[Blindtlk] Driverless Cars

Mon Jan 2 19:56:36 UTC 2017

Judy, your "shadow problem" fascinates me. Like I said in my first post, I
am totally blind from birth, which means I have no light perception. And
many visual things have always intrigued me; I will write about those in
another thread.

Anyway, I was talking to my best friend about driverless cars today, and she
enlightened me on how the sense of sight and judgment come into play, in
terms of  driving. When she was taught to drive, they taught her to drive
defensively. This means you always hv to drive as if the person next to you
will do the wrong thing. She also said you have to watch for obstacles and
other cars at the same time, which is why, when I'm in the car, she tells me
she has to stop talking to me and pay attention to the road. How would
defensive driving be incorporated into driverless cars?

All this leads to two questions.

1. Is having light perception the same as being able to drive? Because if
one had light perception (I don't), one would be able to distinguish between
shadows and objects???

2. How would you incorporate light perception into driverless cars that was
as acute as that of sighted people?

From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Judy Jones
via blindtlk
Sent: Monday, January 2, 2017 1:25 PM
To: gwunder at earthlink.net; 'Blind Talk Mailing List' <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Judy Jones <sonshines59 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Driverless Cars

Very good advice; this brings up another question I was wrongly assuming.

I was thinking there might also need to be some kind of interactivity with
the roadways, but now I believe my assumption was false.  That being the
case, a driverless car could perform on any road, but I think these need to
be tested on curvy mountain roads with switchbacks, as well as the wide,
straight highway, dirt roads, etc.

Also, if the driverless capability is inserted in to off-road vehicles, that
will be interesting testing as well; this also may not be the greatest of
comparisons but makes me wonder. Here it is. On sunny days, if one opens our
garage around 1:15 or 1:20 in the afternoon, because of the angle of the
sun, our door will not close, as it thinks it is detecting an object. What
is happening is the sun is hitting in such a way a shadow is thrown across
the sensor eye of the automatic opener. The solution to the problem is
waiting till around ten to two, then the door closes with no problem, as the
angle of the sun is slightly changed. Weird? Yes. Had our house been built
at a slightly different angle, this probably would not be an issue; even
with all our garage activity, we only deal with this two or three times a
year.

Having said all this, is the driverless technology capable of distinguishing
a road shadow or a puddle from an object?  I would like to know how much
testing is actually happening and how much more to go.

Judy

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gary Wunder
via blindtlk
Sent: Monday, January 2, 2017 6:08 AM
To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
Cc: Gary Wunder
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Driverless Cars

Hello, Jen. Let me offer a contrary point of view, one that is more in line
with yours. I have no crystal ball, but the people from Google and other
developers of self-driving cars believe they will be on the road by 2020.
Uber believes they will be on the road very soon. I see all kinds of
scenarios in which it is judged that the computer will be less responsive
than the human being, and I find myself surprised by this. Certainly there
are plenty of scenarios to test for, but once you teach the computer, it
will not forget, become distracted, or decide that driving is monotonous and
that it should put its resources elsewhere. Why do we assume that a human
being will be more perceptive about a child running out into the street than
a computer which is constantly on watch for such things?

I am delighted to be a human being and thank God for the complexity of the
brain He has given me. Still, I think it is traditional for human beings to
question what makes us unique from other animals and now even unique from
machines. We are perfectly willing to concede that a machine can do faster
calculations than we can do and do them with more accuracy. We are willing
to concede that they do not get bored. Still, we cling to the belief that it
is we who can deal with more complex situations and that our innate
reverence for human life will make us better drivers. I think we must wait
for the future to determine this, for it is not our reverence for human life
that is in question but our ability to pay attention to small details and
have ways to react to the unexpected.

I do not know whether at sixty-one I will ever have the opportunity to own
or operate a self-driving vehicle. What I do know is that having one will
increase my independence. With a self-driving vehicle I will determine how
early to start out for an appointment and when I want to leave it. With uber
and other ride services, I have more control than I once did, but I can tell
you that there have been far too many times in my life when I was made late
by a family member who did not see the same urgency to get to a family
reunion as I did or who wanted to leave earlier than I did.

Bryan Schulz is right when he says that we are going to have to have a
number of laws changed in order to have this technology accepted. when an
accident happens, we want somebody to blame. It is our nature to have to
find fault. So, if it can be determined that a self-driving car caused an
accident or could have reasonably avoided one that a human would have, who
pays? I take Solis in the fact that insurance companies are one of the
driving forces behind the development of autonomous vehicles; they believe
that machines will eventually be safer drivers than humans. 

So, Jen, at the risk of giving you false hope, which I was given when I was
sixteen years old, there may indeed be hope that one day you will be able to
own your own vehicle, go when you want to go and where you want to go, and
the presence of that very vehicle may allow you to get to and from
employment that is physically impossible now. Don't hold your breath; don't
forfeit other training available to you; don't pass up opportunities now on
the chance that something big will change in the near future. The only thing
I suggest is that you keep an open mind and that you follow the
technological developments as they appear in the mainstream press. Like
hawks we follow those things in the news that disturb us; let us at least be
as diligent in following those things that may make our lives better. 

Warmly,

Gary

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jen via
blindtlk
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2017 3:22 PM
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Jen
Subject: [Blindtlk] Driverless Cars

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year!

What is your opinion of driver-less cars? Personally, I can't wait for their
arrival on the road! I'm totally blind from birth and would like the chance
to drive, just to feel what it feels like. My best friend, who happens to be
sighted, feels otherwise though.

How about you?

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