Friday, December 16, 2016

Sacramento To Be Self Driving Car Test Site

The Sacramento Bee reports the new mayorof Sacramento's first official action was to set up Sacramento to be an official test site for new driverless cars. Good for them. Better there than here. Which doesn't mean we won't see driverless cars in Humboldt. Just maybe not as soon, or as many.

I like to think I'm open minded about driverless cars. There's much to be said for the idea, but I'm still leery and imagine myself being chased down the sidewalk by one. Maybe it's my experience with the robots at UCSF medical centers? They have these robots on wheels that buzz around delivering blood and other samples from one place to another. They're about the size of a dishwasher, albeit thinner. As they go down the hallways you'll hear them say, "Crossing the hall", or some such, to warn people of their movement.

I had a more personal experience with one once while trying to escape the floor I was on. I was headed to the elevator and saw a robot ready to enter one. I hurried to try to get on board the elevator with it, but the doors closed on the robot and wouldn't reopen. I stood there trying to push the robot through until a nurse saw me, came over and indicated I needed to go back to my room. Pissed me off but I have no idea what it would have been like in the elevator with the robot. Would it have attacked me?

That sort of thing, with an unthinking robot, makes me leery, although the cars are supposed to be much better. I still say it's better to test them in Sacramento than here.

5 Comments:

At 10:36 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

they driving them around calif. now . but state requirement says a driver must be behind the steering wheel and in charge of the car .
no clue how much in charge they mean .
heard that a couple months ago

 
At 11:01 AM, Blogger Julie Timmons said...

They allowed them for a few hours in SF before shutting them down.

 
At 11:12 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I just read the headline, didn't read the article, featured in the Rational Review News Digest. It said Uber was going ahead with driverless cars despite not having the proper permits from city and state. Yep, they're using driverless cars to drive people around already.

I'll have to keep an eye out for those next time we're down there. Hopefully they won't chase me down the sidewalk.

You have to wonder what happens when people order an uber only to find it's driverless? How many won't get in the car?

 
At 9:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I welcome driverless cars though I cannot imagine they'll be much use up here. Getting around anywhere with solid infrastructure and good roads will be a snap.

 
At 9:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Concerns about riding in a driverless car appear to be control and trust issues. Interesting to think about, kind of how I used to be fascinated when someone vehemetly talked about the dangers of flying.

 

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