State officials look to make it possible for robot cars to roam our streets

... for example: imaging sensors are better at detecting the infrared energy present in warm-blooded creatures â€” be they wild animals, pets, or children running into the street. Radar imaging works in total darkness, and/or when human visibility would impossible. In addition, image processing algorithms can detect movement and continuously determine the trajectories of multiple objects surrounding the vehicle.

Most importantly, these systems are immune to distractions by hand-held devices, passengers, or the plethora of other things that affect and impair carbon-based drivers. I think they're still working out all the details concerning insurance law, but so far, any accidents that have occurred with experimental self-driving vehicles have been caused by other cars which were being driven by humans.

The most dangerous component

By ZachAndTired
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 5:14pm

The most dangerous component in a car is the bag of meat behind the steering wheel. Self-driving cars have logged hundreds of thousands of miles without being at fault in any accidents. (There have been a few incidents where they were rear-ended at stop signs)

Let's see what happens

By Roman
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 7:15pm

when cars tested on the well-maintained and well-designed roads of California and Nevada hit the streets in Massachusetts, where things like lane markings and level surfaces, ahem, have looser requirements than in other parts of the country.

One time when Route 2 was being resurfaced, there was about a week when there were two sets of lane makings spaced half a lane apart for about five miles.

Another time, the paint they used to mark lanes on 128 ate into the asphault and there was about a year and half where lanes were delimited by five-foot by four inch gouges in the road.

Here's what happens in a

By anon
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 8:40pm

Here's what happens in a Tesla when it's self-drive mode cannot detect lane markings.......

1. the car asks via beeping for the driver to take control of the car.
2. if the driver doesn't take control after a few seconds, the car puts on its emergency flashers, slows down and stops.

Which is good and sensible

By Roman
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 10:20pm

but I guess my real question is what happens when more than just the few Teslas on the road now begin stopping in situations where a human driver would just keep going because he knows where the lane marker is *supposed* to be, but the car isn't as clever and isn't as cavalier.

That's a question for CA too, by the way when it gets to large numbers of these things. Just that MA roads are less freeway like as a matter of fact and in worse condition as a general rule.

Ultimately, Cars Will Be Constantly Talking With One Another ...

By Elmer
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 10:52pm

... providing real-time feedback of conditions in all directions. The synchrony of a flock of vehicles will far surpass what individual human operators are capable of today, both in safety and in efficiency. Cooperative path routing has the potential to drastically increase vehicle throughput in congested corridors, while making intersections safer for all modes of travel.

At the end of the day, humans just aren't as good at managing complex control situations as are computers.

Cars talking with one another

By issacg
Tue, 11/10/2015 - 10:33am

This is all well and good, and would probably result in the benefits you describe.

The problem, as I noted elsewhere on this thread, is that this is not as efficient or beneficial unless substantially all of the cars are autonomous, and that isn't happening unless and until human operation is prohibited.

I ask only the following regarding that idea: how do you think the millions of people who refuse to get an EZ Pass and who are flying Gadsden Flags are going to react to being told that they are no longer allowed to operate a motor vehicle? My guess is that you'll hear that you can have their steering wheel when you pry it from their cold dead hands.

Accordingly, this takeover of the automatons is a long (at least an increasingly long human generation) way off.

Oh come now dear...

By Stevil
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 5:26pm

Let's leave Volkswagen out of this. :-)=/

wonderful priorities

By anon
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 5:02pm

Our charming legislature lacks time to fix the problems with bike path crossings, or passing vulnerable user legislation...but they've got time to draft up crap for driverless cars?

Vulnerable users

By Anon
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 9:55pm

Should take public transportation like the rest of us peons instead of trying to ban heavy trucks from city roads because they're big, scary and sometimes crush hipsters on fixies with no breaks who think they're so important that they can be seen from at least 100 miles in every direction.

Fine then, when will our

By blues_lead
Tue, 11/10/2015 - 4:13pm

Fine then, when will our charming legislature take on funding, expanding, and strengthening our public transit system so that biking isn't a thousand times cheaper, 4 times faster, and quite a bit easier?

Talk about a trial by fire!

By chaosjake
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 5:22pm

Talk about a trial by fire! If autonomous cars can handle Boston streets (and Boston drivers), they can handle anything.

space savers and robot cars

By from brighton
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 5:41pm

Will these cars be programmed to respect or recognize space savers?
if yes, then Will they slash the tires of other robot cars who dared to park in "their" space?

already?

By anon
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 8:17pm

It hasn't even snowed yet, dude.

I agree...

By issacg
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 5:41pm

and particularly with respect to the drivers. The first one of these things that doesn't go through a red light when the crazy guy behind him thinks it should have is going to be vandalized beyond recognition.

And that goes to why I do not think these things are going to be the silver bullet so many seem to think they will be. Unless the states and federal government PROHIBIT human operation of cars, these things will always have to account for the humans on the road, and the resulting safety margins will negate so many of the advantages.

Also, it will take more than a decade after widespread roll-out to get the regulatory regimes of 50 states and the federal government sorted.

But can you program the Boston robot cars

By anon
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 5:58pm

for anti-bicyclist road rage?

Sure thing

By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 6:20pm

Except the robot cars will follow the right of way rules, pass safely, stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, and thus create road rage when that aggravates the aggro drivers behind them.

What I'm waiting for is the first mass protest where traffic gets messed up because people figure out how to make them stop by jaywalking in front of them, jamming up all the traffic. If the experience of robot sentries and warehouse feral cat colonies is any indication, it won't take long.

Because

By anon
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 6:28pm

Cyclist obey all traffic laws, get over yourself.

Really?

By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 8:19pm

Well, knee-jerk anontroll with pluralizing problems, here's the reality: "Cyclist" obey traffic laws at around the same rates that motorists do!

Massholes all the way down, dearie. You must not spend much time around things like intersections and traffic lights and stop signs if you don't see the drivers box blocking, running three through a red light, ignoring pedestrians with walk signals during turns, etc.

Only difference is that when drivers do these things, they kill people.

Man, I really need to start

By anon
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 10:33pm

Man, I really need to start uploading my dashcam videos to shut up the "drivers are awesome" anon-brigade. I no longer save boring crap like people blowing through reds or cutting people off because someone in front is taking a left. More fun are things like people driving in the middle of the road over "do not drive here, you moron" striping, attempting to merge into other cars on the highway, narrowly missing pedestrians in crosswalks, driving wrong way on one-way streets, etc.

Sure, you just need to dumb

By Christie-Baker 2016
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 6:51pm

Sure, you just need to dumb them down to the level of drivers, maybe sub in a Tandy or Commodore 64 for the chip it comes with. Then pour Dunkin Donuts coffee over its transistors and have it try to make a call at the same time and yell out incomprehensible expletives.

Gridlock

By Harrison
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 6:27pm

Gonna half to be slower, and programmed to stop for obstacles, so will cause gridlock during gridlock, pedestrian , bicycles, construction, animals. Dont need them, but we need the technology investment tax dollars for University research so its cool, i think you will have hybrid remote cars with safety sensors that are over ridable very soon,

State officials look to make it possible for robot cars to roam our streets

Comments

Excellent.......

Ooh, it's transportation Madlibs!

Doesn't belong

Segways (the last great new

2001: Segway

The difference is these

Sure why not

Cars with eyes?

Yes, And Much More Sensitive Than Human Eyes ...