Nader: Technology not ready for fully autonomous cars

[FrodosPet]

Nader: Technology not ready for fully autonomous cars

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2016/07/22/nader-technology-ready-fully-autonomous-cars/87456712/

Evan Carter, The Detroit News 6:55 p.m. EDT July 24, 2016

Dearborn — Car safety advocate Ralph Nader has serious reservations about fully self-driving cars, and says they’re far from being ready to hit the highways.

“I don’t see a fully autonomous vehicle replacing the driver fleet any time in the next generation,” Nader told The Detroit News on Friday. “We’ll see some good semi-autonomous.”

While he said he does see the benefits of semi-autonomous features such as automatic braking that can assist drivers, he cautions against fully autonomous vehicle modes that would allow drivers to turn their cars into what he calls an “entertainment and office work center.” He believes the direction of self-driving technology is the “next debate in the country.”

~ snip ~

“The data is proprietary, it’s secret. So it cannot be reviewed and critiqued by other scientists and engineers,” he said. “On top of that, the government isn’t proposing any mandatory standards, just guidelines and voluntary agreements and you can’t do that under federal motor vehicle safety laws.”

~ snip ~

[elleng]

1. That's my sense of it too,

tho I have no concrete understanding.

[Skittles]

2. who?

[jmowreader]

3. You remember...he's the guy who thought a Bush presidency would be a good thing

[Skittles]

5. fuck him and his ego

he f'd us all

[FrodosPet]

7. Yes, he's a gigantic asshole for what he did to the world by enabling Bush

I am not going to try to argue otherwise.

But he is right on this. I WANT self driving cars. I understand how much safer they COULD be. How much more mobility they could provide for shut ins, people who cannot or wish not to drive.

Sorry, Elon. Sorry, Travis. We are not there yet. It takes SHIT-TONS of processing to figure out what every significant item around you is, and whether it presents a hazard in your primary, secondary, or 911 paths.

You gotta track them - hey, remember calculus? Hopefully some really good, patient, paranoid, perfectionist programmers do. The car is swaying and bouncing, so even when you are going straight and level, your orientation to the rest of the world changes.

So where is the car? Yes, GPS is important in location. But the accuracy and refresh rates are far too low for the micro-navigation requirements of a true, in-the-wild autonomous vehicle.

Road standards - Roads will need to be fixed even more than with human drivers. More road lines and street signs, fewer potholes and pavement discolorations. And just wait until it is raining or snowing - where did the road go again?

We need sensible federal standards that are more oriented to protecting safety than they are getting rich people paid even more even quicker than what is prudent.

[63splitwindow]

6. Poor timing Ralph UNLESS you are trying to distract. nt

[Rex]

8. I thought he was King of the Greens. Did they mutiny?

How does he feel about his former party being taken over by wackadoodles?

[GaYellowDawg]

9. He's right. But fuck him anyway.

What a giant ass potato.