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Waymo Via

waymo.com

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Re: Waymo Via

#261

Post by dodobirdlord »

kortilla wrote: post #236
agildehaus wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A self-driving vehicle will have far, far more sensing than any of today's trucks. Someone will know you're robbing them the moment you start, know where you are, be able to watch the entire event as it happens, and every ounce of it will be recorded.

And none of that will matter because they will just have a video of someone in a ski mask robbing a truck and walking away.

Robbing a truck of what? Trucks are full of heavy stuff that's not particularly valuable. Were it otherwise it wouldn't get shipped in an unguarded truck.

Re: Waymo Via

#262

Post by dodobirdlord »

BigBubbleButt wrote: post #79
tyfon wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The unmanned truck would likely be _crammed_ with cameras and other surveillance tools like hidden gps senders in the containers. It might initially be easier but I'm not sure if you would get very far with the stolen goods.

Set fire to the truck after you rob it to destroy any on-board evidence (like hard drives containing surveillance footage), only commit crimes in a wireless dead zone so no data is transmitted outside (or better yet, use a police stingray so you can do it anywhere), and put all cargo inside a faraday cage. Also I'm not sure there's any reason to believe those kind of security measures wouldn't already exist for a man…

> Set fire to the truck after you rob it to destroy any on-board evidence

Trucks are big. They're also not particularly flammable. Hard drives are small and easy to fireproof.

> only commit crimes in a wireless dead zone so no data is transmitted outside

This put you pretty far out of your way, and you're eventually going to have to bring a truckload of goods back from the middle of Idaho or wherever. Plus, trucks can carry pretty big antenna.

> (or better yet, use a police stingray so you can do it anywhere)

This doesn't really work that way, and also this is an additional major crime. Plus, people are looking for these.

> and put all cargo inside a faraday cage

That's a big faraday cage. Plus, what happens when you have to take the cargo out of your truck-sized theft apparatus and fence it?

> I'd just get a sniper rifle and shoot the sensor units on the truck so it would be incapable of driving further

I doubt there's anyone on earth who could make that shot once, much less 5+ times in a few seconds. A truck is moving 60+ MPH and the target is a few inches across.

Re: Waymo Via

#263

Post by lolc »

ehsankia wrote: post #188
lolc wrote: post #110

> No matter what you’re transporting or where it’s headed, Waymo Via will have you covered. Lumber haulage, on forest tracks, in winter? Snark aside, I'll be really impressed when they manage to get any service going. But that page doesn't offer anything to convince me.

I believe it can drive during winter, just not in extreme condition (snowstorm). Of course, it can simply wait until the storm passes and continue. And honestly, many of the cases where Waymo can't safely drive, realistically most humans shouldn't be driving either but we still do because we're stubborn like that. OTOH, if there's a 24h stretch of good condition, it can drive the whole time.

The machines keep refusing to drive like we do. They have reason on their side.

Re: Waymo Via

#264

Post by dodobirdlord »

nomadluap wrote: post #53
ebiester wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arizona allows drivers over 80, and I'd trust Waymo over the average octogenarian driving.

That would be an interesting metric: normalized accident rates for self-driving cars vs octogenarian-driven cars.

I'm certain the self-driving cars win. Per Waymo's numbers they already have a much lower accident rate than the average driver.

Re: Waymo Via

#265

Post by tasuki »

unilynx wrote: post #238
kortilla wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A getaway car isn’t needed, you just amble away and walk two miles the other direction.

If you just robbed a truck, are you going to carry all the contents on your back? For two miles?

Up the hill! Both ways!

Re: Waymo Via

#266

Post by imtringued »

kortilla wrote: post #236
agildehaus wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A self-driving vehicle will have far, far more sensing than any of today's trucks. Someone will know you're robbing them the moment you start, know where you are, be able to watch the entire event as it happens, and every ounce of it will be recorded.

And none of that will matter because they will just have a video of someone in a ski mask robbing a truck and walking away.

Walk away with 20 tons of stolen goods? How are you going to accomplish that? Why not do something interesting like reprogram a whole fleet of cargo trucks to deliver the cargo to the wrong destination?

Re: Waymo Via

#267

Post by beatgammit »

NotSammyHagar wrote: post #14
martythemaniak wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of things called Via, including a rail company

This is way too close. I was sure this was a google project. Hopefully google will sue them for using a trademarked name too close to theirs. Or would you like to try my new credit card makers, MasterCarte (ooh, that's probably already real ;-)), Vesa and MasterChief.

Well, there's CreditOne for credit cards, which uses a very similar symbol as CapitalOne. I don't know the legal status of that one...

Re: Waymo Via

#268

Post by wpietri »

judge2020 wrote: post #259
wpietri wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on how fast it happens. Long-haul trucking is the most easily automated driving, and it has the strongest financial incentive. The lifespan of a semi truck is ~15 years, while the career of a trucker will be 40 years. Even if 2/3rds of truckers retire before automation hurts them, that still would leave us with more than a million long-term unemployed.

I imagine last-mile driving on regular roads might be as big a hurdle here as it is for parcel delivery.

Only if they automate it. But they don't have to. They could have local drivers rendezvous with long-haul trucks as they get close to destination cities. That would still let them cut their labor costs by 90%.

Re: Waymo Via

#269

Post by VectorLock »

kortilla wrote: post #237
VectorLock wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is a warehouse on wheels absolutely festooned with cameras less secure than a warehouse in the middle of nowhere?

Yes, people don’t leave warehouses without guards if there is anything of great value in them that’s easily to walk away with.

If you're not trusting stuff to sit static without a human near by you probably wouldn't let it hurtle down the road with the same.

Re: Waymo Via

#270

Post by VectorLock »

paxys wrote: post #205
VectorLock wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just chill in the sleeper cab the whole way and then "pilot" the last mile?

They don't have to be there the entire time. They can get on/off at a stop close to the city, for example.

Do they need a sleeper cab for that and not just a passenger seat?
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