These driverless lorries

[StealthPolarBear]

Will have drivers in them just in case.
So what's the benefit?
Or is this just while they're being tested

Hasseled humans are not very good at making decisions and make a lot of mistakes, bad choices and don't look

Try the link and rest yourself

Anyone know the revenue made last year from drivers taking the decision to speed and get fined?

How long will it take before terrorists hack into the systems that control them?

Driving a lorry is low skilled now?

Are there enough skilled jobs for everyone if low skilled jobs are done by AI? If all the supermarkets just have a skeleton staff and lots of self service machines etc and driving is done by computers etc

How do you account for people who aren't naturally academic?

Indulgent berries terrorists kill with lorries they don't need to hack into driverless lorries

I'm not all that bothered by the concept of driverless vehicles per sec but dont see how adding extra long vehicles to our roads (which is in effect what they'll be) can possibly work.

For all the anti-driverless vehicles...

Have you ever driven, or been driven by someone on a nightshift, at 4.30am when you have hit the wall, and know that you really shouldn't be driving, but have no choice, it can be terrifying.

Add to that the deterioration of night vision as we age, and I definitely think driverless vehicles are the way to go for night driving.

See I'm more concerned about them taking over and trying to kill us all (read Stephen King's 'Trucks' or watch 'Maximum Overdrive')

Insurance companies are already worried about the huge loss of money driverless vehicles will bring and puzzling out how insurance will work.They will be far safer and it's inevitable that driving jobs( lorries, taxis etc) will disappear. Frankly I can't wait for my driverless electric car to turn up when ordered and do all the stressful work. No car one upmanship, less pollution, no speeding, no drink driving, no silly but deadly mistakes.....

DP pointed out that at least they won't be killing people when the driver falls asleep.

I'm concerned about how they will perceive things that are potential hazards. When I'm driving, I come off the gas and have my foot hovering over the brake if I pass something like kids playing football or a someone walking a dog off the lead. Would a driverless vehicle be able to work out something that could become dangerous in an instant?

Still, I suppose you don't get that sort of thing on motorways though.

What would happen if the lead lorry in a convoy broke down? Would all the others stop too? That could seize up quite a stretch of road.

I don't doubt they'll be safer. When most vehicles are driverless. Until then I do worry they'll cause chaos

In 50 years time people will look back and think it was mad that we allowed virtually anybody to drive cars and lorries that killed and maimed thousands of people a year in the UK alone and belched out poisonous gases.

It's a fucking stupid idea. You know what they called convoys of 'lorries' that didn't need a driver each in the past? Trains. That's the way forward imo.

@Kindoline. Not there aren't enough jobs - unemployment will go up as AI and automation increases. One prediction is 10million jobs will go over next 15 years. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/24/millions-uk-workers-risk-replaced-robots-study-warns

The issue with autonomous vehicles is that the ethical decision parameters and priorities have to be programmed in advance. It's not a split second decision but carefully calculated, and also something that people can base their decisions on when choosing what car to buy.

For example, there's the issue of what are called 'trolley problems'. A car is driving with one passenger (driver) and a group of pedestrians steps out on front of them. Should the car swerve to avoid the pedestrians (potentially injuring or killing the driver) or prioritise the driver and potentially injure or kill the pedestrians. Apparently research has been done that shows that people think that other people should have to buy cars programmed to prioritise the safety of others but would choose cars that were programmed to prioritise them for themselves.

Ivykaty I know, but it's another thing they could do; hackers take down computer systems and I'm sure the same will happen with lorries.

I'm sure most economic predictions suggest that advances in technology benefit almost everyone

Why will driverless cars cause chaos? They will be tested ad nauseum. Stopping for a human driven car would be just the same as stopping for a driverless. It'll be human driven cars continuing to cause chaos, not the other way round.

So how does it work when you are trying to join the motorway and meet one of these convoys then? Are you just expected to stop and wait for it to pass? That'll be fun.

This remark is a typical of the way many people react to new technology. People who know nothing about it voice the first issue that comes into their head, and apparently assume the multitude of people whose whole working life revolves around introducing the technology either won't anticipate the problem, or will anticipate it but be unwilling or unable to do anything about it.

My theory, based on 1 seconds thought, is that convoys will temporarily separate to create a one car gap between each pair of vehicles, and that it will become a requirement of motorists to get out of that gap as soon as possible so the convoy can close again.

Actually that sounds a bit complex, so in second 2 of thinking about it I've decided that convoys will just switch to the middle lane temporarily. Other faster drivers won't block them, because the trucks 360 degree cameras will film them not giving way and the traffic fines will be in the other drivers email inbox before they complete their journey.

I get the dilemma. Stop for the pedestrian, or your/drivers life takes priority. How to your u manage that issue?

There's also the fact that manufacturers will presumably have to tell people what the ethical parameters of the cars are.

So even without an accident, most people will know by looking whether you've bought a save-me or a save-others programmed car.

Re pedestrians surely they'll just have all surround sensors and simply stop in an instant. Ditto the car behind. Until it is perfected I doubt they'll be let loose in droves. I suspect they'll be run on motorways first.

I heard a funny comment on the radio yesterday, can't remember who from: 'There freight vehicles joined together and led from the front? We already have that technology, it's called the train.'

They were arguing that really we should be increasing rail capacity and taking freight off our congested roads. Rail is less polluting too. And thinking of PPs visions of having to share the motorway with this mega-vehicle I think I would rather it was off the roads too. But let's see how the tests go....

Yes ironing mountain I agree it will be us drivers reacting badly to something different and unexpected on the roads that will cause more problems.
I hope I'm wrong.

You can't stop in an instant, unless you're driving incredibly slowly. The physics of the situation mean that there's a stopping distance no matter his many sensors you have.

Also the sensors are not necessarily infallible. There was a fatal accident involving a tesla where the problem was that the vehicle's sensors simply couldn't recognise the vehicle it hit as an obstacle.