Self-Drive cars in today's World

There are several companies that are working on self-drive cars, but Volvo expects to offer the first version to the market in 2016. In road tests it seems to work well, but the adverts suggest that you can get work done while the car takes care of everything else. It is elective. You can choose to let the car drive itself, or you can take it off autopilot and drive as normal.

I think I would have to be very sure of the technology, and I don't think I can get to that place without feeling highly stressed. I have enough problems now when I am firmly in control. I am trying to imagine myself simply sitting behind the wheel intently watching the road ahead and hoping the car will act promptly when the car ahead applies its brakes. Every passenger thinks the driver is crazy. We sit in our little passenger seat pressing down on the floor to apply the virtual brakes, everytime we think the driver should be doing the same, so this will be an increase in the stress.

There is another thing that causes me concern. I think this technology has out-paced the law that demands that drivers conduct themselves with due care and attention. Simply driving with only one hand on the wheel is cause for a fine. Volvo is suggesting you need have no hands on the wheel, and neither is it necessary to pay attention to what the car is doing. Sorry guys, this just does not compute.

There appears also to be at least one flaw: apparently the car does not recognize red lights, and presumably green lights as well. If that is the case we can't do away with the driver just yet. The best that can be said is that this would be a wonderful element to the Volvo driving experience, but we might have to save it for demonstration purposes only, to be shown off-road.

Still, it is a giant step in the right direction because I will welcome the day when we get rid of the drunk driver; the stupid driver; the boy-racer; the overly tired driver; and the simply incompetant driver, among others. People who fall under these headings are responsible for more deaths on the road than anything else combined.

In other words, cars, bikes, trucks, buses are wonderful ways to get around. It's a shame about the people who control them.

Copyright (c) 2015 Eugene Carmichael

When are we responsible at the driving wheel?

A young man had not had slept for almost 24 hours. He got into his car to drive home and along the way he was passing an area where many people were camping. He fell asleep and drove over a tent, killing a sleeping man and sending his wife to hospital for many months.

His lawyer argued in front of a jury that this was not manslaughter but rather, it was a simple and genuine accident, for which the young man should not be held accountable.

Generally, the law holds that when a collision occurs someone is invariably responsible, and this is based upon sound concepts.

If a person is driving when suddenly he is struck by a heart attack, can he be held acountable for any injury or damage caused? Heart attacks usually are indicated by a deterioration in health. We should get the opinion of our doctor when we are not feeling at our best, so that treatment can be prescribed. However, men are terrible at taking ourselves to the doctor on a timely basis. If we have any condition that comes with the warning not to operate machinery, that includes driving.

It might take forensic investigation to be certain, but it is likely such a person could be held responsible for driving in the probable likelihood that he might have a heart attack or stroke due to the state of his health.

If you are driving and you are in perfect health with no warning signs that anything is a problem, but because you inhale some dust you suddenly violently sneeze. As a result you have to close your eyes and you lose control of the vehicle Can you be held responsible for any injury or damage caused?

I think there would be a very good case to make that this situation is the classic description of a true accident. You had no existing condition that suggests a sneeze, like a cold, so there was nothing to indicate that you were in a position of peril. The same could be said of an animal that was not the responsibility of anyone, that suddenly darts into your path. (The collision would not be your fault or that of anyone else.) Even if you are warned that you have entered an area that is active with wild animals, you should slow down and remain alert, but you cannot absolutely avoid the collision if the animal is determined to run into you.

However, in the case of the young man who stayed awake much longer than he should have, as a driver, the jury found him Not Guilty! In doing so I think the jury has said that if you fall asleep while driving, because your body is starved of sleep, it is not your fault if other people are injured or killed. So, no problem. Stay out as long as you want and party to the max, (without alcohol or drugs.)  We understand!

We got your back !

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

 

The Bankruptcy of Volkswagen

It must have been fifty years ago when I watched a black and white television advert that started with the camera focused on a one storey, snow covered building. The announcer asked, "Ever wonder how the man who plows the snow gets to work?" The sound of a Volkswagen Beetle starting its engine was followed by the doors of the garage opening and a VW Beetle drove on out, taking our hero to work to clear the paths for the world to get to our own work.

Simple! Direct! Effective! This is the type of image building that brought us to revere VW.

There are many experts weighing in with their opinions on the effects of excess emissions, and corporate fraud. I am not one of those, I am simply Joe Public, but I too have my opinions and my questions.

