Thought this notable: SARTRE researchers say that around 80% of accidents on the road are due to human error.
I bet if we extend the definition of "human error" to "something that a human couldn't react to, but a computer could have" that number is a lot higher.
And I've seen demonstrations of sensor platforms that can detect deer far more readily than humans. ISTR that at least at one point you could buy cars with IR HUDs, though I don't recall reading anything about that in a while; I don't know if that's because they don't really work or because they're just boringly common by now on cars I can't afford.
Also, assuming a very good computer driver, a computer driver will have a much better sense of when they are in trouble. They might refuse to drive fast in a low-visibility situation. I see a world in which computers "want" to drive 55 in areas currently labelled 25 (though of course they will honor the speed limit) and in some cases will insist on driving 25 through areas labelled 55 that turn out to be something like forest too dense to see through that may be harboring deer or something, or other situations in which a human would blithely speed through but the computer is "scared". Arguably correctly.
And per my other message, when the computers are tweaked to ignore that and then hit a deer, lawsuits.
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Thought this notable: SARTRE researchers say that around 80% of accidents on the road are due to human error.
I bet if we extend the definition of "human error" to "something that a human couldn't react to, but a computer could have" that number is a lot higher.
Around 100%, probably.
The biggest unpreventable hazard is probably deer.
And I've seen demonstrations of sensor platforms that can detect deer far more readily than humans. ISTR that at least at one point you could buy cars with IR HUDs, though I don't recall reading anything about that in a while; I don't know if that's because they don't really work or because they're just boringly common by now on cars I can't afford.
Also, assuming a very good computer driver, a computer driver will have a much better sense of when they are in trouble. They might refuse to drive fast in a low-visibility situation. I see a world in which computers "want" to drive 55 in areas currently labelled 25 (though of course they will honor the speed limit) and in some cases will insist on driving 25 through areas labelled 55 that turn out to be something like forest too dense to see through that may be harboring deer or something, or other situations in which a human would blithely speed through but the computer is "scared". Arguably correctly.
And per my other message, when the computers are tweaked to ignore that and then hit a deer, lawsuits.
It's gonna be interesting times.