Self-Driving Cars and Taxis Are Here! 5

[IRstuff]

https://abc7news.com/self-driving-cars-san-francisco-robo-taxi-waymo-cruise-car/13442069/

This is one reporter's experience with Waymo's self-driving taxis. Not mentioned in Veritassium's Waymo video, but shown in this one, is a massive, behind-the-scenes, human monitoring of all the Waymo taxi in operation, because, well, the AI is stupid.

This is a fun one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKJlF-olKmg

It shows only a tiny fraction of the ways that AI tries to "game" the human trainer. Lots of good lessons to be learned here.

The moral is that rather than an evil, "Humans must die", Skynet, we're more likely to wind up with it killing humans simply because that ups its rewards in the reinforcement learning algorithm.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[CWB1]

I can't imagine any autonomous cars being tested in midwest winters at this point.

We're a few years beyond "testing." Development and release happened before COVID and these companies are now into commercial operations/sales. No doubt there will be the usual continued refinement and application to a wider variety of vehicles, but until the next technology leap/price cut there won't be any significant engineering activities unless a major quality issue is discovered. Mid-late 2010s you couldn't commute across Detroit without seeing goofy autonomy, big-3 and Waymo being the most common. I'm not sure if Tesla ever tested with roof racks or just integrated their designs into the bodywork from the start as others do today, but they do/did have an office up in Novi/Wixom area and have many M-plate cars locally. Waymo has had a production line running downtown(?) for ~5 years but development was ongoing locally years prior. The ones I enjoy seeing tho are the lil Nuro delivery boxes, reminds me of a Zamboni.

 

[SnTMan]

Driverless cars stalled by placing traffic cones on the hoods.

Only "20 years" away

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[BrianPetersen]

Someone's a tad miffed at Tesla ... just a tad, I'd say.

https://carbuzz.com/news/the-feds-are-coming-after-tesla-autopilot-in-a-big-way

 

[davefitz]

so, how much do you tip a self driving taxi?

"...when logic, and proportion, have fallen, sloppy dead..." Grace Slick

 

[IRstuff]

Well, the app usually suggests a minimum of 15% ;-)

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[GregLocock]

Meanswhile
WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators will soon decide on a petition filed by General Motors' (GM.N) Cruise self-driving technology unit seeking permission to deploy up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles annually without human controls, a top auto safety official said on Wednesday.

The petition, filed in February 2022, seeks government approval to deploy vehicles annually without steering wheels, mirrors, turn signals or windshield wipers. National Highway Traffic Safety acting Administrator Ann Carlson said Wednesday the agency "will issue a decision "in the coming weeks."

Cue BMW jokes.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[cranky108]

So whet will happen when they find that GPS navigation maps are wrong? Like when we closed the easement on our property?
How will these cars handle flood waters, and will they avoid potholes?

 

[TenPenny]

Since they don't even stop when police want them to pull over, I doubt they will worry about floods or potholes.

 

[enginesrus]

So will those will those GM cars with no human controls have a door handle to escape when the battery catches fire, or the car goes out of control? Or will the onboard computer system lock that out?
Yes what scary stuff the future holds. Its turning out digital electronics and the computer are the most dangerous invention of all times.

 

[Tomfh]

the Alef thing isn't going to get certified as it never going to be controllable, has no systems redundancy, and won't pass air vehicle or ground vehicle crash requirements, etc.

Like the Moller car, we can worry about all that when one of the things manages to get off the ground.

 

[IRstuff]

Ah, Moller; a mere 25 years ago when their product was going to be certified in the next year or two.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[Luceid]

This was a funny read, calling back to the weather (fog/blizzard) issue, 5 Waymos got stuck on a busy street in SF due to the heavy fog at night. Only a few minutes but they got it fairly clogged.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/san-francisco-waymo-stopped-in-street-17890821.php