Here are my thoughts about autonomous vehicles...
Firstly, they're decades away. Not just because of the technology, but also because of the legislation. There's no way I foresee governments letting those things loose on our roads until the technology is proven to be perfect. How is the tech proven? Look at another country where they are approved. Until one country has the balls to go first it's impossible to get things off the ground.
Secondly, I've got a more 'human' concern. A fully autonomous car will need to be able to decide how to act in certain circumstances... like... there's a toddler who has just run into the road. There's not enough time to come to a controlled stop, but the car CAN choose to crash into a wall and likely break the passenger's leg, but NOT kill the toddler. And many people would agree that's a fairly sensible and ethical trade-off. But what happens if that toddler was just a plastic bag floating in the wind that the car mistook for a toddler. With the current sensors used, that could easily happen. So now you've got a broken leg because of a plastic bag and some wind. Then you look at the fine print and it says "We're totally not responsible for your injuries if your car decides to break you legs for no reason other than a plastic bag floating in the wind". Are you going to step into that car again?
I just think the technology, specifically the *sensors* and the *central decision-making capabilities* are so far away at this current point in time. As I say above, I think we're talking 30+ years, not 3 years like some people would have you believe.
J
My company released a game called Squibs Arcade for the iPhone. It's very polished, received great reviews and the humour (how it takes the piss out of AAA games) is very/.
We put it out at the cheapest possible price on the app store.
3 days after release it was already hacked and available on pirate sites. 59p and its pirated...
I guess pirating can be good if it raises awareness so enough people do go out there and pay for it, but we haven't hit that mark by a long way!
Nope, I'm not having a whinge, I'm merely pointing out that for all the quite sensible comments above about DRM, price and quality which I agree with, even from a game developer / studio point of view, there's ALWAYS going to be someone who wants it for free rather than pay just 59p.
http://www.squibsarcade.com/
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Here are my thoughts about autonomous vehicles... Firstly, they're decades away. Not just because of the technology, but also because of the legislation. There's no way I foresee governments letting those things loose on our roads until the technology is proven to be perfect. How is the tech proven? Look at another country where they are approved. Until one country has the balls to go first it's impossible to get things off the ground. Secondly, I've got a more 'human' concern. A fully autonomous car will need to be able to decide how to act in certain circumstances... like... there's a toddler who has just run into the road. There's not enough time to come to a controlled stop, but the car CAN choose to crash into a wall and likely break the passenger's leg, but NOT kill the toddler. And many people would agree that's a fairly sensible and ethical trade-off. But what happens if that toddler was just a plastic bag floating in the wind that the car mistook for a toddler. With the current sensors used, that could easily happen. So now you've got a broken leg because of a plastic bag and some wind. Then you look at the fine print and it says "We're totally not responsible for your injuries if your car decides to break you legs for no reason other than a plastic bag floating in the wind". Are you going to step into that car again? I just think the technology, specifically the *sensors* and the *central decision-making capabilities* are so far away at this current point in time. As I say above, I think we're talking 30+ years, not 3 years like some people would have you believe. J
My company released a game called Squibs Arcade for the iPhone. It's very polished, received great reviews and the humour (how it takes the piss out of AAA games) is very /.
We put it out at the cheapest possible price on the app store.
3 days after release it was already hacked and available on pirate sites. 59p and its pirated...
I guess pirating can be good if it raises awareness so enough people do go out there and pay for it, but we haven't hit that mark by a long way!
Nope, I'm not having a whinge, I'm merely pointing out that for all the quite sensible comments above about DRM, price and quality which I agree with, even from a game developer / studio point of view, there's ALWAYS going to be someone who wants it for free rather than pay just 59p.
http://www.squibsarcade.com/