[guide.chat] b b c cars that need no driver
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2012 11:07:22 +0100
Driverless cars and how they would change motoring
BBC News
The state has approved the US's first self-driven vehicle licence, meaning that
a Toyota Prius modified by search firm Google will be the first to hit the
highway.
So what would a world of driverless cars look like?
Safer roads
More than 1.2 million people across the world die every year in road crashes,
and as many as 50 million more are injured, according to the World Health
Organization.
The cars - like that in Google's prototype - will process more information
faster than a human driver
In the US, driver error - weaving out of the lane, drink driving and distracted
driving, for example - is a factor in at least 60% of fatal crashes, according
to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"Your automated car isn't sitting around getting distracted, making a phone
call, looking at something it shouldn't be looking at or simply not keeping
track of things," says Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of MarketingLand.com,
who took a two-minute ride in Google's car on a closed course at a technology
convention last year.
"It's not looking down to change the radio and looking up and noticing all the
cars have stopped."
Google's car adheres strictly to the speed limit and follows the rules of the
road, says Tom Jacobs, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles,
who has also ridden in the Google car.
"When the car is on self-driving mode, it doesn't speed, it doesn't cut you
off, it doesn't tailgate."
And in the future, autonomous cars will be able to communicate with one
another, allowing them to negotiate lane changes and overtaking, analysts
predict.
A more productive commute
"If you truly trust the intelligence of the vehicle, then you get in the
vehicle and you do our work while you're travelling," says Lynne Irwin, an
engineer and director of the Local Roads Program at Cornell University.
"That would stretch my day, it would make me more productive."
Fewer traffic jams...
Special licence tags identify self-driving cars
Traffic usually slows as the volume of cars on a road increases, because
drivers slow their speed to accommodate the narrowed distance from the car
ahead of them.
But autonomous vehicles, especially if they can communicate with each other,
could in theory drive nearly bumper to bumper at high speed, says Irwin.
"You could get a lot more people moved at a higher speed on an existing road
way," he says. "Congestion would be something you could tell your grandchildren
about, once upon a time."
If cars aren't going to hit each other maybe we don't need bumpers?
Google gets driverless licence
Could we accept driverless cars?
Americans have been driving less for a number of years, a trend that is
especially significant among young people. But driverless cars could extend car
ownership to some groups of people previously unable to own a car.
"You give people mobility who might not have mobility today," says Sven Beiker,
executive director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford University.
"They can see the personal automobile as a service provider."
This includes elderly drivers who feel uncomfortable getting behind the wheel
at night, whose eyesight has weakened or whose reaction time has slowed.
Also, people with epilepsy now unable or forbidden to drive could more easily
get around, as could people with broken limbs, paralysis or other disabilities.
No more school run
Older children could take the car alone, potentially freeing suburban parents
from chauffeuring drudgery.
A car could take the children to school early in the morning, then return home
on its own to pick up the parents for their commute.
After a late-night carouse, a drinker could find and reserve a hire car on
their phone, then have it pick them up and drive them home.
Car as personal train carriage
Many Americans already see adventure in long road trips.
They might schedule even lengthier journeys if they can relax and rest while
the car keeps its eyes on the road.
Designs will change...
Google's car is a modified Toyota Prius, but expect the designs to take a new
directions, says Irwin.
"When you get to a technological change, the first thing we do is we mimic what
people are familiar with and comfortable with," he says.
"People like to look out the window so I suspect we'll keep windows in some
shape, but maybe they don't need to be quite the way they are now. If cars
aren't going to hit each other, maybe we don't need bumpers."
from
Vanessa The Google Girl.
my skype name is rainbowstar123
Other related posts:
- » [guide.chat] b b c cars that need no driver - vanessa
