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Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

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Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#61

Post by TY »

Reading this article, brought back memories of this 1986 film about trucks going homicidal that Stephen King's directed himself:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091499/

Looked ridiculous back then, does not seem so any more.

Imagine a new class of malware that turns our vehicles into weapons for criminal and terrorism purposes. Imagine this conversation in a sitcom about near future:

Honey, did you update antivirus on the car? Some script kiddie just destroyed our neighbours car - thankfully they weren't in it...

Yeah, I know it won't really work this way - OTA updates and etc, but try to picture this from the layman perspective.

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#62

Post by pfortuny »

jhall1468 wrote: post #58
pfortuny wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not taking into account the risk of trouble (non-negligible)... Driving includes solving problems like lack of oil, crashes, etc...

Crashes don't matter very much, since a human vs a machine isn't going to change anything in that regard. Let's assume lack of oil implies mechanical issues (since... you know, fill it with oil before it leaves). In that case it's vastly cheaper to dispatch a mechanic when a problem arises then it is to have a fleet of drivers sitting in a vehicle.

Crashes in the sense of having to deal with the other driver, insurance, police, moving the vehicle away from the road... Those things that are easy for a human to do.

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#63

Post by true_religion »

lgieron wrote: post #33

Who goes to jail when the self-driving truck kills someone?

Why must someone go to prison? If the vehicle is operating normally and regulation allows it to operate without a driver in command, then there is no crime.

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#64

Post by jhall1468 »

lgieron wrote: post #44
brixon wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

same as a self driving car

How does it work for self-driving cars then? In case of regular cars, you go to jail for vehicular manslaughter when you brake the traffic laws and in effect kill someone. My guess is that, if the driver of a self-driving car decides to press the "auto drive" button and the car violates traffic laws and kills someone, it's still the driver who's responsible. The self-driving features are not deemed safe by law and ar…

> In case of regular cars, you go to jail for vehicular manslaughter when you brake the traffic laws and in effect kill someone.

But the truck won't do that. Break the law, that is. Unlike humans, its knowledge of traffic laws will be complete. It won't "break the law" in the sense that you are using the phrase.

However, there are other ethical/moral issues (do we program a car to kill 1 person if it saves 3?).

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#65

Post by ttcbj »

cheriot wrote: post #15

Sending a truck down an interstate for 20 hours has to be the lowest hanging fruit for self driving vehicles. When was the last time an entire category of jobs became obsolete fast enough that laid off employees blamed the technology? When long haul truckers are out of work, how will municipal bus driver unions react?

It does, and I wondered why Google hadn't targeted it first. Its simpler,and there is a compelling business case.

I wonder if their decision was driven by political savvy - self driving cars help the blind/elderly, and automate work most people are glad to see automated. Self-driving trucks are going to have a major employment impact which will likely draw political resistance.

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#66

Post by lutefisk »

Loughla wrote: post #51
PunchTornado wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

by acting rational and find another job

That is so flippant and just the most immature thing. As an under 30 year old, highly educated individual, yep - just get another job. Move somewhere across country if you need to; you don't have kids or a mortgage. As a specialized veteran of a job that requires very few transferable skills, truck drivers are fucked initially, and we'll see massive unemployment from this. In many cases, the areas with high ratios of…

What about stagecoach drivers? Bread makers? Blacksmiths? Switchboard operator? What did all these people do when their services were no longer necessary / greatly diminished?

It's not like by Friday automated trucking will take over. You know it's coming, and if you don't start learning new skills or look for new work, then you're just ignorant to technology and will be out of a job.

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#67

Post by vonmoltke »

true_religion wrote: post #59
toyg wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Robberies should be question #1.

An autonomous vehicle can be designed not to be hijacked. Simply remove all user controls, or lock them unless an authorized user is sitting in the seat. If the vehicle stops for an 'emergency' reason, notify someone in central command immediately. At that point they can monitor the situation. If the vehicle is stopped under an emergency, and notices that its door panels are being broken into, then it can notify cent…

Except for "remove all user controls", those are all things that can be done on a non-autonomous truck.

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#68

Post by vonmoltke »

wrsh07 wrote: post #49
amelius wrote: post #36

> Otto isn't alone in trying to automate big rigs. Daimler and Volvo Trucks have both demonstrated self-driving systems in recent months, but Levandowski doesn't sound worried about those efforts. "I think the trucking folks are doing a great job, and eventually they would probably solve the problem. But a company that is used to building trucks is not well structured to solve a technology problem," he says. As oppos…

As opposed to a company with top of the line machine learning systems.

A company with top of the line machine learning systems designed to improve advertising results is not better positioned to build an autonomous vehicle than a company with top of the line non-autonomous vehicles.

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#69

Post by csours »

BooneJS wrote: post #23
cheriot wrote: post #15

Sending a truck down an interstate for 20 hours has to be the lowest hanging fruit for self driving vehicles. When was the last time an entire category of jobs became obsolete fast enough that laid off employees blamed the technology? When long haul truckers are out of work, how will municipal bus driver unions react?

Municipal bus drivers aren't cruising the interstate. They've got a bit of time.

Anyone care to back up their downvotes of Boone? Municipal and OTR driving are completely different beasts.

Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

#70

Post by exhilaration »

spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #13
zipfle wrote: post #11

OT, but can someone explain why this won't instantly be sued into oblivion by the former employers? It seems like some of the Otto team will be using knowledge they gained at their last job on what seems like a competing product.

Depends CA is quite liberal in terms of non competes and I suspect they woudl argue that self driving trucks is sufficiently different from self driving cars.

This is one reason why California is great for tech workers, the unenforceable non-competes. In much of the country you'd have to wait out a year before working in the same industry as your current employer.
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