced. It's done by jamming.

    40. Re:Yeah, right by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Autonomous driving is very useful indeed.

    41. Re:Yeah, right by cstacy · · Score: 1

      It is a technical issue. You cannot have the car rely on a central database. It HAS to be able to drive by what it gets from its sensors alone, and of those, the cameras need to win if there is a disagreement. Forget about Lidar in heavy rain for example.

      Otherwise the idea is a non-starter for any weather but a sunny summer day in locations with good mobile network reception.

      Oh, and a central database will be a juicy target for hackers. Want to cause absolute gridlock? Mark certain roads as 'unusable/blocked'. If the self driving car believes the database over what it sees, there will be empty roads on one side and gridlock on the other. No human driver would fall for this.

      People already sabotage the real-time traffic databases (e.g. on Waze, which is crowdsourced) in order to re-route traffic away from their neighborhoods. (People "fall for it" because you generally are not in visual range of the traffic problems on other roads.)

    42. Re:Yeah, right by PPH · · Score: 1

      How about I be the person with the manual car and I drive myself? Most of my friends and neighbors also have edge use cases of some sort or other. And, as we are not all made of money, we tend to purchase vehicles that satisfy both these edge use cases as well as daily commutes. So, not much market for autonomous-only vehicles here. I might buy an SUV or pickup truck that has an optional autonomous mode. But if some component of that system fails, I can just throw the selector into manual and continue on. Pretty soon, I imagine that many of these autonomous systems will fall into disrepair.

      If you fall into the category of people who can get by with an autonomous-only vehicle, you really don't need one at all. A cab and/or bus will do quite nicely. Many people who don't set foot out of a city like New York can get by quite well never having owned a car. And this, I suspect, is a major goal of pushing autonomous vehicles. Getting you out of your own car. You enter your destination into an app and the next available transport will stop by to pick you up. The algorithm for allocating vehicles will take your needs into account. As well as the needs of society. Your destination isn't on the 'approved' list? You get bumped to the bottom of the queue.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    43. Re:Yeah, right by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      The autonomous driving part isn't the issue, and I know you understand that. Feel free to explain why it's a good and desirable thing to deliberately strip a car of controls that allow a human to take over when needed, manually move the car in emergency situations, etc etc. Once again: this is a solution in search of a problem.

    44. Re:Yeah, right by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      For when the person in the car doesn't own the car. In a taxi, you can't just grab the controls because you think you know better than the driver.

      We've had pods at various airports for a couple of years that drive around autonomously without any controls for the passengers.

    45. Re:Yeah, right by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Why do you have to have a second "normal" car? I go to a sandy island accessible only by SUV several times a year camping. I don't own an SUV. Somehow I still manage to drive one there.

      It's almost like there are some companies that fill the need for the occasional use cases people constantly come up with.

    46. Re:Yeah, right by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      For when the person in the car doesn't own the car. In a taxi, you can't just grab the controls because you think you know better than the driver.

      There are plenty of ways to solve that problem that don't turn the car into an unmovable brick in the middle of a public street when a sensor fails.

      We've had pods at various airports for a couple of years that drive around autonomously without any controls for the passengers.

      Ones like this that run on their own dedicated tracks? That isn't even remotely close to what we're talking about here.

    47. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, I think they're putting the cart before the horse on this one. Let driverless tech be used by the public for 10 years, then revisit this notion that no manual controls are necessary. Declaring such a thing while autonomous driving is - let's be honest - in its infancy is insane.

    48. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not with situational awareness they're not.

    49. Re:Yeah, right by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      There are plenty of ways to solve that problem that don't turn the car into an unmovable brick in the middle of a public street when a sensor fails.

      A hysterical person would say no to existing cars on the basis that the might break down in the middle of the road. But it doesn't happen often enough for it to cause a problem.

      Ones like this that run on their own dedicated tracks?

      No, those are guided and run separately from other traffic. I'm taking about ones that look similar but run on the airport roads with other traffic.

