# Can't Wait for Lawn Mowers with Autopilot



## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Man.... I can't what for them to come up with "Autopilot" for riding lawnmowers

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tesla-driver-falls-asleep-behind-094054587.html

My question is... Why would mommy and daddy buy a $75,000 Tesla, for a 20 year old kid, if there were any warning signs what so ever he had the potential for this level of stupid?

That's exactly why I put the brakes on my kid buying a Hayabusa.... I'd seen the level of stupid he was capable of on a 5HP mini-bike


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## Toolsteel (Aug 1, 2019)

Artificial intelligence will never surpass natural born stupidity!
And most of us older folks have come to find that Common sense is not as common as it used to be.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

I'm starting to think a guy could probably make pretty good living now days as a guide on snipe hunts....


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## Toolsteel (Aug 1, 2019)

Working on my post to advertise my ocean front property in Arizona that I’m putting up for sale.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Is it on the Pacific, or the Gulf side of Arizona?


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

I just don't know what would possess anyone to even think this was something to do!! It's totally illegal and I thought folks knew that. The thought must have been implanted by a desperate car salesman..... 

Oh, by the way, I am looking for water front property.... but I am a George Strait fan for sure!!


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## Toolsteel (Aug 1, 2019)

It would be on the gulf side ,as I am from the south.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

pogobill said:


> I just don't know what would possess anyone to even think this was something to do!! It's totally illegal and I thought folks knew that. The thought must have been implanted by a desperate car salesman.....
> 
> Oh, by the way, I am looking for water front property.... but I am a George Strait fan for sure!!


Couldn't help but notice, the kid was from your side of the border.... Nice to see that stupid belongs to the global community for a change, I was worried we were about to corner the world market down here.


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## Toolsteel (Aug 1, 2019)

For real


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

Hey, just doing our part!


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## andyvh1959 (Jul 1, 2015)

At least an autonomous mower doesn't have to deal with winter driving conditions. I chuckle with trepidation every time I see news or posts about how "great" autonomous cars will be on the highways. But EVERY single time an autonomous car is shown it is always in perfect, clean, sunny, dry weather conditions. Never yet shown in all the driving conditions we really experience, especially up here in the snow belt. That means for up here in Wisconsin, when the real limits of autonomous vehicles require an active driver, that means the driver will be even LESS capable and skilled than the lousy, distracted, non-engaged drivers on the roads now! 

I drive a Dakota 2WD manual tranny V8 pickup in Wisconsin winters and never stuffed it in the ditch or hit anything. But, I know my limits, its limits, and I know how to drift it as well and steer with the throttle.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Drove a snowplow for 7 winters on I-70's West approach to the Eisenhower Tunnel. 4,000 cars an hour headed West (downhill) out of Denver on a Saturday morning as the ski areas were opening for the day. Two most common vehicles crashed, or in the ditch..... Rental cars and 4WD's

Rental cars you expect, not a lot of snow to hone your driving skills in Texas or Georgia. The 4WD's were usually people from the Front Range of Colorado. 4WD's offer great traction for driving in snow, but they don't brake any better than a 2WD. 

You become acutely aware this problem with physics as you're running 40MPH (because of that great traction), downhill, on a snow-covered 6% grade, and come upon a white-knuckle griped Texan in a rental car running 10MPH in your lane


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## andyvh1959 (Jul 1, 2015)

Exactly all that! I actually prefer a manual tranny for winter driving as it gives me more throttle/traction control. My previous Dakota had an automatic tranny, and I'd often need to shift to neutral during stopping. The auto tranny could transmit just enough power to the rear wheels during braking to push the truck in low traction conditions.

I've always said "4WD only gets you in the ditch deeper and faster" in the wrong hands. In my past engineering function I worked on ABS, brakes and drives on Class 8 fire trucks. Got to spend a lot of time on Bosch's winter test tracks in far northern Minnesota. Learned a lot about handling large vehicles in low traction conditions. A real hoot to power drift a 13 speed Roadranger Navistar conventional on the ice track.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

If you want to drive a beast of a 4WD vehicle in snow, try an FWD with a 14' plow, and a 14' wing, loaded with 12 tons of sand, and chained up for "rolling banks"....

Only thing better I could imagine being better is a M1A1 Abrams with a wedge plow


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## andyvh1959 (Jul 1, 2015)

FWD, made in Clintonville WI. Or at least it was. Now all they build in the same plant at Seagrave are fire trucks. Hell of a lot of history in that town of less than 4,000 people in east central Wisconsin. They use to build it all there, including forgings for axles and engines, and machining multi-cylinder engine blocks and cranks.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

We've talked about this before..... You guys made some great plows up there at one time. FWD, Oshkosh

FWD -- Clintonville, *WI*









Oshkosh -- Oshkosh, *WI*









That FWD is pretty much like the one I put 100,000 miles on sometimes when I couldn't see past the end of the hood


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## andyvh1959 (Jul 1, 2015)

It amazes me that people are so willing to allow technology take over in a 3500 lb projectile at 90 feet per second and more! Do these ignorant fools REALLY think the designers and engineers have covered EVERY single possible combination of conditions, traffic, other idiots, and potential conflicts well enough to let whatever happen??

