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Date: | Tue, 12 Oct 2010 10:09:23 -0400 |
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Ted
I see your point.
However, I should mention that it is only the blind that have extrapolated
the idea of them being able to drive from these news stories. The stories
themselves do not raise this possibility; and if this indeed will
ultimately occur, it is much farther down the proverbially road than some
might hope. Furthermore, I foresee far fewer dollars being available for
this kind of experimentation down the "road" as frivolous government
spending *must* be put under check.
And wasn't one of the cars under discussion a Toyota? I think that they
have enough legal issues on their plate at the moment to have yet another
potential one raised namely, driverless cars causing damage.
Think about it for a second: that story Flor posted mentioned at least 2
near misses. If one of them had struck something, and the players
involved are Google and Toyota, there would have been a multimillion
dollar lawsuit filed -- against TM based on their other problems no doubt
and against Goog given their perceived deep pockets.
There are plenty hurdles facing this technology before it goes mainstream
in everyday use. Adding true driverless cars to the mix without a
supervising capable driver isn't something mainstream citizens are going
to consider acceptible for some time.
Things of this type evolve; but that evolution is a slow steady one rather
than revolutionary. Remember it is your safety as well as that of the
public; and given our experiences with GPS technology, while it is
absolutely wonderful, I wouldn't trust my life and safety to it either.
The real measure of our wealth is how much we should be worth if we lost our money.
John Henry Jowett - (1864-1923), English Congregational pastor
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