Uber self-driving vehicle kills pedestrian

[kamik86]

The liability aspect of this stuff is absolutely fascinating and something I'm keeping super close eye on...especially because I work in the commercial insurance world. It's a whole new world and it's going to get ugly before it gets pretty from the liability perspective. This will have a major impact on trucking.

I agree. When the thought of this started going it set alot of debate in my industry as well. AT the time I was working in software and some suggested that if a fully automated car killed someone it was do to the programming and the company that programmed it may be the ones held liable.

 

[SgtTibbs]

Once the technology evolves and the risks are clearly known I would expect car manufactures to self insure their vehicles and completely cut out current insurance companies. You buy the vehicle and just like a warranty you get insurance.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That's not Tesla's issue at all. The Model S is not a fully autonomous vehicle. There are different levels of autonomous control, from 0 to 5. 0 being cars most of us drive, and Tesla's Autopilot is level 2. There are no publically available Level 3, 4 or 5 in the US...that's still technology under development (Audi has Level 3 capable cars, but not clear if they'll be offered here). Tesla's Autopilot is meant to be an aid and NOT something where the driver can start browsing their phone or working on their laptop. As I've said before, infrastructure technology is a huge reason why...Autopilot is easily confused by poor lane markings or objects it can't quickly identify. However, people leap to the conclusion that it can drive itself. It can't, it can only do limited things, with the driver ready to take over at a moments' notice. As a side note, Tesla is running on hype...don't be surprised if they crash and burn (figuratively) at some point. Their automotive business is far from profitable. They're pioneers for sure, and I love the Model S (hate the X...ugh) and the Roadster that came before it, but they're not on solid footing by any stretch.

Oh, and I don't drink alcohol, so I'll take a caffeine free diet Coke in 10 years. Thanks!!

I actually watched a video where a driver had a Tesla that started by itself after pressing a button and backed itself up out of the garage while the owner was fiddling around in the garage. The driver took you on his morning commute that was around 40mins. In his neighborhood there are no lane markings on the road (same as my neighborhood with the exception of the one main road and the one road by the school that leads out of the neighborhood on the other side) so he had to have full control of the vehicle. But even out on the open highway while he let the car drive itself using the lane markings he kept a watchful eye on the road so he could take over when needed. Another thing was stoplights. His autopilot software at least at that time had issues when a stoplight didn't have clear stopping line.

 

[Klayfish]

Once the technology evolves and the risks are clearly known I would expect car manufactures to self insure their vehicles and completely cut out current insurance companies. You buy the vehicle and just like a warranty you get insurance.

Actually, just the opposite is very likely to happen. Manufacturers fight hard to stay away from liability/insurance. That will only get stronger as this technology evolves...simply because the risk gets larger.

 

[SgtTibbs]

Actually, just the opposite is very likely to happen. Manufacturers fight hard to stay away from liability/insurance. That will only get stronger as this technology evolves...simply because the risk gets larger.

""It's our vision in the future we could offer a single price for the car, maintenance, and insurance," Tesla's president of global sales and services, Jon McNeill, said in an earnings call earlier this year."

And as the technology evolves the risk will get smaller. That's kind of the point. No one will use a self driving car that's not safer than a self driven one.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

""It's our vision in the future we could offer a single price for the car, maintenance, and insurance," Tesla's president of global sales and services, Jon McNeill, said in an earnings call earlier this year."

And as the technology evolves the risk will get smaller. That's kind of the point. No one will use a self driving car that's not safer than a self driven one.

What might be interesting is a car that is fully autonomous when I want it to be. But if I want to manually drive (which would be most of the time) I could easily do so.