    50. Re:Yeah, right by plague911 · · Score: 1

      Nope. No they don't which is exactly why billions of $$$ are getting poured into this research path in this way. No worries people who live the sticks generally have a hard time realizing the world changed decades ago and their way of life is no longer the norm.. It is the precise reason rural America is dead, their population cant fathom that the world has moved on and adapt.

    51. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GPS goes out if it's too cloudy.

    52. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then you wait a few more years.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Levels_of_driving_automation

      Level 4 won't get you there, but some implementations of level 5 might.

    53. Re:Yeah, right by PPH · · Score: 1

      Or you need to stop at the guard gate when driving onto the base. Or the guy with the machine gun will stop you.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    54. Re:Yeah, right by PPH · · Score: 1

      Access to convenient rental cars could mean a lot of families owning fewer cars, or selecting more economical ones.

      p>If cheap, economical rental cars become more available, I'm more likely to select that Ford F350 diesel pickup. The rental car will do for errands around town and I can tow my boat when I need to without worrying about fuel economy.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    55. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you like to eat? Because rural America is where your food comes from. And if you like recreation in the great outdoors, forget it. Your carbon footprint is too high. Thankfully, autonomous cars can be geofenced pretty easily. Please stay in your confinement areas.

    56. Re:Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      every single possible use-case must be addressed.

      Yes, they must. Until self-driving cars can coexist safely with human driven vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles, etc. why should everyone else have to give up their rights for your special snowflake mode of transportation. Autonomous car supporters claim that human driven modes of transportation need to be eliminated in order to operate safely. And that just isn't going to happen.

    57. Re:Yeah, right by strikethree · · Score: 1

      I am thoroughly amused at the juxtaposition of your positive outlook on self driving cars and your negative outlook on software as mentioned in your .sig. :)

      Compare and contrast:

      The real game changer here is convenient car rentals. As in: book a car when you need it, have it pull up by itself 30 minutes later, use it, and send it on its way when you are done with it...

      with

      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...

      Cognitive dissonance? ;)

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    58. Re:Yeah, right by toddestan · · Score: 1

      Well, the GPS system is under the control of the US Military, and if it goes offline it could just be that they flipped the switch. I would say it's pretty unlikely they'll shut it off now, but I certainly wouldn't trust it to be online at all times forever, especially if things really start going sour in an emergency.

      That's one of the reasons I'll never own a car where I don't have the option to directly control it.

    59. Re:Yeah, right by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      Yes the US GPS system is under control of the US military, but they would likely never turn it off as they are highly dependent on it. They will however turn on selective availability but even that is something that can be worked around with not too much difficulty. If one has the ability to get data out of some CORS stations and some RTK software or one has access to a DGPS system you can get back to good levels of accuracy. Even without all that extra effort all of the other systems would still be available which most GPS newer receivers can also get. My phone, for example, has no problem getting data from US GPS, Galileo, or GLONASS satellites.

      --
      Time to offend someone
  7. Awesome! No insurance costs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, since we're now truly passengers, GM can pay the insurance? Because I'm not paying for insurance for a self driving car, because that implies I'm taking responsibility for how it drives ... and I'm not.

    Let's give up all pretense that I'm driving or responsible for the operation of the car ... no ocifer, I'm not drunking drive ... the car 'ish driving .. hic .. no shir, I don't even have 'ny controls ... di' it run over that .. hic .. little old lady? I was asleep, I never saw nuttin'

    My liability in this scenario is zero, so I fail to see why it would be me paying for insurance against something I have no control over. So GM will need to indemnify the vehicle themselves.

    Though, somehow, I'm betting they'll insist I pay to insure their technology against their shortcomings, in which case I'll fucking drive myself, thanks. Once I become cargo, the liability goes to someone else.

    1. Re: Awesome! No insurance costs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds great but breaks down once you consider homeowner's insurance.

      Besides, you're taking responsibility for how it drives the minute you purchase it and allow it to drive off the lot.

  8. Honk goes "Meep Meep!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Honk goes "Meep Meep!"

  9. Niven's "Known Space" by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 1

    I'm thinking of a certain era in Larry Niven's "Known Space" stories, where on Earth, disconnecting the autopilot and driving a car manually on public roads was an Organ-Bank offense.

