# Its finally here-self driving cars are going live next month!



## 58756 (May 30, 2016)

Looks like they chose a Volvo. I think I recall reading somewhere that if the computer fails--the passenger is expected to take control.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/18/u...ng-cars-mimics-its-approach-to-ride-for-hire/

They outsourced jobs to other countries and now they are about to take away jobs from hard working drivers and give them to Robots. I cannot wait to read the news about incidents involving self driving Uber cars.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Ozzyoz said:


> Looks like they chose a Volvo. I think I recall reading somewhere that if the computer fails--the passenger is expected to take control.
> 
> https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/18/u...ng-cars-mimics-its-approach-to-ride-for-hire/
> 
> They outsourced jobs to other countries and now they are about to take away jobs from hard working drivers and give them to Robots. I cannot wait to read the news about incidents involving self driving Uber cars.


The Ford model has no steering wheel or brake or accelerator pedal.

How do you take control ?


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Ozzyoz said:


> Looks like they chose a Volvo. I think I recall reading somewhere that if the computer fails--the passenger is expected to take control.
> 
> https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/18/u...ng-cars-mimics-its-approach-to-ride-for-hire/
> 
> They outsourced jobs to other countries and now they are about to take away jobs from hard working drivers and give them to Robots. I cannot wait to read the news about incidents involving self driving Uber cars.


Self cleaning cars


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

The first cars are modified Ford Fusions and will have drivers. It's a test fleet only in Pittsburgh, but the rides will be free for passengers who select it (won't that be nice for the competing human drivers?) Uber also is working on driverless Volvos.


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

So when passengers are too stupid to remember where they live, will it just drop then off at the pickup where they put it as where they live? Or if they put the wrong address, it will just stop there? What if they pass out or puke in the car? Will it just assume the passenger got out of the car and go pick up the next customer? How will it know who did what damage to the backseat like puke or urine in the seat? The next customer gets in and sees it? Who does that customer complain to? How will it stop customers from smoking or drinking alcohol or not wearing a seat belt? Can 8 customers now squeeze into the four passenger car since no driver is there to tell them no?

I don't see this working well.


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## 58756 (May 30, 2016)

Atom guy said:


> The first cars are modified Ford Fusions and will have drivers. It's a test fleet only in Pittsburgh, but the rides will be free for passengers who select it (won't that be nice for the competing human drivers?) Uber also is working on driverless Volvos.


They make it free because they know something can go wrong so they are using human guinea pig passengers.


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## 58756 (May 30, 2016)

tohunt4me said:


> The Ford model has no steering wheel or brake or accelerator pedal.
> 
> How do you take control ?


They will have to yell at its voice recognition feature which I am sure won't fail, even if it means yelling with a drunken slur.


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## 58756 (May 30, 2016)

Novus Caesar said:


> So when passengers are too stupid to remember where they live, will it just drop then off at the pickup where they put it as where they live? Or if they put the wrong address, it will just stop there? What if they pass out or puke in the car? Will it just assume the passenger got out of the car and go pick up the next customer? How will it know who did what damage to the backseat like puke or urine in the seat? The next customer gets in and sees it? Who does that customer complain to? How will it stop customers from smoking or drinking alcohol or not wearing a seat belt? Can 8 customers now squeeze into the four passenger car since no driver is there to tell them no?
> 
> I don't see this working well.


All of these points you mentioned make me happy because it points to a future where drivers will still exist. Maybe they will have a live camera feed in there that sends video to India or Phillipines where the $1/hr people can watch for any signs of urination or pukation.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Ozzyoz said:


> All of these points you mentioned make me happy because it points to a future where drivers will still exist. Maybe they will have a live camera feed in there that sends video to India or Phillipines where the $1/hr people can watch for any signs of urination or pukation.


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## Uber2.0 (Jun 7, 2016)

Ozzyoz said:


> Looks like they chose a Volvo. I think I recall reading somewhere that if the computer fails--the passenger is expected to take control.
> 
> https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/18/u...ng-cars-mimics-its-approach-to-ride-for-hire/
> 
> They outsourced jobs to other countries and now they are about to take away jobs from hard working drivers and give them to Robots. I cannot wait to read the news about incidents involving self driving Uber cars.


