Driverless cars, would you buy one?

Beta Ray Bill · 12-05-2017 04:20PM #1

Been having an interesting discussion over on AH about useless technology

I mentioned that I think Driverless cars are fairly useless.

Everyone keeps saying "They're Coming", but only one big car manufacturer is researching driverless tech (Audi).
Tesla are researching this area too.

As far as I can see, the tech that Audi and Tesla are researching is geared towards motorway driving and not Urban driving.
Googles Waymo is geared towards Urban driving, but Google don't make cars.

This coupled with a number of issues:
Legal: Liability in the event of an accident etc
Social: People like driving their cars, Driver vs Driverless cars etiquette
Infrastructure: Roads need to be marked perfectly and be in perfect condition
Technical: Driverless cars have no way to detect temporary lights/road markings or a Garda directing traffic.
Financial: They aren't cheap
Health: High exposure to LIDAR/RADAR in urban areas
Environmental: Currently they cant work in heavy rain/snow

Says to me that if they do happen, it wont be in my lifetime.

But IF they were available, and considering the driverless cars would probably cost a little bit more (say 15%) than a normal car, would you buy one?

EIRE forever · 12-05-2017 04:25PM

they coming for the RICH people no one else, an if the normal joe like me was to even attempt to buy one id need to be working two jobs an have no time at home with the fam.
why would anyone buy one anyways, that takes the fun out of driving the thing yourself. I personally wouldn't touch one even if I got offered for free.

just my opinion really

grahambo wrote: »

Been having an interesting discussion over on AH about useless technology

I mentioned that I think Driverless cars are fairly useless.

Everyone keeps saying "They're Coming", but only one big car manufacturer is researching driverless tech (Audi).
Tesla are researching this area too.

As far as I can see, the tech that Audi and Tesla are researching is geared towards motorway driving and not Urban driving.
Googles Waymo is geared towards Urban driving, but Google don't make cars.

This coupled with a number of issues:
Legal: Liability in the event of an accident etc
Social: People like driving their cars, Driver vs Driverless cars etiquette
Infrastructure: Roads need to be marked perfectly and be in perfect condition
Technical: Driverless cars have no way to detect temporary lights/road markings or a Garda directing traffic.
Financial: They aren't cheap
Health: High exposure to LIDAR/RADAR in urban areas
Environmental: Currently they cant work in heavy rain/snow

Says to me that if they do happen, it wont be in my lifetime.

But IF they were available, and considering the driverless cars would probably a little bit cost more (say 15%) than a normal car, would you buy one?

bladespin · 12-05-2017 04:40PM

Not a hope.

carsfan2 · 12-05-2017 04:45PM

I don't think Audi and tesla are the only manufacturers working on this.
All the German car companies are doing it as are Volvo. Semi autonomous driving is already available on some of their models.
Legislation is way behind the tech already as government catches up.
A whole raft of jobs will be lost in the long term when this becomes the norm and it most likely will. No more taxi drivers, delivery drivers, lorry drivers etc.

CianRyan · 12-05-2017 04:50PM

The facelift Qashqai that's coming will have a semi-autonomous highway mode.

So saying that only Audi (Which are owned by Porsche who also own the entire VAG group) are the only company, along with Tesla, developing the tech is just uninformed.

It's not coming, it is already here. It's been here for years with self parking cars, it's simply growing as our technology gets more reliable.

drunkmonkey · 12-05-2017 05:04PM

Unless i'm allowed get ****faced in the passenger seat I'd rather be in control myself. I wouldn't pay a €1 extra.

Wetbench4 · 12-05-2017 05:08PM

I predict the pubs will be booming when the driverless cars get popular

James Bond Junior · 12-05-2017 05:09PM

EIRE forever wrote: »

they coming for the RICH people no one else, an if the normal joe like me was to even attempt to buy one id need to be working two jobs an have no time at home with the fam.
why would anyone buy one anyways, that takes the fun out of driving the thing yourself. I personally wouldn't touch one even if I got offered for free.

just my opinion really

Are you anything to PLEASEhelp Thank You?

Del2005 · 12-05-2017 05:09PM

I wouldn't buy one as they will be like taxis. You need to go somewhere you book it on your phone and a car, or pod, will take you.

