4 ms·

> It’s important (often more important) while driving that you’re doing what others expect, less what the rules say must be done - especially on edge case behav

> It’s important (often more important) while driving that you’re doing what others expect, less what the rules say must be done - especially on edge case behavior First rule of the road is avoid accidents. From there flows rules like driving in a predictable manner and giving up right of way when necessary.

lazide 5y ago
Unfortunately as self driving cars make apparent, the rule is about as clear cut or practically useful from an engineering perspective as Asimov’s 3 laws of robotics. If you are in a climate with lots of snow and slush, and are in a road with zero lane visibility and everyone is moving along too fast for road conditions (unable to effectively stop in time stopping distance wise). Do you 1) go slow in the right hand lane, potentially leading to a pileup? 2) keep up with the road traffic (maybe trying to stay in the low side), and then maybe get in a wreck if a deer jumps out in front of you? 3) know this is a common situation for that road in the current weather condition and avoid the road entirely? 4) some variant of these? In many cases it can only be judged retroactively, or as Waymo or others are finding out, REALLY be respected by being so paranoid and conservative you can’t really function in the real world environment that presents itself and/or require essentially walled gardens so the environment is controlled enough you can have the certainty you need. The waymo answer here is ‘don’t drive at all’. Which is great, unless you’re running out of food and a bigger storm is coming in, or you’ll lose your job if you don’t show up in the next 39 minutes. Humans manage to be somewhat functional in these kinds of environments - we’ve had to be, evolutionary pressure wise. We’ve got a ways to go before self driving cars will be a help instead of a hindrance here.

lazide 5y ago

Unfortunately as self driving cars make apparent, the rule is about as clear cut or practically useful from an engineering perspective as Asimov’s 3 laws of robotics. If you are in a climate with lots of snow and slush, and are in a road with zero lane visibility and everyone is moving along too fast for road conditions (unable to effectively stop in time stopping distance wise). Do you 1) go slow in the right hand lane, potentially leading to a pileup? 2) keep up with the road traffic (maybe trying to stay in the low side), and then maybe get in a wreck if a deer jumps out in front of you? 3) know this is a common situation for that road in the current weather condition and avoid the road entirely? 4) some variant of these? In many cases it can only be judged retroactively, or as Waymo or others are finding out, REALLY be respected by being so paranoid and conservative you can’t really function in the real world environment that presents itself and/or require essentially walled gardens so the environment is controlled enough you can have the certainty you need. The waymo answer here is ‘don’t drive at all’. Which is great, unless you’re running out of food and a bigger storm is coming in, or you’ll lose your job if you don’t show up in the next 39 minutes. Humans manage to be somewhat functional in these kinds of environments - we’ve had to be, evolutionary pressure wise. We’ve got a ways to go before self driving cars will be a help instead of a hindrance here.