Friday, August 11, 2017

I was invited to go to some conference about autonomous cars... oh hell no

Get this... running the weekend after SEMA in Lisbon, Web Summit, Europe's largest technology conference will be having "AutoTech".

 A conference with speakers like the CEO of Comma.ai, the  CEO of Waymo, the CIO of Daimler, and the CIO of Volkswagen.

AutoTech, a gathering for autonomous vehicles, and connected cars to connect thousands of leading companies, engineers, developers, experts and hobbyists such as Google, Intel, The European Union, Uber, Facebook, Microsoft.

My reply:

Autonomous vehicles... what a waste of conversation. If driving is too much of a chore, take a taxi. If that won't do, try a horse, a train, or a bus. The world hasn't even finished making an electric vehicle as capable as a gas vehicle, why bother with complicating matters trying to replace drivers? If you hate driving, hire someone who needs a job for pete's sake.

Robo cars have already proven unable to safely drive without killing their occupants. Why bother fixating on that nonsense? As for connected cars, aren't we all already fed up with our computers being vulnerable to malware, virus, and hacks? You really think the damn car companies that still can't make a vehicle free from recalls of tires, brakes and ignition locks are capable of protecting your car from a hacker?

Serious issues that ought to be looked at head on, questioned, and then walked away from in disgust. As for computing, hell, the geniuses at Microsoft and intel can't make a computer that will work for more than 5 or 6 years. You really want to rely on those planned obsolescence narrow minded jackasses to make the operating system for your car? Then get told in a year or two that it needs a patch? A version 2.0 windows upgrade that you have to agree to "terms and conditions" of before you can drive? God damn blue screen of death while crossing Nevada, Arizona, or Utah?

Those assholes at Microsoft can't fix their own operating system, and they've been trying for 20 fucking years. It's still a damn mess that you can't replace with some simpler form that doesn't delete all your work because it has to load updates you don't fucking want.

I'd be a hoot to be on the debate panel in the opposing view to all this baloney, but face it, no one's going to want to hear a reality check. They are there to make slick deals and invest in short term profits without thinking how the bullshit they're investing in will treat their daughter 10 years from now, or their grandma in 2 years when she needs to get to the hospital and her robo car makes a fucking mistake and instead drives her to the similarly named airport terminal, while she's having a heart attack.

Automated cars... stupid idea.

11 comments:

  1. On the upside of these robot cars, you can cut them off with impunity which is risky with real drivers. ;o)

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  2. Perfect reply, Jesse ! Every word. And that is exactly what I think too.

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  3. I have to agree 100% although it would be nice to take the steering wheel away from people under certain conditions to get rid of the I'm the only one on the road mentality and the robot isn't going to rubberneck and lock the brakes up at everything on the side of the road, and as far as platooning 2 sets of double trailers nothing short of pure in sanity and stupidity at best with systems out there now. Maybe the plan is instead of a "Logans Run" society we'll thin the heard this way.

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    1. my response is to hire someone else who needs a job to drive if the task is too much for someone. They can be taxid, Uber'd, or chauffered if they aren't capable of not rubbernecking, have road rage issues, or are just lousy drivers

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  4. You have obviously not driven a Tesla model S.

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  5. Yup, your reply is spot on. Autonomous cars are just the silly brain farts of the Silicon Valley techies. Sitting back while a computer is in charge is like someone trying to pleasure a blow-up doll. It's not about a ride on or in an inanimate object. It's the pleasure you derive knowing you're in control.

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  6. If hiring a driver is what it takes to get the wheel out of there hands That's ok, but there aren't enough people in need of work to outweigh the number of bad drivers. As for the Tesla it killed someone because it couldn't tell the difference between a truck and the sky. The Eaton Vorad system for heavy trucks if the sensor is out of adjustment slightly will apply the brakes hard with no warning or control by the driver. Never mind the multiple fatality 30 vehicle pileup it caused as long as the robot is OK.

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    1. I remember posting about that Tesla. It killed the driver who had been advocating for robo cars

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  7. I think autonomous cars might be safer than texting teen drivers.

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    1. simple fix, see a teen driving and texting? Call a cop. Their cell phone records will show when they were texting, and if that corresponds to when they were driving, they are then arrested. Takes very little effort on your part. If the cops don't seem to be too interested in getting on the case and arriving in time to catch the teen driver, then boost your message on the phone to 911 by saying you think you see blood on the car, or a dog being dragged under it, or something else that instantly triggers a hell a lot of focused police attention. You won't be guilty of anything worse than poor eyesight, or rash judgement of what you think you saw. You'll probably save the damn kids life anyway. Also, if they are your kids, take their damn phones away, or install a cell phone killer in your car that prevents their phones from working while driving

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    2. If parents could do one simple thing, teens wouldn't be texting and driving.

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