They don't need good roads and the technology is advancing exponentially. The 1st DARPA autonomous vehicle challenge all the vehicles failed spectacularly, the 2nd they all finished bar 1.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge

jokser250 · 12-05-2017 05:10PM

I wouldn't mind one since I broke my ankle last week and can't drive for a while !!

Sabre Man · 12-05-2017 06:47PM

EIRE forever wrote: »

they coming for the RICH people no one else, an if the normal joe like me was to even attempt to buy one id need to be working two jobs an have no time at home with the fam.
why would anyone buy one anyways, that takes the fun out of driving the thing yourself. I personally wouldn't touch one even if I got offered for free.

just my opinion really

Tesla Model 3 won't be just for rich people. It'll probably be here sometime next year.

Today cars can handle motorways but they're getting better all the time. Take a look at what Mobileye is doing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR0m4jkeBKY

Mooooo · 12-05-2017 06:53PM

Didn't clarkson get driven around the track by a beemer years ago? The tech will come but like all these things it's how long it will take to iron out all the gremlins and the fact it's dealing with transport and people safety would have to be top notch

biko · 12-05-2017 06:55PM

I think driverless cars is a great idea.
Step one is to make cars that can read the current infrastructure.

When enough cars are driverless we can start changing the infrastructure to help the cars.

When 80% of cars are driverless their data can be used to make various calculations which smart devices can take advantage of.

For instance your phone can let you know that you need to be in the car within 10 minutes to be able to get to the office on time.

El_Duderino 09 · 12-05-2017 07:02PM

grahambo wrote:

I mentioned that I think Driverless cars are fairly useless.

They might be useless right now but they're not even in the market yet. It's as clever as saying the first cars were useless. They were do useless that they had a man walking in front with a flag or a bell. WALKING in front. So I suppose cars will never take off either

grahambo wrote:

Everyone keeps saying "They're Coming", but only one big car manufacturer is researching driverless tech (Audi). Tesla are researching this area too.

They are coming. That's crystal clear. VW announced that it's getting into developing them seriously just this week. And they're not cars in the conventional sense, they're much more technology driven than mechanical. So when you see that a little known (car) company named Google is developing them, you can rest assured the development is happening in the right place.

I think the opposition to them is mostly wishful thinking. So what if they're ONLY able to drive on motorways right now? Uber trialed using them in cities in the last few weeks.

People crash cars all the time and we don't worry about that. Autonomous cars would crash too. As long as it's happening at a lower rate than humans, then it's a good thing.

El_Duderino 09 · 12-05-2017 07:03PM

Yes I'd love to buy one but they'll be expensive at first. Like all highly advanced technology it'll be expensive, then it'll become less expensive.

El_Duderino 09 · 12-05-2017 07:08PM

Mooooo wrote:

Didn't clarkson get driven around the track by a beemer years ago? The tech will come but like all these things it's how long it will take to iron out all the gremlins and the fact it's dealing with transport and people safety would have to be top notch

People transport people all the time and accidents happen. Why would driverless technology need to be perfect when people aren't perfect. Anyone want to make the claim that human drivers are nearly perfect?

Northerngal · 12-05-2017 07:09PM

No, I'd miss the manual, nice opening up on good clear roads,I'd also miss the feel from driving/holding on to the steering wheel, the body flex going into corners the thrill of manual driving and the smell of petrol , what about hack ability of said tech

Mountainsandh · 12-05-2017 07:09PM

I'd love one. Would definitely buy if they were cheap to buy, run, and keep.
I'm rural so would need one outside the door.

Posting in Motors you're likely to get a lot of negative answers OP, but I'm not from round here, and like many others outside of the motoring forum, I've no interest whatsoever in driving, just do it because I have to.
I'd love to be able to read a book or browse the internet while the thing drives itself.

Brian201888 · 12-05-2017 07:12PM

Can't wait for them and I'd happily pay a premium to be an early adopter

mloc123 · 12-05-2017 07:15PM

Look at your average car now... With lane assist, adaptive cruise control, crash prevention etc...

The idea that you could buy a small hatch with these features 10 years ago would have been laughed at I think.

In the future all cars will be fully autonamous, most likely in our lifetime. They will not just be for 'the rich' as it is now though.

Edit: Just because a car can drive itself, doesn't mean. You can't drive the car also. I think it will be a mode.

