8 ms·

"they just needed people to believe wholeheartedly they were using one." Don't they mean "seeing one" instead of "using one"? Or am I missing something? "fil

"they just needed people to believe wholeheartedly they were using one." Don't they mean "seeing one" instead of "using one"? Or am I missing something? "fill in gaps where we currently communicate via subtle gestures, eye contact and other less obvious mechanisms." This also struck me as odd - do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? I guess it's possible, but in many cases you can't see the driver's head, let alone eyes.

Ajedi32 9y ago
Yeah, it doesn't look like this disguise would work very well against someone sitting in the passenger seat.
- josefresco 9y ago
  For a second I thought they put a passenger in the "lap" of the driver - but looking at the pics there's no way...
jasonmaydie 9y ago
This was actually in the news about a mysterious van with a driver pretending to be self driving. https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/7/16109378/driverless-van-arlington-va-car-seat-costume-disguise https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/7/16109378/driverless-van-ar...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- compuguy 9y ago
  The local NBC channel (WRC-TV 4) covered it as well: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Driver-Dressed-Like-a-Seat-Spotted-Inside-Driverless-Van-439041863.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_DCBrand http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Driver-Dressed-Like-...
- icc97 9y ago
  Watching the video it's almost impossible to tell what the flickering of the lights mean. A much better idea seems the front brake lights mentioned by a couple of other commenters, plus a requirement for headlights if the car is on.
jvolkman 9y ago
Pedestrians often do. For example, I'd want to make eye contact with a driver of a car attempting to make an unprotected left turn (and not looking in my direction) prior to crossing in front of it.
- Fricken 9y ago
  Drive.ai, (recently in the news for partnering with Lyft), has large LCD screens for signalling to pedestrians and other things. Probably a good idea.
uxp100 9y ago
> do pedestrians [...] really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? Yes. Consciously, at every vehicle at an intersection, to make sure they aren't going to run me over. Same on a bike. Other drivers? IDK, its harder through 2 windshields.
- shangxiao 9y ago
  When driving, if another driving appears to be doing something unusual I try to make eye contact to see what they're doing and try to determine their intentions.
- MrMember 9y ago
  I do it all the time whether I'm walking, in a car, or on my motorcycle. If I look at them and see them looking at me it raises my confidence that they see me.
  - kpil 9y ago
    I've been given a ride in the passenger seat of a RHD car in a RHT country, ie the steering wheel is on the "wrong" side. It's actually quite stressful before the driver (hopefully) stops at a zebra crossing after you accidentally caught eye contact with a waiting pedestrian staring at you. The best strategy is to just look down, but that feels a bit stupid too when the pedestrians are clearly looking at you.
- saalweachter 9y ago
  An electric car with an empty driver seat sitting at an intersection would be especially bad; when cross the street I would interpret that as a parked car, especially if it was by the curb (for either left or a right on a one-way street). Hopefully the car would be smart enough not to hit me but I don't want to have to start staring deeply at every parked car, trying to intuit if it is a robot about to pull away.
  - mgbmtl 9y ago
    Do like in Canada: all cars must have their headlights on when driving (the lights automatically turn on). edit: also, I feel like if we add new light signals for acceleration, for example, it would be nice to add that to all cars.
ape4 9y ago
I certainly try to make eye contact when walking in front of a car.
dsfyu404ed 9y ago
do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? The good ones do
Splines 9y ago
> do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? I certainly do - most commonly when merging into a congested lane from a side street, stopping and making eye contact helps understand if everybody is paying attention (the merger can move forward and the merged is leaving a space open for them). Motorcyclists also have a pretty large vocabulary (I'm not sure how many of these are actually used in practice): http://www.abate-il.org/Backroads/signals.html http://www.abate-il.org/Backroads/signals.html
- deathanatos 9y ago
  Body language can convey a lot of information. We had to swerve onto the shoulder slightly yesterday to allow a motorcyclist room to move out of the way of a car in lane 2 who wanted to merge into lane 1, but didn't bother to signal or check his mirror. The wave we got from the cyclist afterwards said all of "thank you, and screw the guy next to me".
- jpindar 9y ago
  Most of those are used when riding with a club or other group who know each other.
- Chris2048 9y ago
  There's a rule of motorcycling that you look at a cars wheels, not the driver: "the car driver is likely to look you straight in the eye, before they pull out right in front of you".
user_taken 9y ago
Surely they weren't having people sit on the guys lap.. This would be a great way to judge other's reactions though. I could see people who had never seen a self driving car, paying more attention to the spectacle than actually driving.
ltjkid 9y ago
They(Ford) just needed people to believe wholeheartedly that they(Ford) were using one. Ford was using the car. The people were seeing it. The second "they" in that sentence is referring to Ford, not the people.
mikestew 9y ago
do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? They do, and it's even advised by some. But I'm here to tell you that the eyes lie. I've had people look me directly in the eye and still pull out in front of me. Look at the wheels. The wheels will always tell you what the vehicle is going to do.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  When I'm jogging in the local park I'll often avoid making eye contact, as I think that this often works better to get people to stop (they aren't convinced you see them). Of course I'm prepared to stop if the vehicle doesn't. I'm sort of intentionally being abrasive there though, as I think people drive too aggressively given the surroundings.
  - dsfyu404ed 9y ago
    >I'm sort of intentionally being abrasive there though, as I think people drive too aggressively given the surroundings. This kind of passive aggressive behavior creates more problems than it solves.
    - maxerickson 9y ago
      I'm not dead yet.
      - dsfyu404ed 9y ago
        Someone who's having a bad day is going to flip out on you for being an idiot and not paying attention (as they see it) when they have to stop short. It'll probably happen eventually. Looking like an oblivious idiot (which is indistinguishable from actually being one as far as other people care) who may dart out into the road at any second isn't going to make the world a better place. It will just increase the net frustration. Same goes for going the speed limit in the left lane. Roads are safer when people aren't angry.
Jarwain 9y ago
> "they just needed people to believe wholeheartedly they were using one." 'they' is referring to Ford. Rephrased, "Ford just needed people to believe wholeheartedly [that] Ford [was] using one"
dwighttk 9y ago
>"they just needed people to believe wholeheartedly they were using one." >Don't they mean "seeing one" instead of "using one"? Or am I missing something? the "they"s in the quote refers to the researchers, not "people"
krallja 9y ago
And I suppose the "break lights" are lit when the CPU is nonfunctional?
jklp 9y ago
> This also struck me as odd - do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? This statement both terrifies and piques my interest simultaneously ...

