Self-driving cars: Not just Teslas anymore.

[Rockette]

I had an interesting video pop up on my YouTube feed a few days ago. Apparently someone has created a 3rd party device that can plug into a myriad of cars ECU and control them outright. The software/hardware is available for purchase now from a company called Comma.ai. Some digging around and I found their website here: https://comma.ai/

Their direct supported cars right now seem to be Hondas, Toyotas, Acuras and Lexus. But for those with a long commute or do regular road trips, this honestly seems like a fantastic option.

Would you buy the device? What are your thoughts on it?

 

[MillauFr]

We will have self driving cars sooner or later. Currently self driving cars have a far lower accident rate than human drivers. Only question is how low the accident rate from self driving cars needs to be before they get adopted widely.

 

[Rockette]

We will have self driving cars sooner or later. Currently self driving cars have a far lower accident rate than human drivers. Only question is how low the accident rate from self driving cars needs to be before they get adopted widely.

When I see something like this, with the amount of road trips I do... I hope my car is supported soon!

https://comma.ai/vehicles

Supported Cars

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I voted "no", not because I don't want my car to be self-driving, but because I would rather buy a car that is self-driving natively rather than buy a third party tool.

 

[_19disnA]

Making a car totally self-driving is enormously complex. No auto company today sells a vehicle in that category, not even Tesla. Under CERTAIN conditions, some companies currently offer features that will drive the car. All of the necessary sensors, cameras, GPS units, software, etc. need to be fully integrated by the manufacturer. I would never recommend some 3rd party add-on device to accomplish what is an enormously complicated vehicle integration issue. This isn't like buying some aftermarket accessory.

 

[Kennywood]

I've never understood why any car company would make this type of car. All it's going to take is someone getting killed in or because of a self-driving car. The civil lawsuits would certainly go after the party with the deepest pockets; the car's manufacturer.

Why would they open themselves up to a potential multi-million dollar law suit?

When my life or the lives of my loved ones are at stake, I'll never support self-driving vehicles.

 

[georgina]

I wouldn't get an add-on. But I do think self-driving cars will become common. I see them frequently testing on the streets of Pittsburgh.

https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/26/5-companies-are-testing-55-self-driving-cars-in-pittsburgh/

 

[mrodgers]

Just giving up control of the transmission drives me batty, which is why I drive a manual and always have. I refuse to give up control of the entire vehicle. Let the cars drive yourselves around all you want as long as I am not forced to through law and regulation OR through economics.

 

[bcla]

You wouldn't believe how many self-driving car startups there are. As was noted, it really requires specificity in the implementation for a particular vehicle and the systems that it has onboard. Right now the semi-autonomous systems can use cameras where the driver is supposed to be alert and ready to take over at any time, but something truly self-driving will require something more accurate such as LiDAR (kind of like radar using lasers). If you look at the examples of what Waymo uses, they had complicated LiDAR setups on the roof and other parts of the car. Right now it's going to require some sort of dome on the top.

 

[Rockette]

You wouldn't believe how many self-driving car startups there are. As was noted, it really requires specificity in the implementation for a particular vehicle and the systems that it has onboard. Right now the semi-autonomous systems can use cameras where the driver is supposed to be alert and ready to take over at any time, but something truly self-driving will require something more accurate such as LiDAR (kind of like radar using lasers). If you look at the examples of what Waymo uses, they had complicated LiDAR setups on the roof and other parts of the car. Right now it's going to require some sort of dome on the top.

Waymo is owned by Google... one of the pioneers of self-driving cars.

They're all over the PHX valley, right?

 

[bcla]

Waymo is owned by Google... one of the pioneers of self-driving cars.

They're all over the PHX valley, right?

I wouldn't know much about that. I know they've been testing them in California.

One of the pre-Waymo Google self-driving car engineers just got slapped with a $179 million judgement against him. Something about stealing secrets that he used at his own startup, then when he got hired by Uber. Uber ended up paying Waymo in their own stock.