Image transcript:

White background meme with the text “People want to build a massive connected network of driverless cars to ‘solve’ traffic. Doesn’t that sound a bit like giving SkyNet control of all the nukes?”

There are illustrative images of the proposed “network of driverless cars” as well as a menacing image of a terminator robot and an image from a news report about a deadly crash caused by a self-driving Uber.

  • @Mojojojo1993English
    4•1 year ago

    Pretty much my thought process. It’s the humans doing human things that are difficult to code for. Honestly just putting Bluetooth in every car so you can see how fast they are moving and maybe predicting their projectory would be useful.

    Im thinking birds eye view like in GTA or something. You can see where you want to go and what obstacles are in the way. Gives you a lot longer to react than if it’s just your view out of the window.

    • @WhatAmLemmyEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      That can be done more reliably with lidar. Adding BT and other wireless dependencies to critical control systems opens up new vulnerabilities and attack vectors. Sociopath hackers would use it to fake an imminent collision and cause crashes.

      The most efficient path forward is higher density cities, less low density sprawl, and free mass transit (trains, light rail, and buses) to remove the dependency on private cars, then gradually upgrading to driverless only lanes and roadways as private vehicle traffic is reduced over time; much more realistic than waiting for tech companies and politicians to solve complex technical and regulatory problems that could take many decades.

      The government should also be directing investment and subsidies to smaller single-person “pod” transport options too, as it’d be cheaper, easier, and more efficient overall if we could accommodate the majority of traffic in both directions within a single car lane, freeing up space for future transition work — after-all, most road traffic is a single person in a 5+ seater car.

      • @Mojojojo1993English
        1•1 year ago

        Lidar can’t do that. It can ping things but not beyond those initial ones. ? Correct it’s radar but for light ? Obviously BT would create a whole new havock but it might also make life a lot easier because you know where things are that you can’t see.

        You can’t see past the lorry in front of you but you can see a car is a few miles away up the road. You’ve time to pass. In the dark you can’t see but BT can.

        Hackers can’t do shit. This always gets blown out. Hackers will screw systems and kill people, hackers will do this and that. Yeah I’m sure maybe a hundred can actually do that. So you’ve got 100 deaths.

        I think there’s already been 30 deaths on our roads this year. I think the hacker thing is a red herring.

        Absolutely agreed but I don’t live in a city so none of those things help me. Cities are pretty easy to solve some traffic woes. But for country it’s much harder and where I need driverless.

        Absolutely agree. I was just thinking about this the other day. I just need a tiny transport vehicle for me. I don’t need 5 seats and a boot 90% of the time.