4 ms·

Isn't it a little silly to call someone "only sane C-level person" after one comment? Also, while claiming these innovations are only a few years way may be in

Isn't it a little silly to call someone "only sane C-level person" after one comment? Also, while claiming these innovations are only a few years way may be insane, saying they will never happen feels probably just as non-sense. History hasn't been on the side of such absolute claims. It will take time, but Waymo already has working 100% self-driving cars out in the wild. Yes it's in a small area, with perfect weather, and with technicians ready to jump in, but it's still a good start and easily paves the way for it to extend over the next decade or so.

baybal2 7y ago
I do feel like that. From my past few years dealing with automotive clients, I haven't heard of a single company that was not completely obsessed with it. All and every piece of electronics we did in the automotive sector had some lame "AI platform" attached somewhere, for no apparent reason. The most blatant "AI washing" I saw was an "AI power steering" which was a plain PID, inferior on all fronts to purpose made systems already on the market. Second to it was an "AI airbag," which was basically an OpenCV hello world that will trigger the airbag ahead of time. Terribly unreliable, and would've probably killed more people than saved.
- Faark 7y ago
  Yes, it's a hype based buzzword. Just like "cloud" could be found everywhere a few years ago by people trying to profit from said hype. And just like "cloud", usage will start to become somewhat more realistic eventually. But I doubt the industry will look exactly like it did before... just like many of us didn't switch back to local bare metal servers. I totally understand mistrust. Less so if there are somewhat capable alpha products already available with huge economic incentives behind made by somewhat reputable companies. It might not happen in the current hype cycle, then it will be a future one. But I don't ever see self driving cars quietly being deployed. That's just a way to well known game changer hardly anyone will want to sit out.
hilbertseries 7y ago
https://www.cnet.com/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo-john-krafcik-autonomous-cars-wont-ever-be-able-to-drive-in-all-conditions/ https://www.cnet.com/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo-john-kra... Waymo ceo made a similar statement.
- ehsankia 7y ago
  To me those are two very different statement, at least for my interpretation of the first statement. If the VW exec was referring to very hard weather conditions, then fair enough, but I doubt that's what he meant. The Waymo CEO was very clearly referring to extreme conditions like storms, and honestly, most humans can't and shouldn't drive in said conditions, so it's not that crazy to say Waymo may never be able to either.
Razengan 7y ago
> saying they will never happen feels probably just as non-sense. History hasn't been on the side of such absolute claims. I wish there was a collection of stubborn dismissals of things that did come to pass and became bigger and better than originally imagined, so we could point and laugh at those cynical sticks in the muds. Steve Ballmer's dismissal of the iPhone being a popular relatively recent case. I still remember that quote I discovered through Civilization, apparently made by some popular leader (Napoleon?) about steam engines: "You would make a ship of iron and without sails move by lighting a bonfire under its deck?? Absurd!"

baybal2 7y ago

I do feel like that. From my past few years dealing with automotive clients, I haven't heard of a single company that was not completely obsessed with it. All and every piece of electronics we did in the automotive sector had some lame "AI platform" attached somewhere, for no apparent reason. The most blatant "AI washing" I saw was an "AI power steering" which was a plain PID, inferior on all fronts to purpose made systems already on the market. Second to it was an "AI airbag," which was basically an OpenCV hello world that will trigger the airbag ahead of time. Terribly unreliable, and would've probably killed more people than saved.

Faark 7y ago
Yes, it's a hype based buzzword. Just like "cloud" could be found everywhere a few years ago by people trying to profit from said hype. And just like "cloud", usage will start to become somewhat more realistic eventually. But I doubt the industry will look exactly like it did before... just like many of us didn't switch back to local bare metal servers. I totally understand mistrust. Less so if there are somewhat capable alpha products already available with huge economic incentives behind made by somewhat reputable companies. It might not happen in the current hype cycle, then it will be a future one. But I don't ever see self driving cars quietly being deployed. That's just a way to well known game changer hardly anyone will want to sit out.

hilbertseries 7y ago

https://www.cnet.com/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo-john-krafcik-autonomous-cars-wont-ever-be-able-to-drive-in-all-conditions/ https://www.cnet.com/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo-john-kra... Waymo ceo made a similar statement.

ehsankia 7y ago
To me those are two very different statement, at least for my interpretation of the first statement. If the VW exec was referring to very hard weather conditions, then fair enough, but I doubt that's what he meant. The Waymo CEO was very clearly referring to extreme conditions like storms, and honestly, most humans can't and shouldn't drive in said conditions, so it's not that crazy to say Waymo may never be able to either.

Razengan 7y ago

> saying they will never happen feels probably just as non-sense. History hasn't been on the side of such absolute claims. I wish there was a collection of stubborn dismissals of things that did come to pass and became bigger and better than originally imagined, so we could point and laugh at those cynical sticks in the muds. Steve Ballmer's dismissal of the iPhone being a popular relatively recent case. I still remember that quote I discovered through Civilization, apparently made by some popular leader (Napoleon?) about steam engines: "You would make a ship of iron and without sails move by lighting a bonfire under its deck?? Absurd!"