Autonomous Vehicles

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Originally Posted by JDNSW

Yes, when you think of the current restrictions on activities imposed by liability problems, why is it a stretch to imagine these preventing autonomous vehicles?

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Because there's a lot of money to be made by companies who no longer have to pay for workers. Once the financial benefits outweigh the costs their adoption will be unstoppable. Transport is simply the latest industry to reduce the cost of labour through automation.

Perhaps, but for private cars?

The manufacturer will try to avoid liability by blaming operator error. Vehicle companies already do it if the vehicle is not serviced by a dealer. Uber could say the driver didn't operate the vehicle according to the manual. The manual will probably say something about the driver having to monitor the operation of the vehicle to check for unexpected obstacles. How often do pilots get blamed for incidents involving highly automated aircraft? Remember, these companies are not there to be friendly to customers, they exist to make profits first and foremost.

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Originally Posted by bee utey

Because there's a lot of money to be made by companies who no longer have to pay for workers. Once the financial benefits outweigh the costs their adoption will be unstoppable. Transport is simply the latest industry to reduce the cost of labour through automation.

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Exactly. Sadly it’s more of a stretch to believe big business will have people’s interests at heart rather than profits in the world of machine autonomy. We’re heading for a technological crisis. People are already being manipulated by automated systems they can’t avoid. The current Facebook problems are the tip of the iceberg.

The more autonomous machines become the less autonomous people will be.

Private vehicles are made by big business for profit. They will run the same algorithms as commercial vehicles. Insurance purchased by individuals to cover automated vehicle owners ‘at fault’ will only pay out if the machine’s black box declares itself at fault.

It’s already becoming clear. The current rampant and uncritical adoption of technology as mediator in human relationships is frightening. ...And It’s only been 20 odd years since the dawn of the internet age. ...Which machine is recording and misinterpreting this benign conversation right now?

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Originally Posted by JDNSW

Perhaps, but for private cars?

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Fit all private autonomous cars with Facebook connectivity and 75% or more of the population will be hooked instantly. [bigrolf]

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

....... How often do pilots get blamed for incidents involving highly automated aircraft? .....

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Quite rarely, in fact. In the aviation industry, for a start, the emphasis is almost always in finding out what actually contributed to the accident rather than blaming anyone. But then the litigation starts, and it is almost invariably the operator of the aircraft that is sued, occasionally the manufacturer, or both - purely on the basis of who's got the deepest pockets. (Or best insurance policy!)

And in any case, aircraft are not what you would call "highly automated" compared to autonomous cars - the cars have a lot more things to hit, and do not largely rely on traffic control to separate moving vehicles. The comparison is even less realistic than comparing driverless trains to driverless cars. And note that there are no passenger carrying driverless planes, although the technology to do it exists.

Ok

So once we get autonomous trucks, will security guards be employed to replace the drivers?

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

So once we get autonomous trucks, will security guards be employed to replace the drivers?

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ha, i like that idea.

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

So once we get autonomous trucks, will security guards be employed to replace the drivers?

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No , the homeless. It will give them a place to stay out of the weather.