Ajedi32 9y ago

Yeah, it doesn't look like this disguise would work very well against someone sitting in the passenger seat.

josefresco 9y ago
For a second I thought they put a passenger in the "lap" of the driver - but looking at the pics there's no way...

jasonmaydie 9y ago

This was actually in the news about a mysterious van with a driver pretending to be self driving. https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/7/16109378/driverless-van-arlington-va-car-seat-costume-disguise https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/7/16109378/driverless-van-ar...

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
compuguy 9y ago
The local NBC channel (WRC-TV 4) covered it as well: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Driver-Dressed-Like-a-Seat-Spotted-Inside-Driverless-Van-439041863.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_DCBrand http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Driver-Dressed-Like-...
icc97 9y ago
Watching the video it's almost impossible to tell what the flickering of the lights mean. A much better idea seems the front brake lights mentioned by a couple of other commenters, plus a requirement for headlights if the car is on.

jvolkman 9y ago

Pedestrians often do. For example, I'd want to make eye contact with a driver of a car attempting to make an unprotected left turn (and not looking in my direction) prior to crossing in front of it.

Fricken 9y ago
Drive.ai, (recently in the news for partnering with Lyft), has large LCD screens for signalling to pedestrians and other things. Probably a good idea.

uxp100 9y ago

> do pedestrians [...] really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? Yes. Consciously, at every vehicle at an intersection, to make sure they aren't going to run me over. Same on a bike. Other drivers? IDK, its harder through 2 windshields.