    1. Re:Niven's "Known Space" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But then so was tax evasion....Bwahahaha, like the 1%ers would ever let THAT happen.

    2. Re:Niven's "Known Space" by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      True, but so was jaywalking.

    3. Re:Niven's "Known Space" by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 1

      Only after repeated offenses.

  10. Johnny Cab, here we come by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I can't wait to ride in one, please!

    Johnny Cab clip from 'Total Recall'

    1. Re:Johnny Cab, here we come by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No controls, what could possibly go wrong!
      The Forbin Project, after handed full control, guess what happend.
      Star trek V'Ger, the Voyager 6 that went nuts.
      2001, HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
      No controls, not a smart idea.

  11. Way behind by TimothyHollins · · Score: 1

    That's nothing, Ford made a self-exploding car that dynamically removed the steering wheel and pedals already in 1971.

  12. if there's no controls.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. no drivers license required -- sobriety not required.
     
    .. manufacturer assumes sole responsibility for the vehicle's actions. if occupants cannot control the vehicle, they shouldn't be subject to any fines for the vehicle's operation. if there's an issue that's not immediately life threatening ('life threatening' would be something like driving down the wrong way on the wrong lanes of a freeway, running red lights, etc), a report (and citation) should be given to the manufacturer, the vehicle should not be pulled over.
     
    .. actions of the vehicle should not make the occupants "suspects" or subjects of roadside checks or searches.
     
    .. no remote-cut off switches in the hands of government or police.
     
    .. usage data is privileged and should be protected by privacy laws stricter than census data or medical records.
     
    .. manufacturers assume sole financial liability . the occupants have no control. accidents are the fault of the vehicle (or a different one), not them.

    1. Re:if there's no controls.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes on all, except for the cut-offs. ABSOLUTELY there will be cut-offs. And even the manufacturer will have those.

      I see why you'd WANT there not to be cut-offs, but the other points you make are all downhill -- they'll force themselves to be true and the auto-makers won't be able to fight them. But the cut-offs are an uphill battle and you're never going to win that.

  13. This might be the push... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 0

    This might be the push to make me move to a developing country, where life and labor are "cheaper," and autonomous car-pods won't be popular for another 50 years (when I'm over 80!).

    A country where all of my transportation options are (logged, paid via credit cars) autonomous rental cars is my definition of panopticon hell. I'd rather ride my own Honda 125 around a Latin American city.

    1. Re:This might be the push... by DogDude · · Score: 2

      The trade-off is that cars kill a lot of people every year. Riding a motorcycle around a 3rd would country indicates that you apparently have little concern about dying in a traffic accident. I, on the other hand, am afraid of my family getting killed or injured on the road every day. I'm looking forward to having to worry less about my family getting killed or injured.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    2. Re:This might be the push... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I don't have much concern about that -- I'm not a coward.

    3. Re:This might be the push... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2

      I don't think "coward" is the right word for not wanting to ride a motorcycle in a Latin American city. I know, I did it for nearly 10 years. But you're in your early 30's. You still think "it won't happen to me!"

    4. Re:This might be the push... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      Better it happen to me on a motorbike than pissing and shitting myself in a nursing home. Famous quote from Con Air, via Steve Buscemi... "What if I told you insane was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years at the end of which they tell you to piss off; ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time? Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?"

    5. Re:This might be the push... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can be sure that with enough self driving cars on the road there will be new kinds of accidents that kill people in new and interesting ways. The kind of accidents that would never happen with a human driver but will happen with a computer since the latter doesn't really understand what the sensors tell it and is too easily fooled. Then there will be software bugs.

      Oh, and don't expect timely software updates... Any new version will have to be extensively tested and certified before it becomes legal to use and can be rolled out to the cars on the road. Currently that doesn't happen sincere are not truly self driving cars yet. But I bet it will only need one accident (and maybe fatality) caused by a software bug that came in through an update to make governments mandate certification for the software of your car.

