Road trips, new and old
|Wed 20 Dec 2023 @08:42| breathless 2005 color commentary from the desert via DARPA Grand Challenge news (followed by Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel on kexp from DJ Eva Walker on Early|
So, a short news story – turquoise tail lights for autonomous driving vehicles; Mercedes and California and Nevada all go ‘sure, sounds good’. Rumbly visits the p.en where I’m doing my coffee and morning scroll routine and I mention it to him – noting the word ‘autonomous’ – he didn’t know what it meant.
20 minutes later and I sit here somewhat stunned by the progress 20 years have given us. I got to use the Teslas that roll through car line as examples of that progress – where sensor packs were big, bulky and external, with the additional need for a gasoline generator to power those sensors and the computer lab inside the vehicles – all replaced with embedded sensors and a car computer powerful enough. The videos from the first two Grand Challenges are impressive.
But science is nothing but an exercise in improvement, yes?
So, if – IF – we can integrate a way for drivers to be notified, and if – IF – we all want to get to the same point in the future where technology is accepted and appreciated, we might just have a way to notice the robo-car that’s about to Streetcar our asses! Woot! [I for one look forward to the benevolence of our robot overlords!]
From Ars Tech – “The lower speed envelope means there’s enough time for Drive Pilot to warn the human behind the wheel that it’s time to think about driving and take over.“
Gotta say, it’s refreshing to see reporting that actually identifies the problematic nature of ‘robo-cars’ in our current world. Yay responsible journalism!! sigh.
So – what do you think? Would you, in low speed highway driving, notice tail lights of a different color? Would you care? I know it was eye opening to chit and chat with Rumbly on what our current state of autonomous vehicles is – some cities have robo-taxis, but in town, in non-snow belt evnironments. Will he get the joy of hailing a ride with his pocket computer and never having a person be involved? I suspect sure, but… as he noted, the “future is coming” – smart kid.
ciao, Scott
