Google's Self-Driving Cars Required To Have Steering Wheels

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The bad news? Self-driving cars are required to have manual controls in the state of California. The good news? Google will have to redesign that ugly ass car it built. :D

New California DMV rules say the search giant's software-powered car prototypes need physical controls -- a decision that forces Google back to the drawing board.
 
And you'll be expected to take over at a second's notice which means there goes any time savings you had planned. They may not enforce that at first, but eventually will with a juicy ticket at a minimum if they catch you and liability at a minimum if you prove it caused an accident..
 
I say they just sell them everywhere but California. I'm sure they would change their tune soon enough.
 
I say they just sell them everywhere but California. I'm sure they would change their tune soon enough.

What, and lose their biggest market? Apparently you have no idea how rich Californians are. The state may be broke, but the people aren't.
 
What, and lose their biggest market? Apparently you have no idea how rich Californians are. The state may be broke, but the people aren't.

I think you fail to realize how much they can still make in the other 51 States and the rest of the World compared to California.

Additionally, the rich people in California can go buy it at one of the other 51 States where their vacation home is.
 
I wonder how this will be implemented. If you need to be able to take immediate control of the car, I'm expecting it to give up as soon as I grab the wheel or apply the brakes.

So if I'm relying on it to self drive and unintentionally bump the wheel, will I end up in a ditch cause it stopped driving around the curve itself?
 
I think you fail to realize how much they can still make in the other 51 States and the rest of the World compared to California.

Additionally, the rich people in California can go buy it at one of the other 51 States where their vacation home is.

There is a reason all cars sold in the country is California emissions approved (stricter than federal standard) and that there are more Teslas in California than the whole country combined. That companies would rather tailor their products to the California market should show you how huge a market California is. Also, if you split the U.S. economy to its component states, California is the 8th largest economy in the world. Yeah, Google would love to lose that market.
 
Insurance and liability dilemma otherwise.
Unfortunate for the person "in charge" of the vehicle if it causes an accident.

You would have to take the heat, then sue Google so that Google are not directly responsible for death or injury . They will get away with a lot or cases because people dont want to take on Google and insurance companies will have a far easier time.

Scam against the public imo, but then again, how should it be dealt with?
Its too early for these cars to be on the road without well defined laws and guidelines.
How can an insurance company assess the liabilities involved? Too many unknowns for them.
 
There is a reason all cars sold in the country is California emissions approved (stricter than federal standard) and that there are more Teslas in California than the whole country combined. That companies would rather tailor their products to the California market should show you how huge a market California is. Also, if you split the U.S. economy to its component states, California is the 8th largest economy in the world. Yeah, Google would love to lose that market.

CA's GSP is only 13.2% of the United States GDP. (IE: The other 51 states)

Telsa's headquarters are in CA.
 
Just put 1 set of tracks in each direction in the middle of every freeway (or on either side), remove all local subways, all local rail lines, and simply make everything a universal size, that way self driving cars can move effortlessly through the areas which tend to back up, then when you get to a destination you derail (ok, maybe some work needs to be put into that name) and then the people can drive the cars to their final destination.
 
CA's GSP is only 13.2% of the United States GDP. (IE: The other 51 states)
Only 13.2%? Considering they are only 12.1% of the population, and many of them are filthy liberal/immigrants/hippy/welfare/<other terms cons don't like> that's not too bad at all.
 
CA's GSP is only 13.2% of the United States GDP. (IE: The other 51 states)

Telsa's headquarters are in CA.

Ya, 13.2% of the U.S. total. There are 52 states, so 1 out 52 accounts for 13.2%, thanks for proving my point.

Toyota's and Honda's headquarters are in Japan, are you really going to try to argue that they sell more cars in Japan than in the U.S.?
 
Only 13.2%? Considering they are only 12.1% of the population, and many of them are filthy liberal/immigrants/hippy/welfare/<other terms cons don't like> that's not too bad at all.

I never said it was bad, but the reason why it's so high is because of the big time businesses that are in California such as Google themselves.

Meanwhile, the average median income of households puts California at 12th place. They are also the 5th highest State with residents under Welfare and I don't think any of them can afford a self powering car.

I can assure you it wont hurt Google if they couldn't or wouldn't sell in the State of California. Wonder how well guns manufacturers are doing without that mighty economy of California.
 
Toyota's and Honda's headquarters are in Japan, are you really going to try to argue that they sell more cars in Japan than in the U.S.?

When they first started, yes I will argue that.
 
If I am moving in high speed object...I'd rather have the ability to take control than not. Just saying.

52 states? Commonwealth's are NOT states.
 
I can't believe Google thought it could get away with the first generation to not have steering wheels and pedals. I would think that would be common sense. Sure generation 2 or 3 might start including hidden versions.
 
I never said it was bad, but the reason why it's so high is because of the big time businesses that are in California such as Google themselves.

Meanwhile, the average median income of households puts California at 12th place. They are also the 5th highest State with residents under Welfare and I don't think any of them can afford a self powering car.

I can assure you it wont hurt Google if they couldn't or wouldn't sell in the State of California. Wonder how well guns manufacturers are doing without that mighty economy of California.

That is because the income differences here are pretty dramatic, at least from what I've seen. You see millionaires living a pretty close to really poor people. I have seen quite a few exotic cars since I moved here(Ferrari's, McLarens, Aston Martins, etc.) similar to when I went to Monte Carlo. There are a lot of rich people in California with disposable incomes.
 
Yeah. I don't have enough trust of computers NOT to have a way to take control if i have to. There have been too many news stories of overly computerized automobiles having issues for me to be comfortable having a machine in charge of my safety while on the road.

Computers assisting me? Sure thing. ABS systems are so much better than even a trained driver in maintaining grip in an emergency braking situation. Stability control? Check. Lot's of good computer aids are out there, but they are just that, AIDS.

If an ABS system crashes, i can still use the brakes. If an ECU goes crazy, i should still be able to shut the engine down. Stability control, meh, if i'm not running the nurbergring, not really a problem if it dies.

But a completely computer controlled car with no ability to take control when needed, bad idea.
 
I always assumed they did have steering wheels. They definitely should have a manual override system. It just has to be thought out so it can't be accidentally triggered. Perhaps there can be two buttons on the steering wheel where your hands go and you need to push both to activate. Basically a momentary switch that gets pressed as you grab the wheel but you don't have to actually hold it. Something simple enough, but not easy to trigger by accident.
 
when did we get 52 states?

Maybe from his viewpoint, puerto rico represents a significant amount of buying population. Purto rico has more american citizens than alaska, north dakota, south dakota, and alaska, combined
 
I never said it was bad, but the reason why it's so high is because of the big time businesses that are in California such as Google themselves.

Meanwhile, the average median income of households puts California at 12th place. They are also the 5th highest State with residents under Welfare and I don't think any of them can afford a self powering car.

I can assure you it wont hurt Google if they couldn't or wouldn't sell in the State of California. Wonder how well guns manufacturers are doing without that mighty economy of California.

California is big, but its the fact about 10-14 other states essentially Xerox California regulations on things like cars. So California's decisions carry the weight of 30% of the Country. With no comparable block to oppose them, they therefore end up deciding what happens to cars for the whole country.
 
Horse and buggy laws. Having a steering wheel in such cars may not make them safer, perhaps even make them more dangerous - the idea is to take out the human factor - or make the passengers more prone to injury - better to put an extra couple airbags there instead imho.

I can't blame Cali for doing this though, it takes a while for regulations to catch up with rapid advances in technology.
 
They need to add those inflatable steering wheels from Demolition Man
 
rather have the inflatable auto pilot from Airplane!
 
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