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The way you suggest the future of automotive transport rests on a fast food chain drive through suggests a kind of astroturfing social media advert. If burgers

The way you suggest the future of automotive transport rests on a fast food chain drive through suggests a kind of astroturfing social media advert. If burgers were that important, the burger company would partner with the self driving car company and find a way. None of those things are physically complex - the car will be able to see or lidar if a space is big enough for it to park in, pulling over to pick up a friend is no different to pulling over to let you out at your destination, and a drive-through is moving forwards slowly and steering a bit like all low speed driving is. None of them require the dexterity of folding soft wet fabric, and the market for $30,000+ vehicles is much larger than the market for $30,000+ washing machines. One simple answer is: you don't. Self-driving car owned by <car company. takes you from A to B and you get out. You don't choose the parking spot anymore than you chose the lane or the highway exit, you don't pick up a friend they take their own separate ride, and you don't use the drive through, you use <car company>'s food delivery service.

spookthesunset 7y ago
> None of those things are physically complex I don't care about how physically complex something is. You didn't tell me how I'd tell the self driving car which spot to park in or which person on the corner is my friend. If you think this detail is minor, trivial or doesn't matter.... you are sadly mistaken. > If burgers were that important, the burger company would partner with the self driving car company and find a way. So you are telling me your $70,000 self driving car can't take me through one of the hundreds of thousands of drive thru's out there? That sounds pretty shitty. > You don't choose the parking spot anymore than you chose the lane or the highway exit You are telling me that this self-driving taxi will just stop at whatever place it feels like? How will I tell it precisely where to let me out? Remember it is pouring down rain / I am physically disabled and cannot walk very far / I am not entirely sure where I need to be dropped off until I get there. So seriously, how will I command this self-driving car? Nobody seems to be able to answer this or even thought about it in any amount of detail at all. Probably because we are so far away from an actual self driving car that a realistic answer doesn't really matter at all. And that is the problem with self-driving hype. Every time you ask about a specific detail it gets hand waved away as not important or some kind of edge case that doesn't matter. Guess what... edge cases matter. Your edge case is my important case. You add up all these edge cases that "don't matter" and you've excluded almost your entire market.
- Slartie 7y ago
  > I don't understand why so many smart "tech people" fall for the hype. Maybe it's just that some of these "tech people" are not that smart at all? > And that is the problem with self-driving hype. Every time you ask about a specific detail it gets hand waved away as not important or some kind of edge case that doesn't matter. I think you are you spot-on with that analysis. Way too much hand-waving going on. But that is a constant problem in tech, the entire area is susceptible to hypes and fads, with hands waving and waving at record speed. Like I said, maybe it's just not all geniuses and such...
  - RaceWon 7y ago
    > > I don't understand why so many smart "tech people" fall for the hype. Maybe it's just that some of these "tech people" are not that smart at all? The crux of the problem is you have people who although may well be cabable of driving to work--they are by no means cabable of understanding driving at its essence. They will never, not ever; be able to create a car that can also interact with human drivers because they don't understand driving. Period... end of story.
  - jodrellblank 7y ago
    A comment which is nothing but posturing. Why would you expect everybody discussing self-driving cars, in every situation to, be a genius, and to be using their maximum effort even on trivia questions about what UI you would use to tell a car that doesn't exist yet how to drive to McDonalds, under the questionable assumptions that a) it must work exactly the same way as a traditional car and you won't accept otherwise, and b) there will be only one self-driving car full stop, so there will be one answer and it must be perfect for every possible use case first time?
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
  Honestly, I think I'm fine piloting a Tesla through a drive-through if it means I can eat on the road. I'll take 80% of possible performance / [aptitude?] now (heck, even 50-60%, as long as it's safe enough) versus 100% of possible scenarios being covered at some far-off point, especia)y if my enjoying 50-60% of capability actively gets the remaining % closer.

spookthesunset 7y ago

> None of those things are physically complex I don't care about how physically complex something is. You didn't tell me how I'd tell the self driving car which spot to park in or which person on the corner is my friend. If you think this detail is minor, trivial or doesn't matter.... you are sadly mistaken. > If burgers were that important, the burger company would partner with the self driving car company and find a way. So you are telling me your $70,000 self driving car can't take me through one of the hundreds of thousands of drive thru's out there? That sounds pretty shitty. > You don't choose the parking spot anymore than you chose the lane or the highway exit You are telling me that this self-driving taxi will just stop at whatever place it feels like? How will I tell it precisely where to let me out? Remember it is pouring down rain / I am physically disabled and cannot walk very far / I am not entirely sure where I need to be dropped off until I get there. So seriously, how will I command this self-driving car? Nobody seems to be able to answer this or even thought about it in any amount of detail at all. Probably because we are so far away from an actual self driving car that a realistic answer doesn't really matter at all. And that is the problem with self-driving hype. Every time you ask about a specific detail it gets hand waved away as not important or some kind of edge case that doesn't matter. Guess what... edge cases matter. Your edge case is my important case. You add up all these edge cases that "don't matter" and you've excluded almost your entire market.

Slartie 7y ago
> I don't understand why so many smart "tech people" fall for the hype. Maybe it's just that some of these "tech people" are not that smart at all? > And that is the problem with self-driving hype. Every time you ask about a specific detail it gets hand waved away as not important or some kind of edge case that doesn't matter. I think you are you spot-on with that analysis. Way too much hand-waving going on. But that is a constant problem in tech, the entire area is susceptible to hypes and fads, with hands waving and waving at record speed. Like I said, maybe it's just not all geniuses and such...
- RaceWon 7y ago
  > > I don't understand why so many smart "tech people" fall for the hype. Maybe it's just that some of these "tech people" are not that smart at all? The crux of the problem is you have people who although may well be cabable of driving to work--they are by no means cabable of understanding driving at its essence. They will never, not ever; be able to create a car that can also interact with human drivers because they don't understand driving. Period... end of story.
- jodrellblank 7y ago
  A comment which is nothing but posturing. Why would you expect everybody discussing self-driving cars, in every situation to, be a genius, and to be using their maximum effort even on trivia questions about what UI you would use to tell a car that doesn't exist yet how to drive to McDonalds, under the questionable assumptions that a) it must work exactly the same way as a traditional car and you won't accept otherwise, and b) there will be only one self-driving car full stop, so there will be one answer and it must be perfect for every possible use case first time?
HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
Honestly, I think I'm fine piloting a Tesla through a drive-through if it means I can eat on the road. I'll take 80% of possible performance / [aptitude?] now (heck, even 50-60%, as long as it's safe enough) versus 100% of possible scenarios being covered at some far-off point, especia)y if my enjoying 50-60% of capability actively gets the remaining % closer.