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Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

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Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#91

Post by ricardobeat »

bryananderson wrote: post #40
andys627 wrote: post #11

>Electric self-driving cars will save millions of lives and significantly accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, but only when they’re deployed in large numbers. Just like cars that we drive, self driving cars enable sprawl. Sprawl will never be environmentally sustainable. We need cities that you move through by foot, bike, and public transit.

Why do people believe that public transportation does not enable sprawl? A great commuter rail system is what allows people who work in the world's premiere cities to live in strip-mall exurbs and take the train to work. I live in Washington, DC. Metro is what allows huge numbers of people to live in sprawling suburbs instead of in the city. Yes, some drive, but traffic is rough and would be unbearable without Metro.…

Urban sprawl involves low-density areas. Metropolitan areas are going to spread out regardless. What cars enable is sprawl even when there is not enough density/economic output to make mass public transport viable.

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#92

Post by [deleted] »

adewinter wrote: post #84
arosier wrote: post #35

From my discussions with a friend with intimate knowledge of the software side of Cruise, there is wild skepticism within the co that they even have the hardware needed to go L4 or L5. Big promises being made to GM by Kyle which is leading to smoke and mirrors to distract/buy time from more critical problems "under the hood."

What does "go L4 or L5" mean?

[deleted]

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#93

Post by web007 »

kome wrote: post #57

Yeah, no. Autonomous vehicles exist since quite a while now... An Italian university tested an autonomous vehicle from Italy to China in 2010: the car was independent the 90% of the time, and semi-autonomous in case of lack of maps or other special conditions: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-softwa...

They're talking about mass-production-ready vehicles, not one-off testbed vehicles.

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#94

Post by clhodapp »

kylec wrote: post #49
andys627 wrote: post #11

>Electric self-driving cars will save millions of lives and significantly accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, but only when they’re deployed in large numbers. Just like cars that we drive, self driving cars enable sprawl. Sprawl will never be environmentally sustainable. We need cities that you move through by foot, bike, and public transit.

What if the future of public transit is autonomous cars? Why do you need buses or trains when you could have machines that can take you from anywhere, to anywhere, on demand, for less than the cost of current public transit fare?

The fundamental problem with cars in cities is that they make each person take up a crazy amount of road area: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_9F9_RUESS2E/S7tbclwxiPI/AAAAAAAACmw/uI...

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#95

Post by Fricken »

patejam wrote: post #70
Fricken wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This PR announcement isn't the only data point, GM has the goods to back it up.

Your comments sound like a PR statement, what goods? How do you know how close they are? Looks to me that they designed a mass-producible car outfitted with self-driving systems (which is very cool!). But they are only just starting to do employee testing. Waymo has been doing that for years.

Waymo is ahead on the technology. They were ready to begin public trials with their Koala cars in 2015, but the California DMV shut them down, and many of their key people jumped ship.

Waymo has since been proceeding a bit more cautiously, and their efforts at this point are oriented more towards smoothing out ride feel, testing under adverse weather conditions, and their early rider program in Phoenix.

Whether it's Waymo or GM to officially be the first to have an empty car driving on public roads, the other won't be far behind, though the victory will be largely symbolic. GM's cars still need a lot of polish, and Waymo needs better manufacturing partnerships.

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#96

Post by eco »

Fricken wrote: post #7
rwmj wrote: post #3

There are a lot of big claims in this article. As someone who hasn't been paying much attention, is it credible that they have a near-ready-to-go self-driving car right now?

Yep, they're pretty close. Late this year or 2018 they'll have cars driving around empty. GM has consistently been underestimated by the public, but they've played their cards very well. It's in no small part due to the drive and leadership of Kyle Vogt, who is on his way to the big leagues to join the ranks of Musk, Bezos, and Jobs and those guys.

Is there anywhere that allows autonomous cars to be tested on real roads without a fallback human driver?

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#97

Post by joshualross »

aerovistae wrote: post #63

While I'm almost always bullish on new tech, self-driving cars are one where I frankly have a pretty hard time buying into the hype. I think when they really start to hit the streets, some issues are going to show up. Here's what I mean. Imagine this situation: You're pulling into your driveway in your self-driving car, and one of your kids left a lawn gnome there, blocking it. The car won't go forward because there'…

There are 35 thousand deaths per year as a result of car crashes, and over 6 million total crashes[0]. If autonomous cars reduce those deaths to hundreds and overall crashes to thousands, I think you're underestimating the number of people that will sign up for that.

[0]https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#98

Post by cycrutchfield »

cr0sh wrote: post #80

I don't know if this is allowed - if not, mods delete this. To the poster who had a throwaway and identified themselves as an employee of Cruise, if the environment you work in is as toxic as you claim, your best bet, right now, is to leave. Don't stay a minute longer, as this kind of thing has a way of biting those who stay in the rear sooner rather than later.

The person likely has golden handcuffs that make it financially inadvisable to depart early.

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#99

Post by adewinter »

Severian wrote: post #65

That sensor assembly on the roof is ridiculous. What if I want to strap down anything to the roof, like a kayak, bike, luggage, or maybe a mattress? Good grief.

The number of times I've strapped anything to the roof of my vehicle (in 13 years of driving) is exactly zero. This particular vehicle might just not be suitable for your needs. Maybe eventually auto cars without roof sensors will come out, or strapping stuff to your roof will become as ridiculous as strapping something to the side of your vehicle.

Re: Cruise's 3rd generation self-driving car

#100

Post by [deleted] »

adewinter wrote: post #84
arosier wrote: post #35

From my discussions with a friend with intimate knowledge of the software side of Cruise, there is wild skepticism within the co that they even have the hardware needed to go L4 or L5. Big promises being made to GM by Kyle which is leading to smoke and mirrors to distract/buy time from more critical problems "under the hood."

What does "go L4 or L5" mean?

[deleted]
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