* * * * *
                                        
    As long as the trucks aren't named Christine, we should be fine, right?
                                        
This past Sunday, Bunny and I were talking to my friend Tom Lanahan (the
friend that invited me for a little train ride [1]) about self-driving
vehicles when I mentioned the tests that are underway in Nevada [2] involving
self-driving trucks. Tom was skeptical it would ever come to that, if only
due to liability and felt that we were still years away from it happening.

Yeah … 

> The first autonomous vehicles to hit US highways will not be Google or
> Apple cars, but self-driving trucks – and they will be riding roads in
> Florida [3] by the end of the year.
> 
> The self-driving construction vehicles, fitted with special rear-end crash
> barriers and lights, have been successfully demonstrated, driving using GPS
> waypoints and following a lead car, mimicking its path, braking and speed.
> 
> The specialised crash trucks are fitted with large signs to warn road users
> of the presence of workers and are used to protect construction crews
> resurfacing roads, painting lines, inspecting bridges or installing traffic
> signals.
> 

Via Bob Anstett on FaceGoogleMyTwitterPlusSpaceBook, “Self-driving ‘crash’
trucks to hit Florida highways this year | Technology | The Guardian [4]”

… it's a thing.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/1Phlog:2015/08/05
[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-
[3] http://www.theguardian.com/us-
[4] http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/26/self

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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