8 ms·

The Script Boring Company Drivers Have to Recite About Musk

54 points by mseidl 5y ago

Leszek 5y ago
Perhaps it's better to link the Techcrunch article that this quotes: https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/28/read-the-script-every-driver-for-elon-musks-las-vegas-loop-must-learn/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/28/read-the-script-every-driv...
MrBuddyCasino 5y ago
More interesting than the scripted responses some corporate lawyers came up with are the regulations imposed by Clarke County, and which don't seem like common sense to me: "The vehicles used on the Loop system are in fact banned from using driver aids, with Clark County officially outlawing their use anywhere in and around the facility. Even common features like automatic emergency braking and lane keeping are required to be disabled." Anyone got inside knowledge?
- HourglassFR 5y ago
  I have absolutly no inside knowledge but my guess is that the loop and the vehicules inside it are more akin to a mini railway network with weird trains than roads with cars. As such the regulations are not the same and in particular the automatic features of the cars are not considered railway safe.
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    If a human crashes, that's human error and politicly not really an issue. Whereas if autopilot crashes then suddenly politicians will be forced by voters to make laws and take action. I could totally imagine Tesla themselves have asked for these restrictions.
smcl 5y ago
"One thing we'd love to see is a video from a passenger that attempts to elicit these robotic, scripted responses from drivers. The experience would probably be akin to talking with NPCs in a role-playing game. Bonus points if you can get the driver to respond identically to the same question multiple times in the two-minute journey across the convention center" Worth remembering that these drivers are just workers, so trying to catch them in a video saying something silly or off-script probably won't affect Boring or Tesla but it could result in some blowback for the driver for not learning her/his lines or trying harder to stick to the script. I think the idea behind this Las Vegas Loop is pretty stupid and I kinda hope it fizzles out, but that's no reason to mess with a person's living while it's up and running.
- carlhjerpe 5y ago
  While I think the NPC part was funny, I really do agree that one should not mess with someone's income. If anyone records this I hope they blur the face (and any timekeeping devices) and change the voice to keep the worker safe.
- andrepd 5y ago
  The NPC thing nailed it home to me just how dystopic this is.
  - alpaca128 5y ago
    It's just like when supermarket cashiers are forced to ask every customer if they have a member card, and if not, if they want one. I deliberately avoid some chains just because of this. It's degrading for the employees, it's like telling them "see, we can't replace you with robots yet, but until then please act like robots or else".
    - andrepd 5y ago
      Asking for a member card is not so bad, but memorizing a script praising your boss is another step entirely.
  - 5y ago
sschueller 5y ago
"Keep conversation to a minimum so you can focus on the road" This from a company that claims they have Full Self Driving on a closed course with no external factors or weather. Why are the Teslas in the loop not self driving? This is a private course, no government regulation like on a public road. "The vehicles used on the Loop system are in fact banned from using driver aids, with Clark County officially outlawing their use anywhere in and around the facility. Even common features like automatic emergency braking and lane keeping are required to be disabled." Doesn't make any sense to me. Are Teslas driving on the road in Clark County unable to use FSD? The whole concept seems to stupid to me. You have a person driving up to 4? passengers at a time in a tiny loop. This is the most inefficient thing ever. A regular autonomous rail loop [1] would have been so much cheaper and efficient. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skymetro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skymetro
- cgio 5y ago
  Apparently, according to article, they are not allowed to use it.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- arpa 5y ago
  it's like he managed to reinvent metro, only significantly worse: less throughput, more manual labor, less stops, tiny tunnels. Dude, put cabins holding 1-50 people on rails, stick an elevator controller on it, and that's it... why won't you do that Elon? why?
  - mseidl 5y ago
    He hates trains. There is a great video on the loop. https://youtu.be/4dn6ZVpJLxs https://youtu.be/4dn6ZVpJLxs
- ricardobeat 5y ago
  The original idea was to have the cars hit 155mph on full self-driving, no light rail system can do that. I’m curious why the county would apply such draconian rules, it kinda defeats the whole purpose. And why do they even have authority over transportation rules, isn’t that a federal matter?
pharmakom 5y ago
I wish Elon was a railway nerd, it would be a much more effective way to spend the cash.
- andrepd 5y ago
  I wish we could make decisions collectively, on how to spend resources. Rather than hoping our Lords have the wish and temperament to choose the best thing. x)
  - blhack 5y ago
    We do make these decisions collectively. Either directly via capitalism, or indirectly via democracy.
    - chrismsimpson 5y ago
      Ah yes, America. Land of the ‘stolen’ gerrymandered election.
    - rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
      Via capitalism, Jeff Bezos and I decide the future of e-commerce. "We" make decisions when I buy socks and Bezos chooses how best to sell them to me. "We" are good. Also, Kim Jong-un and his people make decisions collectively: Kim suggests something and when his people agree (or just don't die), decisions materialize! These decisions are collective because nothing would happen if Kim acts alone. Wait. Maybe "collective" does not mean "multiple people working together" but cooperating towards common and mutual benefits. Those who cannot afford not to work for those who owns the capital don't make a "collective" with those who own them and decide how things must be (e.g how much Amazon can pay less tax than individuals and small businesses). Also, democracy is more than a word: when you have no choice but to vote for candidates who support billionaires, there's no "collective" behind the election either.
  - nickik 5y ago
    That is what is happening, but if you do that then decisions are gone take many, many years and you end up with the lowest common denominator. And those 'lords' whatever that means got that rich because they invested their personal time and resources into things that ended up working out and that's why they have the resources they have.
alexisread 5y ago
I'm wondering if there are plans to upgrade the transport loop at a later date? Something like https://newsroom.posco.com/en/koreas-first-personal-rapid-transit-prt-skycube/ https://newsroom.posco.com/en/koreas-first-personal-rapid-tr... would fit well here, and further validate PRT solutions as they don't get considered very much. https://www.ultraprt.co.uk/ultra-prt/ https://www.ultraprt.co.uk/ultra-prt/ has been running for well over 10 years, on time, on budget, within the downtime SLA. Not massively fast, but the system model vs the real-life stats is the thing to note here, the maths works.
Cybotron5000 5y ago
Passenger: “…so, driving about in tunnels everyday… must be a bit weird - what’s the pay like?” Driver: “You’d be barking mad not to invest in Dogecoin!”
- atatatat 5y ago
  Just because Doge is being pumped doesn't mean it's not better than BTC.
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
This seems like bog standard branding and customer relations stuff that any low level employee doing a customer facing job for BigCo has to deal with. If the Waltons were media personalities and Walmart deployed controversial new tech those employees would be given scripted answers regarding those topics too.
otabdeveloper4 5y ago
> enigmatic billionaire Doesn't describe Musk at all.

