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Can they issue rules? Can they prevent deployment? Is it for cars and trucks? Once driverless exists will there have to be a differentiator for auto/truck?
It's a self driving car (or rather a prototype of an "autopilot" feature like Tesla's), AFAICT.
From [1]:
> After a couple miles, Hotz lets go of the wheel and pulls the trigger... Hotz shouts, “You got this, car! You got this!”
> The car does, more or less, have it. ... Amazed, I ask Hotz what it felt like the first time he got the car to work.
> “Dude,” he says, “the first time it worked was this morning.”
[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-george-hotz-self-driv...
Classic government. Self-driving technology should benchmarked against how good people are at driving (and how often they kill and injure people), as opposed to being proven intrinsically safe like a car part.
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[0] Of course, there is much valid debate as to whether we really -know- how to do this either. But legacy and history carry weight, unfortunately, either way
a little more detail from techcrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/28/comma-ai-cancels-the-comma... It seems that Hotz said, “dealing with regulators and lawyers… isn’t worth it.” Which seems very unfortunate/shortsighted due to how useful this tech could be. Why not hire someone to deal with them for you?
That may be just a fig-leaf to plaster over 'we couldn't do it'. It's one thing to release software, it's quite another thing to release this software and have it tested, audited and certified safe and that's definitely part of the process of delivering software that is critical to the well being of the users and the other people you're sharing the road with. And that second part is part-and-parcel of wanting to oper…
I've been trying to convince people lately that Silicon Valley isn't all delusional technolibertarian assholes, but guys like this sure aren't making my case easy.
What is the role of the national highway transportation safety administration wrt driver less card and trucks? Can they issue rules? Can they prevent deployment? Is it for cars and trucks? Once driverless exists will there have to be a differentiator for auto/truck?
Yes. They are a federal regulatory agency.
Whether it's something that falls under government regulations like Hotz's project, or transitioning from a couple of 3D-printed models in your basement to an injection molded factory, making things (at scale and in the real world) is hard.
Maybe they're all losers and you're a winner, but perhaps being an elite hax0r isn't all that's needed to go to market...
If you can't reply to a regulator letter, how are you going to deal with supply chain or cash flow issues? Bad reviews in the press or on Amazon? People who want refunds? Not to mention the literal horror of a car crash. To borrow a term injected into this election season, you gotta have Stamina.