Quote:
Originally Posted by thstone
How does a cop get an autonomous car to pull over?
How does the autonomous car know where to pull over?
How does the cop ask the autonomous car any questions?
How does a cop write an autonomous car a ticket?
Does an autonomous car have to show up in court?
How will a cop determine if the car was in control or the person in the car?
Ok, maybe I'm being a bit over the top, but this is going to change everything...
NHTSA Says Google's Autonomous Car Software Counts as a Driver Now
The Feds are ready to consider the software, not the human, as the primary operator of a vehicle.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration handed Alphabet (aka Google) a key decision: it told the company that driverless cars could themselves be counted as drivers, paving the way for the emerging technology to hit the highway pavement, according to a Reuters report.
Read the entire story here:
Driverless Cars Get a License from the Federal Government |
The NHTSA evaluation applies only to vehicles operated by software that have no steering wheel or brake pedal override for a driver to take control. Therfore, ther is no question of control: it must be the software. If the software obeys all laws, there's no reason to pull it over because it will not violate any law.
So that means no pushing it 5 or 9 mph above the posted speed limit. Even when passing. And no option to ever take control. And hence no chance of doing anything other than what the software is programmed to do.
As my 28-yo daughter said, "F-that! What's the point of even having a car? You might as well ride the bus."
I have no doubt we will be at the point of mandatory driverless cars in less than 20 years because a) they will be safer and more efficient than humans; b) hand-wringing utopians will demand the safety; c) Some politicians will ram through this control to "preserve lives"; and d) most (except the Jakes) of the Millennials will be too frightened or bored to drive themselves.
We are becoming the Eloi.
I won't overtly make this post a political plug for or against any party, but anybody with common sense and a will to think can see the implications of this future to be aligned with those who will promise anything to help anybody for free.
DBear