The question, though, is which insurance? No matter how good the safety systems are, there will still be accidents. A tire will blow, a sensor will fail, a kid will run into the road and the trial lawyers will be set free to go after everybody in the supply chain. I'm not sure I would want to be the company that supplies software for any of these.
Again, to get a picture of this development we should be looking into it over a longer time period. When electronics start to penetrate the cars the development was evidently preparing the path for autonomous vehicles. I did work long ago in the semicondurctor industry and the automotive side of biz grew at tremendous speed. All was was said about the acceptance, of the liability issue and the fail-safe-operation undeniable is true.
Evidently the road into the future had to take a path that prepared the ground, allowed for going through the learning curve, for autonomous vehicles. Driver assisstant systems are the buzz word of the, let´s call it first generation. Small step further came with the automatic parking electronics. All the issues mentioned here applied to that. Than I remember came the question of using autonomous driving in logistic centers were trucks are unloaded and loaded. Here you had a controlled environment with a determined liability frame work.
Next generation we can see in the market today. Those are further improved driver assisstant systems that watch to what the driver is doing and to advise him to react if he is not doing as he should and act by its own when the driver fails. Collision prevention, there is an ad about a french car maker advertizing this function. If the car is about to leave the lane or paveed surface. The roadCruiser keeping the distance from the car in front. The system watching the eyes of the driver to notice when he falls asleep. And finally the developments in the area of traffic assistance, where the dialog between the car to exchange information about traffic. The system watching the streeet ahead to see obstacle or traffic under conditions were the human eye cannot see anything. All this is closely linked to the sensors and the related software development. And the development and the passing of the learning curve takes place in this systems.
Living in Germany with our Atutobahns, here would be an ideal place to start autonomous driving. You have a more controlled environment and a system that is close to its limits in capacity. Just forcing trucks when they enter the autobahn to stay on a reserved lane, drive so close to each other to limit the air resistance would reduce consumption of fuel, protect the environment, reduce an important source for accidents and allow for longer driving times for the drivers, as this could rest while the truck drives and finally the capacity increase of the Autobahn would be tremendous. Next step would be for the normal vehicles. You can see this to analogy with the reserved lane for conmuters with more than one person inside!
I, too, like to hear people's reactions to the idea of the autonomous car, sbauman. The initial reaction is always disbelief. But after that, the reaction is overwhelmingly negative -- most people don't like the loss of control. I agree with you that insurance will have to drive it. If autonomous cars can eliminate 30,000 deaths a year on American roads, it makes sense that the insurance companies would step in.
I agree, btwolfe. I would love to have an autonomous driver cart me around so I could work in the back seat on the way to the office. Of course, it all hinges on the autonomous driver's ability to get me to my destination safely.
@tekochip - I think your argument applies to humans as well... our ability to react is directly affected by our attentiveness. A driver going down the freeway in mental "cruise mode" probably wouldn't notice that debris that's about to fall off the truck in front of them any better than an autonomous driver. I'm sure these systems will eventually evolve to watch for situations like this. However, debris on the road I believe is already a part of the system.
What makes an autonomous driver even more compelling is that it can gather info from other autonomous vehicles further up the road about debris, giving you vehicle more time to react.
I can see it working most of the time, but what about construction zones, roadway debris, the truck that just blew a tire next to you, deer, snow, rain? I'm not saying it can't work, I'm saying that it can only be a high-end cruise control. Most of the time it would be great, but you can't be asleep at the wheel.
I love to hear people's reactions when I tell them about the inevitable arrival of autonomous cars. It is amazing how resistant people are to the idea of giving up that control. But here is the thing that I think will ultimately force the issue: car insurance. Once the near perfect record of autonoumous cars becomes established, insuring them will be dirt cheap. But this is America afterall, so you choose: Pay $30/year for your auto-car, or take the wheel yourself for $3000/year.
Like any parent with a new teenage driver, you're going to be apprehensive at first with this technology, but humans are quick to accept it if it "just works."
I entirely expect that insurance costs will actually push this tech forward. When people are offered significant discounts for hands-off driving, they'll weigh the costs and be motivated towards whatever saves them money.
I personally would love to have a chauffeur. A non-human one is always immediately available. Besides, with people wanting to be "connected" all the time as is evident by the increasingly common texting-while-driving stories, I won't be surprised if the car becomes a mobile hot spot, where we just get in an go. I feel sorry for the taxi drivers though (not really).
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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