Volkswagen has been an iconic brand that earned the world's respect by producing one of the simplest of cars, The Beetle, dubbed The People's Car. It was one of the most reliable cars known to man, and so we bought it. I owned a VW Scirrocco, one of the sweetest cars I have had the pleasure to own in my lifetime. VW cars were always known for German engineering, and that occupied an exalted position in world opinion.

It seems that the VW Board required a diesel engine that would perform well and give extraordinary mileage and meet strict emission standards, but VW engineers apparently were not able to achieve that, so they developed a Defeat Device to make monitoring authorities think their cars were on target.

What worries me is that if VW engineers were not able to develop such capabilities, why would we think that any other engineers suceeded where they failed? Are there also other brands out there that have nothing to do with VW that are cheating?

VW has a choice: fix the problem in full at its own cost, or close up shop permanently. VW is a company that is "too big, and too beloved to simply go out of business permanently." However, it is facing overwhelming costs in terms of worldwide fines and fixes. Added to that are the lawyers who are busy with their class law suits and we can see that VW are facing unknown liabilities in connection with this problem.

As was the case with GM in the U.S., VW will have to bite the bullet to protect itself and declare Chapter 11, (Bankruptcy) to limit the exposure, and it must do so soon.

The effect of VW's actions on owners is that when the recall begins you will have to take your car to authorised dealers and repair shops, get the fix and then drive away in a car that will not perform as well and will drink more fuel. That was not what you bought but that is what you will be left with.

In the fullness of time this scandal will be forgotten, just as the GM affair has settled down. Other than the damage done to the environment owing to your car emitting 40 times more CO2 than was allowed, this was not a safety on the road issue. If it were not for the fact that all affected cars will have to be certified that they have been rectified, a lot of people would not bother with the recall.

We need not panic when it is announced that VW has filed for bankrupty. The old VW will be dead, but Long live VW.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael  

Two Idiots, One day!

Sunday, October 4th, 2015. It was just my luck to be there to spot the idiocy of two drivers.

I had parked my car overnight on a main street that crossed over an avenue, only to awake to find my car sandwiched between streets that had been closed off on account of a cycle race the length of the avenue, which had been made into a loop for the cyclists. No problem for me. All I had to do was make a U turn and drive away from the avenue. Just as I was making my U turn I spotted in my mirror a car carefully threading its way through the barriers and coming my way.

"Where the hell does he think he's going?" The marshall at that end came running after him but her colleague on my end picked up on what was happening. There was no way he was getting through that end. I stopped to watch. Evidently he was telling her that he had to get across the avenue, and she was actually having an argument with this genius to tell him that was not going to happening while the race was taking place. He was evidently insisting, so she called a policeman to convince the moron that he was making a total nuisance of himself.

I left. Such stupidity was making me very uncomfortable thinking that I might one day meet the man coming toward me.

Within forrty-five minutes, perhaps I met his brother. I was moving along a two-lane autovia at 120 kph. I was in the process of overtaking a slower moving car when my brain struggled to process what my eyes were seeing. Coming towards me in my lane, headed for a head-on crash was a car heased the wong way. But, there was not supposed to be a car coming towards me. This put me in a very difficult position. I was alongside the car I was overtaking, there was another car behind him, and now, what to do? Fortunately, the car alongside me had the presence of mind to speed up which allowed me to duck into his place, which must have shocked the hell out of the driver behind me, but the crash had been averted. It was a close thing!

He would have had to repeat that same good luck many times over if he was to make it safely off the wrong-way lane. We call this type of driver a kamikazi with a very serious death wish.

I have tried to see in my mind's eye how on earth he got on the wrong-way lane in the first place. I suppose if there was a place where there were two back-to-back C loops, one for OFF, and one for ON the main road, it is possible that a confused driver might cross over the ON ramp to the OFF if there was absolutely no other traffic around to give a clue. You would have to be very determined to make this kind of mistake.

From my viewpoint, the first thought I had was it must have been my fault. I must have missed the fact that the one-way road I was on had become two-way.  Of particular danger was that the man had put himself in the left lane, or overtaking "fast lane" so the chance that a head-on collision will take place is that much greater, and someone will die.

The implications of this type of error are far reaching. I can only hope that the police take this seriously. If ever I should make such an error I think it would be in my interests to be tested and thoroughly examined to determine whether I should continue to have the privilege of driving. It is simply not enough to apologize and to be able to carry on as though nothing happened.

When the day comes that the steering wheel is taken out of the hands of humans this type of thing is just one of the human errors that will be eliminated, provided that the technology is sound.

copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael