UK government says motorists will be allowed to watch TV in self-driving vehicles
- Reference: 1650529809
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/04/21/uk_self_driving_highway_code/
- Source link:
In a moment history may judge as legislative hubris, [1]the Department for Transport (DfT) said the modifications would include "allowing drivers to view content that is not related to driving on built-in display screens, while the self-driving vehicle is in control."
However, somewhat counterintuitively, the Department added it would "still be illegal to use mobile phones in self-driving mode, given the greater risk they pose in distracting drivers as shown in research."
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The government said the proposed adjustments to the Highway Code would clarify drivers' responsibilities in self-driving vehicles.
[3]
[4]
"The changes to the code will help ensure the first wave of technology will be used safely, explaining clearly that while travelling in self-driving mode, motorists must be ready to resume control in a timely way if they are prompted to – such as when they approach motorway exits," the department said.
Self-driving vehicles, it added, could create around 38,000 new, high-skilled jobs within Britain's industry that would be worth £41.7 billion by 2035.
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Meanwhile, the DfT said it is developing a full legal framework for self-driving vehicles to enable the safer and greener movement of people and goods in the UK. The department will also work with industry, regulators, and safety organizations to ensure drivers can access information, including online, to help them use vehicles safely.
While large parts of the [6]M20 have become a lorry park owing to a combination of computer glitches, lack of border staff, and Brexit red tape, the government has launched the new proposals under the heading "Britain moves closer to a self-driving revolution".
[7]Elon Musk buys 9.2% of Twitter, sends share price to the Moon
[8]Tesla employee: I was fired after sharing video of self-driving car crash
[9]Driver in Uber's self-driving car death goes on trial, says she feels 'betrayed'
[10]Driverless car first: Chinese biz recalls faulty AI
Transport minister Trudy Harrison said: "This is a major milestone in our safe introduction of self-driving vehicles, which will revolutionise the way we travel, making our future journeys greener, safer and more reliable."
Meanwhile, the actual arrival of self-driving cars on the UK roads seems further off following statements from electric vehicle messiah Elon Musk. Despite predicting five years ago that fully self-driving cars were just around the corner, they remain stuck in the garage.
In a [11]recent TED interview , the Tesla CEO explained that full self-driving had been "particularly hard to solve," comparing progress to a logarithmic curve that approaches – but never quite reaches – the line.
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"There are just so many false dawns with self-driving, where you think you think you've got a handle on the problem, and then, nope, it turns out you just hit a ceiling," he said.
"In retrospect, [it] seems obvious, but in order to solve full self-driving properly, you actually just have to solve real-world AI."
Musk went on to explain that road networks were designed to work with a "biological neural net" – more commonly known as a human brain, the product of hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
"In order to make [full self-driving] work with computers, you basically need to solve real-world AI and vision," he said.
Musk then told the TED interviewer he is "confident" that Tesla will solve the problem this year, at least to the extent that self-driving cars will cause fewer accidents than the average person. Whether that is acceptable enough for their introduction is another debate.
So if Musk's track record is anything to go by, UK drivers may have to wait years before they can enjoy the season climax of Bridgerton while jammed in a narrow Cornish lane after passing a hand-written sign saying "do not follow your satnav!" at the turn-off. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britain-moves-closer-to-a-self-driving-revolution
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YmErVckEZ6bE3eRW0VQpFAAAAUs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/08/after_minimum_viable_product_rollout/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/04/elon_musk_twitter/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/21/in_brief_ai/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/14/in_brief_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/10/driverless_car_first_chinese_company/
[11] https://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_elon_musk_talks_twitter_tesla_and_how_his_brain_works_live_at_ted2022
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YmErVckEZ6bE3eRW0VQpFAAAAUs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Too early.
"In order to make [full self-driving] work with computers, you basically need to solve real-world AI and vision," he said.
most places haven't solved self driving vehicles in controlled environments on rails so free flowing roads will naturally require a lot more effort.
on anther front i see that Merc's EQS line has an 8 core cpu with 24GB RAM i assume largely to run the autonomous driving and safety features,
that's a lot of resource & fully autonomous will require more still.
I don't think any current implementation can do fully autonomous, perhaps in 10 years there will be more but still limited autonomy.
My fear is that the autonomous car, Green & safety lobby groups will combine to force slowing traffic to levels where AI car mistakes will cause less damage, meaning the rest of us will endure slower journeys & more congestion while paying for that privilege in time and stress.
Re: Too early.
