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<DIV><SPAN class=294474406-05022012><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>Yes,
someone that thinks like me. I love the self-driving cars because people are too
distracted on the road any more. Personally, I think when we have fully
automated cars that the death rate of vehicle crashes will drop by 50% or more.
The NFB needs to push to be involved with these developments to make sure the
interfaces are usable by the blind. The driver challenge invites others to join
with us to share technology, but I think we need to do more to join
them.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=294474406-05022012><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=294474406-05022012><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>Please
do not interpret this as the blind driving a car versus the car driving, it is
simply a point of view that gets the other reckless drivers taken care of. When
the car is driving, feel free to text, talk on the phone, surf the web, mediate
the fighting kids in the back seat, or sleep.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=294474406-05022012><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=294474406-05022012><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>Cindy
Sheets. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr lang=en-us class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left><FONT size=2
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> nfbk-bounces@nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfbk-bounces@nfbnet.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Kevin
Pearl<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, February 04, 2012 10:04 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
NFBK<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Nfbk] Self-driving cars: Yes, please! Now,
please!<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<DIV>This is another interesting perspective on self-driving cars written by
Molly Wood, a popular and respected technology journalist.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<H1><FONT face="Times New Roman"><A
href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-57335792-256/self-driving-cars-yes-please-now-please/">Self-driving
cars: Yes, please! Now, please!</A></FONT></H1>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">I love to drive. And yet, I cannot
<I>wait</I> for self-driving </FONT><A
href="http://reviews.cnet.com/car-tech/" section="luke_topic"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">cars</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman">. Question
is: who will bring them to the masses first? And how soon? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">I </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">hear
your comments right now: "I will never let a computer drive me to work, it's
not safe!" "I'm a great driver, it's everyone else who is the problem." "But I
love my BMW/Audi/Mercedes/Hyundai Genesis/Ferrari/Jetta Sportwagen too much to
ever let the car do the driving!" </FONT></DIV>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Let's try to separate the mind from the
machine, because trust me: mainstream adoption of automated cars will help
improve the environment, use less fuel, reduce traffic to virtually zero, save
billions of dollars per year, and most importantly: save a <I>lot</I> of lives
and limbs. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">This is the kind of argument that we in the
geek community inherently understand. Computers are better at certain things
than humans are. They don't get competitive, stressed out, angry, confused, or
drunk--and they are perfectly capable of texting while driving, unlike us.
They can negotiate merges, calculate stopping distance, maintain speed, and
react more quickly than we can. This isn't just about bad driving, although
self-driving cars could solve that problem, too. It's about human
inefficiency, and safety. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Many auto manufacturers agree, and are working
hard to bring autonomous vehicles to the road in one form or another.
</FONT><A
href="http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20122104-48/gm-expect-self-driving-vehicles-by-2020/"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">GM predicts semi-autonomous cars</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> to be available by the middle of the decade, and fully
autonomous vehicles by 2020. Audi </FONT><A
href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398803,00.asp"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">announced its moves toward semi-autonomous drive
mode</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"> at </FONT><A
href="http://ces.cnet.com/" section="luke_topic"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">CES</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"> this year.
BMW's i3 electric city car will include a </FONT><A
href="http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20099475-48/the-driver-is-this-bmws-co-pilot/"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">traffic jam assistant</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> that auto-navigates through traffic jams at slow
speeds, and both BMW and Volkswagen say they're moving toward </FONT><A
href="http://www.technologyreview.com/business/39410/page1/"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">incremental rollouts</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> of semi-autonomous driver-assistance packages, with
some features available now. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Great. I'm all for it. Let's get moving!
Unfortunately, although the technology is getting closer, the world, it seems,
is not. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">At this year's Consumer Electronics Show
gathering in Las Vegas, I and a handful of my tech news colleagues attended a
dinner with several Ford executives, including CEO Alan Mulally. It's clear
that automated vehicles are on the collective mind of the tech world. Mulally
was asked about self-driving cars several times, including by me. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">But each time, even after enduring quite a
long lecture from the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg on the topic of
distracted driving, the affable Mulally said quite firmly that Ford would
<I>not</I> be developing self-driving cars, or even introducing self-driving
mode in vehicles. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">And at a recent symposium held to discuss the
issue, </FONT><A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/technology/googles-autonomous-vehicles-draw-skepticism-at-legal-symposium.html?_r=1&hpw"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">concerns over regulations, liability, insurance, and
safety</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"> seemed to put the brakes on
some of the enthusiasm for the concept. And sadly, O. Kevin Vincent, chief
counsel of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told the
collected experts he thought the public "ought to be petrified" of the idea of
cars driving themselves at high speeds. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">So, fear and politics are likely to slow this
convoy in the short term--but I suspect not for long. There's a growing
drumbeat of support from the geek community for the obvious safety benefits of
autonomous vehicles. Sebastian Thrun, the Stanford University professor who
guides Google's self-driving car project, has been </FONT><A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/sebastian-thrun-self-driving-cars-can-save-lives-and-parking-spaces.html"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">increasingly outspoken</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> about the safety benefits of autonomous cars, and
obviously, the geek community is rallying: Wired magazine just made autonomous
cars its </FONT><A
href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/tag/autonomous-cars/"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">cover story</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"> for
January. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The revolution will come. But how quickly? As
I mentioned, GM, BMW, Audi, and others are pushing for a gradual rollout of
driving assistance technologies, with fully autonomous vehicles not due until
2020 or beyond. Digital Trends this week </FONT><A
href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/destination-home-how-fully-autonomous-driving-might-come-sooner-than-we-think/"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">quotes a Volvo engineer</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> who'd like to see a dramatic shift toward fully
autonomous driving sooner than later. Ford is obviously sitting heavily on the
opposite end of the spectrum, refusing to even have the conversation--at least
publicly. And then, of course, we'll have to fight out the legal issues--and
the emotional ones. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Fear and love of driving are major emotional
barriers for people in terms of accepting the idea of autonomous cars. So let
me propose a dramatic shift that's not a move to a fully autonomous society:
equip every car with autonomous <I>mode</I> by 2015. Give us all the ability
to flip the car into autonomous driving mode as needed, to answer a call or
text, to get a little work done during the morning commute, or to negotiate
bad traffic. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">And here's a controversial idea: combine the
technological advances with mandatory auto-mode zones or drive times, which
will help push consumer and manufacturer adoption. The </FONT><A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_%E2%80%93_Oakland_Bay_Bridge"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">San Francisco Bay Bridge</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.? Auto-mode <I>only</I>.
Cars don't cause traffic, people driving cars cause traffic. Let computers
handle the switch from two lanes to six and then back to two again. Forget
congestion pricing: mandate auto mode in congested areas by 2015, and you'll
definitely get the tech moving. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Autonomous mode in all vehicles doesn't have
to remove all responsibility for driving, and I don't want it to. Technology
can simply take the burden off drivers when it will benefit them, those around
them, and the community at large. And for long, winding back-country roads,
there's always manual mode. Let's be honest: that's the only time driving is
fun anymore anyway. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">About </FONT><A
href="http://www.cnet.com/profile/mollywood/" rel=author><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Molly Wood</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman">
</FONT></P>
<P class=shortBio><FONT face="Times New Roman">Molly Wood is an executive
editor at CNET, host of the Buzz Report, Buzz Out Loud, and Tech Review at
CNET TV, and author of the Molly Rants blog. When she's not enraging fanboys
of all stripes, she can be found offering tech opinions on CBS and elsewhere,
and offering opinions on everything else to anyone who will
listen.</FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>