Yo, Cadillac To Market Self-Driving Car...

[Packy]

Mary "Yogi" Barra, Female CEO of GM, has announced that Cad'Lac will introduce a self-driving model for the 2017 model year. Prolly ought to call it the "Coupe' De Airhead". This will allow people to focus on way more important things going on behind the wheel than driving. I guess you'd be able to text-message, websurf, and devote your attention to the passengers in your car, without watching where you are going, putting on the brakes, trivial stuff like that. Maybe, this technology will ultimately solve the um, impaired driving problem that causes so much harm. But, probably not. This is the company that made the cars with the ignition switch issue. They need to get basic stuff right, first! I'd laugh, but it isn't funny. I used to be a GM Loyalist, but not no more. I'm not THAT dumb. It's on account of the stuff they've done the last 10 years, or so. What do you kids think?

[Spartana]

I saw an article a couple of days ago that said Google has self-driving cars (or at least has it's computer stuff in self driving cars) that they use somewhere in NorCal. Also heard Honda has one coming out next year and I believe Toyota already came out with one last year. Seems to be the wave of the future. I'm not too crazy about it but it may actually be better then it is now where people drive and text (and do a million other things) anyway but have to actually control the car themselves. At least with a self driving car it'll actually stop while you're to busy texting to watch the road, unlike how it is now.

[JaneV2.0]

Frankly, I'm all over this. I don't like driving, but i like going here and there when the mood strikes me, and I like my privacy. This would be even better than an on-demand driver.

[Spartana]

Frankly, I'm all over this. I don't like driving, but i like going here and there when the mood strikes me, and I like my privacy. This would be even better than an on-demand driver.

My plan is to put The Barkinator in the drivers seat and I'll just kick back and nap :-)!

[citrine]

I am looking forward to this....I don't like driving at all! I also like that fact that roads will probably be a bit safer.

[Packy]

My perspective on this is Cadillac's attempt at the auto headlight dimming system, that they first offered in 1952 models. Truth be known, it has still been undergoing development for 60+ years, now; the search for a really good, dependable dimmer system, at a decent cost has gone on ever since. Other carmakers have tried it, too. It has never really gotten mainstream acceptance, though it would be a good thing if it were. I think it has to do with the design complexity, reliability, versatility, and cost. Like the Hybrid cars, I think the auto-pilot will ultimately find its' niche in uses in certain(commercial) applications, such as heavy-duty trucks and buses built to last a million miles or more, traveling mainly on interstate highways, as the antidote for Driver Fatigue and White Line Fever. . But not in grocery-getter, end-consumer cars designed and built to give just 10 years or 200,000 miles of useful service.

[ctg492]

The car I am driving now that got passed to me by hubby(other post) has auto breaking, auto slow down for slow moving cars in lane, lane changing alerts, alert if you waver in lane, close to other cars, curbs back up alerts, Seats that squeeze when you turn (gosh I never knew I could slide out of a seat), alarms for traffic, not to mention all those extra inside features that I have no need for, it even has seat massager features which I thought could put one to sleep!
I felt like I was giving up control over driving when I drove this car yesterday on 696 and 94 in the D and there was so much traffic at rush hour. Safer for driving? I am not really sure. I never had these features before. Hubby has and would never go back to basic, he depends on them. No we have never seen eye to eye on cars. His new one has more, why I wonder.
This is really getting really close to auto driving for a standard car. SO yes I foresee auto driving cars very soon.

One last thought, there is nothing simple living about these features. I felt like I was out of my comfort zone and life style. I went from my 40mpg car with Made in Detroit sticker, my Other car is a Bike, 13.1 to feeling like Here I am and I don't care a bout any of that. Guess don't judge a book by the cover applies here.

[Miss Cellane]

I don't like to drive. It's okay for short trips and to get to work.

But the only decent way to get to my brother's house, 450 miles away, is to drive. The bus take 24 hours, the train gets in at midnight, the plane costs $500, which is just too expensive for a weekend trip (at least for me). So it's 6.5 hours on the road, with two half hour breaks to preserve my sanity. I love Bro and his family; I hate driving to see them.

So if they ever get this technology perfected, I'd love it for long highway trips. Instead of sitting motionless in the car, I could read or crochet or actually see the scenery that's outside the windows. Not concentrate on the idiot in front of me who is constantly changing lanes, or dealing with the person who has decided that the speed limit on the NY Thruway should be 35 mph.

But I'm 55, and I don't expect to see this tech affordable and workable within the next 20 years.

[ctg492]

Miss Cellane, That is exactly how I feel. I need/love/have to see my father now who is hours away also husband is living working 9 hours away in the opposite direction. I thought all the same modes of transportation, car only option. I read all the time of car free living, sounds like a great dream. I can pretty much carry on "my" life car free and have done so for up to one month at a a time in the past. Living in MI winter that is accomplishing a lot I think. But the world is larger then my dot on earth. I wonder about those that totally go car free, do that have loved ones they need or want to see more then once a year? It is all the outside influences that keep me in that car

[Tammy]

Car free people often rent a car for occasional trips out of town.