Merc's EQS line has an 8 core cpu with 24GB RAM i assume largely to run the autonomous driving and
safety features, that's a lot of resource & fully autonomous will require more still.
Make me wonder what the power consumption would be for all of the tech necessary to support this self-driving stuff, and what the impact will be on the vehicle's battery. A a driver would you need to consider having a range of
Step #1, define your terms
> drivers' responsibilities in self-driving vehicles
ISTM the first thing that needs to happen is to work out who or what, the driver actually is.
Re: Step #1, define your terms
The statement yesterday basically said that the human behind the wheel would not be responsible for a self-driving accident ( https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2022/04/uk-users-of-self-driving-cars-will-not-be-held-responsible-for-crashes/ ) that IMHO infers that the entity in control of the car at the time is the driver.
In any case this would assume the driver is not distracted (from being asleep whilst watching the latest Brian Cox documentary in HD on the in-car-entertainment-system) by interacting with a mobile phone ... Sorry but "bunch of " and "muppets" should be used for whoever thinks that concoction of rules is a good idea.
create around 38,000 new, high-skilled jobs within Britain's industry that would be worth £41.7 billion
Give me one, just one, example of a "high skilled job" that self driving will create.
You can work on the other 37,999 later.
I thought the same thing, we're not building the tech or cars here after all.
Unless they mean adjustments to existing jobs i.e. those building 'smart' motorways will now build something else. Kind of like the '40 new hospitals' thing.
Give me one, just one, example of a "high skilled job" that self driving will create.
Based on some of the results so far, I'd suggest trauma surgeon
PR hack to spread the bullshit?
They'd want to be "highly skilled" in order to get anyone to think this is a good idea.
This is a distraction, not a solution
Road danger, congestion, pollution and cost are the real, current problems that need addressing urgently, but 'Oh look, shiny electric self-driving cars for everybody soon.'
There won't be, but in the meantime the repeated myth makes it easier for the government and local councils to postpone the difficult decisions they know they need to take in order to bring about meaningful transport improvements.
Power cuts for the plebs
This technology relies on the masses in the world being too poor to ever own a car.
That is also the only possible soluton to the climate catastrophe happening now.
The TV watching thing is surreal but we have leant to accrpt the worst from the corrupt elite conning us for money.
too poor to ever own a car.
If the poor are too poor to afford a car, how will they be able to get to work and generate the wealth for everyone else? Cars are expensive, but not as expensive as public transport.
a human brain, the product of hundreds of millions of years of evolution
which has brought us to the level where idiots like transport minister Trudy Harrison make stupid decisions like this one. Or are given responsibilities like that at all.
And supposed geniuses like Elon Musk can say things like "Oh, it turned out that building actual AI was difficult when I thought it was easy, because I hadn't thought it through properly, but I think I can solve that in a year, because I've like totally learnt that lesson now".
"In a moment history may judge as legislative hubris"
Hubris is SOP for this government.
"to the extent that self-driving cars will cause fewer accidents than the average person"
The average person? Or the average of all drivers where all includes learners and the inexperienced, just passed the test drivers. It also includes the over-confident numpty, the drunk and/or drugged and the over-tired who should have taken a break. Is this a good average to aspire to?
Even so, if you take whatever estimates you can find for number of vehicles on UK roads, average number of miles per vehicle and the number of fatalities you'll find that the number of miles to drive per fatality by the average driver is still a pretty high target to meet.
Symphorophilia as policy
Okay, drivers can watch movies but only certain movies. I nominate [1]Crash , the Cronenberg movie based on the JG Ballard novel.
"Have you noticed how many more cars are on the road since our crash?"
Anecdote: I was banned by every British car rental company the year that came out, after 13 crashes in a year doing 100,000 work miles. I woke up with a throbbing head one morning and had to phone friends to help me find my car so I could drive it home. They found it wrecked while coming to get me. "Danny, you drove through a road sign"..."Danny, you drove through a wall"..."Danny, you drove through a tree".
Back then I had a strategy to speed past speed cameras by overtaking lorries that a speed cop complimented me for, nowadays I have a strategy to slow down by pulling over and letting people overtake me. The change was when another driver caused a crash and I realised I was not as in control as I'd assumed.
I guess I'm an argument for self-driving cars but I'm also a software engineer. If every car was a self-driving car then it might work, but a mix of self-driving and human drivers spells crash.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(1996_film)
They'll throw out any old bullshit right now to distract from the utter shithousery they're inflicting on the people of the UK.
you actually just have to solve real-world AI
The word "just" is working very hard in that sentence