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Bob uk
Unregistered guest
Posted From: 94.197.122.78
Posted on Tuesday, 05 August, 2014 - 05:39:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

Driver less cars.
Am I driving or a passenger or is someone else who is a passenger also a driver. What happens if the person behind the wheel who may not be the owner climbs from the front to the back to sit next to another passenger. Who exactly responsible. Could I send the car to the shops on its own to get the wife. Sooner or later there will be stuff like this happening and scenarios that no one thought would happen. I can't wait till we get these in the UK it's going to be endless fun. Like losing the car because you forgot where you sent it.

(Message approved by david_gore)
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David Gore
Moderator
Username: david_gore

Post Number: 1421
Registered: 4-2003
Posted on Tuesday, 05 August, 2014 - 07:48:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

Like the urban legend/true story about the US RV driver that put his Winnebago on cruise control and left the driver's seat to make a cup of coffee.

The vehicle ran off the road and crashed......
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Brian Vogel
Grand Master
Username: guyslp

Post Number: 932
Registered: 6-2009
Posted on Tuesday, 05 August, 2014 - 07:56:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

My suspicion is that once driverless automotive technology reaches mass production the technology will be such that the vast majority of accidents will be conventional vehicles running into driverless ones.

It's amazing to me how robust the existing prototypes appear to be.

Given that GPS is now mature, particularly in places where roads have remained unchanged for more than my lifetime, and this will be part of any driverless technology, I have to imagine you will be able to either send a car to pick someone up or summon your own car to pick you up.

As much as I enjoy driving, and I do, I could love being driven just as much, particularly for mundane errand-running or high-speed travel over long distances on interstate highways.

Brian, who tends to avoid interstates at all times when at all practical
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Bob uk
Unregistered guest
Posted From: 94.197.122.92
Posted on Tuesday, 05 August, 2014 - 08:10:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

I going to get one and send to shops with a list. Phone up the shop and tell them to put the stuff in the car. Instead of asda delivering I send my chauffeur ( the car) called James. I can eat breakfast in the car on the way to work.
I hope that the designers have thought it though because before the new technology is used because my mates have thought of many scenarios from sensible to plain stupid. And we all know stupid and madcap people are dying to get one.
The RV one makes me laugh every time I here it but somehow I think it maybe untrue. I hope it is.

(Message approved by david_gore)
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Jan Forrest
Grand Master
Username: got_one

Post Number: 588
Registered: 1-2008
Posted on Tuesday, 05 August, 2014 - 21:00:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

Although GPS can locate a 3-D position accurate to a Cm or so it takes time to achieve that level of accuracy. If you're surveying then a few seconds - or even a couple of minutes - is no problem, but if you're barreling down the road at 70mph (100kph) then that is way too slow.
IIRC the USA are currently replacing the existing GPS network with a more accurate system, but that is going to take time and US$Billions!
Even then it's possible to add a 'bugger factor' to throw enemy missiles off course. That's why the newer Cruise missiles employ 'terrain mapping' to get them to their target. What if the system identifies your car as an incoming MERV?

Oops!
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Bob uk
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Posted From: 94.197.122.74
Posted on Wednesday, 06 August, 2014 - 05:10:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

I wonder about computer freeze ups. On marine stuff a 1/2 second freeze makes no difference because it's a big ocean. My pc freezes about once a week I leave it alone for 2 mins and it catches up. Cars need 100% all the time and it is a big ask if there are 10 million of them. Then we have silly Sid who interferes with things and malicious Mick who is a nasty piece work who likes to cause road deaths.

I could go to work and send the car home for the wife to use and program the car to pick me up from work, saving having 2 cars.

(Message approved by david_gore)
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Brian Vogel
Grand Master
Username: guyslp

Post Number: 940
Registered: 6-2009
Posted on Wednesday, 06 August, 2014 - 06:54:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

Bob,

Fault tolerant and redundant computing hardware is on virtually everything that moves that's built now.

Ignoring RR/Bentley cars "of a certain age" when is the last time you heard of an ECU of virtually any sort going bad on any car? Most purpose-built electronic control units (read: computers that rely on firmware more than software) have what are essentially perpetual service lives these days. If they're mission critical and redundant they can be configured to monitor each other and to report if either one is malfunctioning in any way and/or to try a classic shutdown-startup cycle to see if that clears things up (as it so often does).

Cars that are currently rolling off the assembly lines contain technology that allow them to communicate with each other over short distances as part of their safety systems.

The driverless car is now pretty much a simple technological evolution. Getting the public to accept the concept and trust it is going to be the sticking point.

Brian
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Christopher Field
New User
Username: delafeld

Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2011
Posted on Wednesday, 06 August, 2014 - 07:16:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

Brian, I don't have your faith in ECU's. I've had 3 ECU failures in the last year; 2 on Land Rover Discoveries and one on my Turbo R.
Chris
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Brian Vogel
Grand Master
Username: guyslp

Post Number: 941
Registered: 6-2009
Posted on Wednesday, 06 August, 2014 - 07:25:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

Christopher,

I have never dealt with any other marque that has the sheer number or frequency of ECU failures that I've known of/heard about on cars from Crewe.

I don't know enough about modern Land Rovers to say much of anything. Based upon what I do know about Land Rover your report doesn't surprise me, though.

In all my years of owning cars that are electronically controlled I have had only one unit failure, on a cruise control, and it remains unclear whether that was an electronic failure or a mechanical one.

I generally find that you can pick up an ECU from a pile of rust and, provided it's never been underwater, it will most likely still work.

So much of my faith is the result of my personal experiences and observations. I can understand, entirely, how those with experiences at great variance with my own will form an opposing opinion.

Brian
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Brian Vogel
Grand Master
Username: guyslp

Post Number: 943
Registered: 6-2009
Posted on Wednesday, 06 August, 2014 - 08:32:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

Chris,

Sorry for the "Christopher" (and I had seen your signature). I have a brother named Christopher and we've referred to him that way since he arrived, so it's somewhat reflexive for me when I see "Christopher" anywhere nearby.

Brian
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Bob uk
Unregistered guest
Posted From: 94.197.122.72
Posted on Wednesday, 06 August, 2014 - 07:59:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IP

I have only had two ecu failures resulting in replacement. But the number of other faults is uncountable. I think it is impossible to guarantee that not one car is go wrong. It only takes the wrong fault to happen at the wrong time.
I suspect that the system will be limited to trunk roads and not around town.

I want it to work

(Message approved by david_gore)