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Isn't the person actually driving the car supposed to be driving the car? I've ridden in these self driving Ubers. When I rode in one, the driver drove almost
by blhack 8y ago
Isn't the person actually driving the car supposed to be driving the car?
I've ridden in these self driving Ubers. When I rode in one, the driver drove almost the entire time, except on a few straight stretches of road. They always had their hands ready to grab the wheel, were always attending to what was happening etc.
It seems like the marketing and the engineering got crossed here. Marketing says these were self driving, but anybody who rode in them knew they weren't. They were supposed to be getting driven by real drivers. From the report, it sounds like the drivers were listening to the marketing instead of the engineering team (who presumably would have told them that the system doesn't brake on its own).
It sounds like the real driver wasn't driving as they were supposed to be. From the video, it looked like they were reading something on their phone[1] instead of driving the car.
Compare this to a pilot flying in an autopilot. They don't shut their radios off and stop paying attention to the flight, they still fly the airplane and remain attentive to what is happening with it. That's what this driver should have been doing, not looking at their phone.
It frustrates me that this level of negligence could set self driving tech, something that will save countless lives, back. This was the Chernobyl moment for self driving tech. It's safer than alternatives, but now this is all people are associating it with.
[1]:the driver states that they were interacting with the Uber self driving system, not their phone.
- ummonk 8y ago>It's safer than alternatives, but now this is all people are associating it with. Unlike for nuclear power, this is currently nowhere near true for self-driving tech.
- Jasper_ 8y ago> That's what this driver should have been doing, not looking at their phone. According to the NSTB report, they were looking at a separate diagnostic panel and flagging messages which Uber asked them to do as part of self-driving training duties. > It's safer than alternatives The system also decided it should have applied the emergency brakes, but then didn't. I don't think this system is safer than alternatives.
- gkya 8y ago> It frustrates me that this level of negligence could set self driving tech, something that will save countless lives, back. This was the Chernobyl moment for self driving tech. It's safer than alternatives, but now this is all people are associating it with. If it can not be done securely at scale, it better be set back, especially on public roads. I am deeply skeptical of how safe and realistic self-driving vehicles are. Even with such less amount of cars dubbed autonomous on the roads, we've seen up until now a great multitude of fatal accidents or near misses already. This putting internet and AI in everything reminds me of a recent Vsauce video I saw which shows radium chocolate bars and underwear: a new fascinating thing that in future will probably prove more harmful than it is useful, because of how we overestimate it's practical utility.