They're here:

[zebonaut]

[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. As if cabbies didn't have enough of a battle with Ubber.

[PatrynXX]

3. I'd prefer this over Uber rapists n/t

[demwing]

4. Over any kind of rapists, right?

was there a story about someone getting raped due to Uber?

[MADem]

5. This likely isn't going to compete with cabbies.

This requires a huge expenditure of funds. And you still have to find a place to park the darn thing. If I'm in a hotel in NYC and I want to go uptown, I'm not going to go to my overpriced parking spot and hop in my Google car and then try to find a place to park when I reach my destination, I'm going to hail a cab.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. What happens when you hail the cab and find there's no driver?

[byronius]

7. Or this --

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. Ever notice things in scifi movies always explode like they have a gas tank?

[SoapBox]

16. Sue me dickhead!

Sorry but,

[MADem]

9. I think we're a ways from that paradigm. One day, perhaps.

I think, to start, that all passengers will have to be "known" quantities to the owners of the vehicle in order for that to work. It wouldn't be a Big Wave to pull the cab over, one would have to dial into the company and the company would send a vehicle to your location based on finding your cellphone or a transponder, or something on those lines. You'd have to give up a tremendous amount of privacy to a provider in order to make that work.

Right now, you can hand the driver cash, say keep the change, and go on your merry way. You don't know the cabbie's name unless you carefully scrutinize his credentials (not easy in the still of the night), he doesn't know yours unless you volunteer to pay with a card. His knowledge of you is limited to that which might be picked up on a lipstick camera if s/he has such a thing installed. Without a driver, there's going to have to be a process that identifies the passenger by name--a credit card, a "cab" account, some mechanism that pays the taxi company. I suppose they could put in a cash reader, but that would encourage bad people to direct the cabs to a dark alley, have someone block the thing in, and break into the cashbox. I think they'd rather find another way to make the transaction.

Eventually, we might have self-driving buses, too. We're already close to self-driving big rig trucks. Planes pretty much fly themselves for a good portion of the flight. You'll always have people who need assistance, that's the sort of folks I drive on occasion (I help out old people -- or should I say, oldER people--with errands and so forth--it's my good deed). Driving is going to be one of those jobs, like "ash man" (poor, strong bastards who hauled coal ash by the great big heavy barrel full when furnaces were cleaned out) or "street cleaner" (a critical chore, given the horse poop that was everywhere on city streets) that goes by the wayside eventually, and is done "for fun" by people who find it relaxing--rather like horse back riding. Once upon a time, everyone who wanted mobility needed to be able to handle a horse, either hooked up to a carriage or up in the saddle. Nowadays, very few people have that skill. Times change. Progress marches on!

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

10. I think the price could be calculated from the computer

knowing the routes, traffic delays, and mileage - so possibly the money (or value debits) could be extracted up front. Plus, no need to know the cabbies name, because there wouldn't really be one. No tipping required either. In the best scenario, money would be debited automatically via information in a chip implanted under your eyebrow or behind your ear. The law states these chips cannot be implanted below the waist.

Or not....

[MADem]

11. The cabbie's name isn't an issue--it's YOUR name that is taken down.

In the current system, you can know your cabbie's name by looking at his or her credentials.

That cabbie doesn't need to know YOUR name, though, if you pay cash.

That 'chip' stuff is funny, but it has gotten FDA approval and I've read about a few places where they're doing it....ewwww!

http://www.cnet.com/news/swedish-office-gets-under-employees-skin-with-rfid-microchips/

Swedish office gets under employees' skin with RFID microchips
Forget your office door key? Can't remember the code for the photocopier? No need to worry if you happen to have a microchip implanted in your hand.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6237364/ns/health-health_care/t/fda-approves-computer-chip-humans/#.VVZyU_lViko

FDA approves computer chip for humans

[zebonaut]

12. Whats a Cabbie?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

17. Someone who doesn't notice black people.

[PADemD]

2. New freedom for seniors who have given up driving due to

failing eyesight and other physical limitations, like after shoulder surgery.

No more asking your children to take off of work to drive you to a doctor appointment or food shopping.

No more confused seniors driving the wrong way on a highway.

There are rural areas in this country with no cab service.

[In_The_Wind]

13. It's going to wonderful if you can afford it.

[1monster]

14. So, will there still have to be a licensed driver in the car?

And how will parents keep the kids from figuring out how to program it and go down to the candy store in the middle of the night?

[Kablooie]

18. I'll bet they are really bad at playing chicken though.

[hunter]

21. They don't drive drunk or sleepy either.

Or shoot at one another in road rage or gang conflicts.

[marble falls]

19. Because what could go wrong?

[hunter]

20. I will be happy when the age of the personal automobile is over.

Personal automobiles do not in any way equal "freedom."

[whereisjustice]

22. With modest infrastructure investment, self driving vehicles

can be made safe and efficient and minimize traffic jams. A simple system of sensors would greatly reduce the obvious problem of software not being able to predict trouble that it hasn't been programmed to respond to.

But this would take some national investment that doesn't involve military spending or sending jobs to Asia, something with both Democratic and Republican Parties are loath to advocate.

Unlike TPP and war.

[RBInMaine]

23. What does it run on? Electric?