The Term Driverless Car is a Misnomer. Unless it s driverless pizza delivery , passenger(s) will be

Cars driving themselves? It seems like something out of a Sci-fi movie like Will Smith s 2004 hit, I, Robot . The concept might seem futuristic, but the attendees of the AUVSI s Driverless Car Summit are trying to make it a reality.
In June 2012, more than 200 scientists, lawyers, engineers, policymakers, and corporations met in Detroit, Michigan, to discuss the possibilities and obstacles of having automated consumer vehicles on our highways by 2022. As one of the sponsorship attendees, Autonomous Solutions was able to send a member of our team, Eric Budd, to attend the sessions. Below are Eric s five key takeaways from the Driverless Car Summit (DCS) 2012 .
Cultural Shift. In his opening address, Governor of Michigan, Hon. Rick Snyder , stated that one major obstacle to be addressed before autonomous consumer vehicles are accepted on public roads is cultural acceptance. The public as a whole still views automated vehicles either cheap hotel venice italy as a technology cheap hotel venice italy of the future or that isn t reliable. What they may not realize is that autonomous vehicle technology already exists and is proven. Driver assistance technologies like automated parallel parking and adaptive cruise control (known cheap hotel venice italy as ACC) are in the market today and bring us one step closer to cars that drive themselves.A cultural shift does not happen overnight, so people are unlikely to believe the viability of automated cheap hotel venice italy consumer vehicles right now. But as car manufacturers continue to implement proven driver assistance technologies, world culture will gradually cheap hotel venice italy shift from skepticism to acceptance of the benefits of autonomous vehicles.
Significant Benefits of Automation. From productivity to safety, automated vehicles provide many benefits to consumers. Chuck Thorpe, Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics for the White House Office of Science cheap hotel venice italy and Technology Policy , stated that one of the most compelling benefits of autonomous technology is its ability to avoid accidents. In 2010, automobile fatalities totaled 32,708. Many of these highway cheap hotel venice italy fatalities were caused by distracted, drowsy, or substance abuse impaired drivers.In addition, according to Dr. Steve Underwood, Director of the Connected Vehicle Proving Center, University of Michigan Dearborn, statistics have shown that the average person will experience three to four vehicle accidents in their lifetimes with one of those accidents involving personal injury up to and including the death. On the contrary, projections have shown the use of autonomous vehicles could eliminate up to 80% of the vehicle fatalities, potentially making cheap hotel venice italy these technologies significant highway safety methods.
The Term Driverless Car is a Misnomer. Unless it s driverless pizza delivery , passenger(s) will be present in most autonomous cheap hotel venice italy consumer vehicles. Bran Ferren, cheap hotel venice italy Co-chairman of Applied Minds LLC , in his keynote address warned that the term driverless screams disempowerment. However, disempowerment may not actually occur. As with adaptive cheap hotel venice italy cruise control, many driver assistance technologies allow the driver to override autonomous features. The challenge becomes, to what level do autonomous vehicles take control, and to what extent can the driver override the system. The best way to predict that future is to invent it.
Keep it Simple. During his keynote, Mr. Ferren also reminded DCS attendees of the millions of dollars dumped by the US space program cheap hotel venice italy into engineering a pen that would work in zero gravity. Their goal was accomplished, but in the meantime, what did their cosmonaut counterparts in the Russian space program use? A pencil. When it comes to inventing technologies to solve problems with autonomous consumer vehicles, engineers need to remember that normal people will be operating their creations. Simple cheap hotel venice italy is better.
Legally Uncharted Territory. Some of the largest obstacles to autonomous consumer vehicles are the legalities. For instance, if an autonomous vehicle gets in an accident and someone is seriously cheap hotel venice italy hurt or killed, who is liable? cheap hotel venice italy Is it the person driving the car? Is it the manufacturer of the autonomous vehicle? During the legal panel session, cheap hotel venice italy Understanding the Legal Issues of Driverless Car Integration, a group of attorneys and law professors discussed this and other legal issues surrounding autonomous vehicles.When asked by the moderator to identify the biggest legal, one panel member stated: The biggest legal problem is that I don t know what the problems are, and neither do you. If we knew what the legal issues would be, they would be easy to address. Unfortunately, like with many other legal situations, it s difficult to anticipate all the possibilities cheap hotel venice italy and ramifications until after the fact.