Thread: Are you ready? Australia trials self-driving cars in regional Queensland

Far too many fails already in the US, even on the "turnpikes" where conditions are excellent. There have been fatalities there ( not on the turnpike that I have seen ) where the car did not recognise changes in road conditions. The US has far better roads than we do. Our roads are not even up to scratch for the best drivers.

They talk about forcing people of my age to have an "elderly" plate on the car. I reckon driverless cars would need to be preceded by a bloke walking, waving a red flag, like they used to do for any car.

Gold Coast council have had self driving light buses on trial for quite some time. Several yrs now if I recall. All proximity and speed sensors are over zealous and I guess theres nothing wrong with a very safe allbeit much slower mode of public transport. We have used it a couple of times and its faster than walking. It currently hovers around the Southport dress circle encompassing Tedder Avenue.

A Melbourne driverless truck night test is failing to start apparently

Mean while

Korean night bus Look, no hands! My trip on Seoul's self-driving bus (bbc.com)

Not all ready yet!!! " there are a couple of times when the driver has to take the wheel and hit the brakes. These sudden jolts are a reminder that human drivers are on the road and the artificial intelligence (AI) controlling the bus is not prepared for every eventuality."

Before self driving cars can actually be used, the legal situation will need to be clearly defined in law - who is responsible for the actions of the vehicle? The owner or the manufacturer or the passenger? Presumably in these trials, the legal question is sidestepped by having a "non-driving driver", who can be charged if the self driving tries to do something illegal and they don't stop it. But if that is required, the vehicle cannot be considered self driving, although it can gather data on whether the test system is capable of self driving.

Until this legal question is settled and specified in law, there cannot be real self driving vehicles. And it is unlikely to be easy to get this - manufacturers are unlikely to accept responsibility, and nor are either owners or passengers.

I have no idea how this question can be settled, but until it is, self driving is a mirage, even if it proves to be technically possible, which is at present by no means certain.

Just needs a change in legislation, the UK are changing their laws to hold the manufacturers liable:

https://www.drive.com.au/news/uk-aut...esponsibility/

Manufacturers like Volvo have accepted they will be liable stating this back in 2019:

Volvo Accepting “Full Liability” in Autonomous-car Crashes

Mercedes have also stated the same but noted they would defend if the driver does not follow their duty of care:

Mercedes will accept responsibility for autonomous technology crashes

Next steps for Australia is to allow self-driving cars under the ADRs and to establish similar legislation as the UK as you can guarantee there will be at least one arrogant billionaire who will go after the car owner/driver.

The ADRs and regulatory framework to allow autonomous vehicles is being developed and expected to be in place by 2026-2027.

https://www.ntc.gov.au/sites/default...0Australia.pdf

BREAKING: Australia will legislate Autonomous Vehicles nationwide, but 2026 is far too late - techAU

Recent court case in the USA that was supported by the tech companies found the driver remained responsible in the event of an accident. They did not want the liability as it would make their business unsustainable

Was supposed to have been involved in on road testing of autonomous driving aids last year but it was called off due to problems. This testing over 20k miles would have had a driver in control with the tech doing its thing to see what happened

Originally Posted by 3toes

Recent court case in the USA that was supported by the tech companies found the driver remained responsible in the event of an accident. They did not want the liability as it would make their business unsustainable

That is based on current technology which is not full self driving. Level 1, 2, and 3 automation still require human intervention and the driver remains responsible.

By level 4 and 5 there is no driver - and cars may even have no passengers. So if manufactures are going to sell cars with no drivers legislation will have to hold the manufacturer liable (or they won’t be allowed to sell the vehicles).

Still a pipe dream but one tech company claims they will launch driverless taxis this year. But the CEO is renowned for missing dates so I wouldn’t expect to see it happen any time soon.