54 points by mseidl 5y ago

Perhaps it's better to link the Techcrunch article that this quotes: https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/28/read-the-script-every-driver-for-elon-musks-las-vegas-loop-must-learn/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/28/read-the-script-every-driv...

MrBuddyCasino 5y ago

More interesting than the scripted responses some corporate lawyers came up with are the regulations imposed by Clarke County, and which don't seem like common sense to me: "The vehicles used on the Loop system are in fact banned from using driver aids, with Clark County officially outlawing their use anywhere in and around the facility. Even common features like automatic emergency braking and lane keeping are required to be disabled." Anyone got inside knowledge?

HourglassFR 5y ago
I have absolutly no inside knowledge but my guess is that the loop and the vehicules inside it are more akin to a mini railway network with weird trains than roads with cars. As such the regulations are not the same and in particular the automatic features of the cars are not considered railway safe.
- londons_explore 5y ago
  If a human crashes, that's human error and politicly not really an issue. Whereas if autopilot crashes then suddenly politicians will be forced by voters to make laws and take action. I could totally imagine Tesla themselves have asked for these restrictions.

smcl 5y ago

"One thing we'd love to see is a video from a passenger that attempts to elicit these robotic, scripted responses from drivers. The experience would probably be akin to talking with NPCs in a role-playing game. Bonus points if you can get the driver to respond identically to the same question multiple times in the two-minute journey across the convention center" Worth remembering that these drivers are just workers, so trying to catch them in a video saying something silly or off-script probably won't affect Boring or Tesla but it could result in some blowback for the driver for not learning her/his lines or trying harder to stick to the script. I think the idea behind this Las Vegas Loop is pretty stupid and I kinda hope it fizzles out, but that's no reason to mess with a person's living while it's up and running.

