[timemachiner]

> Once they're on the freeway, I would think most automation would work (relatively) well.

That's assuming nice weather conditions. Mudslides, flash floods, extreme code, ice, snow, etc. needs to be taken into consideration.

[eduren]

Of course those need to be taken into consideration but to be fair, aren't most of the conditions you listed dealt with by a human driver pulling over and waiting it out/calling for assistance? That's exactly what an autonomous system could do in those situations.

And if there _are_ dangerous conditions that a human driver could navigate but an autonomous one would give up on, is that so bad? The industry is making enough efficiency gains to offset that.

[thatwebdude]

Doesn't most self-driving protocols out right now demand perfect conditions to even operate?

[adrianN]

In those conditions human drivers don't work very well either. I'd rather have computers that drive very slowly because they can't see very well instead of humans that drive faster than they can see because "I'm a good driver".

[jakeogh]

People are astonishingly good at dealing with unconventional conditions. This idea that computers are 'smarter' than humans (that program them) in the realm of driving is amusing and terrifying at the same time. Calling them 'self driving cars' is oxymoronic. They are pre-programmed cars.

The people duped into this will lose their driving skills and pretend it's other humans fault for not conforming to the program they invested in. I'm not all that worried, the market will sort this out in the US at least.

[thatwebdude]

If not the market, definitely the regulations once traffic reports start piling up... Even faster when there's no one behind the wheel to blame.

Can't even imagine a manslaughter case where a driverless vehicle killed someone. Who's at fault? Most fault current resides in the driver, as they're the final call.

[jakeogh]

'Who's at fault?'

Exactly. Humans. Humans are the bugs in their code. The control writers will argue for more laws so their programs work. The possibility that their code revisions are futile will dismissed as [insert buzzword]. I am excited that we get to watch this play out. The wildcard is biological CPU's: http://www.research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/v10n1/extra...

[JauntTrooper]

Remote driving, though, might solve for this. You still have a human to react to unforeseen circumstances, but you can switch up the remote driver easily so you can work in shifts, drive 24/7, not stop for bathrooms/food etc.

I'd imagine the quality of life would be significantly better too since they would work in the same spot with co-workers and could go home every day.

[kstoneman]

>I'd imagine the quality of life would be significantly better too since they would work in the same spot with co-workers and could go home every day.

Actually, working in the same spot with coworkers was exactly the reason I started driving a truck. Going back to that would be an enormous downgrade in quality of life for me and a lot of drivers.

[bluGill]

I grew up in Minnesota where we learned to deal with bad roads. We did drive on them and got good at it. The truth is we went in the ditch a lot when the weather was bad.