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NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

nytimes.com

11–20 of 348 posts

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#11
post #5

As a programmer, I won't put myself into that thing. I'm also not happy to be an unwilling participant in this experiment. Given the state of technology and our capabilities to write bug-free software (Seriously, we can't even get things like buying airline tickets correct), I think it's way too early to approve those vehicles on city streets.

Do you avoid flying too?

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#12
post #8
post #5

As a programmer, I won't put myself into that thing. I'm also not happy to be an unwilling participant in this experiment. Given the state of technology and our capabilities to write bug-free software (Seriously, we can't even get things like buying airline tickets correct), I think it's way too early to approve those vehicles on city streets.

It's significantly more absurd to permit highly distractable, slow-reacting meatbags to operate the multi-ton high-velocity death barges in the close vicinity of pedestrians and other meatbags-cum-death-barge-pilots.

Why? We have what, like 50+ years of certainty as to how dangerous people are as drivers? They’re a known quantity and we know we can keep making cars safer to reduce the danger to drivers and passengers.

Instead we’re going to YOLO a half-baked tech-bro fantasy onto the roads and hope for the best?

Also “meatbags” has the same tone as “sportsball” imo.

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#13
post #8
post #5

As a programmer, I won't put myself into that thing. I'm also not happy to be an unwilling participant in this experiment. Given the state of technology and our capabilities to write bug-free software (Seriously, we can't even get things like buying airline tickets correct), I think it's way too early to approve those vehicles on city streets.

It's significantly more absurd to permit highly distractable, slow-reacting meatbags to operate the multi-ton high-velocity death barges in the close vicinity of pedestrians and other meatbags-cum-death-barge-pilots.

Honestly, the safety bar set by human drivers is on the floor (and being run over by a "light truck").

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#14
> My ride was so smooth, the novelty began to wear off, turning a trip to the future into just another journey across town.

This is the only nod in the article to how futuristic and revelatory this innovation. The journalists sound so bored.

I wonder if this is a function of how “around the corner” this tech has felt for so long? Have we somehow become jaded to this innovation before it has even arrived?

Were journalists covering advent of passenger flights dedicating the first half of articles to safety and political concerns before accounting for the experience of a “first in a lifetime” ride?

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#15
post #6
post #5

As a programmer, I won't put myself into that thing. I'm also not happy to be an unwilling participant in this experiment. Given the state of technology and our capabilities to write bug-free software (Seriously, we can't even get things like buying airline tickets correct), I think it's way too early to approve those vehicles on city streets.

Clearly you're unwilling, but if you got in, wouldn't that make you willing? :-)

If you share the road with a self driving vehicle you’re part of the experiment.

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#16
post #6
post #5

As a programmer, I won't put myself into that thing. I'm also not happy to be an unwilling participant in this experiment. Given the state of technology and our capabilities to write bug-free software (Seriously, we can't even get things like buying airline tickets correct), I think it's way too early to approve those vehicles on city streets.

Clearly you're unwilling, but if you got in, wouldn't that make you willing? :-)

[deleted]

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#18
post #14

> My ride was so smooth, the novelty began to wear off, turning a trip to the future into just another journey across town. This is the only nod in the article to how futuristic and revelatory this innovation. The journalists sound so bored. I wonder if this is a function of how “around the corner” this tech has felt for so long? Have we somehow become jaded to this innovation before it has even arrived? Were journal…

It took just two moon landings for people to get bored.

I don’t think you need a technology to be fully functional for people to tire of it. It just has to be in the news for enough years.

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#19
post #5

As a programmer, I won't put myself into that thing. I'm also not happy to be an unwilling participant in this experiment. Given the state of technology and our capabilities to write bug-free software (Seriously, we can't even get things like buying airline tickets correct), I think it's way too early to approve those vehicles on city streets.

It seems pretty clear to me (if you've been to SF recently) that autonomous cars react to pedestrians quicker and are much more careful around pedestrians than human drivers.

You can certainly take the attitude "I will only agree with having autonomous cars on the street once they are provably 100000000x safer than a human" but I don't think that matches most people's view on what constitutes safety.

Also, that goes pretty strongly against the American ethos, where we let people make their own decisions in terms of what kind of things they buy, within reason.

We already know that SUVs are more dangerous for pedestrians, but I think most of us agree that making SUVs illegal for this reason would not be a good idea, and is against the American ethos.

Re: NY Times Rides in Waymo Robotaxis in SF

#20
It's like this paragraph is obligatory:

> Waymo has had fewer headline-worthy troubles. In May, one of its cars struck and killed a small dog. A few years ago, a driverless Waymo car with a human safety driver operating the wheel hit a pedestrian who needed to be taken to the hospital.

After reading that reporters were explicitly instructed to go after tech[0], I just can't not see stuff like this.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33456708

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