# Observed a driverless car making a mistake today **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775 "2018-09-27T02:11:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/21 "2018-09-29T01:30:48Z")
> [@shadowfax](#): > > At least 15% of the time some idiot will bomb through the red 3 or 4 seconds after it turned Every day in Southwest Florida. People wait for 15 seconds when the light turns green to avoid getting T-boned. Sarasota area has red light cameras. My SIL found out the hard way she was running reds. 3 camera tickets in 3 weeks. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/22 "2018-09-29T01:51:46Z")
3 red light tickets in one week? Oh my. Here in San Jose she’d be looking at $500 each, or a total of roughly $1500 in fines and penalties for those three. Plus higher insurance rates. Hopefully there it isn’t as big of hit. A lot of people don’t earn that much take home pay in a month. We don’t have red light cameras here though. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/23 "2018-09-29T13:32:55Z")
I hope that changed her behavior. One day running a red might mean an accident that could kill someone. I had a couple neighbors in the old neighborhood that died when they turned left and were hit by someone running a red light. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/24 "2018-09-29T13:35:05Z")
I think the $450 in fines in one month has changed her behavior! She stopped getting fines long before she stopped working in Sarasota… thank goodness! ---
**Author:** ![Mikedrives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mikedrives](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mikedrives)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/25 "2018-10-03T13:43:08Z")
Suppose you encounter a driverless car misbehaving in a parking lot. Suppose you had a tarp handy. Suppose you throw that tarp over the car and immobilize it. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/26 "2018-10-03T20:22:53Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > Instead of waiting for the intersection to clear (like a human driver would usually do to avoid inconveniencing others) the driverless car made the turn anyway, and got stuck in the middle of the intersection. That is EXACTLY what I see at every intersection in same situation in the Boston area. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/27 "2018-10-04T00:31:59Z")
Another data point, I spotted another driverless\* car today … 35 mph 3 lane in one direction road. I followed it for a couple miles. It was doing pretty good for the most part. One good point, it was staying almost exactly in the middle of the lane. Other cars nearby were biased considerably in their lane, left or right. I did notice a couple of driving peculiarities though - as it approached an intersection in the left hand lane prior to making a left hand turn, it failed to turn on its blinker, and only turned the blinker on after it had already pulled into the left hand turn lane and stopped, awaiting the left turn light. - it was dithering the brakes, briefly on and off, much more than the other cars, as if it couldn’t decide how fast to go to remain in position w/traffic. “\*” The driverless car had all the high tech gizmos and gadgetry bolted on, but there was somebody inside; they appeared to just be monitoring the progress. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/28 "2018-10-04T14:39:03Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > The driverless car had all the high tech gizmos and gadgetry bolted on, but there was somebody inside; they appeared to just be monitoring the progress. As far as I know - no state has approved a driverless car without someone in drivers seat to take over in an emergency. As far as I know the earliest that’s scheduled to happen is 2025 (in a very narrow limited area). ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/29 "2018-10-05T01:43:39Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > As far as I know - no state has approved a driverless car without someone in drivers seat to take over in an emergency California planned to allow totally driverless cars this year, but it is unclear if there are any actually on the road. The driverless car accident reports seem to have put the kibosh on the Calif plan for now. To date Ive never seen one w/out somebody inside monitoring. June 1, 2018 > **[Self-Driving Cars Can Now Pick Up Passengers in California—But Only for Free...](https://gizmodo.com/self-driving-cars-can-now-pick-up-passengers-in-califor-1826480542)** > > California has announced a new pilot program that will allow self-driving cars to start moving normal customers around, a first for the state. Among the California Public Utilities Commission’s many stipulations, transportation companies providing... " the California Department of Motor Vehicles allowed autonomous vehicle testing on public roads in April, though it didn’t exactly go as planned. Only a single unnamed company applied for the requisite permit from the DMV" ---
**Author:** ![common-sense-answer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/common-sense-answer/32/716_2.png) [@common-sense-answer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/common-sense-answer)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 4:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/30 "2018-10-05T16:38:10Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > California planned to allow totally driverless cars this year, but it is unclear if there are any actually on the road. The driverless car accident reports seem to have put the kibosh on the Calif plan for now. To date Ive never seen one w/out somebody inside monitoring. Strange new world. I’m wondering (It’s going to happen if it hasn’t, already)… Since California has these _Sanctuary Cities_, what happens if there’s a legal illegal alien, unemployed homeless person, without a driver license in a driverless car, and the car makes a “mistake” and breaks the motoring laws… Who’s responsible? 🤔 🌲🙂🌲 _ **CSA** _ ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/31 "2018-10-05T17:25:53Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > Sanctuary Cities, what happens if there’s a legal illegal alien, unemployed homeless person, without a driver license in a driverless car, and the car makes a “mistake” and breaks the motoring laws… > > Who’s responsible? Only you could make a stupid political analysis of a driverless car. In all cases every single driverless car manufacturer has said they would take responsibility. Since you obviously would never drive in a sanction city…why should you care? ---
**Author:** ![common-sense-answer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/common-sense-answer/32/716_2.png) [@common-sense-answer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/common-sense-answer)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/32 "2018-10-05T20:11:54Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > Only you could make a stupid political analysis of a driverless car. _Political? That’s not my intention at all. You brought it up._ _Stupid? That’s fairly crass, but I certainly won’t keep you from an opinion. Nor will I engage in that type of personal attack._ The original “question” mentioned an illegal maneuver made by a driverless vehicle in California and a discussion involving driver responsibility ensued. Adding to this theme I was simply pointing out some of the complexities involving driverless cars, added to existing onboard data recorders, video cameras, radar guns, red-light cameras, uninsured drivers, unauthorized motorists, etcetera ( I’m sure I’ve left some things out.). > [@common\_sense\_answer](#): > > Strange new world. I mentioned this because I’ve been driving for 5 1/2 decades now and it was much, much simpler when I began. 🌲🙂🌲 _ **CSA** _ ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/33 "2018-10-05T21:58:54Z")
Cut it out, CSA. You knew exactly what you were writing, and it is political commentary. Take it somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![cdaquila](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cdaquila/32/18089_2.png) [@cdaquila](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cdaquila)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/34 "2018-10-06T03:29:19Z")
Agreed with Mike and JT, though I wouldn’t use the word stupid. ---
**Author:** ![sgtrock21](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/sgtrock21/32/246_2.png) [@sgtrock21](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sgtrock21)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775/35 "2018-10-06T15:58:45Z")
I have been driving in a sanctuary state since 1987. I’m reasonably certain California is also a sanctuary state. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/observed-a-driverless-car-making-a-mistake-today/125775.md?page=1)