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Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

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Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#11

Post by skybrian »

belltaco wrote: post #4

Aren't they operating under a lot of constraints? The comparison should be with human drivers operating under similar conditions and on similar roads, similar cars(eg. new ones), weather conditions etc. Plus they have a fleet of support folks and standby remote and dispatchable operators which cannot be cheap, we get no insight into the financials except that they're losing several billion dollars a year. If at the e…

It’s a comparison between real-world transportation systems, not a sporting event. The systems are different, and that includes operating under different safety rules.

It’s true that they haven’t reached sustainability yet.

Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#13

Post by bluGill »

cwillu wrote: post #9
belltaco wrote: post #4

Aren't they operating under a lot of constraints? The comparison should be with human drivers operating under similar conditions and on similar roads, similar cars(eg. new ones), weather conditions etc. Plus they have a fleet of support folks and standby remote and dispatchable operators which cannot be cheap, we get no insight into the financials except that they're losing several billion dollars a year. If at the e…

Part of being a safe driver is knowing when it's not safe to drive and resisting pressure to drive anyway.

Maybe, but I do drive on ice and snow all the time, I just slow down.

Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#14

Post by gpm »

ChatGTP wrote: post #12

Ban human drivers and lobby to have Waymo be the only legal way to drive. \s

Ban human drivers eventually. First ban the development of new self driving systems because it's too dangerous, and merge with any competitors. Make sure you're the only game in town.

With how they're developing self driving as AI heavy black boxes there isn't a more natural monopoly in the world.

Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#15

Post by hedora »

ChatGTP wrote: post #12

Ban human drivers and lobby to have Waymo be the only legal way to drive. \s

That dovetails nicely with their proposal to make it illegal to offer websites to adults that are browsing without a google-issued cryptographic identity.

I wish I was making the above up.

Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#16

Post by batmansmk »

Those news should be carefully regulated. After working for 2 years in the field as an engineering manager directly responsible in getting good numbers, none of the claims of the time were genuine, but were just framed in a way that provided the best outlook. I wonder if it’s still the case.

Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#17

Post by hyperhopper »

cwillu wrote: post #9
belltaco wrote: post #4

Aren't they operating under a lot of constraints? The comparison should be with human drivers operating under similar conditions and on similar roads, similar cars(eg. new ones), weather conditions etc. Plus they have a fleet of support folks and standby remote and dispatchable operators which cannot be cheap, we get no insight into the financials except that they're losing several billion dollars a year. If at the e…

Part of being a safe driver is knowing when it's not safe to drive and resisting pressure to drive anyway.

If you live in an environment with inclement weather and awkward roads, everybody can't just choose to not drive there, but wayno can.

It's a question of their dataset not being comparable, not their individual driving decisions being better on a day to day basis

Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#18

Post by skepticATX »

belltaco wrote: post #4

Aren't they operating under a lot of constraints? The comparison should be with human drivers operating under similar conditions and on similar roads, similar cars(eg. new ones), weather conditions etc. Plus they have a fleet of support folks and standby remote and dispatchable operators which cannot be cheap, we get no insight into the financials except that they're losing several billion dollars a year. If at the e…

I’d like to see AVs compared to the average good driver. I’d bet it’s a lot closer in that case.

Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#19

Post by tjmc »

The comparison against all human drivers is too broad. Typically insurance companies will apply higher premiums to new drivers due to inexperience and a higher likelihood of accidents. It would be better to see comparisons against the safest, most experienced cohort of human drivers.

Re: Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans

#20

Post by ra7 »

belltaco wrote: post #4

Aren't they operating under a lot of constraints? The comparison should be with human drivers operating under similar conditions and on similar roads, similar cars(eg. new ones), weather conditions etc. Plus they have a fleet of support folks and standby remote and dispatchable operators which cannot be cheap, we get no insight into the financials except that they're losing several billion dollars a year. If at the e…

> Aren't they operating under a lot of constraints? The comparison should be with human drivers operating under similar conditions and on similar roads, similar cars(eg. new ones), weather conditions etc.

The insurance data for the comparison is from the zip codes Waymo currently operates in, so all of that is accounted for. Here is the full study: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2309.01206.pdf

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