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Citizens Not Needed in The World Of Next Tuesday™

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Driverless Cars from Google

Investors Business Daily: Driverless cars face daunting legal roadblocks before they become a common sight on U.S. roads. For one, they will need to talk to other driverless cars. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication — and who is responsible when that doesn't go well — is a major challenge. "The GM car is driving down the road has to be able to communicate with the Toyota so that they don't run into each other," said antitrust lawyer Steve Cernak.

And if driverless cars do collide, then that raises questions of who is at fault. Right now the answers are far from clear, says Cernak, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based antitrust attorney with Schiff Hardin. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication standards have to be worked out, and that's just not being done, Cernak says. There's a reason engineers should have a lawyer in the room when those discussions take place, he says. "When car makers have to come up with common standards, it raises antitrust issues," Cernak said.

Besides car makers, Google (GOOG) is a large presence in the relatively small world of "Look, Ma — no hands" driving. It is testing some two-dozen Lexus RX 450h vehicles on U.S. roads. The company declined to be interviewed but said in a statement that its driverless cars have accumulated 500,000 miles without an accident.


While technically true that no accidents have been reported by test drivers of the Google equipped Lexus vehicles, at least one of the testers recently painted a more ominous picture of life with his autonomous vehicle. Avis Shelby, an automotive specialist for Ms. Magazine, described his first unusual experience as “disconcerting”;

“I was watching Jon Stewart last week when I heard a car pulling into my driveway. As I walked out onto the back porch I could see a car parked behind my Lexus with its lights on and engine running but no visible driver. After checking around the house and finding no one, I went inside and called 911 just in case. I must admit, I was spooked. By the time I got outside the car was gone, but my Lexus was about 30 feet further up the driveway and the CD player was on full volume.”

“The second incident, and this was far more chilling, took place early one morning as I was being driven to a meeting where I was to deliver a talk on automotive design standards. I'd been up late, and trusting the Google car to get me to the meeting safely, I decided to catch a few winks. I'm not sure how long I slept, but when I finally opened my eyes I was surprised at what I saw. We were in the waiting line at the entrance to a nearby drag strip! I had to slide into the driver's seat and reprogram the car before it would leave and take me to my meeting.”

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Although neither incident cause Mr. Shelby physical harm, his confidence in the autonomous vehicle program has been somewhat shaken. As Bernard Soriano, deputy director of California's Department of Motor Vehicles, said in the IBD article above, "It's not (going to happen in one) great big jump, which some people are envisioning. We will probably get there (to driverless cars), but the question is when."

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Off topic. Today I saw again the film Idiocracy. An awful thought crossed my mind. Barack Obama makes the film appear even more prophetic than intended. The first black president presides over a country that looks more like the bidonville of Mogadishu.

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Finally! An explanation of why those eeevil SUVs are going around randomly killing people!




 
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