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting to a guy who seemed to think we should reduce all speed limits to save lives. I am of the opinion that speed limits should be higher than 20 years ago given how much car technology has improved. I think reduction in the number of accidents will be a big selling factor for semi/fully autonomous cars.

RHJ · 12-05-2017 07:21PM

This post has been deleted.

Ubbquittious · 12-05-2017 07:29PM

No. Fck 'em they're boring.

Alanstrainor · 12-05-2017 07:40PM

Northerngal wrote: »

No, I'd miss the manual, nice opening up on good clear roads,I'd also miss the feel from driving/holding on to the steering wheel, the body flex going into corners the thrill of manual driving and the smell of petrol , what about hack ability of said tech

Of course I love manual gearboxes, I love the sound of a great engine no matter how many cylinders it has, I love the corners the straights and everything in between. But, it's hard to shy away from the reality that autonomous cars are coming, they are here already to a limited extent.

There's huge benefits to them too, your commute to work would be a doddle. You could just sit back and relax with a cup of coffee and browse boards the whole way in and out. If there were enough of them it would actually make traffic easier as you wouldn't have retards rubbernecking and jamming on the brakes causing tail backs.

Yes there are legal hurdles involved, yes the technology is not there yet, yes infrastructure might need to be improved (or the software improved to make better decisions!). But all of this can be solved.

Hell, maybe it will increase demand for track days (and tracks in general!) for us petrol heads and our classic "manual" cars? :cool:

Ubbquittious · 12-05-2017 07:47PM

I just hope the driverless cars and the oldschool petrol manual cars can coexist peacefully. I happen to like driving and no interest in trying to spend as much time as possible looking at a screen. We'll be the robots pets soon enough at the rate things are going, people will spend the whole day consuming youtube videos and lose their ability to fend for themselves in any way or interact with real human beings

El_Duderino 09 · 12-05-2017 08:05PM

Ubbquittious wrote:

I just hope the driverless cars and the oldschool petrol manual cars can coexist peacefully. I happen to like driving

People probably said the same thing about preferring riding horses when cars were we. People can still ride horses if they like. You probably wouldn't choose to ride a horse from cork to Dublin if you had the choice going.

Person driven petrol cars would be a lot more fun if they were built purely for entertainment rather than needing to be functional commuter/family cars too.

Four Phucs Ache · 12-05-2017 08:12PM

In 2050 I will be 70 and my grandkids will ask why I called my car kitt.

CianRyan · 12-05-2017 08:15PM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Person driven petrol cars would be a lot more fun if they were built purely for entertainment rather than needing to be functional commuter/family cars too.

This is so true, boring cars will die off and scrapped to help produce new driverless cars and we'll be left with nothing but entertaining cars in the "manual" market.
When the tech becomes cheap, an ordinary commuter car would be completely obsolete if it were not fully autonomous.
Not to mention, these cars will more than likely be fully electric, graphene batteries are getting extremely close and I believe they will truelly accelerate the next industrial revolution. Elelectric cars will have diesel range.

Autonomous electric cars are GOOD for petrol loving, manual car drivers. That is undeniable.

Ubbquittious · 12-05-2017 08:23PM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

People probably said the same thing about preferring riding horses when cars were we. People can still ride horses if they like. You probably wouldn't choose to ride a horse from cork to Dublin if you had the choice going.

Person driven petrol cars would be a lot more fun if they were built purely for entertainment rather than needing to be functional commuter/family cars too.

Hopefully. The horse would be fairly tired after bringing it on that journey. The world would become very dull if all the supercar and kitcar manufacturers had to close up shop because of driverless cars

RicketyCricket · 12-05-2017 08:27PM

No I get a thrill from driving and I have been told I'm a terrible passenger. Maybe when I'm in my 70's and senile and it has a mini bar in it.

CianRyan · 12-05-2017 08:27PM

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Hopefully. The horse would be fairly tired after bringing it on that journey. The world would become very dull if all the supercar and kitcar manufacturers had to close up shop because of driverless cars

Do supercar and kit car builders design and sell cars for commuting?

Andrewf20 · 12-05-2017 08:31PM

For me its another modern solution for a problem that doesnt exist. I love driving. A chance to put my mind at relative ease while eating up the miles & listening to the radio or music is one of lifes little pleasures.

Driverless cars, would you buy one?

Driverless Cars, would you buy one? 184 votes

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