File Under “Things Mitch Will Never Do”

Uber inks deal with Volvo for self-driving cars.

Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from their phones, crossing an important milestone that no automotive or technology company has yet achieved. Google, widely regarded as the leader in the field, has been testing its fleet for several years, and Tesla Motors offers Autopilot, essentially a souped-up cruise control that drives the car on the highway. Earlier this week, Ford announced plans for an autonomous ride-sharing service. But none of these companies has yet brought a self-driving car-sharing service to market.

I’m never going to ride in, much less own, a self-driving car.

Partly, it’s because driving is just plain fun.  Not always, of course; navigating 494 when it turns into an Andean goat path after a major blizzard is no fun (and would be less so in a self-driving car).

Partly because I know programmers, and especially project management – and I drive better than they program.  All due respect.

So just…no.

17 thoughts on “File Under “Things Mitch Will Never Do”

  1. “Partly because I know programmers, and especially project management – and I drive better than they program. All due respect.

    That’s the single best reason to NEVER get in a self driving car!

  2. Weinberg’s Law: “If builders built buildings they way computer programmers write programs, the first woodpecker that came along would have destroyed all civilization.”

    So… yeah, what Mitch said.

  3. Even if the programmer were perfect, you’ve got the basic reality that I can have about 50% of the windshield covered and still drive safely. However, the self-driving car can’t have the same occlusion of its cameras and radars and do the same. There is this nice reality of physics and optics that comes into play, especially during a snowstorm.

  4. What makes you think that you will have a choice?
    No one is allowed to stand in the way of Google making money.

  5. After the alleged problems with the ECU in Toyotas and Lexuses that may have resulted in uncontrolled acceleration in a few customers’ cars a few years ago, I take daily comfort in the shifter under my right hand and the pedal under my left foot. When I was in college, I once had the accelerator get stuck open (turns out the throttle cable had a kink in it). I calmly put the car in neutral and resolved the situation. I know this can be done on automatics as well, but do electronic transmissions systems support this fail-safe?

    I’m with you, Mitch: In my time doing software test, I’ve found many software developers that seem to have more faith in their test code coverage than is warranted.

  6. BB
    I remember getting caught one night in one of those little snow squalls that pop up now and again just west of where I94 & I29 meet looking desperately for an off ramp when I couldn’t see 20 feet in front of me because of the headlights reflecting back from the falling/blowing snow. I hit upon using the rear view mirror because I could see roughly where the ditches were with light from my tail lights and, driving real slow was able to thread the needle and stay out of them until the ditch on my right started to angle away from the one on the left. I had found the off ramp that I couldn’t see in front of me. No one is going to write that kind of software and put it in a car

  7. An autopilot to manage staying in lane and keeping distance on the highway I have no problem with. It’s a simple enough problem.

    But there are two many points of failure, with a completely autonomous car.

    Just last week, I was trying to use Google Maps on S. Robert Street. Robert Street has been torn up for repair for I don’t know how long, now. Last Saturday, they had the nortbound lane completely closed, and the southbound lane open.

    Google Maps thought that the nortbound lane was open and the southbound lane closed. Which is how it was, the last time I’d been out there, some weeks back. But it had changed, sometime before last Saturday, and Google Maps wasn’t aware of it.

  8. The autopilot is computer based. Computers can and will be hacked. (Ask Mrs. Clinton)

  9. but do electronic transmissions systems support this fail-safe?

    Great question. Actually, a more accurate question is whether electronic gear boxes support this fail-safe? With a floor-mounted lever shift, even with an automatic, you have a direct mechanical connection between gear selector and transmission. Them new-fangled knobs and steering column mounted stalks are a different story.

    Also, brakes are supposed to override any stuck-throttle calamity. But what about electronic brake pedals with no mechanical ties to hydraulic brake system?

  10. If Uber goes driverless, who will welfare dependents rob to buy minutes for their iPhones?

  11. Hey Mitch, let’s have some fun. Have you read the story of Target stores come to Jesus moment? Seems that the 1.5 million people that promised not to shop where men are free to get in touch with their feminine side in the girls restroom has hit them where they hurt. Writing a series of posts about the debacle will pop veins in dogs head, and we will all point and laugh. It will be fun.
    What do you say?

  12. I was stuck in a waiting room recently; I was surprised to see an Ag specialty magazine that addressed the issue of self-driving farm equipment for things like plowing fields.

    There are many uses other than cabs. When they are more developed than they are now, I can see them providing a good solution to the elderly who are dangerous drivers in the worst part of their declining years, or perhaps as an alternative for those who need transport to be employed but have proven untrustworthy because of drunk driving convictions, those who are blind or otherwise suffer from injuries or illness which makes driving a challenge. It would be a worthwhile option if only to reduce the incidence of road rage.This may provide better alternatives than attempting to modify standard vehicles for any of those people.

    I take your point about enjoying driving; heck, I have long preferred manual transmission vehicles over automatic transmissions for the same reason – the additional control and the greater enjoyment of time spent driving.

    That recent self-driving accident – a Tesla, I believe? – which resulted in a nasty fatal crash certainly did argue that the tech is not sufficiently well along yet.

    How nice – something on which we agree!

  13. The big money maker here is not self driving automobiles. It is commercial trucks. More money to be made, and to the shipper/truck owner, it’s all about the bottom line.

  14. Small trucking firms will not adopt the technology. The industry will become even more capital intensive, and large firms with low finance costs will dominate. The big shift for the pilot-less industry in general will be when enough people stop thinking about cars as an investment, and start thinking about transportation as an expense.

  15. Have we learned nothing from sci-fi? First our cars soon enough our nuclear codes. This never ends well

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