Perhaps its my cynical age showing. Perhaps its 60+ winters of living in Wisconsin. Perhaps its 47+ years of driving in Wisconsin (also with no crashes on my record that I caused). I just cannot accept that every possible inevitability has been planned for with these new autonomous vehicles. Just yesterday, my wife and I were driving 20 miles out of Green Bay to visit her dad. It was snowing fast enough to quickly make a lot of white areas that were green just hours earlier. The roads were wet, not slick though, and I could easily see the lane markings. Then the driver Info Alarm goes off in the 2018 Escape to alert me the front radar system was inactive, likely a light buildup of slush.

Imagine a young driver of limited experience, driving in a Wisconsin winter, letting the car do the driving. Now, I assume an autonomous controlled car drives pretty smooth, no sudden actions. Its probable conditions can go from clear/dry to slushy/wet within a 1/2 hour. If the car is on auto-pilot and the young driver is likely not paying attention, the car could be on the verge of lost traction before the driver even is aware. The driver is not holding the wheel/feeling traction with the gas pedal and steering. Now the car disengages control and the driver must suddenly take over? Not good. Less involvement behind the wheel is not an improvement.

I wonder too; if an autonomous car will automatically pull over if a LEO is behind with the lights on, say for a expired registration tag? Or will the police someday have an over-ride control to cause an autonomous car to pull over if the officers deems it necessary? Nanny state is coming. Someday say, the registration or insurance has expired on your Tesla, and it sends a signal to the DMV. I could see a car not starting if the insurance or registration is not current. You pay the fees and the DMV signals the car that all is good to start. Once again, I'm happy to say I'm not 25 years old. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...happens-when-police-pull-over-driverless-car/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...ur-self-driving-car-will-pull-over-for-police


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

I drove the snowplow for the State in the Winter and drove a tow truck in the Summer. Often the guy that ran the tow company would give me a call to fill in part time in the winter, on my off days. As mentioned previously, this was all on the West Approach to the Eisenhower Tunnel. Huge snowstorms at 10,000' and lots of tourist driving in snow like they've never seen before.

You got me to thinking..... Come up with that gadget that turns off the autopilot. Then cruising the downhill lanes of I-70 in a tow truck with something like that would be a license to print $$$$


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## andyvh1959 (Jul 1, 2015)

I bet there will be some new forms of car-jack/hacking in the near future. Maybe the cops will have a device that shoots out from their cruiser and attaches to the autonomous car and then emits some form of electronics defeating device.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/01/22/2339204/electromagnetic-pulse-gun-to-help-in-police-chases

I like the news report about officers forcing a Tesla to the side of the road by blocking it in and slowing down. I bet that sleepy driver freaked out waking up to an officer rapping on his window after the car was stopped.

How about this; come up with a GPS controlled device, that overtakes control of the vehicle in question, and directs the car to a location the officer loads into the device (like the police station) while locking the doors. The suspect is then *driven* to the police station by the autonomous car while the police follow. Once on the designated site, the police enter a code to shut the car off and unlock the doors. We're probably not far from that already.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Oh man..... That electromagnetic gun would be the ticket if you were "match racing" like on Street Outlaws. You wouldn't even need to put the money into a sleeper like the Farm Truck. Pull up in your 1975 Pinto 4-cylinder and start talking crap to a guy in a Charger Hellcat for a $1,000


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## Groo (Jan 17, 2020)

autonomous vehicles are definitely the future. I suggest people not get CDLs if they ask me because of it. I work with truck mounted equipment, so full atomization is something I definitely keep in the back of my mind.

ps. autonomous lawn mowers already exist. I'm surprised we don't see more of them based on what people are willing to pay to save 15 minutes mowing their lawn by buying a professional grade ZTR.


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## andyvh1959 (Jul 1, 2015)

Oh,....I bet them Street Outlaw fellers would on to you right quick.
Then I wouldn't wanna be around when some 350lb Bubba decides to dance on your head, AND take your car and device.

Yeah, autonomous vehicles are the future, as are electric vehicles. Just that right now too many people are just jumping head 1st into this new technology, including the government, well before they are truly proven. When I see an autonomous car driving in a Wisconsin snow storm as well as an experienced driver I'll believe in them. But until then, I feel autonomous vehicles should have a special license plate or lights, something to identify them, so us experienced drivers know to stay clear of them as much as dumb ass drivers. 

Electric power and better battery technology is coming too. So that means we'll have plenty of gas for our "vintage" vehicles, if we can afford the cost per gallon.


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