Self Driving Car Driverless Car

GM Says Driverless Vehicles May Be On Market In 10 Years. And if it’s on TV, or GM says it, then it MUST be true!

Why Don’t We Have Self Driving Cars Now?

We have BMW’s that can parallel park. We have Volkswagens that will slam on the brakes if something moves in front of us. We have backup sensors to ensure we don’t hit that other car or the back of our own garage. We have rear view mirror cameras. We have side view cameras. We have night vision cameras which look left and right at intersections. We have infrared cameras with overlays on windshields to identify heat signatures of animals and people at night. All of this helps people drive better, but it seems to me that it should help a computer drive our cars!

I Don’t Trust a Computer With My Life!

WHOOPS! Too late, you already do! If you go to a hospital, computers monitor your status and IV fluids, adjusting as necessary. Anything financial is computer ran and monitored. Your business information is all on a computer’s hard drive. You primarily communicate via email. Even if you use a phone, computer’s run the phone system. The military and government all use high level computing to run their most expensive equipment, monitor threats, direct troops and so much more. I hate to surprise you with this, but computers already control your life. Have you watched Live Free or Die Hard?

Computer’s Could Drive Better than Any Human

When NASA launches a space shuttle, the only “piloting” a human does is press the start sequence button. Computer’s take care of the rest. And if we’re trusting a computer to guide a multi-billion dollar rocket into space, why can’t we trust them to handle our commute? A computer does not get distrated with the radio. A computer does not have to put on makeup, or adjust it’s hair. A computer does not talk on a cell phone and ignore the road. A computer does not get tired or fall asleep at the wheel. A computer cannot become inebriated (drunk!) and kill innocent people. But people can… Why do you trust them to drive?

Were a computer driving a car it’s reaction times could be instantaneous. No more worrying about slamming on the gas instead of the brake, or calculating the time it takes to lift you foot from the accelerator to the brake. Instantaneous reaction to whatever situation. If a child runs in front of a new Volkswagon SUV, it stops the vehicle for you. Let the computer go forward, left and right as well.

Humans Can Only Concentrate On So Much. Computer’s Are Unlimited.

A person can see, hear, and feel. However, we are limited on how many of those we can do at one time. A computer has no such limitation. There are no blind spots for a computer. Imagine a machine that has a 360 degree view of your vehicle at all times. It can “sense” via proximity detection any other vehicle or object withing a hundred feet, or more, of your car. This machine would not attempt to make a lane change when it knows there is another car right next to it. A deer runs in front of the car, the machine noticed it one hundred feet into the woods because of it’s heat signature and immediately slowed when the deer dashed onto the road. All this time, you’re sitting in the drivers seat, reading a book or watching the news.

Computers Are Networked, So Shall Our Cars Be

A stoplight turns green. The first 10 vehicles accellerate at exactly the same time and speed. Three times as many cars can make it through a stoplight each cycle. Your vehicle is driving you to work this morning and receives a message for a car 5 miles ahead that a traffic accident has occured and you should immediately detour. The car makes the necessary adjustments, and you keep sipping your coffee. All this would be possible if computers drove instead of us.

Turn The Wheel Over

It’s time to relieve your lead foot and the control freak, white knuckle grip on the wheel. Computers already handle and control every aspect of our lives. It’s not going to change. Having a computer drive is a far better idea than a person. Hopefully GM delivers sooner, and I would love to be reading instead of driving!