      Sorry... your car has a known bug X that makes it too dangerous to use... The version that corrects that bug is still undergoing certification, you will be able to use your car again once the update has been installed in a week or so. Have a nice day.

    6. Re:This might be the push... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2

      Better it happen to me on a motorbike than pissing and shitting myself in a nursing home.

      If you're lucky. Death is not the only outcome of a bad accident. You're just playing rhetoric games, convincing yourself that's it's a reasonable thing to do. I know, I did it too.

  14. Why bother? by Junta · · Score: 1

    Other than to *prove* it's not needed, at this juncture it seems an odd choice to remove capability.

    Particularly to make such a declaration given the reality that the legal framework of operating fully autonomous cars is far from a known thing.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    1. Re:Why bother? by plague911 · · Score: 2

      Steering wheels are dangerous, costly, add weight and I am sure someone else can find a few more negatives. In short, there are a boat load of reasons to get rid of them and there was only 1 to keep it "need" and that is now gone.

    2. Re:Why bother? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      I hope there will be 2 or 3 redundant motors doing steering and brakes, hooked up to 3 computers with code written separately calling the shots. That's the way fly-by-wire airliners work, and their separation distance from hard, immovable objects is a lot further than cars'.

    3. Re:Why bother? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Steering wheels are dangerous,

      Steering wheels are only dangerous when they break during an accident and the driver is impaled on one.

      Autonomous vehicles won't be in accidents, so steering wheels won't be dangerous anymore.

      As to the argument that they "add weight", oh my god. Don't stop at the drive through for dinner, you'll "add weight" to the vehicle.

    4. Re:Why bother? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you really believe at autonomous vehicles won't be in accidents or won't cause accidents, you will be interested in this bridge I have for sale.

    5. Re:Why bother? by PPH · · Score: 1

      Other than to *prove* it's not needed, at this juncture it seems an odd choice to remove capability.

      Even the autonomous car proponents have admitted that these things won't work unless the roadways are given over to autonomous vehicles only. People can't be given the option to steer.

      There's talk of requiring transponders on bicycles to make autonomous traffic safe. But I really don't see this working, as the bicycle problem is not one of detection but unpredictability. You can assume a rather small circle of probability to a pedestrian's future position based on a random walk model. Because they are slow. Bicycles move far too quickly to reasonably project a future position. So I suspect that bicycles will actually be equipped with a minimal control system capable of slamming on the brakes based upon a vehicle conflict broadcast.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    6. Re:Why bother? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      "Minimal control system capable of slamming on the brakes" -- spoken like someone who's never ridden a bike. Having a bike brake itself without warning to the user would likely result in a bike crash, since the rider can't prepare their body for sudden change of force. If this is required, most cyclists would disable the damn thing the day they buy the bike. Enforcement? Please. US cities often require lights on bikes at night, and how many cyclists actually use lights?

    7. Re:Why bother? by plague911 · · Score: 1

      The weight of the wheal probably would amount to about 1 mpg per vehicle, or billions of dollars in fuel a year.

    8. Re:Why bother? by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      So would carrying a load of other stuff around. Overcoats, six packs, stratocasters, shovels.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    9. Re:Why bother? by Junta · · Score: 1

      now gone

      See that's getting way ahead of ourselves. It's not currently legal for full-on autonomous vehicle without a licensed operator able to intervene.

      Additionally, such a product is needlessly curbing the viable market. People who want to dip their toes in but have reassurance of being able to take the wheel are going to be the overwhelming market for autonomous cars.

      It may become a valuable thing to do if, say, laws emerge that allow people who cannot have a license to be the sole passenger in a vehicle, so long as it does not have any controls to allow manual intervention. At this stage it's just saying things to sound on top of the cutting edge even if it doesn't make practical sense yet.

      Note all of this is completely independent on the *techincal* situation of whether this is feasible or not, this is *just* the human/regulatory factor surrounding it.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    10. Re:Why bother? by Junta · · Score: 1

      I don't think it requires all human vehicles to be out of the loop even to improve traffic flow (if it can improve traffic flow).

