'We're just rentals': Uber drivers ask where they fit in a self-driving future

[FrodosPet]

'We're just rentals': Uber drivers ask where they fit in a self-driving future

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/19/uber-self-driving-pittsburgh-what-drivers-think

Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco | Friday 19 August 2016 06.00 EDT

Ingram, a 60-year-old Uber driver in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had just learned that Uber would be deploying autonomous cars to accept fares in her city within weeks. The announcement on Thursday morning sent shockwaves through the community of about 4,000 drivers that serve Pennsylvania’s second largest city.

Uber has not specified how many autonomous vehicles it plans to roll out in Pittsburgh, but state law requires a licensed driver to be seated behind the wheel of any vehicle, autonomous or not. So the cars will still have a human driver in the front seat – for now. )

~ snip ~

Uber has never made a secret of its ambitions for a driverless future, and in Pittsburgh, where it operates a self-driving research lab, the city has grown accustomed to the sight of its autonomous vehicles on the streets.

~ snip ~

“If part of innovation technology is replacing drivers with technology, we need to look at policy solutions that we can put in place like a universal basic income, to make sure that everyone in our community has a family-sustaining life,” Wallach Hanson added.

~ snip ~

[Egnever]

1. Wow rolling them out on the streets already

That is awesome!

Can't wait!

No longer having to drive can't come soon enough.

[Avalux]

2. Until your self-driving car has an oops!!

But I'm sure they'll all operate perfectly, eventually, after all the bugs are worked out.

[Egnever]

4. regular cars have oopses all day every day

I would be willing to bet money my chances of an oops will go way down with autonomous vehicles.

[Avalux]

7. That may very well be, statistically speaking.

However, I would rather trust my own skills and human intuition. Once an autonomous car develops that ability, I'll get one.

[Egnever]

9. More power to you

nothing wrong with liking to drive.

Eventually you won't be allowed to. Probably not in my time but it is coming. People in general are just not good drivers.

[upaloopa]

10. That makes no sense. Millions and millions of people are driving right now.

They can't all be bad drivers.

[Egnever]

15. Makes all kinds of sense

Of course not everyone is a bad driver. I said in general. But as a whole they are pretty damn dangerous.

Annual United States Road Crash Statistics

Over 37,000 people die in road crashes each year
An additional 2.35 million are injured or disabled
Over 1,600 children under 15 years of age die each year
Nearly 8,000 people are killed in crashes involving drivers ages 16-20
Road crashes cost the U.S. $230.6 billion per year, or an average of $820 per person
Road crashes are the single greatest annual cause of death of healthy U.S. citizens traveling abroad


In New York..the first study I could find.

https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/operating/osss/highway-repository/Table2_2014.pdf

There are an average of 2.3 accidents per million miles driven

Google has driven over a million miles with their autonomous vehicles and until recently had not had one accident where the google car was at fault. The tech is still in it's infancy to be sure but it is already outperforming humans by quite a bit.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. They'll take my car over my dead body... and against the 28th amendment!

Okay, I made up the 28th amendment about the right to own and drive cars.

I think traffic would be more efficient without so many people driving various speeds too.

[Avalux]

12. Very good point.

I love to drive and while I'm driving, that's ALL I do; I have a 6 speed so I'm more 'in' the experience.
It makes me nervous to think about NOT driving and leaving it up to the car.

I hope it never comes down to not being allowed to drive.

Have you seen the solar roads? Solar roads and autonomous cars...the way of the future I guess.

[Travis_0004]

14. I trust my own skills, just not all the other drivers around me.

I want a self driving car for myself, but I REALLY want everybody else to get a self driving car as well.

[Egnever]

16. Same

I have only been in one accident that was my fault and only two in my life. In the case of the one I was in that was my fault my breaks went out and I could not stop.

I have avoided many many accidents over the years.

I can't wait for self driving cars for the convenience of being able to do other tasks instead of having to deal with the road. I also want them because it will save millions of lives every year.

My preferred driver-less car would allow me to drive when I felt like it and let it take over when I didn't. Of course that would eliminate a large portion of the safety aspect but it would be awesome.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. Human errors are the cause of almost all auto accidents.

We are really quite shitty at driving.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. I'll be blind in the future like my siblings.

The technology sounds good to me!

[Egnever]

5. As someone who does all the driving

I can't wait to just look out the windows on our road trips.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. That's a bonus for the sighted as well.

Naps too!

I'm skeptical that such a revolution is really on the horizon, though.

[Egnever]

8. I have no doubt it is coming I have seen the google cars driving around.

I just didn't realize it was coming so quickly. Going to have to read up on the Pittsburgh tech center.

And yes naps!

[sarcasmo]

13. What year will we be @ war with our Robot Overlords?

[Liberal In Texas]

17. It's the future.

Many if not most cars will self-drive. If you want to drive your own, there will probably be a way to do that too.

With the aging boomers getting to the point of having to give up their keys, it makes sense.

My mom in her 80s to when she passed at 90 was scary and scarier when she had to go to the grocery. Not to mention, how many times it would be good to have a autonomous vehicle at the curb when someone is too drunk to drive?

It's coming. And it's going to be cool.

[GeorgeGist]

19. Who pays the tickets?

[Egnever]

20. An interesting question

What will all of the municipalities do with all of that lost revenue. Driverless cars won't speed.

There is going to be a mad scramble to try to replace that revenue.