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By now it should be obvious—and this is purely descriptive of what I see playing out, not prescriptive—that self-driving tech will have to clear a higher bar th
by _greim_ 6y ago
By now it should be obvious—and this is purely descriptive of what I see playing out, not prescriptive—that self-driving tech will have to clear a higher bar than just statistically better in order to become mainstream.
Not only because anecdotes carry more weight than statistics in the media—as this story illustrates—but because people are much less afraid of bad things happening, as long as they're in control when it happens.
Also, I suspect everything associated with fuel-burning cars is by now irrevocably linked with cultural ideals of individualism and freedom. Resistance to EVs and self-driving tech will continually materialize, as if out of thin air, regardless of how well documented the benefits are. It's going to be an uphill battle for the foreseeable future.
- sidibe 6y agoBut also there is no way Tesla FSD is anywhere close to being statistically better than normal drivers considering what we see in the videos. The reason I make this obvious statement is you are making it seem like the article is using anecdotes while there are statistics somewhere that show safety
- gamblor956 6y agoAnecdotes are data. They're a different kind of data, that usually leads to investigations resulting in more rigorously gathered data. Multiple drivers are reporting multiple incidents of varying severity in the short (week?) that the "full" FSD beta has been available. That's a huge concern, and it absolutely needs to be followed up on.
- mlindner 6y agoThe software isn't widely available. It's available to a tiny set of Tesla's "closed beta" customers. Tesla picks and chooses who it sends it to right now. Basically it's only being sent to Tesla large stock owners or people who Tesla has worked with in the past who are non-employees right now.
- gfodor 6y agoI'm not so sure. It seems equally if not more likely to me that people will eventually take a ride in a self driving car, be impressed since that's the statistically likely outcome, and slowly get used to it. Accidents from robocars will become things that happen to "other people" like all things that ultimately boil down to random chance.
- _greim_ 6y agoI see your point. Using air travel as a precedent, there's a small subset of people who absolutely refuse to fly, and a small subset with zero qualms about it. Between those extremes, there's a range of folks who participate with varying levels of anxiety. I can see that becoming the endgame here.