Why Driverless cars are not common today?

(2011-12-21 15:25:06)

1. vrykolaka_fr Says: The VaMP experiment was a great success, it left a very positive impression and it was in 1994. Still, 15 years later, no hint of driverless cars going on the market.

Why such a lapse?

2. Randy W Says: you have too much faith in technology.
1) even today, there are glitches in computer technology that make this very difficult.
you may steer a plane or boat by computer but cars need constant correcting and changes in heading and other such things.. Computers would tend to fail so often that they would not be viable to use on road vehicles Now they could build you one that would be more dependable, but as with planes and boats the cost would run in the millions. Would you pay several millions of dollars for a KIA that would drive itself? It would be cheaper to have a Cadillac with a driver. It would be more reliable. Technology is not that far advanced or it would become real cheap. I don't mean like an I-pod. They only store and play videos and music.
2) then you would have to deal with litigation.
imagine a car that went bonkers because of a small glitch. You would go broke in a minute.
imagine someone colliding with this car, they would sue you anyway for negligence.
you would have to prove that the machine did not go wrong. You would lose even if you were right.
3) public outcry
I'm not sure that the people want a bunch of cars driving around the public roadways in an autonomous manner.

3. etsen3 Says: They are pretty common today, they're called trains :P.

Seriously though, trains can run on computers because they run on track and their movements are not all that complicated. With cars though, things are much more complicated and if there is a glitch or virus, things could get very dangerous. And also, even though humans also make mistakes, they are also capable of detecting things a computer may not be able to detect. For example, you can predict when someone is about to cross the street or get out of a parked car before it even happens, which a computer could probably not do.

Another thing is personal preference. Some people might hate driving and find it stressful so they'd appreciate a car that drives itself. But for myself (and a lot of other people) I enjoy driving and wouldn't want some robot to drive my car for me.

4. AnonymousGearhead Says: Because nobody wants them and they aren't viable for actual transportation. All it takes is a computer virus that propegates to all the machines via their navigation system, which would need constant updates to account for roads that were built in the last 3 months that don't exist on any map, to kill millions of people. No thanks. A driverless car will never manifest in this world because it lacks the safety needed. Besides, people like myself who belong to SEMA will ensure it never happens because we ENJOY driving, and I'll just keep my old cars then.