Why Drivers Fear Driverless Cars

By | June 22, 2017

  • June 22, 2017 at 8:44 am
    SWFL Agent says:
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    We fear self driving cars because the technology is developed & maintained by humans who are not without fault, there seem to be an infinite number of road hazards and unique traffic situations that are encountered that will need to be addressed, and finally, the auto industry has a horrible record with reliability & failed technologies. However, I still may want to take my chances with a computer’s decision than some of the idiots I see on the road now.

    • June 22, 2017 at 12:53 pm
      InsTech says:
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      Good article. Great quotes. I agree with you SWFL Agent. Let’s make the easy assumption that driverless technology will not be perfect but let’s also assume that the technology will perform significantly better than humans. There will be mechanic, electronic, and software failures and tragic no-win situations that a human can not write an algorithm to overcome. We will not go from 40,000 deaths a year to zero, but what if we could save half those people who would otherwise die? Or half of the 4.6 million who are seriously injured each year? On a surface where two ton hunks of metal travel towards each other at high speed separated only by paint markings, I’d much prefer to have a transportation device coming at me than a driver who is sleepy, texting or drunk.

      • June 22, 2017 at 2:50 pm
        John from NJ says:
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        “We will not go from 40,000 deaths a year to zero, but what if we could save half those people who would otherwise die?”

        Yeah but you’re not saving half of “those” 40,000. The 20,000 deaths that remain (if that’s what it is) will be totally random computer glitches. I’d rather stick with the odds I have now, where I feel like I have some control over avoiding being one of those 40,000, than trade it for having no control over whether or not I’m one of the 20,000 .

        • June 22, 2017 at 3:40 pm
          Dave says:
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          Don’t get in an airplane where 95% of the flight is on auto-pilot.

          • June 22, 2017 at 5:46 pm
            WyomingAgent says:
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            At least there are pilots on board to take over if the auto-pilot fails.

      • June 22, 2017 at 3:41 pm
        Dave says:
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        Self driving cars will save a lot more than 50% of riders. Much more.

    • June 22, 2017 at 2:29 pm
      Agent says:
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      SW, get a Tesla. They have a problem recognizing semi trucks.

      • June 22, 2017 at 3:39 pm
        Dave says:
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        Those are not self driving cars.

  • June 22, 2017 at 12:14 pm
    CL PM says:
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    I’m not interested in owning a self-driving car, but it is not because I am afraid. I simply enjoy driving and don’t want to give it up. I think many people my age (fiftysomething) feel the same as driving and buying your first car was a much bigger part of our culture back then than today. All my friends worked on their own cars and had a lot of pride in the junkers we drove. My kids did not have that culture so they are much more interested in driverless vehicles. I do look forward, however, to the technology being perfected when I can no longer drive on my own.

    • June 22, 2017 at 2:20 pm
      Wayne2 says:
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      Couldn’t have said it better. I enjoy driving. Part of the car culture being 50 something myself. Someday I may have to use a driverless car but I hope it isn’t anytime soon.

    • June 22, 2017 at 3:38 pm
      Dave says:
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      This is a rational reason for not wanting a self driving car. But they will be safer.

    • June 26, 2017 at 6:32 pm
      Sandman says:
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      I have a classic Honda S2K Roadster with a 6 speed manual transmission which I totally love to drive. Its high revving, not at all PC, not at all economical and, most of all, far from boring. There’s nothing like hearing it scream in first gear while you wind it out. Why would someone want a car that drives itself unless you are a couch potato who wants to snack and watch Ellen as you do at home? Get a life and get out in the world.

  • June 22, 2017 at 2:27 pm
    Barry Rabkin says:
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    And let’s not forget cyber hacking…. the enemies of the US (and other Western countries) are probably jumping for joy for the opportunity to take remote control of AVs and drive the cars into crowds.

    • June 22, 2017 at 2:41 pm
      Confused says:
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      Has an airplane’s automated flying system ever been hacked by terrorists??

      • June 22, 2017 at 5:48 pm
        WyomingAgent says:
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        Seems to me that I read an article addressing that scenario and that it could be possible someday.

        • June 27, 2017 at 12:41 pm
          Confused says:
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          And it could be possible that you drop a knife on your foot and bleed out, and it could be possible that you slip in the shower and concuss yourself. Lots of things could be possible. “Ya, and monkeys might fly out of my butt”

  • June 22, 2017 at 3:37 pm
    Dave says:
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    Why Drivers Fear Driverless Cars?

    For the same reason so many people are more afraid of flying than driving. Ignorance. Human driven vehicles are inherently dangerous thanks to human error. Automated driving vehicles will save thousands of lives each year. But humans are irrational.

  • June 22, 2017 at 7:44 pm
    Hector Projector says:
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    When AI is introduced into self driving cars and they become self aware, will they become distracted checking if Taylor Swift is still feuding with Lorde? O8 those people aren’t self aware.

  • June 25, 2017 at 10:52 pm
    Andy says:
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    Well, I don’t mind having one myself but still accident always happen. Even if you are driving with yourself or using that self driving cars we can’t tell that it’s always be 100% safe. So for me, whatever cars I am using I need to have a proper insurance and right coverage just in case accident happen. Personally, once you’ve experience in a collision just like I do, you need to be extra careful that it won’t happen next time. It’s good that I have my insurance at JS Downey Insurance Services at that time or else I am already out of this world.

  • January 17, 2019 at 1:33 pm
    Adam Morgan says:
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    This article has some flaws when it comes to what Google’s cars do and how they work. They aren’t preprogrammed to follow a map route. Those cars are loaded with far more sensors than any Tesla is. The car you ride in, not some other mapping car. There is a great TED talk from the head guy at Waymo showing exactly how they work. Showing real world instances and what the car sees. They can see lanes, traffic signs, other cars, pedestrians, ducks crossing the road, construction cones.. and they know what those means. The exact location of every construction project doesn’t have to be preprogrammed in… just “oh cones mean construction, move over a lane.” Seriously, watch that TED talk on YouTube, it will blow your mind. It’s the reason I actually really trust Google’s cars. The approach isn’t actually that different from Tesla’s. Each car’s experience is uploaded and integrated into the overall algorithm so all cars benefit from each learning experience any car has. The map isn’t what drives the car… the map backs up and provides an extra layer of detail that the onboard sensors don’t have. This article had that all wrong.

    As for the in general ability of these cars to cut accidents… that’s obvious. If 94% of auto accidents a year are related to human error, then removing the human should be able to cut a significant fraction of that 94%… not all, certainly not immediately, but it will provide a drastic reduction. More adoption means better results. Is it unnerving? Yeah, it really can be. But where a human bain can at best handle a couple threads of activity at the same time, and then only by switching between them, computers can take THOUSANDS of measurements per second from dozens or more sensors and can correlate all that information immediately. There are videos from the driver’s view compared to what the car can see… the car could see far more in realtime than the human driver could. It could look in all directions at once. Tesla’s cars don’t have anywhere NEAR the level of fine detail in realtime from onboard sensors that the Google cars do. Though Tesla’s cars aren’t a slouch by any means. They do an incredible job understanding the world around them. I think they also have different goals. Google is looking to be able to take you literally driveway to driveway all by voice control with zero human input. Hence the insane sensor array on their cars and their very tight integration with maps. Their cars don’t need the maps… they can auto drive without them, but for their goal those maps are very important. It’s once reason they have created a crowdsource army of people to keep google maps business/residential info up to date. I’m curious if Tesla has similar goals in mind, or if they just want the car to be able to handle the drive itself without becoming an automated transportation system.



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