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> Crossing the street in front of a car is a leap of faith, not troubling at all when there’s a human there, but a robot? There’s no body posture, no gestures,
by dado3212 6y ago
> Crossing the street in front of a car is a leap of faith, not troubling at all when there’s a human there, but a robot? There’s no body posture, no gestures, no facial expressions, nothing to go on. There’s a computer in control of a powerful heavy machine that you’re just expected to trust.
This is something that's very solvable though. Robot cars should and almost definitely will have a way to communicate to pedestrians. I agree with the general point though around a greater possibility of very out of the norm mistakes.
- wool_gather 6y agoThere's an opportunity for them to communicate better with pedestrians than the average human driver. Drivers tend to assume that their intent to stop or not to stop is obvious and don't bother with a clear signal like flashing their lights or waving visibly. From the pedestrian's perspective, it can be hard to see the driver at all (small movements of the hand can be invisible in sun glare; direction of gaze likewise), and also hard to tell what they're doing. Just because they're slowing somewhat as they approach doesn't mean they see you or intend to stop.
- throwaway201103 6y agoOne could imagine a standardized set of signals on the front of the car. Red = stopped/stopping. Yellow = about to start moving; Green = moving and continuing. Something like that.
- jfim 6y agoDrive AI (now acquired by Apple I believe) used to have LED matrix displays that communicated that way with other road users. I recall seeing them say things like "waiting for you to cross" or "driving autonomously" with an icon.
- Fricken 6y agoThey really just needed a pair of animated eyes.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoWhite parka crossing a snow covered road. Will the AI make the right decision?