Self-Driving Cars

I'm not so sure about some of the things I'm reading here. Human's very seldom throw out useful present technology for a wholesale paradigm change. I doubt if we will be ripping up tens of thousands of miles of road to lay down cable, sensors and transponders even in piecemeal over generations. For the next number of generations at least the "smart" car will be given the sensors and intelligence without any need to do anything at all to the present infrastructure. The smart car will be able to go from here to there on present streets, stop signs and all, together with all the non-smart human-driven cars.No need to designate "smart car road only."I can see upgrades to, maybe, those mile markers on the highways and some traffic light poles in the city with small wireless boxes, think cell phone size, that transmit a map to passing smart cars of the next couple of miles noting construction, intersections, present obstacles, weather alerts and the like. I can see the smart car transmitting a beacon to other smart cars giving info like direction speed and intent ("I'm gonna change to the right lane in 200 meters and will be turning right onto Bell Road") the smart car software able to watch for, accommodate and avoid conflict with the sending units.I can even see some 22nd century Billy-Bob taking his non-smart antique classic 2021 Hyundai out for a spin required to have a transmitter warning the smart cars that there is a "billybob" on the road, it's right here going this fast, pay special attention for unpredictable behavior.But I doubt there will be "smart roads" or "smart car only" roads for quite a long time. But then, I've been known to be wrong.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

I can't see this. Someone still has to make the car, the power source, the software and sensors. I cannot see where we would lose jobs. In fact, I see a flood of new high-tech engineering and programming jobs required.Imagine your authorized dealer mechanic requiring a masters for entry level. Not just one mechanic, either. You need a classic auto guy doing transmissions, brakes, steering, then you need a sensor engineer and then a software geek.Your smart car rings you up on your implanted personal phone and asks if it can take itself to the dealer since sensor #127B is within mean-time-to-failure limits. You're watching "Barak Obama: Vampire Killer" and don't need to go anywhere for a couple hours so, sure, have at it, and off goes the car sans driver to the auto shop.OK enough of that.Anyway, where were you thinking the job losses would come from?

If you could find marc9000's car you could bug his radio to play nothing but NPR.

Don't fret Capt. As long as you have your billybob installed you can still drive your Yugo. Or not drive it. But that's OK. They installed a rear window defroster to keep your hands warm while you push it.

Until the cyclist in front takes a dive and at 50 mph the others can't stop (not having "smart bikes") and the pile up is so violent it crashes through the tube spilling dozens of bikers onto the road where they are run over by the smart cars that have no programming to avoid bikers falling from the skies causing a major pile up on the road bringing traffic to a halt resulting in my being late for dinner. Bad form. Very bad form.Then there is the matter of the ventilation system. Why should the bikers get better air then the rest of us?"Let them breathe smog!"I think a constitutional challenge under the 14th Amendment could be made claiming bikers would be a special protected class with the right to cleaner air than the rest of us.Other than that, yah, it is pretty cool. Edited by AZPaul3, : the usual culprits