Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
1–10 of 196 posts
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#2Interesting analysis using comments/rider scores. 10% improvement over 6 months is actually pretty good, though. Even if that rate slows as trickier edge cases get handled, It still implies early 2020s for true driverless readiness in select locations. That's pretty much on track with overall predictions for the autonomous market.
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#3I wonder how many people are upset that the vehicles had to drop them off in a valid passenger load/unload zone as opposed to the usual Lyft / Uber tactic of parking in a no parking / no stopping zone, bike lane, crosswalk, etc because it's most convenient for the drivers and passengers (at the safety and expense of everyone else sharing the space)...
That quote at the end:
> I guess Lyft has me spoiled. I like getting dropped off in front of the place im going too [sic] not just in the parking lot....
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#4The slow progress is not an indictment of self driving. This is one of the toughest engineering challenges ever mounted by humanity.
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#5The slow progress is not an indictment of self driving. This is one of the toughest engineering challenges ever mounted by humanity.
I think it parallels nuclear fusion in a lot of ways. The impact is unquestionable, but the feasibility is an ongoing debate.
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#6> The data provide the most detailed view yet of the passenger experience inside vehicles from Waymo, which doesn’t disclose the information even though it uses public roads as its testing grounds.
What's up with this statement? Should I be forced to publicize my phone calls just because I made them while driving on public roads? It's utterly bizarre that the author thinks he is entitled to see Waymo's data.
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#7I wonder how many people are upset that the vehicles had to drop them off in a valid passenger load/unload zone as opposed to the usual Lyft / Uber tactic of parking in a no parking / no stopping zone, bike lane, crosswalk, etc because it's most convenient for the drivers and passengers (at the safety and expense of everyone else sharing the space)... That quote at the end: > I guess Lyft has me spoiled. I like getti…
It’s mainly a different lobbying tactic:
- Uber and Lyft and more toe-stepping and will encourage their contractors to paint outside the line, deal with the consequence once the administration has caught up with them and is presented with the fait-accompli that this is voters’ expectations now.
- Google/Waymo has better relationships with local authorities and can obtain the permit to drop people off after they’ve proven they are playing within the line — and can wait for, and eventually finance urban furniture changes.
Both use people’s expectations, but differently.
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#8The slow progress is not an indictment of self driving. This is one of the toughest engineering challenges ever mounted by humanity.
Yeah, that's a bit of an overstatement.
We created nukes, landed on the moon, took sludge out of the ground and used it to power the world. We connected this world with wires and glass fibers to build a real-time global communication system that also gathered all of the world's information in a singular and immediately accessible place.
Building a self driving car is hard but really not as tough.
How quickly do think we'd get self driving cars if the USA spent 4% of the federal budget on it like NASA received in the 60s. (That's about $40B a year for a decade).
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#9Interesting analysis using comments/rider scores. 10% improvement over 6 months is actually pretty good, though. Even if that rate slows as trickier edge cases get handled, It still implies early 2020s for true driverless readiness in select locations. That's pretty much on track with overall predictions for the autonomous market.
I think standard car manufacturers and insurances would be in awe if their car safety improved at that rate.
Re: Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
#10> The data provide the most detailed view yet of the passenger experience inside vehicles from Waymo, which doesn’t disclose the information even though it uses public roads as its testing grounds. What's up with this statement? Should I be forced to publicize my phone calls just because I made them while driving on public roads? It's utterly bizarre that the author thinks he is entitled to see Waymo's data.
No, because you get the use of the roads as part of paying your taxes. These are special licenses, providing resources for private research for free with the costs being borne by the public.