Uber to deploy driverless cars in Philadelphia

[esayaf]

I always knew that Uber was established to become a driverless car service.
Uber are going to deploy 100 driverless cars in Philadelphia.
A spokesperson from Volvo said that the price structure of Uber driverless cars may actually make private car travel economically unviable.
I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to not owning a vehicle and all the associated expense, especially when it spends more time sitting in my driveway doing nothing.
Now is the time to buy a pub too because with driverless cars pub culture will make a comeback as one won't be able to be charged with drink driving

[youcandoityoucandoityoucandoit]

Of the 10 largest cities in the US, Philadelphia has the largest number of bicycle commuters.

Its a really easy city to navigate- the layout is based on a grid, and its pretty flat..but with lots of bike lanes, theres even a cheap bike share..love it, when city planners have vision.

You cant legislate people to stop wanting to buy/ own and drive cars, but having alternatives that are supported by the citys infrastructure has been proven to work in getting people to decrease their use on, and dependence of cars.. 

[tasfleur]

I still have a bicycle esayef, in fact there are two in the shed .. one is a fold up, the other a most splendid mountain bike still as new .....

At least with those I had my feet on the pedals and my hands on the handlebars, that way, I always knew exactly where I was going, how I was getting there and best of all, I could steer it myself .. same as I can with my car knowing exactly where my hands and feet (and eyes) are.

When it comes to cars, I'll keep my hands on the steering wheel, my feet on the pedals and my eyes on the road and never trust someone working a computer from a great distance to do it for me.  Failing that, then it really is  back to the bicycle.

[davidc4430]

who do you sue when your out riding your deadly treadly and get run over by a driverless car?

yeah i know i know it'll never happen, well not acording to the driverless car builders.

[esayaf]

If you live long enough there will come a point where it will be illegal to drive a vehicle yourself.
As the number of driverless vehicles increase the governments will be compelled to legislate against self drive vehicles on the grounds of safety.
Self drive trucks will be eagerly accepted by trucking companies due to the savings by not employing drivers. Rio Tinto already have all their mines dump trucks operating on a driverless program.
Private ownership of passenger vehicles will disappear as the spokesperson of Volvo stated in the article I read as it will be so much more expensive than paying by the kilometre via entities such as Uber.
driverless passenger vehicles will be much the same as the first desktop computers. To begin with they will be taken up by companies and tech heads.
I myself have never owned a desktop computer and never will. In fact if you had told me years ago that I would end up owning a computer I would have laughed and exclaimed never! Now I have a virtual computer in the palm of my hand. How times change. You can personally fight change but their will be far more people that will accept change and drive the uptake. Mortality eventually removes those that are resist to change.

[tasfleur]

I don't think it's about resisting change.   Change can be for the better and the best thing to happen.   However, history shows that that is not always the case, and some changes have proven to be detrimental and even dangerous thanks to various fools who sit in the seats of power, money or both.

Hopefully, all this total driverless/pilotness will not totally occur for a very long time and if it does, here's hoping it happens extremely slowly, with high intelligence, forward thought of all possible consequences and the ability to put sane people in administration .. but I won't hold my breath ... 

[tasfleur]

Deadly treadly ...  , that's a good description.   At that point, head for bike tracks only and where no driverless cars (or otherwise) can go.

[davidc4430]

i can just imagine the catchcry now

i'll stop driving when the take my car from my cold dead hands!

must write that down

[tasfleur]

Or another catchcry ..... "keep yer hands on the wheel and bury yer car with ya" ..... 

[esayaf]

The uptake of technology is exponential. It was only a couple of years ago that drones were just for university students to study

[esayaf]

Passenger aircraft have been flown for years now by computers. The pilot only performs take off and landing procedures.
I don't know if you have heard of the F-117 stealth fighter.
It actually cannot be flown by a human. It is completely computer flown. The design of the aircraft is such that it actually doesn't fly. It is constantly pitching and yawing to such a degree that it would fall out of the sky if the pilot turned the computers off.
this aircraft was first designed in the seventies and all the technology in this aircraft will soon be so old that it will no longer be a secret and will be eagerly taken up by Boeing and be flying passengers around