Driverless cars could be here in just 8 years time. They would allow much high speed on the motorway. The only concern is that once they are introduced people may not want to use public transport.
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Speed Limit up to 80mph
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SWTCommuter
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Do you think they will catch on? After all, we've had driverless trains on the DLR for ages but they haven't been introduced across the rest of the network.
They will if driving the car yourself is banned or the cost of insurance becomes unaffordable.
Some Tube lines are automated with the driver just opening and closing the doors. Thameslink through central London is supposed to be like that too in a few years.
Oh not that again. We won't have driverless cars in eight years time.
To suggest changing signs would be too difficult and costly to changing everything to implement the above is madness. It would be madness even without the current financial crisis - and the technology still isn't good enough.
Even in eight years there will be too many logistical problems when making something for the general public to embrace and use safely. You'd need every vehicle to be equipped to allow it, which would price people off the roads.
Now if you're talking about gradual improvements to things like adaptive cruise control, automatic braking, and some communication between nearby vehicles, then yes there will be more automation. But forget about getting into your car and saying 'Work please' and it just drives. Going back to the narrow lanes with passing points; can you imagine driverless cars working there? How will they see animals at the side of the road, or branches sticking out that aren't reasons to halt the car?
90019
Established Member
Which, thankfully, is almost certainly never going to happen because it would be political suicide.
People wouldn't own cars though, you'd simply order one and it would take you anywhere you wanted and you'd pay for each journey.
These are optional though.
90019
Established Member
They're called "Taxis".
As I'm moving house, I've driven almost 900 miles over the past few weeks, mainly on Motorways. Generally speaking I think the standard of driving is reasonable, and on the roads which I have been using (the M4 and M40 mainly, but also the M1, M5, M6 and M42) the standard of driving has been fairly reasonable, and I haven't come across many middle lane hoggers.
I have been driving a small car (Toyota Aygo Sport) but had no trouble keeping up with the traffic and feel very comfortable driving on the Motorway with it. I'll drive at a fair speed when in the far lane overtaking but also don't mind pulling back a bit and maintaining a steady speed of 70. Often people can feel a bit pressured if you are ''only'' doing 70 or slightly less in the far lane when overtaking but what's the worse the car behind can do to you? I doubt they are going to run you off the road!
An increase of the speed limit to 80 mph I think is a good idea however I feel it should only be on certain, less busy and less complex, stretches of roads (eg. not in the London area, on the M5 around Bristol, the roads around Birmingham), and not on roads with Active Traffic Management (except maybe at night).
Where there are roadworks going on I always pull over and stick to the speed limit or drive at less (traffic permitting) as I don't want someone sitting in my boot all the way. If they want to get a ticket then they can.
I have been driving a small car (Toyota Aygo Sport) but had no trouble keeping up with the traffic and feel very comfortable driving on the Motorway with it. I'll drive at a fair speed when in the far lane overtaking but also don't mind pulling back a bit and maintaining a steady speed of 70. Often people can feel a bit pressured if you are ''only'' doing 70 or slightly less in the far lane when overtaking but what's the worse the car behind can do to you? I doubt they are going to run you off the road!
An increase of the speed limit to 80 mph I think is a good idea however I feel it should only be on certain, less busy and less complex, stretches of roads (eg. not in the London area, on the M5 around Bristol, the roads around Birmingham), and not on roads with Active Traffic Management (except maybe at night).
Where there are roadworks going on I always pull over and stick to the speed limit or drive at less (traffic permitting) as I don't want someone sitting in my boot all the way. If they want to get a ticket then they can.
Yes, they are - but many/most of those things will be standard - probably compulsory - in eight years time.
Your idea won't happen then. The closest is the pod system used at Heathrow, and that's a closed and secure system - that was also launched significantly late.
Try doing that on an open network of roads, with pedestrians and animals thrown in to the mix!
You'd have to force a lot of old cars off the road though if it was compulsory to use radar cruise control.
Indeed, without incident caused by the car. As I say there would be no need for people to actually own the cars with this system. You'd just have a fleet of Google driverless cars that could be called on demand.
No, I mean all new cars will have to have what are currently expensive systems fitted as standard.
Such technology, in eight years from now, won't be an expensive luxury.
You could perhaps go one step further and make any car on the road have to have a certain level of safety equipment; but that would be unpopular. I guess you could price insurance policies accordingly, to entice people to upgrade.
Are you not seeing how complicated even simple thins are, which only makes the 'dial-a-driverless-car' to come and pick you up from your door idea something for science fiction movies for some time to come.
90019
Established Member
Apart from when it drove into the back of another car...
Google claimed it was being driven manually at the time, but it's not like they have a vested interest in it. :roll:
CIS has a system like this according to their website
90019
Established Member
Not really the same, but I looked into insurance with one of the black boxes fitted. It was almost double the price I currently get on my car.
Looks interesting, but it only seems to target young drivers, not 36 year olds like me! I currently pay £200 a year for my Smart car and I would like to reduce that to below £100. Ideally I would want the box to prevent me from speeding. This smartbox allows you to speed but gives you a warning if you do.
I believe you can get some (if not all) sat-nav devices to warn if you are exceeding the limit. It should also be possible to fit a speed limiter to the car.
I've tried Tom Tom and Garmin devices and they have speed limits for most main roads but not for most side roads. The speed limits are sometimes wrong. Smart cars actually come with a 84 mph speed limiter, although many enthusiasts get that removed by remapping the car!
Does your smart car not have a built in warning system, a lot of new cars do.
I own a Saab 9-5 which has a beep if i go over the set speed. My wifes got a Nissan Note where the car limits itself and will not pass the speed you set.
I also use a Seat Ibiza which has an audible warning when you pass the set speed!
My car is a bit old at 04-reg, but I'm not aware that even new Smart cars have such a feature. I like the idea of a self set speed limiter.
90019
Established Member
The ibiza is a 54 reg so not sure, I'd of expected a Smart to have such a system being a mercedes product.
I find the warning systems so useful, The nissan is only a 1400, but it feels like it is going quite slowly at 70, so i find it a useful system, i wont even go into how much i use the system on the Saab, I went from a 1.2 Fiesta to the Saab!
I wouldn't call a 04 old. It's certainly nowhere near as old as quite a few cars I often see on the road.
Schnellzug
Established Member
heavens, wouldn't that cause all sorts of confusion with people swooshing along happily at 60 (+) and suddenly finding not 40, not 30, but 20 mph ahead? There'd need to be a progressive reduction leading up to it,s urely, or chaos would ensue.
Who would want to drive? If they're going to take away the part that people do consider fun, and it's just a matter of getting into an automated pod which takes you from A to B, then I would expect that people would think that they may as well get the train.
Driverless cars though would be as convenient of the private car is now and would be available for anyone to use. The concern is that as they would be so convenient people wouldn't want to use public transport. Why be restricted by the times of the trains when you could order a driverless car at any time?
Hmmm. Who would be the providers of driverless cars? How could it be guaranteed that a driverless car would always be available for your particular journey? How far in advance would you have to book?
The driverless car industry could, of course, be run on a franchise basis by DfT! With a trade organisation called ADCOC effectively regulating it!
The driverless car industry could, of course, be run on a franchise basis by DfT! With a trade organisation called ADCOC effectively regulating it!
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