Ford to Offer Self-Driving Cars Without Steering Wheels by 2021

Not a good time to be a taxi driver, is it?

Especially if you're driving a Tesla!

If I were to buy a self driving car (slim chance), I would be very leery of one that you could not assume manual control. Hopefully it has a big red button labeled "STOP AND LET ME OUT!".

Will they have an ejection seat instead?

I mean, just in case the steering computer get´s a little weirdo

Ford's smoking dope. But in five years, no one will remember they made this announcement so I suppose it doesn't really matter anyways.

You may have to eat those words....

I'm always willing to do just that, but I have little fear of having to do that.

Sounds like they're trying to (socialize) vehicle traffic, and yes, I do mean that in the worst political sense...

I've never cared much for roller coasters.

A self driving car with no steering wheel seems like the worst combination of a roller coaster and a destruction derby.

Count me out!

A very good point. Personally, I don't trust an autonomous car to be able to bee 100% reliable and be able to handle every situation. I do not see myself owning one. Yet, in light of the points you just made, for a large portion of the driving public, it will be a glaring improvement.

To be honest I do not trust human drivers be 80% reliable in every situation.

This could be a good thing. The car can lock its doors and drive its occupants to the nearest police station if the is a gun shot detected inside the car. That would put a damper on drive by's.

Have you seen any of the predictions of what should happen to insurance rates once autonomous vehicles are the norm? One I saw (I don't remember where), claimed they should drop to 15% of current rates, partly due to reduction in the number of accidents, and partly due to reduction in the relative speed between colliding vehicles.

Never really noticed. I have USAA. So, my rates are a fraction of anyone else's.

Crabtree wisely noted it may not be a good time to be a taxi driver.
Now dkwarner alerts us it may not be a good time to be a panel shop operator, nor a commissioned insurance broker.

Provided roadbuilders and maintainers keep edge markers, speed signs, traffic signal sensors and cameras, also lane lines in good order, there will be plenty of incentive to switch from manual driving to autonomous in suitably equipped vehicles. That incentive will be in the automatic pinging of every unsignalled lane change, every tailgate incident, every overspeeding, every turn from the wrong lane, every little infraction.

No need for "800-123-456-how's-my-driving" stickers. Your car will tell you what a rotten driver you are. At what threshold should your car submit a police report automatically?

"At what threshold should your car submit a police report automatically?"

I hadn't thought about that! There should be no need for an autonomous vehicle to report its own infractions, since it should automatically follow the laws.

Many cars with a driver, on the other hand, already have sensors, computers, and transmitters that could easily be programmed to do just that! I wonder if it may already be occurring...

I'm pretty sure Tesla already examines the data after every incident, but I presume that data is not normally provided to police.

Now with regard to other nearby vehicles, that could be a real possibility. I've never done it, but I've been tempted many times to report when I'm already driving a little above the speed limit, and another car or motorcycle passes me going 10 or 15 mph faster.

Not quite sure how any of those situation would occur unless you were able to reprogram the car to drive unsafely. Given the current state of hackers I would be more afraid of a "hostile" take over the system.

"Not quite sure how any of those situation would occur unless you were able to reprogram the car to drive unsafely".
It's easy ... as I suggested, if the driver chooses to take manual control, he has reprogrammed for unsafe driving. And he should expect to be pinged for every infraction. Thanks to emailed tickets, he can arrive home to twenty fines and demerits.

That'll learn youse.

AAHHHH! So your thinking auto-snitch. Big brother rears his ugly head yet again.

I wonder if they'll call it the "Pinto II"; that seems appropriate and it worked really well for Mustang and Bronco. /s/

Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.

"Uber's Self-Driving Car Plans Involve a Trucking Startup, Report Says"

http://fortune.com/2016/08/18/uber-otto-acquistion/

"Uber’s First Self-Driving Fleet Arrives in Pittsburgh This Month

The autonomous cars, launching this summer, are custom Volvo XC90s, supervised by humans in the driver’s seat."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-08-18/uber-s-first-self-driving-fleet-arrives-in-pittsburgh-this-month-is06r7on

Thanks! Sounds like Ripley's "Believe it or not..."

There is indeed no way to stop technology from advancing, short of a major asteroid.

Already here...

I would imagine all those who tried to sensationalize the Tesla autopilot crash in Florida will never set foot in Pittsburgh now.

Probably depends on your age how you react to this. When I was less than 50, I wanted no part of someone else (or something else), not even my Wife making driving decisions for me. If I couldn't drive, I didn't want to go. Now, with some added age, I think having someone (or something) drive for me sounds absolutely wonderful. Okay driver, take me to Palm Beach. And, that Ford plan certainly eliminates having me try to stay awake behind the wheel when something is driving for me. Staying awake when being driven down the road is about as possible for a sexagenarian, as one that age beating Phelps in a swimming contest. (oh heck - that couldn't even beat Lockte) That's why there are so many bus trips advertised for retired persons - no driving - just riding.

I´d rather take a ride with the blind L. Cnel Frank Slade (Al Pacino, Scent of a woman) speeding a borrowed Porsche in NY

Flying autonomous taxis coming soon...

"Airbus wants to make autonomous flying taxis by this time next year"

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/19/airbus-wants-to-make-autonomous-flying-taxis/

More than a bit of an exaggeration...

According to the link, they hope to begin testing by this time next year. It also says you have to go to a heliport to start, and it'll be cheap because you will be sharing the ride, and your luggage goes separately (significantly increasing the probability of it not arriving at the correct destination at the correct time).

If it needs a heliport to start, then it probably needs one to end. This doesn't sound to me like a taxi, it sounds like an airborne airport shuttle.

I think it's more for hopping around town than anything else....There are several heliports around....A way to beat rush hour traffic in the big city....Maybe they'll start building helipads all over the place...

I'm pretty much a country guy; I avoid big cities as much as possible, except when passing through airports. The only Heliports I'm aware of are at hospitals, airports, and remote fire stations. I presume there are some on top of large hotels, and a few at large business/industrial campuses.

..."The company’s Pilot Assist II, which will become available in Volvo's new vehicles next year, will do all of the steering and braking at speeds of up to 80 mph.

Currently, the company's semiautonomous system only handles steering and braking for speeds up to 30 mph on the highway and it must have a car in front of it to follow. So it's really only useful when you are in stop-and-go traffic.

Next year, the updated system will be much closer to what Tesla offers, allowing the car to do the steering and braking on the open road up to 80 mph. It will also no longer need a car to follow to work.

The updated system will, however, still need clear lane markings to work properly. "...

..."Volvo will launch its pilot program, called DriveMe, in 2017 in select cities.

During the pilot program, drivers will still need to supervise their vehicle while it's in autonomous mode. However, data collected during the pilot will be used to improve the system so the company can eliminate human supervision in just a few years."...

http://www.businessinsider.com/volvo-quietly-becoming-a-tech-superpower-2016-8?r=UK&IR=T

This just in....

"SINGAPORE — The world’s first self-driving taxis began picking up passengers in Singapore starting Thursday.

Select members of the public can hail a free ride through their smartphones in taxis operated by nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup. While multiple companies, including Google and Volvo, have been testing self-driving cars on public roads for several years, nuTonomy says it is the first to offer rides to the public."...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/worlds-first-self-driving-taxis-officially-hit-the-road/

Indonesia is a (benign?) Muslim country that is (in it for the money). Just look at their commercial growth...

Thus, the people are already being told what to say and think and where to go, so being told how to get there is only the next step...