      Autonomous cars must not require transponders for safe action. Even ignoring the bicycle problem. The other day there was someone pulled off to the side of the road working on their car. On the face of it, one could say he's safely out of the roadway so don't need to worry. However, he was clearly straining pulling on something with all his weight, his back to the road. So everyone did slow down and when that thing he was pulling on gave way, he fell backwards into the road, so it was a god thing the drivers were picking up on the consequence of a guy putting all his weight into pulling on something and knowing what happens when that succeeds. This is also something that doesn't play well into the ML strategy for training cars, because in over 20 years of driving, that's the one and only time I can recall seeing that situation, and you need large amounts of data to overcome the general dumbness of machine vision.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    11. Re:Why bother? by plague911 · · Score: 1

      Yes, which is exactly why it is advised by virtually every efficiency organization that one keep their stratocasters at home unless they know they will need it. Moving objects needlessly creates waste.

  15. Also Dogs & Cats living together in harmony! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really! I promise! Just let me cash out all these stock options k gais?

  16. Brought to you by.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the industry that can't go a single month without having to issue OS patches.

    Every 'learning event' will fix every single car (of that brand), yes, but if even 5% of them originated from a fatality I can't see the settlement payouts not bankrupting most or all manufacturers.

  17. Re:Evolution and natural selection by HumanWiki · · Score: 1

    Or better yet, they'd evolve more humility and stop acting like they're indestructible and own the road and pay attention to cross walks, traffic and signs.. Instead of what I see now, even as a pedestrian myself, of just blazing through traffic like they own the place.

  18. Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and all GM employees will be required to drive this car since no one in the right mind with the current tech use it, well maybe Airbus managers.

  19. No steering wheel or pedals? That'll be fun. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    For any tow / service people that have to try and move the things when they're broken.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:No steering wheel or pedals? That'll be fun. by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Cars can be towed already without requiring a driver.

      Possibly the car could be controlled through an app on your phone.

  20. Re: Your worry does nothing positive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Worry leads to fear. Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to the darkside..

    Seriously. Fear-based decisions are usually wrong, ie: giving up mpbility to a totalitarian state because omg traffic accidents!

    Your family doesnt want to live in an Orwelian hellscape bro.

  21. Re:Awesome! No insurance costs? by silverkniveshotmail. · · Score: 1

    You'll still need comprehensive insurance, even if you don't have any liability because deer are never insured and you'll need to keep paying GM to keep this service active.

  22. Re:Evolution and natural selection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pedestrians do own the place. They have right-of-way you fuckwit.

  23. Re: SO CUTE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >Human drivers in snow are much worse than a car with radar.

  24. time to say goodbye soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will is have a robot guy like in Terminator? Does anybody still care about the future, or wish to be around for it? I don't. It's time to die soon I think.

  25. Stop sign, or toaster? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://slashdot.org/story/18/01/07/0619207/researchers-create-psychedelic-stickers-that-confuse-ai-image-recognition

  26. Bold by Thelasko · · Score: 1

    Tesla isn't even this aggressive in their timeline.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    1. Re:Bold by PPH · · Score: 1

      Tesla sells to individuals. GM has targeted this car at ride share and cab companies. Companies that have taken as much sh*t from bitchy drivers as they can tolerate. AI won't whine about 'Muh benefits' or who can make pickups at the airport.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  27. But some manual controls will be supported by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    It will have a port to plug in a Nintindo game controller, and all the cheat codes of GTA will be supported.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  28. Re:Evolution and natural selection by HumanWiki · · Score: 1

    Log in or fuck off.

  29. Liability Insurance For Driverless Vehicles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Many of the proposed ownership models for driverless vehicles involve the passenger not owning or leasing the vehicle. The situation would be like an on call cab. Cab companies have liability for the operation of the vehicle and they pay the liability insurance. With a driverless vehicle the liability insurance would be part of what the passenger would pay for the service. When you pay as an example $40 for the ride and $1.27 for the insurance so the fee would be $41.27. Many different ownership relationships could exist with different tretments so a lot legal development will occur.

