VW releases car with "temporary autopilot"

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Thoughts on this? Seems to me to be existing systems stepped up a notch. It can do things such as reduce or increase speed according to speed limits, avoid passing on the right, stay in a given lane, and even warn the driver when it senses he or she is getting distracted by something.

 
Safe-Keeper said:
Thoughts on this? Seems to me to be existing systems stepped up a notch. It can do things such as reduce or increase speed according to speed limits, avoid passing on the right, stay in a given lane, and even warn the driver when it senses he or she is getting distracted by something.

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I don't need this.

I'm married.
 
Safe-Keeper said:
Thoughts on this? Seems to me to be existing systems stepped up a notch. It can do things such as reduce or increase speed according to speed limits, avoid passing on the right, stay in a given lane, and even warn the driver when it senses he or she is getting distracted by something.
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I wonder how many cars will be going back to the dealer with a complaint of "there's a continuous buzzing".

I'm all for stuff like this - even if you do get the occasional "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the Restart button" computers can't be as bad at driving as we are - look how good they are at landing planes!
 
Darat said:
I wonder how many cars will be going back to the dealer with a complaint of "there's a continuous buzzing".

I'm all for stuff like this - even if you do get the occasional "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the Restart button" computers can't be as bad at driving as we are - look how good they are at landing planes!
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I have found that driving when using cruise control is a very good tool to keep me from breaking the speed limit and makes for less stressful motorway/highway driving.
 
EHocking said:
I have found that driving when using cruise control is a very good tool to keep me from breaking the speed limit and makes for less stressful motorway/highway driving.
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I agree and with adaptive cruise control it becomes even less stressful, should be built into all cars, bet it would result in a lot less road rage as well.
 
Oh, yeah, this is just what we need -- smarter cars for stupider drivers. That won't have ANY long term ill-effects.
 
I'm wondering how the speed limit and construction site recognition works. Can it read road signs? Or does it need radio beacons? What happens if there's no radio beacon?

Nevertheless, I like it. I don't like that the driver still needs to be aware and action ready all the time. If I have an autopilot, I want to read or something, dammit!
 
elgarak said:
...snip...

Nevertheless, I like it. I don't like that the driver still needs to be aware and action ready all the time. If I have an autopilot, I want to read or something, dammit!
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Yeah I mean how else will you be able to read the manual for the autopilot?
 
elgarak said:
I'm wondering how the speed limit and construction site recognition works. Can it read road signs? Or does it need radio beacons? What happens if there's no radio beacon?

Nevertheless, I like it. I don't like that the driver still needs to be aware and action ready all the time. If I have an autopilot, I want to read or something, dammit!
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There would need to be either transmitters on the signs or VERY good image recognition. I'm guessing they used beacons for the filmed road testing. Smart cars would need a lot of smart infrastructure, increasing the number of possible failure points.
 
ApolloGnomon said:
There would need to be either transmitters on the signs or VERY good image recognition. I'm guessing they used beacons for the filmed road testing. Smart cars would need a lot of smart infrastructure, increasing the number of possible failure points.
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So keep the cars dumb like the humans they are replacing and we'll be no worse off then we are now. Personally I'd trust a well engineered system (hardware & software) to drive on average more safely than the 80% of us who are "above average drivers". :)
 
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I didn't think this was anything new. Aren't cars that automatically parallel park under "temporary autopilot"?
 
EHocking said:
I have found that driving when using cruise control is a very good tool to keep me from breaking the speed limit and makes for less stressful motorway/highway driving.
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Agree completely. It also gives you better mileage -- especially if you have a hybrid car.
 
I wonder how long it will be before crashes start to be blamed on the "autopilot" and the lawsuits begin.
 
kalen said:
I wonder how long it will be before crashes start to be blamed on the "autopilot" and the lawsuits begin.
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That's when the black boxes (i.e.-the system logs) will show that the autopilot was disengaged/overridden and the driver did something stupid.

There'd be some lawsuits, but I don't see any auto designer being dumb enough NOT to have VERY good logging of all the autopilot actions.
 
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Darat said:
So keep the cars dumb like the humans they are replacing and we'll be no worse off then we are now. Personally I'd trust a well engineered system (hardware & software) to drive on average more safely than the 80% of us who are "above average drivers". :)
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I'm certainly an above average driver. Well, 75% of the time, anyway.
 
Darat said:
I wonder how many cars will be going back to the dealer with a complaint of "there's a continuous buzzing".

I'm all for stuff like this - even if you do get the occasional "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the Restart button" computers can't be as bad at driving as we are - look how good they are at landing planes!
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Actually landing planes is relatively simple. There are no other vehicles in the area, the runways are VERY well identified and all you need to do is manage the speed and altitude (something computers are good at). Getting through a NYC intersection is a much more difficult process.

I present, for your amusement...

http://jalopnik.com/5828101/this-is-googles-first-self+driving-car-crash
 
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