Re: [LUG] Fwd: Microsoft scam man is sentenced

If driverless cars are allowed they need to co-operate. With only about 10% of driverless cars on the road traffic jams will be largely a thing of the past as traffic flow is generally halted by sudden movements - idiots overtaking and pulling in and so on. Maverick drivers will soon be pariahs - driverless cars would be able to drive much more closely to other driverless cars vastly increasing traffic capabilities of roads - if it were not for BMW's. Speeds could be increased safely - and as everyone would be more bunched up much more fuel efficient.

This! The possibilities are huge and only just beginning to be explored.

Cars could talk to traffic lights as well as each other - bunching to smooth flow so they arrive at exactly the right time and don't need to stop/start, reducing emissions, noise and wear.

Little Old Lady taking 10 minutes to parallel park, blocking a street, now is parked perfectly within seconds.

Better efficiency through removing braking distance - bunch vehicles at speed so that they "draught" each other.

Emergency vehicles ALWAYS get a clear run with every vehicle moving out of the way at an appropriate time, and signals changing automatically.

Breakdowns automatically alerted and automated recovery vehicles attend to remove it to a pre-selected garage.

Impossible to run out of fuel as the car will stop to refuel itself. Even if it can't find a garage within range, it would refuse to go anywhere, or at least park in the last safe layby before it does run out.

Automatic refuelling - no more petrol in a diesel car! (Automated driving suggests perfect alignment at the pump and it would be nice to standardise filler connections to allow this)

Goods transport is 99.99% reliable and no longer reliant on working-hours directives and tachographs. Always at the most efficient speed and the best route, automatically switching around congested areas and roadworks like a packet network.

Local delivery is coordinated to reduce vehicles on the road - postman, courier, another courier - and exact timescales (already getting better with sms and website updates with some couriers). No more waiting in for a "Noon until 6pm" timeslot when you can track your delivery. Of course, by then it's only the heavy stuff that will come in wheeled vehicles - the drones will deliver light things. (going a little off tangent with this one)

Two problems with this utopian landscape;

1) Software. It's annoying when your PC locks up. It's annoying now when your engine management does something stupid and needs turning off and on again. It's deadly if it's in charge of your vehicle. I don't doubt this stuff will be tested very well if just to protect manufacturer reputation, but that industry has a horrible history of hiding faults and knowingly producing cars knowing a percentage will fail in a dangerous way. People will be slow to trust it, and every single accident involving an automated vehicle will be blown up into a media frenzy of "Death cars", retarding takeup and sensible progression of a good idea.

2) Folk like me, who really enjoy driving and who will resist any mandatory changes to make this beautiful vision a reality...