Yet another Uber wreck. Of course, it's not the Uber's fault.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ous-vehicle-gets-in-accident-in-tempe-arizona

Maybe what we need to do instead of automating everything we just need the same rules applied to us as Uber is getting away with.

To wit: instead of the blame in an accident going to the guy with the better insurance, we actually enforce (the admittedly obscure) rules of the road!

Just think, no more slamming on the brakes when that 4 wheeler cuts from the left lane to the exit ramp. Full speed ahead and NAIL that sucka. That'll teach him/her to Aim High in Steering!

Someone passing on the right when you're trying to get back into that lane after passing another (governed) truck? Into the weeds with him/her. Just think of how popular "Tree Hugging" will be once people realize how painful it is to do from 55 mph.

4 way stop signs? Better have that old western music cued up on your iPod. But think of how much less stressful Poker will be by comparison!

See kids, ya just have to look on the bright side!

 

Uber/Lyft is a particular sore spot for me because before I became a CDL truck driver my first job out of college was a cab driver.

So I know a little bit about the TLC and some of the regulations cabs & drivers are subject to. (Or were, circa 1995).

Every breathless news story about how great Uber is versus "those dirty stinky old fashioned CABs!" seems to completely miss the point that Uber completely bypasses TLC regulations and municipal business taxes

The equivalent would be if anyone could go out tomorrow and buy a tractor, no logs, no authority, no CDL license or bonds on the load. Just show up at some dock or DC and offer the shipping clerk $3.50/mile wherever they need their load to go.

Simple right? Okay, maybe we'll throw in an app for your smartphone too.

That is why I have a problem with Uber.

 

Wait, wait, wait,,,,

This time it's the cop's fault!

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...t-involving-automated-vehicles-days/99710786/

Give a cop a love tap and walk away without a summons or a bullet? She must have been cute.

Now, purely on the technical front, the REAL story is that Teslas might not be calibrated to read a smaller vehicle at close range. So if "Autopilot" comes to a stop behind a motorcycle or bicycle, it may "forget" it's there. This is troubling because this is the basis for the system they want to install in trucks. If it's "losing target lock" on small objects at close range, what will happen if an "auto-truck" comes to an pedestrian filled intersection at a red light?

Currently we drivers already have a problem that the industry shrugs it's shoulders at and expects us to "just deal without it". The issue being blind spots. For a fraction of what's being spent on these sensor laden autonomous vehicles R&D could be spent on a robust standardized camera system for both the tractor and the trailer. A stitched together "Birdseye" system is already available at Nissan. Why this can't be adapted to trucks always comes down to the same old excuse, COST.

So a 360 degree camera view of our surroundings is too expensive but a fully automated truck is not?

Priorities folks.