Live data from Hacker News

Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

spectrum.ieee.org

701–710 of 735 posts

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#701

Better driver education and higher test standards would save lives too. So would banning alcohol. None of these solutions, including automated cars, will be mandated any time soon. It's not enough to have data, you also have to have societal buy-in. Interesting that Waymo chooses to compare accident rates with the average driver vs the rideshare drivers their cars replace. The numbers wouldn't look as impressive beca…

> rideshare drivers are involved in fewer serious accidents than the average person. Do you have evidence of this? It's certainly true for some kinds of professional drivers (i.e. truck and bus drivers) but I can't find any kind of crashes/100m mile numbers for rideshare drivers. Anecdotally as both a rider and road user I find rideshare drivers to be some of the worst. Aggressive, distracted, impatient, and overconf…

It's a common practice for the dispatch software used in both company issued and personal smart mobile devices to log accelerometer data and score the drivers for smooth driving. Whether that's a reliable proxy for safety is another matter. Fatigue and weather conditions figure in, too, and it's hard to collect data on that.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#702
post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my circle, everyone who's tried Waymo never wants to use Uber/Lyft with a human driver again. And, many of them wish they could own one or at least use one for much longer drives (100s of miles). I would visit my mom (2hrs by car) more often if that 2hrs (each way) wasn't so stressful and exhausting and I could just be chauffeured by a self driving car while I browse the net, play a game, watch a movie, or talk to…

In the Netherlands were I live we use trains for this

I used to commute on the redeye from Boston or New York to a Philips office on the opposite side of Amsterdam from the airport. The impressive rail network of course had a big station right at the airport. The first time I hopped in a taxi at the train station in Hilversum, not realizing it was a two block walk from the station.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#703

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You could always invest in actual public transport & sane infrastructure, rather than relying on clogging the streets up with more cars, autonomous or otherwise So what should the disabled people do until that amazing public transport infrastructure materializes, if it ever even does for them at all? Sit at home and wait? I dislike this type of patronizing superficial handweaving advice that is disconnected from the…

This is just learned helplessness. The US already spends unfathomable amounts of money and resources on car infra, and there's always some nonsensical defense like "it's just impossible to do it any other way!", as if cars are simply a law of nature. That lack of money can be solved by diverting some of the money going into roads into instead improving public transport infra. The solution should NOT be investing in d…

Americans do not care about biklanes or modifying their cities in that way, they want driverless cars and more large multilane highways/roads so that's what we will get.

Americans don't like walking/biking and love cars.

It's not really learned helplessness it's just what the vast majority of our country wants.

Remember the majority voters voted someone in who specifically campaigned on getting out of any climate change agreements and to bring back coal mining.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#704

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh wow! Sounds dangerous. Do more cyclists kill drivers, or do more drivers kill cyclists?

cyclists kill (and hurt) pedestrians, just like drivers

Vending machines kill (and hurt) people, just like guns.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#705
post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Netherlands were I live we use trains for this

This is great until your city was built by a 50s urban planner. Past a certain amount of sprawl building functioning public transit becomes nearly impossible. LA and Santa Clara County come to mind here. LA can sort of work if you are on the metro and don't need transfers. I kinda wish some day some dark wizard curses those two areas to lose 75% of their roads and parking lots and make everything a lot closer.

I dunno. Brasilia is the epitome of a city built by 50s urban planners, was highly structured around the car - and yet they managed to build a metro.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#706
post #692
post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Better driver education and higher test standards would save lives too. So would banning alcohol. None of these solutions, including automated cars, will be mandated any time soon. It's not enough to have data, you also have to have societal buy-in. Superman: I want to get rid of guns. Mr. Terrific: For use around the world 24×7, you’d need to replicate the T-Spheres on a massive scale. Still, you could never get r…

This is ultimately silly but, I thought this dialogue was with the Flash? Isn't it this one? https://i.redd.it/vmmv2d3h2q181.jpg

Ah yeah, same scene but the movie apparently adapted it a little differently: https://youtube.com/shorts/wqmMHjz1c9Y.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#707
post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my circle, everyone who's tried Waymo never wants to use Uber/Lyft with a human driver again. And, many of them wish they could own one or at least use one for much longer drives (100s of miles). I would visit my mom (2hrs by car) more often if that 2hrs (each way) wasn't so stressful and exhausting and I could just be chauffeured by a self driving car while I browse the net, play a game, watch a movie, or talk to…

Buddy buy a Tesla, as that’s definitely gonna happen in the medium term.

I guess I'm missing something? I took a Tesla cab with no human in it last week.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#708
Life saving is a good metric. So also are incidents of blocking traffic or interfering with responders. Navigation is only one aspect of driving which is a social act and requires both sophisticated understanding of context and communication. Looks like progress is impressive but there is still a lot of work to do.

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#709

I have a feeling that once everything goes EV and autopilot, they will start phasing out regular cars or will make it more difficult to obtain the license.

Also, the autonomous car companies will have their vehicles coordinating to make it difficult for humans to drive, such as holding a long convoy with close following distance in a single lane.

The streets of the future are an unbroken conveyor belt of fast moving death machines; existing outside of a car or building will become illegal by lobbying "to keep people safe".

Re: Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives

#710

The safest car is the one that is parked. I’m not anti-car but in terms of safety we should focus more on getting people using bus/rail/bike/walk especially for daily needs. It’s more cost effective too. Autonomous cars are cool and will be great for reducing crashes, but it’s an additive solution, not a subtractive one.

It’s okay to be anti-car. Even if you own a car and use it regularly. There’s more than enough reasons to be anti-car. Just pick your favorite.

Maybe but I think it's very very very bad policy. For example: The War on Cars. Decent content but the framing alienates people and creates a wedge issue where none need exist. We need to get folks on the same page instead of dividing them. When you say you're anti-car folks who drive a car will say well I drive a car, you're anti-me!! And then we now have people who might otherwise be indifferent becoming hostile to transit.
Post reply on HN