Re: Robocar--a decade away?

"C.O. Jones" <apair@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:090120080941020668%apair@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In article <vIWdnT9HLbmeLxnanZ2dnUVZ_ramnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Ken from
> Chicago <kwicker1b_nospam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> Seriously, tho, the advent of robocars could finally REALLY unclog 
>> traffic
>> congestions from the big cities around the country. It might not 
>> eliminate
>> said congestion, but allow said congestion to FLOW at a really fast
speed
>> like a tidal wave of water versus the current mol*****. Automating lane
>> changes alone would be a huge boost to increasing the flow of traffic 
>> versus
>> the current human indecisiveness as to whether to proceed or not, to
turn 
>> or
>> not, to merge or not, to pull ahead of another car or not--thus
allowing
>> other cars into the lane.
>>
>> Natch, robocars would likely be better maintained since you could send 
>> them
>> to gas stations, lube stations and mechanics for maintenance while you
>> worked or slept.
>
> ...When automobile maintenance costs millions of dollard, only
> millionairs will drive cars...
>>
>> -- Ken from Chicago
>>
>> P.S. Tho it would probably take another decade for the robocar tech to
>> trickle down from luxury cars to average cars, still, even if only a 
>> small
>> percentage of traffic is automated, it could have a significant boost
to
>> traffic.
>
> Will these Robo-cars play well with others? It seems to me that if they
> have to work with a mass of un-automated cars, they would have to work
> a lot harder. I'm thinking, if a human car decided to do something
> silly or stupid, the robocar won't have a chance.

Multiple robocars could amplify their effectiveness with the use of 
cooperative networking or even simple rules of thumbs as to right-of-way.

As far robocars dealing with human drivers, who brakes faster a human or 
ABS? or humans vs airbags? or humans vs a camera shutter? Human drivers 
could be dealt with simply by raw brute machine speed and reflexes.

-- Ken from Chicago