Uber is launching Self Driving Cars in Pittsburgh!

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
DJ Ricky B

DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
7,773
6,412
41
Hey everybody. Check this out. The Future is here! They are launching a small fleet of self driving cars that are "manned" by an engineer to oversee the rides and make sure no problems occur.

Uber's Driverless car efforts are pushing forward. If this is successful, I see the "jobs" produxed by Uber over the last few years declining big time due to replacement from self driving cars!

Uber Debuts Its First Fleet of Driverless Cars in Pittsburgh

Iceburgh: Let us know if you see/hear about these cars driving around up there!
 
Uber plans to test out 5 cars NEXT MONTH in Pittsburgh. If these tests are successful, I believe they will roll out their plans to start using driverless cars in many more markets prior to 2021.
 
No, 2021 is when YOU can buy a SELF DRIVING FORD, with no steering wheel. A 'transportation pod'.

Apple is working on them as well.

I hear uber was going to a few years out yet..so this is really coming up MUCH faster than predicted.
 
Computers still have a long ways to go before they can assume the responsibility of driving. They have covered alot of ground in recent years, but they still have a really long way to go.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Romard
Google releases self-driving car performance report as U.S. proposes $4 billion in funding

Will a self driving car ever work well in a snowstorm? - Quora

Since the project started in 2009, Google's self-driving vehicles have covered 1.4 million miles on actual roads without a person controlling the car and another 988,000 miles with a person at the wheel. On average, Google's cars travel around 10,000 to 15,000 miles per week on public streets in self-driving mode.

Google's self-driving cars tear up 3 million miles a day
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Romard
I'm for it. I do believe if will be a while before it's commercially available and affordable for a good number of people.


But even the few accidents these cars have been in have been able to teach their whole fleet. We could eventually see safety numbers like we do in aviation. Today, we lose about 35k people in the USA in crashes, and have hundreds of thousands of non fatal crashes.

I hope uber and the whole autonomous car group learns a lot in this phase of experiments. It does seem like an uber type fleet is a good place to start.

Image people in the early 1900's thinking about aviation. How far fetched a plane that could carry hundreds of people at over 500mph and it would be much safer than traveling on roads.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dan The Man, dunlopj, ittigger and 2 others
it's coming...Volvo..2017 models...

Autopilot | Self Driving Volvos by 2017 | Volvo™ Car Australia | Volvo Cars

A side effect is there will be no more speeding. A self-driving car i'm sure won't speed..a few on the hiways will be a PITA for the rest of us, but at some point they'll be so many nobody will speed.

it's pretty typical here on the 55mph hiways for people to drive 70...for now.
 
IceBurghDJ said:
it's coming...Volvo..2017 models...

Autopilot | Self Driving Volvos by 2017 | Volvo™ Car Australia | Volvo Cars

A side effect is there will be no more speeding. A self-driving car i'm sure won't speed..a few on the hiways will be a PITA for the rest of us, but at some point they'll be so many nobody will speed.

it's pretty typical here on the 55mph hiways for people to drive 70...for now.
Click to expand...
If they're all self-driving, no reason the speed limits couldn't be changed to accommodate them. Current speed limits are for human drivers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dan The Man, Scott Hanna, Jeff Romard and 1 other person
One day...but look at it from the liability standpoint - no way these self drivers will speed. Secondly is legal - a cop pulls over a speeding self driving car - who gets the ticket? The car company or the 'driver' in the car? If the car cannot speed the driver can't blame the software.
 
ittigger said:
I think Steve's point is that when the computers are in control, they can change the rules to benefit / aid the computers.
Click to expand...
Yes .. Road speeds are set based on a number of factors, including input based on human reaction times and decision capability. Once vehicles communicate with each other and the roads themselves, and can make decisions faster, the rules of the road can change to accommodate that capability.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger and Jeff Romard
what roads?

Gas taxes pay for the roads. We need so many roads because of so many drivers.

self driving cars can cruise in one lane 3 feet bumper to bumper and will be electric, so no gas taxes.
When you can summon an uber self driver for $5 a trip, why own a car, er, second car? Kids need to go soccer? uber! then can uber home too.
If you car self drives why buy anything interesting, or go for joy rides?

