Driver-less cars on the roads...

[saundra]

I want one because I can't drive
We're is the key to my piggy bank

[Kaz]

Same here Saundra, but I'm not sure I'd trust one

[pederito1]

Exactly Suff, granted the computer would have a much faster reaction than any human but given the hypothetical child would one know whether to make an emergency stop or take avoiding action if it was safe to do so and if so in which direction bearing in mind a sudden stop might cause an impact from behind. Some experienced drivers could possibly do this. I have only ever hit a child once
and stopped with no one behind and nowhere to turn to. He picked himself up however and resumed running but left a small dent in the bonnet with his very hard head.

[Workingman]

All gadding about like Davros: "Exterminate!", "Rectify!", "Get outa the 'king way!".

No thanks. I'd would rather have an electric/hybrid..... and you all know how much I hate those things!

[Suff]

Same here Saundra, but I'm not sure I'd trust one

Ah but you're not trusting the car are you? Your trusting the pale 21 year old who still has acne, doesn't drive or ride a bike and has a very inactive sex life. But he's (almost certainly a him), probably Archangel at first person shooter games.....

Roll forward 50 years now and............

[cromwell]

I dunno.
On the one hand I don't trust politicians and their ilk; they are the ones who would be deciding what speed driverless cars would go at, where they could go etc etc. It's another reduction in individual freedom.
On the other hand there is a 200 yard stretch of main road close to my house where there have been three fatal accidents in the last 7 years (the last one only last weekend) and some serious accidents.
If driverless cars could avoid that, then maybe they might be worth it.

[Suff]

Of course there is less chance of accidents if we all move to driverless cars. The human factor is the single biggest issue today.

But, of course, it takes away one of our freedoms. It comes down to a balance. But, eventually, it will be our children and grandchildren who decide this. They won't see things our way any more than the ever connected and obsessed kids do today see our non electronic upbringing.

[Aggers]

But, eventually, it will be our children and grandchildren who decide this.
They won't see things our way any more than the ever connected and obsessed kids do today see
our non electronic upbringing.

That is certainly true. It is certainly applicable to anyone my age. All I can add to that, however,
is that sometimes I wonder if folk are really any happier now than we were before all these new
electronic devices appeared on the scene. When I see youngsters walking down the street, or sat
in solitude on a bus, with their eyes glued to some electronic device, I can't help thinking that they
are not living in a real world, and are not learning to converse with and react, face to face, with
real people - and is that a good thing?

[Suff]

It's funny really but I never talked to anyone on a bus unless I knew them or they specifically asked me a question. I sit there with my head in an electronic device when I travel. Then again, my electronic device is a book. If I were reading a book nobody of any age would think it odd. This is one of the extensions into the modern world that older people, even my generation, are finding hard to live with.

Granted walking down the street texting or updating facebook is not good, but then again people of a certain generation simply can't put up with people walking down the street talking on a mobile phone. In the end it's all communications, we just don't recognise it as such.

This is a transient phase. Products like Google Glass are going to intrude more and more into the lives of people and voice and gesture interfaces are going to feature more and more, thumbs and fixed rigid glare at the small device in the hands is going to be less and less. Funnily enough that means they are never going to be alone, never at a quiet time with a bit of peace, always on the go, always having to talk or to respond. The wider the circle of "Friends" (read acquaintances), the wider the circle of people yammering for their attention 24x7.

This is the thing I think most older people don't realise. Our younger generations may look alone or self absorbed, but they are probably in conversation with 3 or 4 different people all day long. When they are on the bus, watching the latest idiotic youtube video of one of their "friends" madcap moments, they will look alone and introverted. In fact they are already interfacing with more people than most of us do in a week.

It's a different world out there. They will take to it much more easily than we do.

[Aggers]

It's a different world out there. They will take to it much more easily than we do.

You are probably right, Suff. The world they were born into is the norm for them, just as
the one I was born into is the norm for me, and everything new that comes along is viewed
accordingly.

That's life, I guess.