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Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

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Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not familiar with the facts of the matter but if it is indeed the case that Mercedes is indemnifying drivers for accidents caused by FSD, then that's far more than marketing, and your comment (without presenting any facts to the contrary) is unwarranted.

The bigger difference is that Mercedes’ system only works on highways, under 40 mph, and you need a car in front of you that it essentially follows. It’s for traffic jams, and only usable in them. There’s not a big legal liability when the biggest risk is probably a fender bender.

> The bigger difference is that Mercedes’ system only works on highways, under 40 mph, and you need a car in front of you that it essentially follows.

And geofenced to specific highways, only during the day and during good weather.

It's still cool (to me at least). But it's bizarre seeing people dismiss FSD as being the same as adaptive cruise control while touting Mercede's Drive Pilot. Drive Pilot is a lot closer to adaptive cruise control than FSD.

It's unfortunate that there's so much misinformation that gets thrown around whenever this topic comes up.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dream is a little trailer gas generator. Give you infinite range for longer trips. Day to day, just leave it disconnected.

Isn’t that the BMW i3 range extender?

That does not seem bad! I was imagining something more generic, literally a mini trailer with a generator bolted on top, but this is sleek.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#323
post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to get rid of the space taken up by 5 lane highways you need to convert roads into walkways for pedestrians, bike lanes, and bus lanes. There can still exist space for cars but they need to be last in priority rather than the first, second, and third consideration cars have today when it comes to infrastructure.

I challenge anyone who seriously proposes this to first spend a month in a wheelchair. You quickly discover that your sense of scale and freedom of movement is largely a function of your physical capability and financial comfort.

I’m confused by this. Making public infrastructure people first, not car first, in your opinion would make things more difficult and expensive for handicap people?

The town I live in has many streets without sidewalks, and even the ones with sidewalks, many of those are entirely unsuitable for wheelchairs. Designing the streets to have pedestrian needs prioritized over cars would make the streets more handicap accessible not less.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#324
post #317
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those goalposts moved pretty fast from "sleep while it drives me to work" which I can do today to the extreme of being able to drive "Anywhere in the world under any conditions". And I see no reason to believe "all of the nearby vehicles on the road communicating" is the solution to bridging that gap.

> "sleep while it drives me to work" People work all over the planet during all seasons, don't they?

Reread my original comment or even just the that short seven word quote you have right there. Notice that key word "me". I was speaking about myself in the present tense, not "people... all over the planet during all seasons".

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#325
post #181

Ok, I appreciate that timelines in this space are long. But the opening phrase: "Toyota Motor Corporation (“Toyota”) and Waymo reached a preliminary agreement to explore a collaboration focused on accelerating the development..." reads a bit like a parody of corporate speak about a project nowhere close to happening. Did they agree to deploy? Or reach an agreement to collaborate? No, that's too strong. They will EXPL…

> They will EXPLORE collaborating on ACCELERATING development. Concepts of a plan

Here in Ireland we often see news announcements in the construction sector that goes something like "We received the go ahead to submit an application for planning permission to commission an impact study to determine whether it's viable to survey the land for construction suitability."

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#326
post #226

The future of (public) transportation absolutely is driverless cars. Every time I'm stuck in traffic on an LA highway with 5+ lanes and I see the horrendously inefficient use of space this future becomes clearer. Waymos are also really confidence inspiring. They drive more safely and cautiously than any Uber/Lyft driver I've ridden with. If every car on the road was synced then they could drive more closely to each o…

The future of public transportation is buses and trains. Any other solution that involves wrapping individual humans in a steel bubble 10x the size is woefully inefficient and wasteful. No matter how well they self drive.

For every bus you can take ~50 cars off the road.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#327

Ok, I appreciate that timelines in this space are long. But the opening phrase: "Toyota Motor Corporation (“Toyota”) and Waymo reached a preliminary agreement to explore a collaboration focused on accelerating the development..." reads a bit like a parody of corporate speak about a project nowhere close to happening. Did they agree to deploy? Or reach an agreement to collaborate? No, that's too strong. They will EXPL…

Japan is the champion of announcing the consideration of making an announcement. They did this all through covid, too.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#328
This feels like a pretty natural pairing. Waymo brings the software + autonomy stack, and Toyota has the scale and track record for building reliable, safe vehicles. If this actually leads to autonomous tech in personally owned cars (not just robotaxi fleets), that would be a major shift from the current trajectory

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#329

Ok, I appreciate that timelines in this space are long. But the opening phrase: "Toyota Motor Corporation (“Toyota”) and Waymo reached a preliminary agreement to explore a collaboration focused on accelerating the development..." reads a bit like a parody of corporate speak about a project nowhere close to happening. Did they agree to deploy? Or reach an agreement to collaborate? No, that's too strong. They will EXPL…

I think this kind of vague language is pretty common when two giant companies want to signal interest without actually committing to anything risky

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cannot believe that Japan finds its better to depend on oil from Middle East and import gasoline instead of building one more nuclear plant

Having a nuclear disaster only decade ago with a flurry of other plants that couldn't pass the safety test when re-checked creates a pretty tough situation. Right now there's a plant that is stopped by the gov from getting back into production for safety issues, with the elec company trying to appeal for the nth time, and it sure doesn't help the overall image. "This time it will be fine" is kinda hard to stomach for…

They have no other sustainable energy sources a d frankly I trust japanese engineering minds they can fix their nuclear designs
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