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Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

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Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#51

Post by AlotOfReading »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #36

[flagged]

Nothing about autonomous vehicles has ever prevented municipalities from improving public transit and in all likelihood, never will. They're two entirely separate pots of money by two entirely separate sets of organizations.

American transit sucks. It's sucked for decades. It's going to continue sucking as long as we keep playing this stupid game of "let's discuss maybe eventually building something in 50 years" that happens in every metro area. In the meantime, I'll keep commuting by public transit to my job developing autonomous vehicles.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#52

Post by zombiwoof »

opdahl wrote: post #11

Going to be very interesting to see how the Japanese people react to this. The service the taxi drivers provide when you take the taxi in Japan is on another level, such as waiting for you with the open door and closing the door for you as you enter. A driverless car will never be able to copy that. Japan also has very good public transportation reducing the need for a car for day to day travel so cost might be less…

I agree on the taxi experience being next level. I just wonder how the aging population will replace them. Have you ever seen a 20 something cab driver in Japan? I been many times and never have so wonder if there is a job shortage coming

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#53

Post by sushid »

ryan_lane wrote: post #45
klausa wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the killer feature for this will be if it's readily available at night, for reasonable prices. I love living here, but the "do we go home or stay out all night?" decision at ~23:30 when out sucks. If I could get across town for ~3000 JPY at 2AM without having to wait 50 minutes for a cab around Shinjuku, I'd be ecstatic.

Taxis are readily available, but the price after hours is why people don't take them. I doubt waymo will be able to bypass taxi pricing.

Can you elaborate for those less informed? Is there a higher fare after the trains stop?

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#54

Post by creer »

refactor_master wrote: post #6
trhaynes wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on what is expected outside of being mandated?

In my experience the cars are highly regulated and very predictable on the main roads. Marked out lanes, low speed limits, many red lights. But pedestrians and bikes are everywhere , and they don't always obey the rules. I wonder how well collision detection handles sharing lanes with bikes without suddenly braking in the middle of the road.

In San Francisco, pedestrians and bikes can appear anywhere around your car, at any speed in any direction. Including wearing all black, no light and taking 2 steps forward then turning around and taking 2 more steps forward (repeat but vary everything randomly). Or doing lasso circles with something heavy at the end of a rope in the middle of the street (last weekend). Just because this is not 100% of the time is not a license to run over ANY of them.

This is a kind of environment that human drivers are NOT made for. All the more not while clicking around on their Uber app or changing the music track or trying to read street signs or understand a Nissan dashboard map. In San Francisco, computers with multiple sensors have a gross advantage over humans.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#56

Post by buzer »

GolDDranks wrote: post #25
pezezin wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in rural Japan, and in my experience, drivers are also crazy: * They stop on the side of roads and streets whenever they feel like it without worrying about blocking the traffic. * They don't turn the lights on no matter how bad the weather is. Super fun to be in the middle of a snow storm and people are driving white cars with the lights off. * Whenever someone wants to turn right at an intersection, the cars…

How would passing on the left would risk a collision with a car coming from an opposite direction? The opposite lane is on the right hand side (in Japan)?

I assume they mean: Given turning/waiting car A, passing car B that is going straight and car C coming from right going straight. Car B likely has right of the way as they are going straight and they are on the left from viewpoint of car C, but car C may not see behind car A (like due to it being truck for example). Both B & C might think they have right of the way. B due to fact they should normally only need to avoid people coming from left and he can see there is no one there, C due to fact he entered intersection when he only saw A who is waiting to turn. I don't know Japan law so I don't know actually has right of the way here (in Finland A would actually have right of the way in mirrored situation as you always need to yield those coming from right in equal intersection, even if they are turning left).

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#57

Post by sushid »

_ea1k wrote: post #40
KennyBlanken wrote: post #36

[flagged]

> Let that sink in: people were so angry at their property, health, and safety put at risk as unconsenting "beta testers" that they set fire to one of the cars. Maybe the sort of person that would take that action isn't a credible actor.

Not to mention it was some idiot who threw firecrackers in a Waymo. I don't think this person made a super calculated decision.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#58

Post by Foreignborn »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #51
KennyBlanken wrote: post #36

[flagged]

Nothing about autonomous vehicles has ever prevented municipalities from improving public transit and in all likelihood, never will. They're two entirely separate pots of money by two entirely separate sets of organizations. American transit sucks. It's sucked for decades. It's going to continue sucking as long as we keep playing this stupid game of "let's discuss maybe eventually building something in 50 years" that…

Actually all traffic modalities are tied together by relative or induced demand.

Making one method easier induces demand for it. So perhaps not the same pot of money, but impacts it all the same.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#59

Post by pezezin »

buzer wrote: post #56
GolDDranks wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would passing on the left would risk a collision with a car coming from an opposite direction? The opposite lane is on the right hand side (in Japan)?

I assume they mean: Given turning/waiting car A, passing car B that is going straight and car C coming from right going straight. Car B likely has right of the way as they are going straight and they are on the left from viewpoint of car C, but car C may not see behind car A (like due to it being truck for example). Both B & C might think they have right of the way. B due to fact they should normally only need to avo…

Yes, it is a question of visibility. You have two cars coming from opposite directions, both want to turn right (Japan drives on the left), and both think they can do it safely, but all of sudden another car pops from behind.

I have seen many near accidents due to this. That's why such a maneuver is forbidden in many countries.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#60

Post by nmstoker »

cadamsau wrote: post #47
nixpulvis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a video of a bunch of Waymos backed up on each other being too hesitant to make a turn. Kinda reinforced a fear I have of these things. Not to mention I would hate to try and wave one of these things to turn before me... or wink my headlights. IDK, like I get the appeal for driverless cars, I just still don't like them.

Seeing something once doesn’t make it a real phenomenon. Besides, if that is common, Waymo will have data on it and if it’s common enough, they’ll fix it. I’ve sat in Waymos on 2 occasions, each on a separate ride, in which the car avoided collisions that would have happened due to bad human drivers. Your fear is worth examining closely as it’ll hold you back from enjoying this amazing technology.

I think you may mean something other than phenomenon ("an observable fact or event"). Seeing anything more than zero times makes it a phenomenon by definition.
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