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Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

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Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#121

Post by keeptrying »

One big difference between Cruise and the rest is that the CEO has built a self driving car from scratch.

Because of the inherent path dependency in Hybrid systems (i.e. Software written for one car will most certainly not work on other hardware configurations), I believe having technical knowledge in the leadership makes a huge difference in the long run.

The Presence of "old world" tech managers is going to hurt any AV project because building ML systems is so very different because of the implicit empiricism and randomness inherent in the process and the systems.

Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#122

Post by [deleted] »

aphextron wrote: post #116
miheermunjal wrote: post #13

Can't believe I'm saying this... but what an acquisition for GM. Masterful potential future pivot

GM is killing it right now. Bolt is the first truly great EV ever built at an "affordable" price. Model 3 is getting all the hype now, but when it's all said and done GM will have beaten them to market by a year with an equally comparable or better product at the same price point.

[deleted]

Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#123

Post by smm2000 »

aianus wrote: post #97
sourceless wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to pay a human to take you. Humans are expensive.

The human part is pretty cheap compared to the other parts at least here in Toronto: Car insurance $220 (20h at minimum wage) Car payment $780 (70h at minimum wage) Gas $200 (18h at minimum wage) Parking $250 (22h at minimum wage) If I didn't enjoy driving and having a nice car, it would already be cheaper to Uber everywhere.

$780/m lease is payment for 6 years pays for 60k car. More realistic lease payment is $200-$250/m.

Average insurance in US is ~$100/m

Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#124

Post by aphextron »

bogomipz wrote: post #120
aphextron wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GM is killing it right now. Bolt is the first truly great EV ever built at an "affordable" price. Model 3 is getting all the hype now, but when it's all said and done GM will have beaten them to market by a year with an equally comparable or better product at the same price point.

>"Bolt is the first truly great EV ever built at an "affordable" price." I would curious to hear your opinion on what things specifically makes the Bolt a great EV - features, comparative specs etc.

>I would curious to hear your opinion on what things specifically makes the Bolt a great EV - features, comparative specs etc.

It's the first mass produced, purpose designed, non-luxury EV available in the US with:

- Greater than 200 miles range

- Active thermal management for the battery (essential for battery longevity and extended use with quick charging).

- Full seating for 5

- Top IIHS safety rating

- Standard level 2 autonomy

- Cargo capacity comparable to a regular hatchback

At a price that just barely starts to make sense for the average driver when you factor in fuel savings and tax subsidies.

Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#125

Post by bogomipz »

aphextron wrote: post #124
bogomipz wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Bolt is the first truly great EV ever built at an "affordable" price." I would curious to hear your opinion on what things specifically makes the Bolt a great EV - features, comparative specs etc.

>I would curious to hear your opinion on what things specifically makes the Bolt a great EV - features, comparative specs etc. It's the first mass produced, purpose designed, non-luxury EV available in the US with: - Greater than 200 miles range - Active thermal management for the battery (essential for battery longevity and extended use with quick charging). - Full seating for 5 - Top IIHS safety rating - Standard l…

Thanks, that certainly is impressive. I didn't understand your last comment:

>"At a price that just barely starts to make sense for the average driver when you factor in fuel savings and tax subsidies."

At $36K and just using $5K as an arbitrary tax subsidy number isn't it the same price as most US mini SUV style cars?

Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#126

Post by Animats »

tyingq wrote: post #16

Sounds like the tech itself is in pretty good shape, but was surprised at the haphazard looking way it's grafted onto the car. Pretty sure I'm seeing zip ties and generic aluminum t-slot, with the front sensors sticking quite a ways out from the overall profile of the car. Pretty sure that's hitting someone's shin/knee as they exit the car at some point. Not trying to make too big a deal of that, but now that they ar…

Me too. They're part of GM now. They should have access to GM's design facilities. Both the 2013 GM/CMU self-driving car and the Cruise Automation prototype had better sensor integration.

Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#128

Post by vkou »

bogomipz wrote: post #125
aphextron wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I would curious to hear your opinion on what things specifically makes the Bolt a great EV - features, comparative specs etc. It's the first mass produced, purpose designed, non-luxury EV available in the US with: - Greater than 200 miles range - Active thermal management for the battery (essential for battery longevity and extended use with quick charging). - Full seating for 5 - Top IIHS safety rating - Standard l…

Thanks, that certainly is impressive. I didn't understand your last comment: >"At a price that just barely starts to make sense for the average driver when you factor in fuel savings and tax subsidies." At $36K and just using $5K as an arbitrary tax subsidy number isn't it the same price as most US mini SUV style cars?

Hatchbacks are not mini-SUVs, and many people can't afford to own a mini-SUV. $36,000 with no trims is pricy for a new car.

I've been adamant that owning an EV would be a non-starter for me, but having seen the Bolt, if I were shopping for a new car, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#129

Post by vkou »

richardwhiuk wrote: post #99
jakelarkin wrote: post #91

my unpopular personal opinion (strictly as a casual observer): self-driving will only be commercially viable as an augmented safety technology in single-owner vehicles (collision avoidance, lane keeping etc.) for ~20 years before we come close to reaching full-autonomy. What we have currently; maybe four or five 9s of reliability in perfect conditions is not nearly good enough for autonomous car sharing. If the car b…

Human drivers are pretty terrible. I'd imagine if it breaks down, then the same breakdown cover everyone has at the moment will kick in.

> Human drivers are pretty terrible.

I beg to differ. The average sober human driver has 1 fatal accident in 120-300 million miles traveled, depending on where they live in North America.

Given that we are bags of meat and water, have reaction times measured in hundreds of milliseconds, were never designed to operate heavy machinery, and manage to achieve all that on a mere 100 watts, that's pretty amazing.

Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF

#130

Post by vkou »

mikepurvis wrote: post #69
yourapostasy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neat, but I've yet to see a demo of a self-driving vehicle in rain so hard drivers slow down from 65 mph to 45 mph, the wipers at their fastest setting are struggling to keep up, and when you drive through a puddle, the splash from the water obscures the windshield for a couple seconds. Conditions with such low visibility from the rain coming down so hard that you wish you had a clear view screen (also called spin wi…

IMO, the real answer is that no one should be driving in that kind of weather, and autonomous systems which refuse to do so are simply doing what humans should be doing. I'd be very content with an autonomous vehicle that would detect these conditions and pull to the side of the road to wait for things to improve before proceeding.

People should be driving in that kind of weather. They should not be driving over, or at the speed limit in it, though.
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