It will only take a few fatal accidents for Uber to go bankrupt. UberCorp is totally against its partner drivers and represents the worst of corporate greed. I have nothing but disdain for the scum who run Uber


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## 58756 (May 30, 2016)

I like those photos you attached, imagine if the lime powder reached chemically with something else and caused an explosion?


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## 58756 (May 30, 2016)

Uber2.0 said:


> It will only take a few fatal accidents for Uber to go bankrupt. UberCorp is totally against its partner drivers and represents the worst of corporate greed. I have nothing but disdain for the scum who run Uber


I heard somewhere the self driving car has been programmed to get the passenger killed to save many lives on the street if necessary.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Ozzyoz said:


> They will have to yell at its voice recognition feature which I am sure won't fail, even if it means yelling with a drunken slur.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Ozzyoz said:


> I like those photos you attached, imagine if the lime powder reached chemically with something else and caused an explosion?


That truck actually broke loose from a tow truck.thus the " driverless truck," just threw it in for fun.


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## Louisvilleuberguy (Aug 3, 2016)

Uber has such a disdain for drivers it is getting ready to go off the cliff because they are blinded by this technology. Don't get me wrong there vehicles are coming and will replace some humans but it won't be fast by any means ans uber is going to fall so fast while lyft eats up huge chunks of there customers. This is a train wreck already in motion. The crash I am betting will take place in next 6 months


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

Uber allows us to cancel rides after 5 minutes of no show but frowns upon it. They want us to wait forever. How long with these Uber cars wait for no shows?


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

I am not worried about autonomous cars displacing all Uber drivers. I am sure Uber is smart enough to have calculated which cities would actually give it a return on its investment for autonomous cars. My small city in CT would have these cars sitting idle for too many hours a day for Uber to be happy, and Uber would quickly make the choice to sacrifice service to maintain profitability. 

Think of Wal-Mart and how they schedule their cashiers. Everyone hates to wait in the long lines, but Wal-Mart has clearly chosen to sacrifice customer satisfaction in favor of profitability. If it had enough cashiers to keep customers happy at any time of day, there would be too many hours of the day where the cashiers would be standing idle costing money. It'll be the same with Uber. The cars will be deployed to money producing areas where they can be kept moving continuously. Slower markets will either go unserved or retain human drivers.


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## Louisvilleuberguy (Aug 3, 2016)

I haven't seen or heard the details of the agreement but imagine these car manufactures are pretty much giving these cars to Uber to use at least at the start in the hope that it will sour on personal or commercial sales. So Uber will be able to make a orofit pretty easily and further try to play the price war game lowering there price further.

But from what passengers have told me that they want to see these cars in action without accidents for a year or so before they even consider getting in one. Honestly these things scare many people. Can you imagine how bad the drunks will trash these cars.


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

So how do the drivers know which car is theirs? I pull up and five different groups may be waiting on an Uber. Are they numbered on the side?


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## BINNER (Jul 22, 2015)

More:

https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/18/u...-will-start-picking-up-passengers-this-month/


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## Louisvilleuberguy (Aug 3, 2016)

I imagine. I imagine they will have to confirm identify on a tablet or screen in the car also. I just can't wait to see how long it takes for a drunk to trash one.


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## Louisvilleuberguy (Aug 3, 2016)

This is going to be a hackers dream. I guarantee hackers will be all over this and hackers will try to bring these down quickly.


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

Louisvilleuberguy said:


> This is going to be a hackers dream. I guarantee hackers will be all over this and hackers will try to bring these down quickly.


Exactly. Create a fake account with a VISA gift card, request a ride and plug your laptop into the OBD port. No one there to stop you. Look how easily the Jeeps get hacked when a hacker gets to plug in the laptop.


