Live data from Hacker News

Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

cnbc.com

541–550 of 642 posts

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think it would be far more effective to make it easier to lose your license than it would be to make getting the license more challenging. For your system to work, there would actually need to be cops watching traffic. Since the pandemic, some cities just don't have as many police watching the streets as they used to. For example, there is virtually no traffic enforcement in Austin now. You see the results with h…

If only there were other ways of tracking and observing vehicle behavior. And some reliable way of identifying vehicles themselves. Or ways that we could automate this with computers to sort through. But that's just science fiction. Cars are just going to be cars!

Kinda funny how the HN crowd can both decry and advocate for automated mass surveillance at the same time.

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#542
post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currently people will just ignore a revoked license the same way they ignore other traffic laws. So I think ~level 5 self driving cars becoming common + a modification to prevent people using their cars just like we install breathalyzers for habitual DUI drivers is needed before revoking people’s licenses is really a meaningful punishment.

Doubtless some would ignore it, but you can go to jail for driving on a suspended license. I suspect there are a lot more people willing to risk a traffic ticket and a few $100 in fines for speeding, bad lane changes, etc. than there are people willing to risk jail for driving on a suspended license.

s/some/plenty/

In Ireland, jail time is rare for such offences sadly. In cases where jail time is sentenced, overcrowding in prisons often results in early release.

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#543
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Semi-related, but just once in my life, I want to hear a mayoral candidate say: “I endorse broken windows theory, but for drivers. You honk when there’s no emergency, block the box, roll through a stop sign — buddy that’s a ticket. Do it enough and we’ll impound your car.” Who knows, maybe we’ll start taking our cues from our polite new robot driver friends…

Ultimately I wouldn’t support this level of snitching (especially in our current political env) but I’ve had the idea of: A bounty program to submit dash cam video of egregious driving crimes. It gets reviewed, maybe even by AI initially and then gets escalated to formal ticket if legit. Once ticket is paid, the snitch gets a percentage. Again, I am fundamentally against something like this though, especially now.

Snitching... Please. We're not in the school playground any more. We're talking about taking responsibility when it comes to operating a vehicle in public. There's a huge imbalance of power when it comes to car use especially and we need to restore the balance. People need a recourse against irresponsible and bad drivers.

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#544
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we're going to see more examples of this as Waymo's popularity grows. Basically human drivers taking advantage of Waymo's far more passive driving style. Maybe some rules of the road will have to change, or the Waymos will get dedicated lanes to solve this problem.

Imagine if we had dedicated lanes for giant Waymos, that could hold dozens of people. The future of transport.

One of the big, big advantages of Waymo is not being in a car with a stranger. I know quite a few women who don’t mind paying extra for Waymo over Uber/Lyft.

Far more people might able to afford a Waymo than a personal (in person) chauffeur.

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#545
post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only there were other ways of tracking and observing vehicle behavior. And some reliable way of identifying vehicles themselves. Or ways that we could automate this with computers to sort through. But that's just science fiction. Cars are just going to be cars!

Kinda funny how the HN crowd can both decry and advocate for automated mass surveillance at the same time.

The HN crowd wouldn't see the tounge in cheek humor if it hit them in the face.

Vehicles have these things called license plates and take a license to operate. It's not dystopian mass surveillance or a technical challenge to have a camera assigning tickets for operating machinery dangerously in public spaces.

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#546
post #50

It's fascinating seeing all the comments elsewhere anytime Waymo starts testing in another city along the lines of, "ah, but how will they handle X, Y, and Z here?? Checkmate, robots!" despite having already launched service in several other cities. Granted, NYC is the biggest city in the US, so maybe that sort of reaction is more reasonable there than when people in Dallas or Boston do it.

NYC (at least the parts I've spent a bit of time in) is pretty grid like with fairly simple roads. The drivers are the hard part :) I am excited to see them tackle Boston at some point because of how strange some of those roads are. The first time I had ever been I came to an intersection that was all one ways and there were like 7 entry/exit points. My GPS said turn left, but there were three paths I'd consider left…

Next time go below 14th street. The grid is great but very misleading. NYC has had 400+ years of development, and it's deeply not homogenous in its design.

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to break this to you but outside of microscopic Reddit bubbles like r/fuckcars and similar, people generally don't have a problem with car infrastructure and cars as a whole and most people see cyclists as the vegans of the transport world.

HN loathes cars.

I'm not sure. In any discussion that's somewhat adjacent to transportation there are a lot of pro-car people that discuss the best type of a car (ICE or electric).

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#548
post #150
post #2

I saw one of these on Chambers Street just yesterday afternoon, but it must have been in manual mode, of course.

The Waymo’s I see in Austin just circle the same path to pump the number of miles their fleet is training on. Unless they are on an actual ride. Is Chambers St busy during the afternoons?

No, especially after congestion pricing, it doesn't get very busy. I assume the car was mapping the area and collecting background truth in general. Downtown and the financial district have interesting peculiarities, like the highly irregular grid and the patches of open air construction that have been in the middle of Greenwich St for many years, exposing tens of pipes and cables carrying who knows what.

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doubtless some would ignore it, but you can go to jail for driving on a suspended license. I suspect there are a lot more people willing to risk a traffic ticket and a few $100 in fines for speeding, bad lane changes, etc. than there are people willing to risk jail for driving on a suspended license.

s/some/plenty/ In Ireland, jail time is rare for such offences sadly. In cases where jail time is sentenced, overcrowding in prisons often results in early release.

But prison is a business in the U.S., so new customers are always welcome.

Re: Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

#550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sound like a junior admin. "Why do we need to keep testing? It works in the SF office?" Because they are completely different environments.

I didn't say testing was stupid. I said permitting only 8 vehicles for human testing from the leader in self-driving cars, years after they've been fully autonomous in other dense cities, isn't the flex he thinks it is.

8 is probably Waymo's choice. It's not said anywhere that it's the permit limit.
Post reply on HN