The forecasts I've read say that once self drivers become 'commonplace' (people trust them) then the expectation is a 50% drop in new car sales with a similar drop in gas stations, repair faclities, cars on the road, etc. Lose 1/2 the traffic and gas taxes and there will be many changes.

MAYbe we'll see a platoon of cars zipping along at 100mph since no humans will be involved..but I'm still waiting for 100mph trains!

It may be a better world...or not. Is the internet good or bad? 24/7 cell phones good or bad? ePayments good or bad?

Depends on who you are..the postal system isn't doing well, retail stores are not doing well, apple is losing phone sales now, PC sales are down - you just don't need that new model anymore.
 
IceBurghDJ said:
what roads?

Gas taxes pay for the roads. We need so many roads because of so many drivers.

self driving cars can cruise in one lane 3 feet bumper to bumper and will be electric, so no gas taxes.
When you can summon an uber self driver for $5 a trip, why own a car, er, second car? Kids need to go soccer? uber! then can uber home too.
If you car self drives why buy anything interesting, or go for joy rides?

The forecasts I've read say that once self drivers become 'commonplace' (people trust them) then the expectation is a 50% drop in new car sales with a similar drop in gas stations, repair faclities, cars on the road, etc. Lose 1/2 the traffic and gas taxes and there will be many changes.

MAYbe we'll see a platoon of cars zipping along at 100mph since no humans will be involved..but I'm still waiting for 100mph trains!

It may be a better world...or not. Is the internet good or bad? 24/7 cell phones good or bad? ePayments good or bad?

Depends on who you are..the postal system isn't doing well, retail stores are not doing well, apple is losing phone sales now, PC sales are down - you just don't need that new model anymore.
Click to expand...
So, we have an electric vehicle tax .. or .. as they're trying to do here in CT .. a miles driven tax, calculated by GPS.

Postal Service didn't react quickly enough to the internet and the boom in email, nor the uptick in online shopping. Their unions were a part of that as well. I don't actually need daily mail service .. 4 times a week is probably sufficient. Had they partnered earlier with FedEx or UPS to do end user package delivery, they might have changed things for the better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Romard
Here is one that has predictions..think dominoes..one falls and many more follow.

6 Ways That Driverless Cars Will Change the World (and How to Profit Off It Today) - Altucher Confidential

It’s plausible that within 20 years, nearly all the cars on the road will be driverless, which means that 90% of the automobile industry might be out of work at that point.

The number of car accidents will go down once human error is taken out of the equation—many experts estimate by up to 90%—and this is going to be confusing for insurance companies.

Really any jobs that require drivers—pizza delivery, snowplowing, taxi driving, public transportation, long-haul trucking—will change. Why pay an employee for something that a machine can do for free?

Businesses that cater to truck drivers, or that strategically locate themselves off the side of highways, will inevitably be impacted. Think 24-hour diners, truck stops, motels.
 
I don't think "ALL" will be a possibility for at least 50+ years .. especially in rural areas and less traveled roads .. maybe there will be highway lanes for driverless cars, but they won't be the only vehicles out there (maybe on certain routes) for quite some time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Romard, Scott Hanna and ittigger
100% agree. Even in 50 years, I don't think it will be 'ALL'.

Since 1966, look at how long it's taken to develop .. and how far cars have come.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Romard
Things shift. In the 1930's a significant amount of our work force worked on farms. With automation, only 5 % of the work force works on farms today. And we produce way more food.
But today, a significant amount of our work force work food service. In the 30's, very few meal were eaten outside the home. Today, many are.

Technology sector wasn't even around. Yet today it employs many people.

Trying to hold on to outdated technology simply to save jobs is a recipe for disaster. Steve's post office example is a good one.

Delivery won't be free. You'll need a number of people to maintain and program, load and unload the cars. I'm guessing many will still have a person in the car to deliver from the car to the door. But he can be getting the next order ready instead of driving.

I think cars will need more repair as software will need help. You'll have a significant amount of people working to keep the automated cars running, updated and repaired.

I hope these won't need any gas and can run on solar power. Believe me, the politicians won't have any problems finding ways to get their tax money. They get it when it's not needed. When it's needed for roads? Not a problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Romard, Dan The Man, dunlopj and 2 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back