UK to allow tests of driverless cars on public roads to start in January.
In the same way that has already begun in the rest of the world. Same legal/insurance issues stand (as elsewhere) and are likely the bigger barrier to adoption.
In the same way that has already begun in the rest of the world. Same legal/insurance issues stand (as elsewhere) and are likely the bigger barrier to adoption.
Nowhere in the world has permitted non-test driverless cars because non-test driverless cars aren't a thing yet.
The whole "rest of the world" remark seems like smug condescension. Which is a little odd as only a small handful of places even allow test-cars to be run on public roads. Plus isn't this a welcome addition? The UK's roads are quite a different test bed to many West coast US cities where there is no grid pattern, roads are smaller, and curvey.
Apologies is there was any condescension, I was only trying to convey that it's not that different to what's been going on elsewhere. I'm from the UK myself.
This obviously presents challenges such as driver etiquette (car needs to play nicely with others but still get you to your destination) and safety (children can lurk unseen between the cars and leap out out).
Perhaps there are parts of America that are like this, but Hollywood hasn't shown many of them to me.
Here is a Google autonomous vehicle navigating Lombard Street in San Francisco: http://youtu.be/eXeUu_Y6WOw?t=1m34s
The UK certainly has plenty of surprising road layout, often involving roundabouts, oneway systems, medieval street plans, and roadworks.
The places I know of - Lincolnshire and East Lothian - where roads follow field boundaries have a lot of straight roads with 90deg bends. Interesting you suggest that field boundary following would make roads more "bendy" (suggesting non-straight edges and non right-angles).
Perhaps the fields of Salisbury weren't dissected for inheritance purposes or are older and follow more natural lines?
Two wide cars can't pass there, one of you has to go back to a place without the hedge. I'd like to see how that kind of negotiation is handled by self-driving cars.
(I wonder if you can tell any of the digits of someone's ATM card by their hand positioning?)
I love the idea of self driving cars and they should make roads like that a bit safer.
Have such tests already begun the "the rest of the world"?
It'd be like taking "FDA approves new drug for human testing" and making the headline "FDA to allow human use of new untested drug."
Both are technically true, but the latter makes it sound like a widespread thing being done regardless of poorly understood risks. And that's misleading, since it's being done in very limited scope to help us understand and reduce those risks.
Last time I went to California I saw one up close, that was pretty neat (though I don't know if it was driving itself at the time)!
http://www.wtsp.com/story/tech/2014/07/28/driverless-car-hit...
In addition, I suspect that the cars will be 'self-driving' cars rather than 'driverless' (the distinction being that the former has a human behind the wheel, which can take the wheel at a moments notice).
As for the rest of the world, from the article:
The US States of California, Nevada and Florida have all approved tests of the vehicles. In California alone, Google's driverless car has done more than 300,000 miles on the open road.
In 2013, Nissan carried out Japan's first public road test of an autonomous vehicle on a highway.
And in Europe, the Swedish city of Gothenburg has given Volvo permission to test 100 driverless cars - although that trial is not scheduled to occur until 2017.And I know they have been testing driverless farm machinery near where I live since the late 70's