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HI all, Please see my comments below Mikes
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Pietruk
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, October 11, 2010 11:18 PM
Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] Fwd: Fw: [acb-l] Google tests cars that can steer without drivers

"Flor
Thanks for posting this story.

While I don't wish to burst anyone's buble or hopes, I seriously doubt
that this approach to driving, if it proves implementable in the near
term, will mean little to the blind."
Harry's comments. Not so, at all.
This will mean alot to the blind, and as I have told the auto companies it will mean alot to everybody!
As a matter of fact, right now, on the 2010 Ford Torrace we have pieces of it already:
1. adaptive cruse control.
2. blind spot detections.
On the 2010 Lincolns, we have The park assist, which takes over parking the vehicle for the driver.
Mikes comments "goals of the developers have
nothing to do with this hope;."
Again, not so. When the vehicle comes to market, anyone will be able to have them.
Mikes comments "and the cost of such equipped vehicles will
prove insurmountable for the typical blind consumer."
Harry's comments. In some cases, but not all. I know a blind man here in the town I live in, who, got a mortgage, and bought his own house, and many blind folks in this country own homes of their own. Just listen to the blind handy man show, and you'll see what I mean. The blind will be able to get car loans like anyone else, just like any blind person, can now go to their bank and get a mortgage for a home.
Mikes comments. "Right now, the U.S. and much of the rest of the world have far more
critical issues to deal with and resolve than automated driving cars."
Harrys comments. Not so, not at all. Accident prevention is very high on the governments list of priorities, and it is in other countries as well. I can tell you that it is, in the case of insurance companies. If people can get these vehicles, (after they're tested and perfected because they won't be on the market till the auto companies and government, certify they're perfected and need no human driver), insurance prices will drop big time, because you won't need PLPD, you won't need medical riders on auto insurance policies, and any property damage coverage for others property that's damaged because of an accident. So, you bet the insurance companies want this technology!
Mikes comments. "And even if the technology can be proven viable, there are a set of issues
that go far beyond viability when it comes to actually having these cars
travel roadways with drivers behind the wheel, say nothing of drivers not
qualified or able to handle these cars in an instance when things fail."
Harry's comments. I'll say it again, we will not let these vehicles be bought by anyone till they're completely tested and perfected, not at all.
As far as people being qualified, that won't be necessary any longer, because drivers training won't be needed any more, because the human facter will be completely eliminated!
Mikes comments. "Dan cites his concerns about typical drivers; well, I'd be even more
worried by non-attentioning paying drivers who will tangentially have to
take responsibility in the event of failure."
Harry's comments. As I said before, , these vehicles will not be on the market, till they are tested to perfection.
Mikes comments. "And even if we can get beyond this based on years of actual road
experience of these cars, I doubt that allowing just anyone to operate an
automated vehicle is in the realm of expectation at least in this time and
place."
Harrys comments. Not so, because, it will bring independence for everybody. As you all know, the baby boomers are all turning 60 to 65 these days, and they will be demanding the right to drive, because it will be taken from them, and the wonderful thing is, everybody will be driven from place to place by the vehicle, which will not fail.
Mikes comments. "The story Flor posts should serve us as a reminder that technology, in all
its wonders, still can require human oversight and intervention upon
occasion.
Eliminating that oversight will not happen until years, and perhaps
decades, have passed showing that humans are not necessary in the
equation."
Harrys comments. This will not take decades to do.
I can tell you that NHTSA wants these vehicles on the roads by 2014. Now I don't know if we'll make the 2014 deadline, (and that's fine if we don't because we don't want these vehicles on the market till they're perfected. The auto makers and NHTSA are committed to the perfection standard of complete automation with no human facter!
However, you're already starting to see pieces of it, as I said earlier.
Mikes comments. "And with our current economic situation, there are not going to be funds
available for this kind of playing around. Those days may well be over."
Harrys comments. Well, I don't share that view. I don't care what things cost. What I mean is, as a prolife person, I believe in saving lives, not just unborn lives, but yours, myne, and everybodys, from accidents, etc. So, it doesn't matter the cost. Folks, people are more important than dollar signs.
Mikes comments. "given the deficit
the President and Congress have saddled us with.
While Harry seems to dismiss the insurance comapny issues,"
Harrys comments. I did not dismiss those issues, not at all!
Mikes comments. "I cannot see, in the short-term, them allowing just anyone to purchase coverage. The
responsibility for operating the vehicle must remain with the individual."
Harrys comments. That will not be the case with these automated vehicles.
Mikes comments. "in the driver's seat; and they are hardly going to insure someone
incapable of instantaneously overriding the automated systems when things
will go awry."
Harrys comments. They will not go awry. As I said earlier, we will not release them to the market till they are completely perfected. I think I've said that a few times now.
Mikes comments. "I see a place for such vehicles potentially; but that place, at least for
the near term, is not with blind "drivers."
Harrys comments. It is closer than we all think, and we'll live to see it. Everytime I start talking to people, blind or sighted, about these vehicles, they ask, "how soon will it be here? I want to buy one."
Mikes comments. "That may ultimately come, but that is a long way off."
Harrys comments. Nope, it's not going to be that far off, as I mentioned above with the requirements of the government plan.
Mikes comments. "Sorry but that just doesn't seem reasonable to me."
You have a right to your opinion, and your concerns are noted, and valid. They will be addressed, by people working and testing this technology
Harry

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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