• FunkyStuff [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      It's a self driving taxi startup. It doesn't drive itself reliablh. It relies on call center workers in the global south to take control of the cars when they run into trouble. They already have killed several people and are programmed to only avoid specific objects they identify, if they identify you as 'other' they'll just run you over (yes this has already happened)

      Anyway, paying a bus driver and building rail infrastructure is completely unthinkable and inefficient dontcha know?

      • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]
        ·
        1 month ago

        They already have killed several people

        I have been unable to corroborate this with any sources. To me it seems like most of their collisions are the result of people not paying attention and rear ending them at stoplights. I also heavily doubt that they only avoid known objects because of how easy it is to imprison them by putting random things in their vicinity and by their comically incremental right turns.

        • FunkyStuff [he/him]
          ·
          1 month ago

          Wait you're completely right, Waymo hasn't had fatal crashes. I mostly was going off this video he mentions how they don't avoid things they don't recognize (maybe the algorithm has changed)

          • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]
            ·
            1 month ago

            Yeah, that makes sense, especially with the object permanence issues for cruise. I've worked on similar systems with vision data and figuring out how an object leaves frame is significantly easier said than done. My big qualm with that video is the degree it minimized the danger of human drivers. The advantage of autonomous vehicles isn't traffic reduction or price or any of the topics he mentioned; rather it's that machines don't get drunk or high or tired or angry. Autonomous vehicles aren't a permanent solution, however, as a concept they serve as harm reduction by being significantly safer than humans when comparing mileage.