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Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

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Re: Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

#22
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should we have also not cheered on electric computers replacing all the expensive, skilled mathematician/computing jobs that used to exist? Keypunch operators? Telephone switchboard operators? Advanced printers replacing the vast majority of the typesetting work and tons of maintenance involved with early printers? Bowling Pinspotters? Tollbooth collectors? Should we smash the machines in the factories and go back to…

Wow, heckin' epic comeback good sir, upvoted and take my Reddit gold. Never heard it before. I'm just saying it's awfully convenient to the owner class that silicon valley wants to speedrun "full autonomous takeover" while politicians saw away at individuals' economic security. I would LOVE an autonomous utopia but if Waymo wants do the "autonomous" without the social safety net, they can spare me the BS about this s…

Let's see how those fat cats like if we automate the guillotine and decide we have our own bastilles to storm.

Re: Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

#23
post #5

> Per vehicle mile traveled (VMT), does scale matter at all though? do crashes stay constant per miles driven

Why in the world wouldn't they?

It's always how vehicle safety data is calculated.

With human drivers it matters--high mileage drivers are more likely to be driving tired or in poor conditions, low mileage drivers often are losing their abilities. Thus you see elevated risk on the ends of the curve. That doesn't apply to machines, though.

Re: Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

#24

"safety" is usually the first point out of the mouth of a self-driving advocate. If safety = preservation of life, I wonder how truly "safe" full Waymo supremacy would be when there are millions of Americans who drive for a living [1], in a country where working age adults need a full-time job to get basic healthcare. Through that lens, I honestly don't know if Waymo's future would lead to preservation of life. I act…

If health care is the only problem, then Medicare for all is the solution. We can have better health care and possibly fewer automobile deaths. It is yet to be seen whether waymo can really drive everywhere that humans drive, though.

Waymo certainly can't as currently designed. Their system must have a very detailed mapping of the situation and it has a fallback of showing a human operator somewhere the situation and asking for the right course of action. (This does not violate level 4. A level 4 car must be able to safely resolve anything a human could, but it is allowed to stop and ask how to proceed.)

Re: Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

#26
post #5

> Per vehicle mile traveled (VMT), does scale matter at all though? do crashes stay constant per miles driven

Why in the world wouldn't they? It's always how vehicle safety data is calculated. With human drivers it matters--high mileage drivers are more likely to be driving tired or in poor conditions, low mileage drivers often are losing their abilities. Thus you see elevated risk on the ends of the curve. That doesn't apply to machines, though.

wouldnt we mass approve these everywhere if that was true then?

Re: Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

#27
post #5

> Per vehicle mile traveled (VMT), does scale matter at all though? do crashes stay constant per miles driven

Its a common way of analyzing these kinds of statistics especially on large scales. What other divisor makes sense to you?

same divisor as human comparision.

let me ask you the opposite, what divisor(if any ) would make you question it.

Re: Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why in the world wouldn't they? It's always how vehicle safety data is calculated. With human drivers it matters--high mileage drivers are more likely to be driving tired or in poor conditions, low mileage drivers often are losing their abilities. Thus you see elevated risk on the ends of the curve. That doesn't apply to machines, though.

wouldnt we mass approve these everywhere if that was true then?

They basically are. Waymo's basically spreading as fast as they can 1) verify they can drive safely in the local conditions (SF has fog, but no snow or ice), 2) work with local governments to set up a "what happens when a cop pulls over a Waymo" procedure.

Re: Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why in the world wouldn't they? It's always how vehicle safety data is calculated. With human drivers it matters--high mileage drivers are more likely to be driving tired or in poor conditions, low mileage drivers often are losing their abilities. Thus you see elevated risk on the ends of the curve. That doesn't apply to machines, though.

wouldnt we mass approve these everywhere if that was true then?

Uber and misguided anti-car advocacy groups are lobbying against them. Uber doesn't want the competition. Anti-car advocacy groups are deranged in their ire toward anything that looks like a car and have totally lost the plot on transporting people safely, promptly, and affordably.

Re: Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people

#30
post #4

Unless those people are also driving taxis maybe. Waymo Robotaxis Record Higher Serious Injury and Fatal Crash Rate Than NYC's For-Hire Fleet ( https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/waymo-robotaxis-... ) It may also be worth noting that waymo doesn't report all crashes to the DMV and they went to court to keep crash data secret ( https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/22/waymo-to-keep-robotaxi-saf... )

This study compared national averages of Waymo to hyper-localized NYC cab drivers. NYC, where the maximum speed limit on streets in 25mph, should rightfully be viewed as an outlier. “ During the period analyzed, New York City's for-hire fleet was involved in 16 crashes that resulted in serious injuries or fatalities, while Waymo recorded three nationwide “

That "study" is even more misleading than that, the Waymo-involved incidents were in no way Waymo's fault.
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