 

[gotomu212]

That's not Tesla's issue at all. The Model S is not a fully autonomous vehicle. There are different levels of autonomous control, from 0 to 5. 0 being cars most of us drive, and Tesla's Autopilot is level 2. There are no publically available Level 3, 4 or 5 in the US...that's still technology under development (Audi has Level 3 capable cars, but not clear if they'll be offered here). Tesla's Autopilot is meant to be an aid and NOT something where the driver can start browsing their phone or working on their laptop. As I've said before, infrastructure technology is a huge reason why...Autopilot is easily confused by poor lane markings or objects it can't quickly identify. However, people leap to the conclusion that it can drive itself. It can't, it can only do limited things, with the driver ready to take over at a moments' notice. As a side note, Tesla is running on hype...don't be surprised if they crash and burn (figuratively) at some point. Their automotive business is far from profitable. They're pioneers for sure, and I love the Model S (hate the X...ugh) and the Roadster that came before it, but they're not on solid footing by any stretch.

Oh, and I don't drink alcohol, so I'll take a caffeine free diet Coke in 10 years. Thanks!!

You’re right and I didn’t phrase it well. I normally wouldn’t even include Tesla in the “serious” autonomous driving companies right now since they’ve been more focused on the electric vehicle advances and I’ve viewed their autonomous features as a “fun or shiny” feature and not the serious development that google, uber, GM, Audi, and a few of the smaller trucking companies are testing.

Tesla is an interesting company to watch. My husband’s best friend drives an S with the ludicrous package and it is SUPER fun, but I just can’t imagine paying $105k for it. The X is really popular around here and two of the carpool moms have one in our group. My son hates the bat doors which are a giant pain for actually getting in and out of the car- another Tesla gimmick in my opinion. Just last week we cancelled our reservation for the 3. There are just too many problems and I think they are rushing to market too quickly. I worried about losing our $1,000 deposit if they went bankrupt before delivery. Now we’re waiting impatiently to see what Volvo rolls out on the electric front.

 

[Colleen27]

Long range? Autonomous driving will result in driverless taxis and trucks, eliminating the largest cost for these industries (yes you have to offset any higher cost of the tech but the trucking industry is actually way out in front of this and expect massive savings).

But when you talk about "eliminating the largest cost", you're really talking about eliminating thousands of jobs, another facet of the technology worth discussing.

That one I think you would care about. Really everyone would. It would mean everything you buy could be cheaper since everything you buy is shipped either to the store or your house.

Assuming, of course, that the savings get passed on. I don't happen to think that will be the case. We all adjusted to higher prices when gas was hitting $4+/gallon, but those prices haven't scaled back as gas stabilized around $2.50. And I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any pass-through savings from the new tax law even though it is saving many companies millions of dollars a quarter. That return is going into stock buybacks and higher dividends, not to cost savings passed on to the consumer. I assume any labor cost savings from automation will be treated the same way. Costs are passed on to the consumer; savings very seldom are.

 

[Jdbsfw]

This tradegy aside, I would love to see more autonomous cars on the road, you couldn’t beat any sense into the average clueless driver, everybody supposedly hates traffic yet I see drivers REFUSE to address what causes the backups in many cases (poor merging skills, taping the brakes constantly, slowing down for no apparent reason, etc) The average driver feels comfortable in the presence of other cars (like freaking sheep) and won’t or can’t figure out how to negotiate certain road conditions to maintain speed and keep moving

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Assuming, of course, that the savings get passed on. I don't happen to think that will be the case. We all adjusted to higher prices when gas was hitting $4+/gallon, but those prices haven't scaled back as gas stabilized around $2.50.

100% correct

 

[Klayfish]

""It's our vision in the future we could offer a single price for the car, maintenance, and insurance," Tesla's president of global sales and services, Jon McNeill, said in an earnings call earlier this year."

And as the technology evolves the risk will get smaller. That's kind of the point. No one will use a self driving car that's not safer than a self driven one.

Tesla is not a good measuring stick for stuff like this. They march to the beat of their own drum...and haven't established themselves as a serious automaker yet.

As the vehicle ownership model starts to evolve, I can see manufacturers offering a package to include insurance along with maintenance, but it would be outsourced. I don't see the manufacturers wanting to get into the actual insurance market.