GOOGLE Waymo Announces 'Fully Self-Driving Cars Are Here,' Taxi Service Coming

[Dr. Who]

We are in the midst of a pretty historic moment. Leaping ahead of the competition, Waymo has announced that its self-driving cars will no longer use a human safety driver while they are tested on the roads of Phoenix. But the even bigger news is that the company is gearing up to launch the first commercial driverless taxi service. Yup, the time has come.
https://gizmodo.com/waymo-announces-fully-self-driving-cars-are-here-taxi-1820221010

Unless the technology proves to be more dangerous than human drivers, we aren't looking at 20 years before this becomes commonplace but as little as 5-10 years.

[Don]

I think we will soon see the first ones but it will probably be a bit longer than 5 to 10 years before they really impact our roads. But not much longer. Once people see how much better it will be they'll come around. Accidents and injuries and fatalities down by probably 90% or even more. A lot of people now are more careless and inattentive than they were even 20 years ago. The car commercials show people not paying attention as their cars automatically keep them in their lane because they aren't paying attention or braking because they are goofing off or texting or talking on their phones or......... We'll be happy that we won't have to bother with driving and paying attention. We'll like getting places faster because we won't have to contend with people driving at 3 or 4 different speeds than what the limit is. No more following too closely or impaired drivers or angry people weaving in and out of traffic or impeding traffic by hogging the passing lane. We'll be able to sleep or read or watch TV talk and even eat. Probably be able to smoke pot or drink beer. Long trips will be more enjoyable. I wish it could happen now.

Also less cops on the road being armed revenue collectors. We'll actually be able to use them to fight crime instead of spending their time busting DUI drivers and speeders. Less accidents to investigate. Most people who dislike cops probably had their unpleasant experiences with them due to traffic incidents. If they do want to stop someone they'll just push a button that makes the car stop in a safe place. No more high speed chases endangering the public. (Not blaming that on cops.)

[Common Sense]

Do you still tip?

[Common]

Im a skeptic, I dont see how this can work when comingled with people that are driving and cars that arent. There was a study done that demonstrated that most people will fall asleep behind the wheel if they have their car driving.

[jimmyz]

We are in the midst of a pretty historic moment. Leaping ahead of the competition, Waymo has announced that its self-driving cars will no longer use a human safety driver while they are tested on the roads of Phoenix. But the even bigger news is that the company is gearing up to launch the first commercial driverless taxi service. Yup, the time has come.
https://gizmodo.com/waymo-announces-fully-self-driving-cars-are-here-taxi-1820221010

Unless the technology proves to be more dangerous than human drivers, we aren't looking at 20 years before this becomes commonplace but as little as 5-10 years.

I live in the test area and dont trust them. They have however,never cut me off nor honked their horn at me.

[Kacper]

Only as good as the other drivers on the road

http://nationalpost.com/news/world/s...s-vegas-launch

A driverless shuttle bus was involved in a minor crash with a semi-truck less than two hours after it made its debut on Las Vegas streets Wednesday in front of cameras and celebrities.
The human behind the wheel of the truck was at fault, police said.
Las Vegas police officer Aden Ocampo-Gomez said the semi-truck’s driver was cited for illegal backing. No injuries were reported.
“The shuttle did what it was supposed to do, in that it’s (sic) sensors registered the truck and the shuttle stopped to avoid the accident,” the city said in a statement. “Unfortunately the delivery truck did not stop and grazed the front fender of the shuttle. Had the truck had the same sensing equipment that the shuttle has the accident would have been avoided.”

[Crepitus]

So if driverless cars are safe why are we still required to have human operators on commuter trains?

[barb012]

We are in the midst of a pretty historic moment. Leaping ahead of the competition, Waymo has announced that its self-driving cars will no longer use a human safety driver while they are tested on the roads of Phoenix. But the even bigger news is that the company is gearing up to launch the first commercial driverless taxi service. Yup, the time has come.
https://gizmodo.com/waymo-announces-fully-self-driving-cars-are-here-taxi-1820221010

Unless the technology proves to be more dangerous than human drivers, we aren't looking at 20 years before this becomes commonplace but as little as 5-10 years.

They are being tested right here in Arizona where I live and I think it will be successful.

[Standing Wolf]

Only as good as the other drivers on the road

http://nationalpost.com/news/world/s...s-vegas-launch

A driverless shuttle bus was involved in a minor crash with a semi-truck less than two hours after it made its debut on Las Vegas streets Wednesday in front of cameras and celebrities.
The human behind the wheel of the truck was at fault, police said.
Las Vegas police officer Aden Ocampo-Gomez said the semi-truck’s driver was cited for illegal backing. No injuries were reported.
“The shuttle did what it was supposed to do, in that it’s (sic) sensors registered the truck and the shuttle stopped to avoid the accident,” the city said in a statement. “Unfortunately the delivery truck did not stop and grazed the front fender of the shuttle. Had the truck had the same sensing equipment that the shuttle has the accident would have been avoided.”

A human driver on the shuttle bus could have backed out of the way or laid on the horn to get the semi driver's attention. This was not a high speed accident; passengers on the bus were quoted as saying they looked up and said to one another, "That truck is going to hit us".

Statistics about potential accident reduction are fine - but those numbers will mean exactly squat to the survivors of the first person killed because a driverless vehicle didn't prevent a serious accident that a driver might have been able to.

[Kacper]

A human driver on the shuttle bus could have backed out of the way or laid on the horn to get the semi driver's attention. This was not a high speed accident; passengers on the bus were quoted as saying they looked up and said to one another, "That truck is going to hit us".

Statistics about potential accident reduction are fine - but those numbers will mean exactly squat to the survivors of the first person killed because a driverless vehicle didn't prevent a serious accident that a driver might have been able to.

Ok. I just thought it illustrated that they have a ways to go. I personally don't think it will be a thing that ever catches on, at least in my life time. People like to have control of their cars, and really, making things more expensive to solve a problem most people don't think they have isn't a good market strategy.