http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/09/google-automated-cars/
Google has been testing driverless cars. On our roads. They work, evidently.
B..but…but…but…who will open my car door for me and help me with my coat and hold the umbrella and pour my tea at tea time?
That is fine, but where is my flying car?
This does bring up some interesting questions though.
If this becomes more reliable than a human, would you be liable for accidents if you were driving the car?
Could you operate the car while impaired if no user input was needed?
Will it eventually be able to operate in fog or blizzards at speeds that no human could safely navigate?
How will it sense ice and other road hazards.
Will it stop and wait for a bunny to cross the road, or will it just run it over?
Very important question! And in that vein…will it realize that a ball bouncing out of a yard means “slow down, kid to follow?”
But this technology is inevitable. You know it. Between built-in navigation systems and all the new parallel parking gizmos and sensors they’re building into high-end vehicles, it’s only logical.
This is, in a way, the answer to the persistent question: WHY don’t we have satisfactory public transportation all over the U.S.? As the computer-driven vehicles become able to basketweave themselves through traffic hang-ups with maximum efficiency, and we’re just along for the ride, we’ve reached a sort of meeting ground between private vehicle and a futuristic high-speed public transport system.
I knew someone was going to do it.
I’m surprised it’s Google. I’m frequently
amazed at the depth of their pockets
and recruiting acumen.
There’s speculation that the self-parking
gizmo is just there to get us used to cars
doing stuff for themselves, since people
will be afraid of letting their car take over,
so we have to be eased into it.
I think this is the missing link to flying cars.
It turns out that it’s hard to make a car
that does not require some serious pilot
skillz. Not enough peopel will buy a flying
car if they have to get $1000’s of flying
lessons just to use it. But if it can fly itself,
the human problem, at least, is solved.
If men don’t drive anymore, how will they know they’re macho? Will size still matter?
If they use Google maps for navigation, I’ll pass thank you. I loves it when they send ya the wrong way up a one way street. A co-worker did that on the interstate one night… 
A car cannot legally be on the road without car insurance. I can’t imagine a insurance company insuring a car driven by a computer. Can you tell the judge and jury that there was a computer glitch and that was the reason that a human was injured or killed in an accident?There are so many legal situations that you can think of that will keep this from being an everyday reality, in my opinion. Google has very deep pockets, so they need to be especially careful here.
They’ve already been/being sued for bad directions.
How would that be different than a poorly made map? What are the specific claims of the law suit?
“I was walking down the middle of the road and somebody hit me” Sounds pretty convincing to me. Google should have said “don’t walk down the middle of the road.”
I don’t know the specific claims of the lawsuit, but legal precedent shows that juries are apt to reward significant damages to injured individuals when the defendants have deep pockets, whether or not there is good reason. The plaintiff’s lawyer merely needs to suggest to the jury that the defense ought to share some of the blame and expense of the injury, as well as for general pain and suffering. Similar suits,for example, may be directed towards a company that makes ladders, finding themselves in court because someone has sustained an injury using one of their ladders.
I have a feeling that I will never be chosen for jury duty.
See: recent Toyota recalls
I have been summoned several times to appear for jury duty, but after a few short questions from the attorneys in the selecting process, I am out of there. The last time I told the court that the long sentencing for relatively insignificant marijuana possession was immoral and that, as a juror, I would not vote to convict the defendant (a young woman set up by a paid informant) because of the inappropriate sentencing. The judge asked me to leave the courtroom, which I was happy to do, but not before I got my two cents in.
I’ve had the worst luck with juries, both federal and state. I’d much rather serve as an expert witness with a per diem, the pay is so much better.
A few juries I’ve been on I was in the minority for conviction, only to be told by the show chairman I was suppose to be “awarding” people for their art work. I’m telling ya some of them were guilty of high crimes.