shangxiao 9y ago
When driving, if another driving appears to be doing something unusual I try to make eye contact to see what they're doing and try to determine their intentions.
MrMember 9y ago
I do it all the time whether I'm walking, in a car, or on my motorcycle. If I look at them and see them looking at me it raises my confidence that they see me.
- kpil 9y ago
  I've been given a ride in the passenger seat of a RHD car in a RHT country, ie the steering wheel is on the "wrong" side. It's actually quite stressful before the driver (hopefully) stops at a zebra crossing after you accidentally caught eye contact with a waiting pedestrian staring at you. The best strategy is to just look down, but that feels a bit stupid too when the pedestrians are clearly looking at you.
saalweachter 9y ago
An electric car with an empty driver seat sitting at an intersection would be especially bad; when cross the street I would interpret that as a parked car, especially if it was by the curb (for either left or a right on a one-way street). Hopefully the car would be smart enough not to hit me but I don't want to have to start staring deeply at every parked car, trying to intuit if it is a robot about to pull away.
- mgbmtl 9y ago
  Do like in Canada: all cars must have their headlights on when driving (the lights automatically turn on). edit: also, I feel like if we add new light signals for acceleration, for example, it would be nice to add that to all cars.

ape4 9y ago

I certainly try to make eye contact when walking in front of a car.

dsfyu404ed 9y ago

do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? The good ones do

Splines 9y ago

> do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? I certainly do - most commonly when merging into a congested lane from a side street, stopping and making eye contact helps understand if everybody is paying attention (the merger can move forward and the merged is leaving a space open for them). Motorcyclists also have a pretty large vocabulary (I'm not sure how many of these are actually used in practice): http://www.abate-il.org/Backroads/signals.html http://www.abate-il.org/Backroads/signals.html

deathanatos 9y ago
Body language can convey a lot of information. We had to swerve onto the shoulder slightly yesterday to allow a motorcyclist room to move out of the way of a car in lane 2 who wanted to merge into lane 1, but didn't bother to signal or check his mirror. The wave we got from the cyclist afterwards said all of "thank you, and screw the guy next to me".
jpindar 9y ago
Most of those are used when riding with a club or other group who know each other.
Chris2048 9y ago
There's a rule of motorcycling that you look at a cars wheels, not the driver: "the car driver is likely to look you straight in the eye, before they pull out right in front of you".

user_taken 9y ago

Surely they weren't having people sit on the guys lap.. This would be a great way to judge other's reactions though. I could see people who had never seen a self driving car, paying more attention to the spectacle than actually driving.

ltjkid 9y ago

They(Ford) just needed people to believe wholeheartedly that they(Ford) were using one. Ford was using the car. The people were seeing it. The second "they" in that sentence is referring to Ford, not the people.

mikestew 9y ago

do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? They do, and it's even advised by some. But I'm here to tell you that the eyes lie. I've had people look me directly in the eye and still pull out in front of me. Look at the wheels. The wheels will always tell you what the vehicle is going to do.

maxerickson 9y ago
When I'm jogging in the local park I'll often avoid making eye contact, as I think that this often works better to get people to stop (they aren't convinced you see them). Of course I'm prepared to stop if the vehicle doesn't. I'm sort of intentionally being abrasive there though, as I think people drive too aggressively given the surroundings.
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  >I'm sort of intentionally being abrasive there though, as I think people drive too aggressively given the surroundings. This kind of passive aggressive behavior creates more problems than it solves.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    I'm not dead yet.
    - dsfyu404ed 9y ago
      Someone who's having a bad day is going to flip out on you for being an idiot and not paying attention (as they see it) when they have to stop short. It'll probably happen eventually. Looking like an oblivious idiot (which is indistinguishable from actually being one as far as other people care) who may dart out into the road at any second isn't going to make the world a better place. It will just increase the net frustration. Same goes for going the speed limit in the left lane. Roads are safer when people aren't angry.

Jarwain 9y ago

> "they just needed people to believe wholeheartedly they were using one." 'they' is referring to Ford. Rephrased, "Ford just needed people to believe wholeheartedly [that] Ford [was] using one"

dwighttk 9y ago

>"they just needed people to believe wholeheartedly they were using one." >Don't they mean "seeing one" instead of "using one"? Or am I missing something? the "they"s in the quote refers to the researchers, not "people"

krallja 9y ago

And I suppose the "break lights" are lit when the CPU is nonfunctional?

jklp 9y ago

> This also struck me as odd - do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? This statement both terrifies and piques my interest simultaneously ...