carlhjerpe 5y ago
While I think the NPC part was funny, I really do agree that one should not mess with someone's income. If anyone records this I hope they blur the face (and any timekeeping devices) and change the voice to keep the worker safe.
andrepd 5y ago
The NPC thing nailed it home to me just how dystopic this is.
- alpaca128 5y ago
  It's just like when supermarket cashiers are forced to ask every customer if they have a member card, and if not, if they want one. I deliberately avoid some chains just because of this. It's degrading for the employees, it's like telling them "see, we can't replace you with robots yet, but until then please act like robots or else".
  - andrepd 5y ago
    Asking for a member card is not so bad, but memorizing a script praising your boss is another step entirely.
- 5y ago

sschueller 5y ago

"Keep conversation to a minimum so you can focus on the road" This from a company that claims they have Full Self Driving on a closed course with no external factors or weather. Why are the Teslas in the loop not self driving? This is a private course, no government regulation like on a public road. "The vehicles used on the Loop system are in fact banned from using driver aids, with Clark County officially outlawing their use anywhere in and around the facility. Even common features like automatic emergency braking and lane keeping are required to be disabled." Doesn't make any sense to me. Are Teslas driving on the road in Clark County unable to use FSD? The whole concept seems to stupid to me. You have a person driving up to 4? passengers at a time in a tiny loop. This is the most inefficient thing ever. A regular autonomous rail loop [1] would have been so much cheaper and efficient. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skymetro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skymetro

cgio 5y ago
Apparently, according to article, they are not allowed to use it.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
arpa 5y ago
it's like he managed to reinvent metro, only significantly worse: less throughput, more manual labor, less stops, tiny tunnels. Dude, put cabins holding 1-50 people on rails, stick an elevator controller on it, and that's it... why won't you do that Elon? why?
- mseidl 5y ago
  He hates trains. There is a great video on the loop. https://youtu.be/4dn6ZVpJLxs https://youtu.be/4dn6ZVpJLxs
ricardobeat 5y ago
The original idea was to have the cars hit 155mph on full self-driving, no light rail system can do that. I’m curious why the county would apply such draconian rules, it kinda defeats the whole purpose. And why do they even have authority over transportation rules, isn’t that a federal matter?

pharmakom 5y ago

I wish Elon was a railway nerd, it would be a much more effective way to spend the cash.

andrepd 5y ago
I wish we could make decisions collectively, on how to spend resources. Rather than hoping our Lords have the wish and temperament to choose the best thing. x)
- blhack 5y ago
  We do make these decisions collectively. Either directly via capitalism, or indirectly via democracy.
  - chrismsimpson 5y ago
    Ah yes, America. Land of the ‘stolen’ gerrymandered election.
  - rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
    Via capitalism, Jeff Bezos and I decide the future of e-commerce. "We" make decisions when I buy socks and Bezos chooses how best to sell them to me. "We" are good. Also, Kim Jong-un and his people make decisions collectively: Kim suggests something and when his people agree (or just don't die), decisions materialize! These decisions are collective because nothing would happen if Kim acts alone. Wait. Maybe "collective" does not mean "multiple people working together" but cooperating towards common and mutual benefits. Those who cannot afford not to work for those who owns the capital don't make a "collective" with those who own them and decide how things must be (e.g how much Amazon can pay less tax than individuals and small businesses). Also, democracy is more than a word: when you have no choice but to vote for candidates who support billionaires, there's no "collective" behind the election either.
- nickik 5y ago
  That is what is happening, but if you do that then decisions are gone take many, many years and you end up with the lowest common denominator. And those 'lords' whatever that means got that rich because they invested their personal time and resources into things that ended up working out and that's why they have the resources they have.

alexisread 5y ago

I'm wondering if there are plans to upgrade the transport loop at a later date? Something like https://newsroom.posco.com/en/koreas-first-personal-rapid-transit-prt-skycube/ https://newsroom.posco.com/en/koreas-first-personal-rapid-tr... would fit well here, and further validate PRT solutions as they don't get considered very much. https://www.ultraprt.co.uk/ultra-prt/ https://www.ultraprt.co.uk/ultra-prt/ has been running for well over 10 years, on time, on budget, within the downtime SLA. Not massively fast, but the system model vs the real-life stats is the thing to note here, the maths works.

Cybotron5000 5y ago

Passenger: “…so, driving about in tunnels everyday… must be a bit weird - what’s the pay like?” Driver: “You’d be barking mad not to invest in Dogecoin!”

atatatat 5y ago
Just because Doge is being pumped doesn't mean it's not better than BTC.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

This seems like bog standard branding and customer relations stuff that any low level employee doing a customer facing job for BigCo has to deal with. If the Waltons were media personalities and Walmart deployed controversial new tech those employees would be given scripted answers regarding those topics too.

otabdeveloper4 5y ago

> enigmatic billionaire Doesn't describe Musk at all.