Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 411 posts

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#61

Post by maxerickson »

aianus wrote: post #54
pythonaut_16 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a lot of respect for Waymo's approach to this. While Tesla and Uber have both just recklessly (imo) jumped in and started setting loose self driving cars and making bold claims, Google/Waymo has really taken a slow and measured approach and given great care to making sure their cars are actually safe.

Killing a few extra people today to bring self driving cars to market faster could actually save more lives in total. I have much more respect for Tesla for shipping something.

The system that killed people didn't represent a point of progress for their self driving tech. They decided to abandon the hardware package it was using.

Their current implementation doesn't seem to be learning any higher level behaviors (there's a Youtube video of guy using it in a park where it repeatedly accelerates towards islands in the road and then flails off the road as it goes too fast around the island).

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#62

Post by maverick_iceman »

QuercusMax wrote: post #41
foolfoolz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

googles cars have gotten in a few fender benders and side swipes people have died using teslas autopilot

There was only one accident I'm aware of in which the Waymo vehicle was at fault; the vast majority have been humans doing stupid things like rear-ending them at stop lights and t-boning by running a red light. (Disclaimer: I work for an Alphabet company.)

Humans will do stupid things. A self-driving car has to drive safely in spite of them.

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#63

Post by scarmig »

QuercusMax wrote: post #41
foolfoolz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

googles cars have gotten in a few fender benders and side swipes people have died using teslas autopilot

There was only one accident I'm aware of in which the Waymo vehicle was at fault; the vast majority have been humans doing stupid things like rear-ending them at stop lights and t-boning by running a red light. (Disclaimer: I work for an Alphabet company.)

"At fault" is one relevant metric, but not the only one. An autonomous vehicle should at least meet, and ideally surpass, human-driven ones in avoiding accidents for which they're not at fault as well.

I'd be curious to know if Waymo vehicles experience more, less, or the same number of not-at-fault accidents per mile driven as human-driven ones.

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#64

Post by maverick_iceman »

ohstopitu wrote: post #29
bigato wrote: post #20

I dream with the day that humans riding vehicles will be forbidden by law unless the driver would prove the need for human driving. So many deaths would be avoided.

have you thought the consequences of that? No I'm very serious: we are unable to protect smart TVs. Networked smart cars (because let's be real - Google and co. would want to monetize this with Uber-like services, Ads in cars etc.) are a magnitude more likely to be hacked by both the state actors and rogue individuals (altho I don't see why we make this distinction...both are criminal acts). The worst that can happen…

We'll manage. Already a lot of critical technology (electric grids, military weapons) is connected to the internet. Civilization hasn't collapsed in spite of that.

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#65

Post by Asooka »

kyrra wrote: post #2

TLDR: * People can apply to use/borrow a Waymo vehicle (RX450 or Pacifica) for some period of time. * "as part of this early trial, there will be a test driver in each vehicle monitoring the rides at all times." * Limited to Phoenix metro area for the time being. * You apply here: https://waymo.com/apply/ * Waymo will be adding 500 more of the Pacifica minivans for this program.

Interesting that they only let you borrow for now. Will car ownership be killed with self-driving cars? Will Waymo let you actually buy and own a car that isn't network connected and fully yours? Seeing how value extraction works in today's enterprise, i.e. via rent-seeking, I'm guessing we're headed to not owning cars any more.

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#67

Post by maverick_iceman »

bigato wrote: post #20

I dream with the day that humans riding vehicles will be forbidden by law unless the driver would prove the need for human driving. So many deaths would be avoided.

It's wrong for the state to declare human driving illegal. I will prefer if we voluntarily adopt self-driving cars because of its huge benefits. I think that's the likely scenario, consider that horse buggies are currently only used as tourist attractions or by isolated communities like the Amish.

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#68

Post by Siecje »

maxerickson wrote: post #61
aianus wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Killing a few extra people today to bring self driving cars to market faster could actually save more lives in total. I have much more respect for Tesla for shipping something.

The system that killed people didn't represent a point of progress for their self driving tech. They decided to abandon the hardware package it was using. Their current implementation doesn't seem to be learning any higher level behaviors (there's a Youtube video of guy using it in a park where it repeatedly accelerates towards islands in the road and then flails off the road as it goes too fast around the island).

Do you have a link to the video?

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#69

Post by csours »

TheAnimus wrote: post #56
csours wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By describing and marketing driver assistance technology as self-driving technology.

Which is kind of funny, because every pilot knows the limitation of each kind of autopilot. I think a lot of it is public expectation of that kind of name.

Right, and if drivers read ALL of the fine print of Tesla Autopilot, they would have been informed of the limitations of that system as well.

The problem comes when the Large Print promises things that the system does not do.

Another problem came from the implementation of the system where Tesla did not verify that the driver maintains hands on the wheel.

Re: Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders

#70

Post by maverick_iceman »

brianwawok wrote: post #14
Kiro wrote: post #4

How will self-driving cars affect society? Trying to wrap my head around the bigger picture.

My fear is MORE urban sprawl, which is even MORE miles of highways to pave and care for, and MORE pollution in the short term until we get very eco friendly powered electric cars. Commutes are one of the only things that seem to limit urban sprawl.

Less parking space though, the self-driving car can drive off after dropping you off.
Post reply on HN