401–410 of 424 posts
Now do Surveillance Impact: https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2024/10/27/waymos-5-6... “Waymo is using around four NVIDIA H100 GPUSs at a unit price of 10,000 dollars per vehicle to cover the necessary computing requirements. The number of sensors – five lidars, 29 cameras, 4 radars”
"For example, the current cities Waymo operates in do not have appreciable snow fall, and as a result neither the Waymo nor the human benchmark data include this type of inclement weather." I'm happy to see this acknowledged, and hope it's a sign that they appreciate the difficulties of winter driving.
It’s wild to me how people are so fixated on this. Yes, obviously winter driving has challenges. And also obviously, the leading self-driving company has thought about that. They’re preparing to launch and have already been testing in Chicago, detroit, Minneapolis, Denver, Philadelphia, Boston, NYC, and London. I think it’s safe to assume they’ve considered winter driving.
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The lights up on top will show a walk sign when it's waiting for a pedestrian to cross before proceeding.
That combined with the parent's post is, perhaps counterintuitively, somewhat concerning. The proper technique for yielding to pedestrians wishing to cross is to start slowing down early, as if you were planning to stop before the crossing. That sends a clear signal to the pedestrian they're good to start crossing. Then you're free to speed back up. This is very comfortable for the pedestrian and the vehicle never ne…
The explicit signal of a driver noticing you (eye contact) is replaced by the signal above the vehicle. Are you not equally concerned that pedestrians have to get an explicit signal from drivers who are legally required to yield or stop??
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>Waymo was going too fast for the intersection IMO. This is literally impossible without slowing to single digit speeds for every intersections. At some point you just have to rely on the other traffic honoring signaling and signage or having some desire for self preservation.
Waymo uses new cars which probably have 100km/h (62mph) to zero stopping distance around 36m (120ft) — that's what my 2020 car quotes and tests at. As stopping distance grows quadratically, from 50km/h it would have stopped in 8m. Two lane street is usually at least 8m wide. The claim was that after braking for 10m, it was still going at 40km/h. It'd take another 6-7m to come to a full stop. If it was a full 18m stop…
The US is dotted with "real highways" (i.e. designed as such, not a former main street that's seen a bunch of upgrades) with 50+mph speed limits and low traffic streets that tee into them with nothing more than a stop. And this isn't some middle america thing that can be dismissed as backwards flyover states. The rich coastal states have them too. Divided medians and T-junction type are fairly common. 2-way stops and cross type junctions less so in my experience but in more rural areas they're more common.
>This does not mean that Waymo in question was going too fast, but something is off in the claim (maybe it did not react on time and really brake for 10m; maybe the collision speed was not a full 40km/h; or maybe it was going too fast...).
Seems like someone pulled out from a residential road onto a main road with no f's to give and the waymo went around and OP is messing up the numbers a little. No matter how fast you're going it always feels faster from the passenger seat.
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> it's customary to leave a path in the left 'passing lane' for any traffic that wants/needs to go faster than you. A custom that (where I live) is becoming more honored in the breach than the observance. It makes driving very much more dangerous. In Britain they have a sardonic nickname for people who do this: CLARAs. "Centre Lane Residency Association".
I’m from England but I’ve only every heard “middle lane hoggers” for this
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> it's customary to leave a path in the left 'passing lane' for any traffic that wants/needs to go faster than you. A custom that (where I live) is becoming more honored in the breach than the observance. It makes driving very much more dangerous. In Britain they have a sardonic nickname for people who do this: CLARAs. "Centre Lane Residency Association".
Sometimes I an appreciate wanting to cruise in the middle lane, because ADAS level 2 systems common on cars today is far more comfortable when it does not have to deal with regular merging traffic. But aside from that, I really don't like it when people camp in the middle lane because they tend to form a pretty tight line and manage to effectively turn a three-lane highway into two single-lane highways -- hard to get…
To your point, I think the middle lane of a three-lane road is, ideally, the correct travel lane. Cruising there at the prevailing speed leaves one lane more lightly traveled for entering and exiting, and the other for passing. Predominantly using that lane minimizes lane changes, which are the most dangerous driving moments. You're right, though, that the strategy breaks down as traffic gets heavier, and gets ruined entirely when (as under discussion in this thread) people gum up the supposed "fast lane".
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>Waymo was going too fast for the intersection IMO. This is literally impossible without slowing to single digit speeds for every intersections. At some point you just have to rely on the other traffic honoring signaling and signage or having some desire for self preservation.
Waymo uses new cars which probably have 100km/h (62mph) to zero stopping distance around 36m (120ft) — that's what my 2020 car quotes and tests at. As stopping distance grows quadratically, from 50km/h it would have stopped in 8m. Two lane street is usually at least 8m wide. The claim was that after braking for 10m, it was still going at 40km/h. It'd take another 6-7m to come to a full stop. If it was a full 18m stop…
I based my estimate on the Waymo going slower than other cars and the city speed limit in Toronto being 50 km/h, and I took a stab at the numbers. I think it was Beverly Blvd which the internet says has a speed limit of 35 mph = 56 kph at the time?
I was in the back seat so I couldn't judge the distance that well. I passed the other car in a second so I guessed that's how much ground I covered.
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I did find the Waymos in SF disconcerting as they approached pedestrian crossings while I was waiting - with a human driver there's many different cues that they've seen you and noticed you - whether it be looking directly at you, or slowing down in preparation for you to cross. I'm sure if I had just started walking across the crossing it would have reacted perfectly, but I wasn't willing - based on the lack of obse…
The lights up on top will show a walk sign when it's waiting for a pedestrian to cross before proceeding.
But thank you, I'll google it to know what to look for when I'm next in SF :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That combined with the parent's post is, perhaps counterintuitively, somewhat concerning. The proper technique for yielding to pedestrians wishing to cross is to start slowing down early, as if you were planning to stop before the crossing. That sends a clear signal to the pedestrian they're good to start crossing. Then you're free to speed back up. This is very comfortable for the pedestrian and the vehicle never ne…
Waymo does slow down as it approaches stop signs (usually where crosswalks are) and it will slow down if there is a pedestrian entering the roadway (crosswalk or not) since it doesn't want to crash into them. The explicit signal of a driver noticing you (eye contact) is replaced by the signal above the vehicle. Are you not equally concerned that pedestrians have to get an explicit signal from drivers who are legally…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Waymo uses new cars which probably have 100km/h (62mph) to zero stopping distance around 36m (120ft) — that's what my 2020 car quotes and tests at. As stopping distance grows quadratically, from 50km/h it would have stopped in 8m. Two lane street is usually at least 8m wide. The claim was that after braking for 10m, it was still going at 40km/h. It'd take another 6-7m to come to a full stop. If it was a full 18m stop…
>I do not know of any country where there are intersections you can go through at 60+ km/h legally. The US is dotted with "real highways" (i.e. designed as such, not a former main street that's seen a bunch of upgrades) with 50+mph speed limits and low traffic streets that tee into them with nothing more than a stop. And this isn't some middle america thing that can be dismissed as backwards flyover states. The rich…
In most of Europe at least (I did not drive enough in States to remember), non-highway intercity roads have a speed limit of around 50-55mph, but where there is any merge or crossing, this is reduced to 30-35mph.