Self-driving vehicles are something I haven't gotten my head around at all. I know there have been some problems but I guess they basically work. Now Jacksonville is planning to be the first in the country to make them part of its transit system. JTA will use retrofitted Ford E-Transit vans for autonomous vehicles
The technology has been 99% there for awhile, and I’d say if there were 100% autonomous vehicles on roads specifically designed for autonomous driving it would certainly be a far safer mode of travel. I think it’s probably ok along programmed routes. But, autonomous vehicles sharing roads with human vehicles will always be an obstacle. How do we get from 99% technology while sharing the road with idiot human drivers. I think this is proving to be a much bigger obstacle than some anticipated. Based on my experience with semi-autonomous features sometimes the technology has the car getting confused by things like construction and bike lanes - which definitely raises my eyebrows that I wouldn’t yet trust fully autonomous. That’s just my own experience, obviously there are the stories of Tesla’s driving autonomously straight into concrete dividers… also eyebrow raising lol.
Just this week I saw a teen driving with half her car in my lane. I could see that she was looking at her phone. She didn’t look up at all for several seconds. I honked my horn, and she went back to her lane. As I passed her I signaled she needs to keep her eyes on the road. Shortly after she went back to driving in two lanes and I could see she was staring at the phone again. At this point I’m ready for the robots to take over. Even with the ocasional concrete divider.
Isn't this project already way over budget and it hasn't really started yet? Or am I confusing it with something else?
When Im bored in traffic I count phone users driving. Its between 1/3 and 1/4 of people are looking at there phone while driving on side roads. On the interstate it is 1/6 to 1/8. That is a lot of eyes not on the road. I am all for self driving. I'd like it myself as driving sucks.
I’ve been driving for 30+ years. I’m ready to hang my keys. But mostly I hope my kids won’t have to drive. We have about 10 years to figure it out.
For the reasons that you outlined, the technology is NOT even close to where it needs to be for 100% autonomous driving cars. Autonomous vehicles would be much better used on open highways for long haul. I saw a presentation of using autonomous tractor trailers over open highways, especially out west from one depot to another, it which point the trailers would drop and human drivers would take the trailer into the congested roads or into cities or wherever the ultimate destination is. I think if we are going to start with fully autonomous vehicles, that is the place to start like moving goods over I-80 through Wyoming for example.
My new auto insurance company makes you download an app that monitors your driving style (speeding, hard braking, etc.) as well as your distracted driving via phone use. It adjusts your rates up or down based on your habits. It's super intrusive, but Im sure all companies will go to this, as is their perogative. You want to drive distracted, prepare to pay a lot more.
