Am 09.01.2013 16:31, schrieb scott:

> You need to weigh up how many accidents it will avoid vs how many
> additional it will create. There's no reason why development should slow
> down on such vehicles, and surely they will get to a point where it's
> beneficial overall (I don't know if we're there yet or not).

There yet? Far from it!

They called it "urban challenge", but "small-town suburban challenge" 
seems to be closer to the mark. With the trunk cram-packed with 
computers, and yet still needing to be told beforehand where the roads 
and lanes are supposed to be.

Yes, the car that can navigate its way autonomously from one end of the 
town to the other through dense city streets without endangering or even 
annoying other traffic, without driving a complete server rack around, 
seems to be within a decade's reach.

It will take tremendously more effort though to build a car that will 
slam the brakes hard because there's a ball rolling across the road from 
between parked cars (anticipating a child to follow), yet for a raccoon 
will slow down just enough to stay clear of the furball (allowing the 
following traffic plenty of time to react as well).

I suspect that sophisticated computers will prove valuable to prevent 
drivers from doing stupid things, but that experienced human drivers 
will continue to prove invaluable to do smart things.

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