    1. Re:Liability Insurance For Driverless Vehicles by PPH · · Score: 1

      $40 for the ride and $1.27

      Insurance? GM trying to weasel out of liability obligations already?

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:Liability Insurance For Driverless Vehicles by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      Sounds like a non-lethal variant of the Saudi Arabian model.
      Taxi kills a pedestrian? Passenger gets punished. Shouldn't have hailed the cab in the first place.
      At least that's how it used to be.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
  30. I Doubt It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It takes GM about 4 years to change a wiper blade design. I seriously doubt they will have a driverless car in 20.

  31. Re:Awesome! No insurance costs? by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

    Because I'm not paying for insurance for a self driving car, because that implies I'm taking responsibility for how it drives ... and I'm not.

    If you own it you're responsible, just like anything else. But ownership will quickly fade away, and it will nearly all be spot rentals. it will take a generation as the "legacy" car owners won't cotton to the idea, but their kids will.

  32. Re:Evolution and natural selection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With such a high /. id you really don't have a right to complain. I could create a sockpuppet account right now and it'd have only a slightly higher id than you.

    ZIP

    PS - Such bullshit in your post history.

  33. It's a snow storm out by lashi · · Score: 1

    I couldn't even see the lines on the road myself. I really wonder how these autonomous cars are going to deal with snow storms without any way for the human to take over.

    1. Re:It's a snow storm out by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Stop worrying. AV proponents don't care. If you can't use your AV when it snows, well, you shouldn't have bought an AV or you should move to where it never snows. AV are da bomb and da future, man.

    2. Re:It's a snow storm out by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

      Try parking on grass outside a fairground. Or going through construction. Or navigating through a school pickup/drop off zone.

      Fully autonomous vehicles will absolutely NOT be ready by 2019 except in extremely controlled, specialized cases.

    3. Re:It's a snow storm out by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      Heh! I'd have fun getting to work right now. Though the streets are mostly clear, the salt treatments have nearly obliterated the lines. Plus, they're working on the roads near my job and there's orange cones all over the place. Easy, but annoying for me. For the machine? I can't see it.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    4. Re:It's a snow storm out by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Just wait until the snow clearing machines come out.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  34. Re:Evolution and natural selection by HoomanMiki · · Score: 1

    Log in or fuck off.

    OK.

  35. Re:Awesome! No insurance costs? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

    You'll still need comprehensive insurance, even if you don't have any liability because deer are never insured

    Who cares if deer are insured? They aren't driving cars to run into you with, and your AV won't hit one because it's an AV and won't have accidents. Why should you have insurance?

    and you'll need to keep paying GM to keep this service active.

    There's the magic. If you think automobiles have planned obsolescence now based on warrantees, imagine when your AV stops working because you didn't pay your software license fee.

  36. What a joke by kackle · · Score: 1

    So, a garbage can blows into the road and the car just stops behind it...forever?

    1. Re:What a joke by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      No, you simply get out, remove the garbage can... at which point the car takes off without you.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:What a joke by cstacy · · Score: 1

      So, a garbage can blows into the road and the car just stops behind it...forever?

      No, the passenger pushes the "PROCEED - harmless obstacle" button and the "Are You Sure?" button. What was that about the humans not needing car insurance, again?

  37. These will be huge in florida by magzteel · · Score: 1

    Florida has many areas with low to medium density and large populations of elderly people.
    If I lived there and could no longer drive I would get one of these in a flash.

    1. Re:These will be huge in florida by PPH · · Score: 1

      large populations of elderly people

      They have vans for this. In fact, unless GM offers this on a front wheel drive van*, I doubt the geezers will be interested.

      *An ideal platform to modify for loading/unloading wheelchairs, mobility scooters, etc.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:These will be huge in florida by magzteel · · Score: 1

      large populations of elderly people

      They have vans for this. In fact, unless GM offers this on a front wheel drive van*, I doubt the geezers will be interested.

      *An ideal platform to modify for loading/unloading wheelchairs, mobility scooters, etc.

      Given the choice between a group van and my own private vehicle I would definitely choose the latter.
      I was just telling my kids recently I hope self-driving cars are perfected before I am unable to drive myself.
      If they can make a car I'm sure they can make a van suitable for the disabled too.

