Even If It Works, What's The Point?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65272929
...the driver is still in charge of the vehicle, still responsible, all this will do is encourage farting around with phones etc.

[THECORBYLOON]

The driver's eyes will be monitored.

'"What makes it different, is that for the first time ever drivers will be permitted to take their hands off the wheel. However, their eyes must remain on the road ahead, " said Tom Leggett, vehicle technology specialist at Thatcham.

***He added: "Crucially, the driver is not permitted to use their mobile, fall asleep or conduct any activity that takes attention away from the road."***' [emphasis added]

[youngmafbog]

//Ford's car costs £50,830 and while the hands-off technology will be free for the first 90 days, drivers will then have to sign up for a monthly subscription.//

Well that should limit it!

Daft idea, lets just wait for the lawsuit.

[youngmafbog]

and because the fella says it everyone will do it then?

[ToraToraTora]

so basically you'd be paying so that you can sit cross armed watching the road on some roads. Giant leap for mankind!

[lankeela]

What if a child or an animal runs out in front - will the car be able to swerve in time?

[youngmafbog]

A child on a motorway?

And ignoring that, yes it can probably react quicker than a human, thats why this tech is good as a driving AID not replacement.

[tomus42]

If you look at it as an advanced form of cruise control it makes more sense.

[douglas9401]

'Gulp', I agree with Tora. :-)

As somebody once said 'Carnage a Trois'.

[Hymie]

There are many luddites who refuse to believe that we will soon have self-driving vehicles on our roads. As I’ve said before, in the not too distant future, humans will not be allowed to drive powered vehicles on public roads - it is just too dangerous an activity.

The report in TTT's link notes that this system has been in use in the USA since 2021, installed in more than 190,000 vehicles covering over 60 million miles without a reported accident – a feat that human drivers could only dream of.

[ToraToraTora]

There will never be self driving cars on the road. They may flirt with it but once the carnage rolls in they'll abandon it. As I have said many times, when I can get my car to drive me round the pubs then I can crash out on the back seat and it takes me home and any death and destruction that takes place is not my fault, we can have self driving cars, ie never. Anything less than that is pointless even if you can get it working.

[tomus42]

Your main concern seems to be that you'll be held liable for the car's malfunction ttt.

Do you not expect that someone will come up with an insurance policy to negate those fears?

[ToraToraTora]

tomus: "Your main concern seems to be that you'll be held liable for the car's malfunction ttt." - well yes, if I am liable I may as well drive it myself, no point in not driving it otherwise.
"Do you not expect that someone will come up with an insurance policy to negate those fears? " - Possible but probably not, once they do the underwriting calculations they'll turn out to be prohibitively expensive.

[tomus42]

We'll see. I predict it will happen. They currently insure humans, and their record of driving safety isn't that great. The insurance companies still do OK.

[Hopkirk]

TTT is right. There will never be self driving cars on our roads.
The boffins will sort out 99% of the problems, but some would be impossible.
The cars would follow the rules so perfectly that they wouldn't pull out of some junctions, waiting for the perfect gap to appear.
Some of the negotiation and agreement is done by eye contact, nods, gestures and thumbs up. None of that can happen when there is no driver.
Who is going to give way to a robot car?
The BMW drivers would find out how to make them stop for them.