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The problem we will encounter with self driving cars is that while they will make less mistakes than humans, they will make different mistakes. Humans will con
by dangero 7mo ago
The problem we will encounter with self driving cars is that while they will make less mistakes than humans, they will make different mistakes.
Humans will continue to have a hard time accepting this tradeoff.
I live in LA where Waymos are now on every street. My experience is that they don’t respect human courtesy, so for example if I need to cross a lane of busy traffic, a human may brake as a courtesy to let me through. Waymos have fucked me over where a human probably would have shown some level of community and empathy.
- NewJazz 7mo agoHumans will continue to have a hard time accepting this tradeoff. Are you asserting that humans should accept these, currently not fully known, tradeoffs?
- fragmede 7mo agoWaymo's are not about to run a person or bicyclist over. Just walk in front of them and they'll stop for you to cross. You can always start livestreaming if you don't believe it, the insurance payout would be amazing. (Subject to the laws of physics, naturally.) Source: Haven't been run over yet by one, and I live in one of their current markets.
- macintux 7mo agoGood luck making eye contact with the Waymo to gain confidence that it sees you.
- rogerrogerr 7mo agoDo you want them to put googley eyes on it? If you can see it, it can see you. Pretty simple. Eye contact matters for humans because they might be looking at their phones, or their McDonald's fries, or staring straight into the sun. None of these things happen with self-driving cars. It's a non-issue.
- NewJazz 7mo agoThat would actually be great. Some kind of eye brow raise, a gesture, any recognition/indication that it perceives a life to preserve.
- bsder 7mo agoErm, have you ever taken a Waymo and watched the detection screen? If you can see it, it sees you. Period. I guarantee it. It can see and gives special priority to humans. I have watched it mark people at night that I couldn't see at all. Doing weird shit on the road? Certainly possible. Missing seeing a human? Definitely not happening.
- 1718627440 7mo ago
- SlinkyOnStairs 7mo ago> Waymo's are not about to run a person or bicyclist over. This has only introduced more novel problems. People can completely immobilize the vehicles by standing in front of them, or placing a traffic cone. (And while this is kind of funny when done to unused vehicles to bother a multi-trillion dollar corporation. It is not funny when it's done to harass women.) This in turn spirals into a whole new set of political problems, because drivers are collectively quite intolerant of the pedestrians and especially cyclists they share the road with. There is a lot of pedestrian and cyclist behaviour that is curtailed by motorist bullying, which autonomous cars don't really do. (Your walking in front of them being a fine example) Things like cyclists "taking the lane" are deeply unpopular despite being entirely legal and good road safety practice. Increased rollout of AVs will only make this more prevalent and then you'll have a whole new demographic of angry people mad that their waymo is slow because it's behind a cyclist.
- patrick451 7mo ago[flagged]
- NewJazz 7mo agoYeah, the last thing american roads need is vigilante "justice". Like drivers, not all that you see are bad. Although it is very easy to spot and fixate on the bad ones.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- fennecbutt 7mo ago>People can completely immobilize the vehicles by standing in front of them This is true of any vehicle lmao. Someone can stand in front of your vehicle and prevent you from proceeding and there's not a thing you can do about it.
- AngryData 7mo agoWith an angry human behind the wheel you can't be assured they won't hit you on purpose or even accidentally clip you swerving around you. With a robot car designed to maximize safety, you don't really have to worry. Even if they started making robot taxis drive like assholes, the maximum payout for suing a robo taxi company for getting hit is WAY higher than some rando on the road. The guy you pissed off and ran you over for standing in the road might have just got out from a 15 year prison sentence, hates the world, and have a net worth of -$70,000, and isn't going to earn you anything besides a life long injury.
- steve-atx-7600 7mo agoYou can’t expect someone to not be afraid of an autonomous vehicle that appears to be acting irrationally.
- ibejoeb 7mo agoThat courtesy is almost always bad practice and is generally unlawful. You must yield right of way to a pedestrian at a legal crossing, but california has codes that prohibit impeding normal traffic flow, including stopping in the street to wave across a pedestrian where there is no such crossing. It's especially dangerous on multi-lane roads because the stopped vehicle can blind the pedestrian to other traffic.
- rfrey 7mo agoIn many places, traffic would not function if drivers did not e.g. make space for other drivers to change lanes. It's an extraordinary claim to say such behaviour is bad practice (or even illegal??)
- ibejoeb 7mo agoIn that context, yes, there are certainly cases where making space is reasonable and legal, like stopping shy of side intersection while (traffic is stopped) to allow a turn. Stopping or altering traffic isn't, though. You shouldn't stop at a green to allow another driver to maneuver for all the same reasons.
- dangero 7mo agoImagine a street where cars are moving at 2mph because of traffic. Cars can never cross unless someone yields
- noduerme 7mo agoI think the comment you're responding to was referring to needing to cross a backed up lane of traffic in their car, not on foot.
- ibejoeb 7mo agoSure, there are valid scenarios. LA certainly has some terrible and legal vehicle crossings. (The fast, windy portion of beverly ranks.) I agree that it's hard to navigate without some cooperation. It's just that almost all of the crashes I've witnessed involved someone giving a bad go-ahead.
- KennyBlanken 7mo ago> The problem we will encounter with self driving cars is that while they will make less mistakes than humans This is only true for certain self-driving cars. Tesla and Uber are among the worst, and are far worse than human drivers. Something like 10x, I believe, in terms of miles driven?
- kyleee 7mo agoMaybe there is a new product for a little robot on a leash that you send out into traffic and any autonomous vehicles will stop, and then you can proceed safely.