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Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

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Re: Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

#41

Post by devrelm »

pekk wrote: post #28
skriticos2 wrote: post #13

So what's next? A camera drone quadrocopter flies out and updates street view once something notable changes? That would be classy.

Sensors in the bridge to tell when it's in a dangerous state; Google et al. consume the feed to update routing

Interesting problem. How do Google's self-driving cars react to road problems such as bridge-collapses and sinkholes? Scanning for objects and avoiding objects which extend above the road level is obvious, but what about when the road cuts off? These things rarely happen, but it would be terrifying to be in a self-driving car in that moment when the bridge ahead of you collapses and the car continues to drive as if there is nothing wrong.

I actually had a similar thought yesterday when thinking about how the cars would handle object-avoidance. Say a deer hops out in front of the car. The car is constantly aware of its environment for 100+ feet in all directions, so it could tell if there are no cars in a neighboring lane and swerve to miss the deer. But what if there _are_ cars in neighboring lanes and the only available direction is to go onto the shoulder or into the ditch? If the ditch is fairly level with the road, then this could be the safest option. But if the ditch is steep, then it would be more dangerous than simply hitting the brakes and hoping you don't hit the deer too hard.

Re: Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

#43

Post by trhtrsh »

scott_s wrote: post #39
Trufa wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, the fact that the bridge collapsed, while it is news, it's no news for HN. The technological aspect of google maps being able to so quickly update it is in fact, new for HN. Another thing that I agree would be interesting is a detailed technical explanation of why the bridge collapse, that I'd assume would be HN material as well.

I don't think that something has to be strictly "technical" to be on HN. I would like to see the the story on how the bridge came to be in the state it is in on HN - not just the technical explanation for what happened, but why did we choose to allocate our resources in such a way that the failure occurred.

Comments on reddit mentioned that the bridge was condemned in 1992, and repeatedly since then, but no one bothered to fix it. I thought we had a big goverment stimulus package for shovel-ready projects over the past few years...

Re: Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

#45

Post by jsnell »

michaelochurch wrote: post #18

Apparently Google is quick to respond to infrastructural failures. So why didn't it remove calibration scores, and convert the Perf Room to something fun like an arcade (well, it already is a casino, so maybe something else) many years ago?

WTF is wrong with you? It used to be the case that you'd only post your rants about Google in threads that were at least tangentially related to working there. But as of late you've started spamming random Google stories with these toplevel comments that have nothing to do with the article or the discussion. Do you really not see that this is not acceptable behavior?

Re: Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

#46

Post by maxerickson »

devrelm wrote: post #41
pekk wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sensors in the bridge to tell when it's in a dangerous state; Google et al. consume the feed to update routing

Interesting problem. How do Google's self-driving cars react to road problems such as bridge-collapses and sinkholes? Scanning for objects and avoiding objects which extend above the road level is obvious, but what about when the road cuts off? These things rarely happen, but it would be terrifying to be in a self-driving car in that moment when the bridge ahead of you collapses and the car continues to drive as if t…

I would think that road integrity would be on the long list of things covered in any licensing process (you and I can think of it in a few moments, ergo). I would also guess it is important for the system to be able to estimate an appropriate speed even when external data is not available.

For the deer, I would expect the programmed response to be to brake as much as possible given traffic. Hitting a deer is unlikely to result in anything but damage to the vehicle. Swerving is less predictable than that.

Re: Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

#47

Post by droithomme »

michaelochurch wrote: post #24
VikingCoder wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they got you to leave. (For the record, I feel bad saying this... but I'm also just returning snark with snark, so... oh well.)

There's a difference. You know very little about me and where I come from and why I see things the way I do. Do I bring a lot of negativity into these discussions? Sure, but that's needed because I don't want thousands of people to repeat mistakes that I did. If bringing a realistic or even slightly pessimistic tone to this often out-of-touch startup discussion is the cost to prevent a thousand young kids from wrecki…

Your comment about infrastructure was actually quite hilarious and interesting, and Vikings's repartee comeback was witty as well. This post though made the whole exchange less fun! Next time, I recommend try either responding with "LOL" to acknowledge Viking's wit, or come back with an even more humorous response.

Re: Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

#48

Post by VikingCoder »

stephengillie wrote: post #33
michaelochurch wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry about it if you don't work at Google. Every quarter, managers get together to horse-trade "performance points" (or "calibration scores") and generate a company-wide stack ranking of all engineers. If you end up in the bottom 5% (which sometimes happens to people just because their managers don't show up) then you end up on a PIP and your career at Google is over. That monstrosity is called Perf. The "Perf…

Oh, it's basically quarterly stack-ranking? Adding Google to the list of companies not to be employed by...

If it were bottom 5%, then one out of 20 Google employees would have their careers over every year. That's not the case.

Re: Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

#49

Post by VikingCoder »

michaelochurch wrote: post #24
VikingCoder wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they got you to leave. (For the record, I feel bad saying this... but I'm also just returning snark with snark, so... oh well.)

There's a difference. You know very little about me and where I come from and why I see things the way I do. Do I bring a lot of negativity into these discussions? Sure, but that's needed because I don't want thousands of people to repeat mistakes that I did. If bringing a realistic or even slightly pessimistic tone to this often out-of-touch startup discussion is the cost to prevent a thousand young kids from wrecki…

I know you're the type of person who publicly tells their former employer, "Choke on a fucking taint, Google. Choke. On. A. Taint."

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5508058

I also know you think there are easy and free solutions to the problems that every company on the planet struggles with every day (measuring and rewarding performance).

I think you're arrogant, disrespectful, and that you over-simplify problems to an absurd degree.

I can conclude that if I worked at Google, I don't think I'd appreciate working on your team.

And you're right, my post didn't have very much to do with yours. Did yours have a lot to do with Google Maps responding quickly to an emerging tragedy? No, it did not.

Re: Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA

#50

Post by michaelochurch »

VikingCoder wrote: post #49
michaelochurch wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a difference. You know very little about me and where I come from and why I see things the way I do. Do I bring a lot of negativity into these discussions? Sure, but that's needed because I don't want thousands of people to repeat mistakes that I did. If bringing a realistic or even slightly pessimistic tone to this often out-of-touch startup discussion is the cost to prevent a thousand young kids from wrecki…

I know you're the type of person who publicly tells their former employer, "Choke on a fucking taint, Google. Choke. On. A. Taint." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5508058 I also know you think there are easy and free solutions to the problems that every company on the planet struggles with every day (measuring and rewarding performance). I think you're arrogant, disrespectful, and that you over-simplify problem…

I know you're the type of person who publicly tells their former employer, "Choke on a fucking taint, Google. Choke. On. A. Taint."

You shaved off the enclosing context: $100M payouts to nontechnical executives when regular engineers can't even transfer without permission of the perf-industrial complex. I'm sorry, but I just can't defend a company that behaves that way. Seriously, you think it's okay that engineers have to deal with phony scarcity ("calibration score" and "headcount" nonsense) when non-technical executives make several hundred times more?

I think you're arrogant, disrespectful, and that you over-simplify problems to an absurd degree.

It's more that I don't have patience for junk complexity that exists only to keep power for those who don't deserve it.

Did yours have a lot to do with Google Maps responding quickly to an emerging tragedy?

Yes, actually. It's good that they updated their map quickly. If they paid the same respect to internal problems, they'd be a much better company.

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