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## SUberbanDriver (Jul 16, 2016)

(From the Bloomberg Businessweek article referenced in the initial post):_

In the long run, Kalanick says, prices will fall so low that the per-mile cost of travel, even for long trips in rural areas, will be cheaper in a driverless Uber than in a private car._

I think this pretty much sums up the Uber philosophy that drivers are a necessary evil and therefore an expendable resource for their current business model. Discussing the notion of eliminating drivers altogether in the (not so distant?) future makes Travis positively giddy.

Perhaps my grandchildren's generation will embrace driverless cars but I think I'll pass,


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

SUberbanDriver said:


> (From the Bloomberg Businessweek article referenced in the initial post):_
> 
> In the long run, Kalanick says, prices will fall so low that the per-mile cost of travel, even for long trips in rural areas, will be cheaper in a driverless Uber than in a private car._
> 
> ...


We will see how long Travis will accept minimum fare rides when his $50k driverless car has to drive 15 minutes to a low passenger density area, complete its minimum fare ride, then either sit there with no rides or drive back to civilization empty. My guess is the cars will just be unavailable for such rides. Uber - unlike us - is going to know the whole profit on the requested ride, and I guarantee that algorithms are being written as we speak to calculate that out and decide whether or not to accept the ride, just like they frown on us doing now.

Imagine the holy grail 200 mile range driverless electric car. It gets a ride request that is 10 miles and 15 minutes away, and Uber knows that the ride requested is 1 mile and 5 minutes, and that the probability is low of getting a fare in that area. Will Uber really have a car do a 20+ mile loop, using 10% of its range and tying up 35 minutes of it's time, for $5.45 (the minimum fare in my area)?

Then there is the question of where these cars will be when either waiting for a ride or not in use. Will active cars have to find legal parking spots somewhere - good luck. Where will be the lots where the cars go to recharge, get washed and cleaned? Right now Uber has the luxury of having our cars widely distributed throughout every city in our driveways. Uber is going to buy or rent property in every city to service these cars? If these cars reside in a central lot, there will be a lot of dead miles they drive each day. Who will Uber pay to baby sit these cars? Certainly people they pay more than they pay us.

I really don't understand why Uber would want to take on such a huge capital expense


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## Louisvilleuberguy (Aug 3, 2016)

They say they will have engineers in the cars in case a human needs to take over. I wonder what tbey Deen a engineer. A minimum wage employee is whar I'm betting


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## celticdragonchick (Jul 24, 2015)

Former driver here...now a school teacher. I guarantee that the driverless cars will be vandalized or have interior damage within a week, especially cars that do late night bar runs or are in college towns. This is going to be a nightmare for customers who expect quality service and a clean vehicle.


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

celticdragonchick said:


> Former driver here...now a school teacher. I guarantee that the driverless cars will be vandalized or have interior damage within a week, especially cars that do late night bar runs or are in college towns. This is going to be a nightmare for customers who expect quality service and a clean vehicle.


I could see Uber having driverless cars for Pool, for people who want a really cheap ride, and have driven cars for Premium etc. You are right, a driverless car will end up giving the passengers a city bus ride experience.


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

All I know is an autonomous car would've had fun with one of my rides last night. Took me 10 minutes to get there, only to find that the passenger was actually 2 blocks away. I finally found him, and started driving, only to have a dog dart out in the road in front of me. I dropped off the passenger 10 minutes later, collecting my $3.64, then on the way back, had a car turn in front of me suddenly (I couldn't see it coming because there was a vehicle to the left of me ) and hit their brakes to enter a shopping plaza - so basically they stopped right in front of 2 lanes of oncoming traffic. I was lucky to stop. It was a low paying death ride.


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## Louisvilleuberguy (Aug 3, 2016)

I think the novelty of driverless cars will draw many to ride in one but I am doubting the masses will flock to them and who is going to clean up the mess left behind by each of the riders. I do not see self driving cars driving drunks. Only way this works is to have what they call engineers sitting in drivers seat and I am betting it's not an engineer but it's a minimum wage employee who will just get abused.


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## phillipzx3 (May 26, 2015)

" I really don't understand why Uber would want to take on such a huge capital "

Because they can collect 100% rather than 20 or 25. That's why.

