The self-registration option is disabled, but you can still register for an account. To find out how, read the "General Info" announcement which you can find at the top of every sub-forum.
Gossip, rumours, and random thoughts. Imagine 1000+ people sitting around a campfire: planters, foremen, owners, and foresters. Add kegs. Now imagine the chaos.
Self-driving Fords that have no steering wheels, brake or gas pedals will be in mass production within five years, the company said Tuesday.
These cars will be very different from the current models of self-driving cars that Ford and other companies are now testing. Those vehicles still have space for drivers, who are expected to take control of the cars in case problems arise. Ford says its goal is to have true self-driving cars in which everyone inside is a true passenger.
Other major automakers including General Motors (GM), Volkswagen (VLKAY), BMW and Nissan have set targets to have some form of self-driving cars available within five years, said Karl Brauer, analyst with Kelley Blue Book. But Ford's goal is far more aggressive since it's targeting a car that people will have no role in driving.
"The other companies don't specify amount of self-driving they're promising. That's what's impressive here," said Brauer.
Ford (F) said it anticipates the self-driving cars will initially be used for ride-sharing or ride-hailing services. And it said that the push to develop self-driving cars is the most important issue not just for the company but for the country as a whole.
"The next decade will be defined by automation of the automobile, and we see autonomous vehicles as having as significant an impact on society as Ford's moving assembly line did 100 years ago," said CEO Mark Fields. "We're dedicated to putting on the road an autonomous vehicle that can improve safety and solve social and environmental challenges for millions of people -- not just those who can afford luxury vehicles."
Self-driving cars have received some negative publicity recently, after several car accidents involving Tesla models that were in "autopilot" mode, including one fatality. Tesla's autopilot feature allows the car to handle standard braking, accelerating and steering while on highways, but Tesla still recommends that drivers stay alert and prepared to take control of the car.
But many advocates of self-driving cars, including those at Google (GOOGL, Tech30), argue that a true self-driving car that doesn't even give a human passenger the option to drive will ultimately be safer, since computers can be better drivers than humans. There were more than 35,000 traffic fatalities in the United States last year, and 94% of those accidents were caused by human error, according to federal safety regulators.
Ford (F) has about 10 self-driving Fusion Hybrid sedans that it is testing on roads in California, Arizona and Michigan, and by the end of 2018 it expects to have a fleet of about 90.
Earlier in the day Tuesday Ford said it's teaming with Chinese search engine Baidu (BIDU, Tech30) to invest $150 million in a maker of laser sensors used by self-driving cars, and that it will double the staff of its self-driving car research center in Palo Alto, Calif.
Want to prove you're a better driver than your friends? There's a growing list of apps to do just that.
These apps look at information collected from a smartphone's GPS, accelerometer and gyroscope to sense if you brake or accelerate sharply, determine how fast you drive, and whether you make jerky turns.
Not surprisingly, insurance companies have an increased interest in obtaining the data collected on drivers' smartphones. The information will be used to understand what type of driver you are, and the companies say your rates won't go up as a result.
In fact, U.S. -based insurers such as Progressive (PGR), Liberty Mutual, Allstate (ALL) and State Farm offer programs for drivers to receive a car insurance discount for submitting such information.
That's because insurance companies believe smartphone data can be a remarkably effective predictor or how likely someone is to be in a crash.
Progressive has analyzed 15 billion miles of its driver data and found that smartphone data is more than twice as predictive as traditional insurance rating variables.
"It changes the whole way insurance works," said Anton Ossip, the chief executive of South African company Discovery Insure.
Ossip considers smartphone apps as the biggest innovation the insurance industry has seen in a decade.
Previously, insurance companies had to rely on a driver's gender, age and location to determine their risk of being in a crash. Now, access to whether or not you regularly slam the brakes is something that can help predict how safe a driver you are.
Drivers who regularly brake hard are likely struggling to anticipate what lies ahead, making them more at risk for a mishap. These insurance companies consider how a driver brakes along with many other factors to determine what to charge them.
People are rewarded for handing over their smartphone data with lower rates. Some also believe the concept encourages good driving behavior.
"Safe drivers are made, not born," said Hari Balakrishnan, founder of Cambridge Mobile Telematics. " With the right kind of information, feedback, incentives, rewards and games with leaderboards, people can actually become better drivers."
Balakrishnan, who is also a professor at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, has spent five years looking at what smartphone data tells us about drivers. His company has active programs in over 14 countries and works with multiple insurance companies.
The typical State Farm customer who signs up for its Drive Safe & Save program receives up to a 15% discount.
"Even if you're the worst driver in the world, you're still going to get a minimal discount," Scott Bruns, State Farm's property and casualty actuarial director, told CNNMoney.
Meanwhile, Nationwide's SmartRide program gives drivers a 10% discount for signing up, with the possibility of getting an additional 30% off their bill depending on their habits.
According to some of the companies, smartphone users who track their habits on the road tend to ultimately improve their driving.
Those who use EverQuote's Everdrive app -- which rates drivers on five factors: phone use, speeding, accelerating, cornering and braking -- show a 31% improvement after using the app, according to the company. The data comes from 25,000 drivers, with over 30 million miles tracked, who used the Everdrive app during a four-month period.
In addition, Discovery Insure has found driver quality improves by 17% in the first six months after signing up for its program.
While the improvements haven't surfaced yet in publicly available crash reports, safety advocates see the promise of what these apps offer.
"While they are not a magic bullet, we are supportive of their use," said Jonathan Adkins, executive director of Governors Highway Safety Association. "It's very difficult to reach drivers and change behavior so we're in favor of the kitchen sink approach -- anything and everything."