There are many buildings in the North East that have lobby as ground floor and one floor up as first floor. And many don’t have a floor that labeled 13.
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It is already a viable alternative. They are carrying passengers in 4 US cities.
Driving in a city is very difficult for a Robo-taxi. Humans are pretty random. We do illogical things when driving. If a Robo-taxi can negotiate cities, highways are easy by comparison.
The personal car issue is the point I tried to make in an earlier post. Solving the liability issues may allow personal ownership. If those issue can’t be solved, autonomous cars will always be a service you pay for and not a product you can own as personal transportation.
Liability? Kid drove parents car to transport his “boss”. Crashed. Boss died. Parents were sued. As car owner. Not kid.
When Volvo started their autonomous vehicle projects they stated they’ll cover ALL liability costs of any accidents.
There will be crashes with autonomous vehicles. But I’m sure the crash rate will be several magnitudes less now. Autonomous vehicles will be driving the speed-limit. They won’t/can’t drive DRUNK or HIGH. When fully implemented all autonomous vehicles will be constantly communicating with all other vehicles in a certain radius. They’ll know when a crash happens up ahead. When fully autonomous - you won’t have cars flying past school busses which has their flashers on. Cities can eliminate traffic lights and stop-signs. Overall autonomous vehicles will probably cut car deaths and injuries by 95-99 percent. I see that as a good thing.
+1
Based on a lot of the dangerous driving behaviors that I observe on a regular basis, I doubt that a well-tested autonomous vehicle could be any worse than a driver who is (pick one or more)…
Distracted, drunk, high on drugs, sleepy, stupid, ignorant of traffic laws
Edited to add this article from today’s newspaper:
Authorities have identified the passenger killed in an intoxicated-driving crash in Berkeley last week as a 34-year-old woman.
Emanuela N. Fuchs died at an area hospital after the single-vehicle crash, which took place at about noon Jan. 20 on the 100 block of Grand Central Parkway, Berkeley police said.
The 37-year-old Beachwood man driving the vehicle was issued summonses for reckless driving and careless driving. His vehicle was also uninsured, according to municipal court records. The crash remains under investigation with additional charges possible.
*The driver has a long history of motor vehicle and drug offenses dating back to 2004, records state.
I expect that, like electric cars, we will not see autonomous cars completely replace human driven cars.
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At 71 years old in another 7 years when I will probably need a new car I am looking forward to the option.
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Retirement must be going well if you can afford new car at 78.
Politicians react to inputs from their constituents. One of these constituents, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has a history of lobbying successfully for safety devices. You’re going to like some of the laws they enact and dislike some. You can be certain that a large block of people are behind what they do.
No! I drive one every day and I can tell you from personal experience that they make enough errors that I won’t use that feature. I have a 2023 Tesla Model 3 and occasionally Tesla makes the self driving feature available for free. The trial lasts about a month. When you want to go somewhere in self driving mode you use the GPS to design a route and the let the car go on its own. It has trouble negotiating circles and will stop when people are standing on a corner with not intention of crossing the street. You and I understand these basic driving maneuvers while self driving does not.
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+1
Pretty much every car safety feature was lobbied for by the insurance industry.
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