this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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In a pivotal moment for the autonomous transportation industry, California chose to expand one of the biggest test cases for the technology.

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[–] heartfelthumburger@sopuli.xyz 26 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Self driving cars are stupid. Invest in public transit instead.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Exactly, don't divert investment in public transportation because you want your own personal AI chauffeur.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Hey, dont you start talking shit about Randy.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You think public taxes and fees are being delivered to autonomous vehicle development?

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That's the original premise of this thread.

But also, yes, ultimately I think that's the direction this would end up going:

https://lemmy.world/comment/2298894

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The premise is that you're just making shit up?

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

If you want to backtrack on your comment "perfect is the enemy of good" then you need to go up a couple levels in the thread and actually refute the original claim. I'm just replying your statement.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

You'll deliberately misinterpret my words no matter where I comment.

[–] TheOneCurly@lemmy.theonecurly.page 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you've ever taken public transit in the US, you know no one is asking for perfect lol.

[–] ShakyPerception@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

Hell, at this point we’re not even asking for good

[–] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

regulators are grappling with how to control this rapidly developing industry.

Read: how to collect all these little black briefcases

[–] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Isn't a self driving car just a train? We should build trans and trollies instead. The tech is already there and they carry more people.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 29 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Isn’t a self driving car just a train?

no, it is not... here is handy image to familiarize you with some basic differences

[–] Imgonnatrythis@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Could you like label them or something?

[–] RheingoldRiver@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Chozo@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I can't get a feel for the perspective. Can we please get something to show the scale of these items?

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

well one weighs a lot of watermelons! the other one quite a less watermelons. does this help?

[–] Chozo@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago

Thank you, very informative!

[–] RheingoldRiver@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago
[–] buckykat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

no a self driving car is much worse than a train

[–] Imgonnatrythis@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

You clearly haven't been run over by a train.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

As cool as the idea of self driving cars are, I don't trust it not to become a future where script kiddies and novice hackers take control of vehicles and crash them for fun if AI gets involved.

Don't even get me started on if a country had AI self driving cars and an enemy nation hacks the AI and sends directions that cause the car to end up damaging itself without you knowing. Or just uses it to cause all the vehicles in an area to crash and not be able to deploy airbags.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 3 points 2 years ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


California often serves as a “canary in the coal mine for the country and the developed world,” said David Zipper, Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved the permits for Waymo and Cruise on Thursday despite pushback from local leaders and many residents in San Francisco, who argue that the autonomous vehicles have caused chaos around the city — from traffic jams to disrupted emergency scenes.

But critics say this data is unreliable and incomplete because the companies are not required to report a range of other incidents that affect the public — such as when a car veers into a bike or bus lane or stops short and disrupts traffic.

Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who has conducted research on autonomous-vehicle safety for decades, said the self-driving car companies are under intense pressure to turn a profit and — in some cases — prove the business’s viability to shareholders.

In Los Angeles, Jarvis Murray, the county’s transportation administrator, said it is “untenable” to allow a new mobility service to expand without requiring companies to report more data and also give the cities more say over what is happening on their public roadways.

In an attempt to halt Thursday’s vote, they wrote letters and spoke at hearings to bring attention to a string of incidents in recent months: A car stopping near the scene of a mass shooting, another getting tangled in caution tape and downed wires after a major storm and another blocking a firetruck from exiting a station for several minutes.


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[–] Yepthatsme@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

EVs are a crutch for the failed auto industry. Personal vehicles made life worse over time. This is an extension of that mistake. The people defending it are myopic and lazy.

[–] WarMarshalEmu@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

"The people defending it are myopic and lazy." I don't think that's a fair statement. If I could walk/bike everywhere I would but as it turns out my area isn't walk-able at all. I didn't choose the infrastructure I have.

[–] tomthegeek@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Personal vehicles made life worse over time.

When you guys are walking everywhere you'll be regretting this insanity. Don't bother responding, I'm not interested in your delusions and Lemmy.world has proven that real discussions are not possible here.

[–] DulyNoted@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Lol this is such a weird sentiment to me. You realize many of us do walk everywhere, right?

[–] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml -2 points 2 years ago

This guy fkn gets it

[–] jeffw@lemmy.world -4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Good. I’m sick of the fearmonger. “OH NO, THIS ONE CAR GOT IN A CRASH!!!!!!”

Yeah, but humans crash too?

[–] Chozo@kbin.social 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

When I worked on Google's Waymo project, we only had a small handful of our cars involved in any collision on public roads. And every single one of them was from a human driver running into the SDC. I dunno if that's changed since I left, but even in the early stages, SDCs are remarkably safe compared to human drivers.

[–] sky@codesink.io 1 points 2 years ago

Cruise has hit an oncoming car, smashed into the back of a Muni bus, and is constantly stopping in emergency zones making first responders lives harder.

7 hours of debate of the community making it clear how much they don’t want this, how much the city’s leaders don’t want this, but the state doesn’t give a shit.

They may be “safe” because they avoid difficult maneuvers and only drive like 25-30mph, but that doesn’t mean they’re practical or should be welcome in our cities.

[–] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

And every single one of them was from a human driver running into the SDC

Yea, me too. I'm such a good driver, others are crashing into me every day...

[–] Gsus4@feddit.nl 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

It hits different when you're the one being crashed into, but if it crashes less than monkeys behind the wheel and liabilities are all accounted for and punished accordingly, bring it!

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What's with the obsession with punishment?

[–] Gsus4@feddit.nl 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Because corporations can't be allowed to get away with what would land any of us in jail if we did it. We know they will cut corners if allowed, so make sure FSD is safer and that citizens are not defrauded when dealing with economic behemoths.

In other words, it's good that they have less accidents, but the ones they have should be treated the same way we treat human drivers or harsher, so that playing with chances is not just an economic factor to optimize and cut corners on. E.g. aviation safety rules: even low cost airlines need to follow these rules, not the legal farwest they created with social media.

With FSD the example is: LIDAR is more expensive, but it is an evolving technology that is essentially safe, but Elon wants to use just cameras...because it's cheaper...and...much less safe...it's not a solved problem on the cheap. That's why you need to penalize them for making such choices or outright forbid them from making them. They are going to be setting standards here and there is a risk that a shittier technology wins a few bucks for elon at the cost of lives into the future: and we can't half-ass this forever just because Elon wants his cars to be half the price it takes to do right.