What I find interesting is that this "press release" reads like a response to an exposé of a toxic internal company culture. But as far as I can tell, this was just a technology failure. It's not very clear to me why they need to "examine their processes" and "take a hard look inwards at how they do work" in order to rectify what was basically a software bug.
what bugs are we talking about?
We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
41–50 of 395 posts
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#42This is a good move on Cruise's part. Cruise is still nowhere near the maturity level that Waymo was at when Waymo first started driving on public roads. On the other hand, we definitely need a real competitor to Waymo. It doesn't seem likely, but hopefully some combination of Cruise, Apple(?), Tesla, or another player will be able to have a feasible alternative to Waymo's Driver.
Out of all the tech problems to solve, driverless cars or driverless taxis has always baffled me. It’s a very complex thing to solve with a zillion edge cases. And for what net gain? What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve? Lack of good public transit? Let’s solve that instead. Millions of cars driverless or not are not a great solution to anything.
Public transit is no good. I don’t want to walk to a station and then share the space with other people. I don’t want to lug grocery bags around. I want to make pit stops. I want to go off road. I want to live in the suburbs or semi rural areas so I can have a lot of land.
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is alleged that Cruise neglected to provide the DMV with information regarding an incident that led to a pedestrian being badly injured. Other reports claim they willfully withheld information. It appears to be more than a “software bug.”
It's not the crime (software bug), it's the cover up.
I would argue “it depends”.
There are certain professions that operate with public trust. Doctor, lawyer, and engineer are the classical examples. Sometimes those of us in tech get lulled into complacency because we operate under an industrial exemption (ie, don’t require an engineering license) or we work on non-critical systems where we’re encouraged to move fast and break things. We shouldn’t let that attitude spill into safety-critical applications.
If you have a duty to the public to provide a safe product in an ethical manner, the software bug can certainly be the issue.
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who doesn't live in silicon valley or in any major cities, it's always strange to see HN users talk about these companies as though they already have widespread recognition. I've never seen a car once in my life, and if I did I would probably be fairly cautious around it. I imagine a large portion of Americans would feel similarly.
> I've never seen a car once in my life Your forgotten word makes this comment seem like it’s from the early 1800s ;) That said, as a German, I expect to see driverless cars in 2030 the earliest ;)
Waymo is already solid. I’ve taken about two dozen rides and they feel safe and travel fast (at the speed limit). It’s here now.
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#45This is a good move on Cruise's part. Cruise is still nowhere near the maturity level that Waymo was at when Waymo first started driving on public roads. On the other hand, we definitely need a real competitor to Waymo. It doesn't seem likely, but hopefully some combination of Cruise, Apple(?), Tesla, or another player will be able to have a feasible alternative to Waymo's Driver.
Out of all the tech problems to solve, driverless cars or driverless taxis has always baffled me. It’s a very complex thing to solve with a zillion edge cases. And for what net gain? What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve? Lack of good public transit? Let’s solve that instead. Millions of cars driverless or not are not a great solution to anything.
It's definitely an immensely complex challenge, a legitmate "moonshot" scale effort. The benefits can also be huge. Think of the huge portion of a household's budget (purchase price, fuel, insurance, maintenance) and time is spent on cars. If someone can provide a better alternative to private car ownership (and goods transportation), they stand to capture a meaningful portion of those billions of dollars and billions of hours.
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of all the tech problems to solve, driverless cars or driverless taxis has always baffled me. It’s a very complex thing to solve with a zillion edge cases. And for what net gain? What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve? Lack of good public transit? Let’s solve that instead. Millions of cars driverless or not are not a great solution to anything.
It's definitely an immensely complex challenge, a legitmate "moonshot" scale effort. The benefits can also be huge. Think of the huge portion of a household's budget (purchase price, fuel, insurance, maintenance) and time is spent on cars. If someone can provide a better alternative to private car ownership (and goods transportation), they stand to capture a meaningful portion of those billions of dollars and billion…
It’s not like it’s free once it’s solved. you will subscribe to it and pay probably some fraction of a car payment for life.
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#47This is a good move on Cruise's part. Cruise is still nowhere near the maturity level that Waymo was at when Waymo first started driving on public roads. On the other hand, we definitely need a real competitor to Waymo. It doesn't seem likely, but hopefully some combination of Cruise, Apple(?), Tesla, or another player will be able to have a feasible alternative to Waymo's Driver.
Out of all the tech problems to solve, driverless cars or driverless taxis has always baffled me. It’s a very complex thing to solve with a zillion edge cases. And for what net gain? What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve? Lack of good public transit? Let’s solve that instead. Millions of cars driverless or not are not a great solution to anything.
The main obstacle to better transit in a developed countries is the cost and scarcity of labor. An automated bus would basically eliminate most of the running cost; make it electric and it would be pennies on the dollar compared to running a bus today.
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#48This is a good move on Cruise's part. Cruise is still nowhere near the maturity level that Waymo was at when Waymo first started driving on public roads. On the other hand, we definitely need a real competitor to Waymo. It doesn't seem likely, but hopefully some combination of Cruise, Apple(?), Tesla, or another player will be able to have a feasible alternative to Waymo's Driver.
Out of all the tech problems to solve, driverless cars or driverless taxis has always baffled me. It’s a very complex thing to solve with a zillion edge cases. And for what net gain? What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve? Lack of good public transit? Let’s solve that instead. Millions of cars driverless or not are not a great solution to anything.
Driverless cars can eliminate individual car purchases. Idealized, they can significantly reduce car related injuries and fatalities.
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of all the tech problems to solve, driverless cars or driverless taxis has always baffled me. It’s a very complex thing to solve with a zillion edge cases. And for what net gain? What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve? Lack of good public transit? Let’s solve that instead. Millions of cars driverless or not are not a great solution to anything.
Over a million people die annually from traffic accidents.
Kinda circular logic though
Re: We have decided to pause driverless operations across all of our fleets
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of all the tech problems to solve, driverless cars or driverless taxis has always baffled me. It’s a very complex thing to solve with a zillion edge cases. And for what net gain? What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve? Lack of good public transit? Let’s solve that instead. Millions of cars driverless or not are not a great solution to anything.
You’re not the only one. It seems to me we should be trying to get rid of cars in favour of mass transport or two-wheel personal transport. Having personal transport in the form of cars makes little sense in cities where space is at a premium. Where I live, to get across the city on public transport takes 40 minutes and a bus change. I can cycle it in 20. Replacing human-driven cars with driverless cars is going to m…
> When I think back to the covid lockdowns and how much nicer and more spacious the city felt with no cars on the roads, that’s what I think cities should be like.
Me too! Short of another global pandemic, the best thing to have on the ride beside "no cars" is self-driving vehicles.