Why do fraudulently insured Uber drivers gamble with their life savings knowing they could be sued into life-long poverty?


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## Louisvilleuberguy (Aug 3, 2016)

There are more questions than answers switching a company like this over to cars without drivers. There are so many questions that are not able to be answered to any kind of satisfaction. To be truly driverless they will have to block all drove controls away from crazy ass drunks. And how does the driverless cars get the drink out of the car when he or she passes out

What I can see is Uber not owning these cars but making it a business opportunity for people to spend a ton of money and put all these issues like riders who have no clue where they are going ot riders having open sex in the car as it goes down the highway since no one is there to stop them. I wouldn't want to ride in a car after some of theses passengers get done leaving all sorts of fluids on the seats. And yes it will happen. Let's be honest whar stops many passengers are the drivers. Without drivers they would do just about anything


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## Louisvilleuberguy (Aug 3, 2016)

This is something where the technology is making everyone so excited and where few are looking at the reality. Riders like Uber because they get to ride in clean well maintained vehicles safely. Even with the best pax a vehicle gets dirty quick. How many drivers have drove a Friday or Saturday night without out pax leaving cups or beer cans in every open crevice they can find not to mention there other garbage. Are there cars going to be able to clean themselves also? If this was just pure transportation then yes it would be great but it's not. If I want to take my dare or wfe out to a nice restaurant I want to be able to get into a vehicle that is well maintained, clean, and comfortable.

There is no way a driverless car can provide the service a driver can. But it can be a great story that the press talks about and helps getting your brand out there. I cannot wait till the first driverless car is let loose for a shift on Friday or Saturday night. I have my doubts though we will get there in next 10 years. I think yes there will be some driverless cars out there but no way they replace humans


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## SUberbanDriver (Jul 16, 2016)

How would an Uberbot car find a pax at a busy airport? Will riders have to stand at the curb without moving so that each Uberbot can scan them with facial recognition software?

Or... If the facial recognition software isn't quite ready, what will the Uber rider app provide for the pax searching for his ride at the airport? 
Driver: Volvo #U489-3
Vehicle: Volvo #U489-3


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## ptuberx (Jun 28, 2016)

Let's see a driverless car try to pick up this passenger:










... in the middle of a river.

I agree, passengers in many areas will not like the "experience," vehicles will get vandalized quickly, etc. This simply will not work in the long-run unless Uber wants to build a completely new and separate highway infrastructure like a monorail or something, which won't happen in most places either. For single-passenger use, it will not work in most markets, period. Uber would be better off finding ways to "link" local markets together with current drivers and matching back-to-back rides in longer radius's, which would not only help out the driver, but assist riders who are stuck outside of available radius's for call-outs.


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## MidnightDriver (May 30, 2016)

How, exactly, are the Police going to pull over a driverless car...


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

SUberbanDriver said:


> How would an Uberbot car find a pax at a busy airport? Will riders have to stand at the curb without moving so that each Uberbot can scan them with facial recognition software?
> 
> Or... If the facial recognition software isn't quite ready, what will the Uber rider app provide for the pax searching for his ride at the airport?
> Driver: Volvo #U489-3
> Vehicle: Volvo #U489-3


The burden for the pickup is going to shift totally to the passenger. They are going to have to be alert for the car, which I assume will have some sort of display showing the passengers name, then I'd assume the passenger would have to input a code into their phone to unlock the car. But the passenger is going to have to be out on the street waiting for the car. The car is not going to be puzzling out which store at the shopping plaza the passenger is waiting in on a rainy day, or which apartment building out of 30 the passenger is waiting at. It's going to drive to the pin and stop, which as we all know, only works out about 1/2 of the time.


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## knowledgethrow (Aug 23, 2016)

Ozzyoz said:


> All of these points you mentioned make me happy because it points to a future where drivers will still exist. Maybe they will have a live camera feed in there that sends video to India or Phillipines where the $1/hr people can watch for any signs of urination or pukation.


Yeah and then those people will record the camera feeds and upload them to some website or something and people's privacy will be violated. It can totally happen.


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