  38. Re:Evolution and natural selection by HumanWiki · · Score: 1

    Wow you actually bothered to create an account, just to reply.

    City of Chicago ordinances:

    https://www.cityofchicago.org/...

    https://chicagocode.org/9-8-02...

    Even Pedestrians have to obey traffic signals, which was my point. They also are not allowed to just blindly cross where it's not marked to do so.

    Furthermore. When push-comes-to-shove, you can be fully in the right and still fully dead.

    Arrogantly walking through a red light is still against the law for a pedestrian.

  39. Nobody will buy them by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    If this is all there was, I'd ride a bike, ride a motorcycle full-time again, or WALK.

  40. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  41. Re:Awesome! No insurance costs? by silverkniveshotmail. · · Score: 1

    Who cares if deer are insured? They aren't driving cars to run into you with, and your AV won't hit one because it's an AV and won't have accidents. Why should you have insurance?

    A lot of people care, that's why comprehensive insurance is so popular, if your car is totaled because you hit a deer you're screwed unless you have it and if you aren't buying your shiny new driverless car cash the lender isn't going to consider anything short of comprehensive an option.

  42. No Driver, No Wheels, No Steering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That sounds like a factory line conveyer belt to me.

  43. Verbal by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    Still going to need a "Pull over and stop immediately" button just in case.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  44. Can we resolve AI and computer vision first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please don't put these dangerous things on the road with me until then. Give it a few decades, at the very least.

    1. Re:Can we resolve AI and computer vision first? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Lust for profit is ignoring you.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  45. How does it feel to be wrong? by HoomanMiki · · Score: 1

    You'd have to be a sociopath to think that gives you the right to vehicular homicide.

  46. That's nice by Charcharodon · · Score: 1

    ...yep still won't buy anything GM makes.....ever.

  47. Re:Awesome! No insurance costs? by cstacy · · Score: 1

    So, since we're now truly passengers, GM can pay the insurance? Because I'm not paying for insurance for a self driving car

    I know that self-driving cars seem like science fiction sometimes, but in what Amazing Universe are the costs not passed on to the consumer? Of course you'll be paying for the insurance. It will probably even be a line-item on your monthly bill for the lease. And if an accident happens, the actions of the humans involved WILL be a factor they consider. So you'll need two insurance policies in the future, not zero.

  48. Re:Awesome! No insurance costs? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

    A lot of people care, that's why comprehensive insurance is so popular, if your car is totaled because you hit a deer

    Topic: buying insurance for autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles won't have accidents, thus you won't hit a deer. You don't need collision insurance. Try again.

  49. Re:Awesome! No insurance costs? by silverkniveshotmail. · · Score: 1

    They will still hit deer, they will still be vandalized, they will still experience hit and runs. They're autonomous, not magic. There is no force field.

  50. and when a pipe brakes and the road needs to close by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 0

    and when a pipe brakes and the road needs to close now?

  51. Will it Have a Back-Seat Driver's Interface? by LemonFire · · Score: 1

    As a passenger in a vehicle that you're not controlling you may want to use excessive comments on the AI's actions and decisions in an attempt to control the vehicle. You may also want to tutor the AI in how to drive, for example comment on the speed of the vehicle, alternative directions, or to not let that other car get ahead of you.

  52. Well, not with an electric car by tomhath · · Score: 1

    Computer, park next to the second gas pump for regular unleaded.

    I can't do that Dave. I'm an electric car.

  53. It will be completely safe. by Agripa · · Score: 1

    If it functions as well as other GMC vehicles, then it will be completely safe as it just sits there.

  54. Driverless cars and robbery by Sark666 · · Score: 1

    I completely welcome driverless cars coming. I believe they'll save lives, increase productivity, allow the elderly to drive again etc.

    One lingering thought always sticks in my head. Someone wants to rob you, well they just stand in front of the car and you will stop. Every time.

    Has anyone considering solutions to this?

  55. Re:Awesome! No insurance costs? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

    Whoosh