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Finally, a self-driving car that I can applaud...

Tony C.
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I am generally skeptical of the optimistic timelines given to commercial adoption of self-driving cars (and trucks), and especially within cities. Having said that, though, this is impressive!

 
noelekal
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That's "cuttin' it pretty fine". No driver could have done that for sure.

Still skeptical of the technology, but I'm a confirmed Luddite.
 
Foo2rama
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Hmm deloreans are notoriously underpowered. I wonder what engine is in there. Also I know at least 3 drivers off of the top of my head that could do it.

still impressive.
 
GTveloce
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Foo2rama Foo2rama
Hmm deloreans are notoriously underpowered. I wonder what engine is in there. Also I know at least 3 drivers off of the top of my head that could do it.

still impressive.
Haha was thinking exactly the same thing on both counts! 😀 But to drift like that I suppose it needn't be very powerful with the right combination of low-grip tires... drifting can be impressive but it is done (relatively) slowly.
 
Pahawi
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Foo2rama Foo2rama
Also I know at least 3 drivers off of the top of my head that could do it.

still impressive.

Thanks from one of the three.
Edited:
 
Canuck
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MCC MCC
Because humans never do that ?? 😀

If you are gung ho for autonomous automobiles, I wish you the best of luck. May the insurance company that insures the autonomous car that hits you, not find a way to weasel out of responsibility.
 
MCC
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Canuck Canuck
If you are gung ho for autonomous automobiles, I wish you the best of luck. May the insurance company that insures the autonomous car that hits you, not find a way to weasel out of responsibility.
What about the uninsured driver that runs into me? Drunk and texting his /her friends how fast they are driving. They worry me much more.
 
larryganz
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From the tire marks you could see that they ran the same course a few times, and the car would hit its mark consistently, more consistently than a person.

I do wonder if they programed the run into the car first, and then put up the cones to outline the course and show that it would not stray. Still impressive, as power and grip changes with the weather, tire temp, engine temp and heat soak, etc...
 
Evitzee
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Impressive......but once cars become fully autonomous they will be unaffordable to own, which is part of the plan. These elites pushing all of this want people out of personal vehicles and on to bicycles, walking, choo choo trains, busses, etc. They want people jammed into high rise, dense environments as they have convinced themselves this is more efficient. I'll pass on these 'improvements' which are decades into the future, if ever.
 
Spacefruit
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Evitzee Evitzee
Impressive......but once cars become fully autonomous they will be unaffordable to own, which is part of the plan. These elites pushing all of this want people out of personal vehicles and on to bicycles, walking, choo choo trains, busses, etc. They want people jammed into high rise, dense environments as they have convinced themselves this is more efficient. I'll pass on these 'improvements' which are decades into the future, if ever.

Bet you still use a mobile phone....

This is what my kids say to me everytime I go all David Ike on them, telling them they are becoming zombies controlled by the state.
 
Dsloan
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Spacefruit Spacefruit
Bet you still use a mobile phone....

This is what my kids say to me everytime I go all David Ike on them, telling them they are becoming zombies controlled by the state.

There are many reasonable concerns to be had. On the other hand, if we get autonomous vehicles right, we stand to save 30,000+ lives a year in the US, and we'll greatly improve efficiency of our travel.
 
noelekal
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Spacefruit Spacefruit
Bet you still use a mobile phone....

This is what my kids say to me everytime I go all David Ike on them, telling them they are becoming zombies controlled by the state.

We only ditched our land line in October. Until then one of the house phones was my grandmother's 1952 Western Electric 500 with its rotary dial. Worked perfectly until the day service was disconnected. It delivered more sound clarity and was more impervious to lightening strikes than the cordless units.

Will we truly save 30,000 lives or will we merely revamp the manner in which we die on the nation's roads when transit becomes automated with the inevitable glitches, break-downs, maintenance issues, and obsolescence?

I'm not interested in the development of autonomous vehicles for I enjoy driving too much to endure the "efficiency" of being denied the ability of "doing it myself."

Technology has advanced to the point of nannying the human race and we've all rolled over and meekly accepted it. I don't like being nanny-ed, by smart: appliances, electronics, watches, houses, vehicles, bank accounts, friends and relatives, marketers, or government politicians and bureaucrats. Seemingly not a popular viewpoint to hold, but I'm an old fogy.
Edited:
 
Tony C.
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vicsdca vicsdca
Not that impressive in the sense that there's no A.I. needed or decision making involved in following a set course without unexpected obstacles. It's just like 3D printing but with a car.

I'd say that you are understating the achievement. Here are details (including the build of the DeLorean):

https://news.stanford.edu/2019/12/20/autonomous-delorean-drives-sideways-move-forward/

and an excerpt:

Drifting is as much an art form as a technical skill, a detail Gerdes has emphasized since the beginning. It’s why he’ll gush over how impressed he is that his students have programmed MARTY to drift on par with professional drivers.

“It’s really impressive how snappy the car can make those transitions and also how precise it could be,” said Fredric Aasbo, the 2015 Formula Drift World Champion. “Because that’s the trick as a driver. That’s what we’re all trying to figure out.”
 
Tony C.
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vicsdca vicsdca
Yes, I get that, it's impressive in its own right, but it's not an autonomous car so much as it is a controlled car. It's all pre-coded and all outcomes are pre-determined.

The challenge was not to surprise the car and force it make spontaneous, autonomous decisions, but to master a technique that requires a type of human "feel". To argue that, well, it could have been more impressive, misses the point of the exercise.

And as mentioned in article, this is potentially an important step toward integrating the ability to drift into accident avoidance:

“We’d like to develop automated vehicles that can use all of the friction between the tire and the road to get the car out of harm’s way. We want the car to be able to avoid any accident that’s avoidable within the laws of physics.”
 
vicsdca
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Tony C. Tony C.
The challenge was not to surprise the car and force it make spontaneous, autonomous decisions, but to master a technique that requires a type of human "feel". To argue that, well, it could have been more impressive, misses the point of the exercise.

And as mentioned in article, this is potentially an important step toward integrating the ability to drift into accident avoidance:

Good point. I stand corrected.
 
GarethS
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Getting a car to drift elegantly around a pre determined course is of course a remarkable achievement but nothing compared to autonomously piloting a vehicle amongst a mix of other non auto piloted vehicles.

autonomous vehicles will not with us any time soon apart from golf courses, retirement communities or other fleet managed amenities.
 
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