6 ms·

> Cruise in March submitted the applications for driverless operations, whereas Waymo in January applied for autonomous vehicle deployment with safety drivers b

> Cruise in March submitted the applications for driverless operations, whereas Waymo in January applied for autonomous vehicle deployment with safety drivers behind the wheel. Wow, driverless actually means no driver here. But how does that work? What if it makes a mistake? Is there some fallback pilot somewhere that can take over and control it remotely?

icyfox 5y ago
Waymo has a similar approach in Phoenix. Passengers can't directly intervene but can call tech support and they'll dispatch roadside assistance to override the car and drive it to safety. Will be interesting to see if Cruise copies this same model.
- shkkmo 5y ago
  Isn't Waymo also starting the same service in parts of San Francisco?
  - asah 5y ago
    with safety drivers = not the same
    - shkkmo 5y ago
      Nope, they announced driveless bay area testing several weeks back. A recent press release confirms this. [0] Waymo is allowed to test at all hours, in rain and light fog, within a limited geographic area. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28710098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28710098
      - andrewnc 5y ago
        Anecdata here, but every waymo car I've seen here in SF for the past several weeks (probably 30+ cars) has had a safety driver.
      - xeromal 5y ago
        Testing is different than a permitted taxi service. The permitted taxi service allows them to scale up and charge a profitable fare. In the testing phase, their fares are severely reduce. Cruise can charge full price without a driver, but Waymo only has the permit for a backup driver at full proce.
- kreeben 5y ago
  >> can't directly intervene but can call tech support "Hi, yeah, car's gone berserk, we're approaching a river, all doors are locked, can't get out, need assistance." "Hi, thank you for calling. Please hold (your breath)."
  - raldi 5y ago
    What would be your plan if a taxi driver went berserk and did that? What makes you believe the autonomous car is more likely than a human driver to do that?
    - mountainboy 5y ago
      1. not get in the car in the first place. unless proven out by 10+ years of human guinea pigs not getting killed. 2. life experience, software expertise, common sense.
      - thenewwazoo 5y ago
        Lots of people used to feel this way about automated elevators. https://medium.com/swlh/what-do-self-driving-cars-and-elevators-have-in-common-b6816312bdd2 https://medium.com/swlh/what-do-self-driving-cars-and-elevat...
        ggreer 5y ago
        I’ve tried to find the original source of that claim and come up missing. All of the online articles either don’t reference a source or they eventually link to an out of print book.[1] At this point I’m pretty sure it’s not true. If past public sentiment was so against automatic elevators, there would be at least one newspaper clipping or digitized article. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25585122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25585122
        tialaramex 5y ago
        Right, it's eerily similar. People say this about automated railways too. And as with the elevator on your hundredth trip you are not thinking "Oh no, this is automated, it might kill me", because of course it's automated, you're thinking about whether Jim meant to complement you or it was intended as an insult last night, and did you bolt the back door?
- godelski 5y ago
  Didn't they have "chase" cars in the beginning? Maybe I'm thinking of a different company. Cars that would follow around the driverless cars and could respond immediately if something happened.
  - TulliusCicero 5y ago
    IIRC they did chase cars when they started doing fully driverless operations, yeah.
- TulliusCicero 5y ago
  Waymo also has remote driving navigators/coaches who don't directly steer the car, but can tell it where to go navigation-wise.
tacomonstrous 5y ago
According to the DMV press release (submitted elsewhere on HN), this is incorrect: >Waymo is authorized to use a fleet of light-duty autonomous vehicles for commercial services within parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties. The vehicles are approved to operate on public roads with a speed limit of no more than 65 mph and can also operate in rain and light fog. Waymo has had state authority to test autonomous vehicles on public roads with a safety driver since 2014 and received a driverless testing permit in October 2018.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

icyfox 5y ago

Waymo has a similar approach in Phoenix. Passengers can't directly intervene but can call tech support and they'll dispatch roadside assistance to override the car and drive it to safety. Will be interesting to see if Cruise copies this same model.

shkkmo 5y ago
Isn't Waymo also starting the same service in parts of San Francisco?
- asah 5y ago
  with safety drivers = not the same
  - shkkmo 5y ago
    Nope, they announced driveless bay area testing several weeks back. A recent press release confirms this. [0] Waymo is allowed to test at all hours, in rain and light fog, within a limited geographic area. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28710098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28710098
    - andrewnc 5y ago
      Anecdata here, but every waymo car I've seen here in SF for the past several weeks (probably 30+ cars) has had a safety driver.
    - xeromal 5y ago
      Testing is different than a permitted taxi service. The permitted taxi service allows them to scale up and charge a profitable fare. In the testing phase, their fares are severely reduce. Cruise can charge full price without a driver, but Waymo only has the permit for a backup driver at full proce.
kreeben 5y ago
>> can't directly intervene but can call tech support "Hi, yeah, car's gone berserk, we're approaching a river, all doors are locked, can't get out, need assistance." "Hi, thank you for calling. Please hold (your breath)."
- raldi 5y ago
  What would be your plan if a taxi driver went berserk and did that? What makes you believe the autonomous car is more likely than a human driver to do that?
  - mountainboy 5y ago
    1. not get in the car in the first place. unless proven out by 10+ years of human guinea pigs not getting killed. 2. life experience, software expertise, common sense.
    - thenewwazoo 5y ago
      Lots of people used to feel this way about automated elevators. https://medium.com/swlh/what-do-self-driving-cars-and-elevators-have-in-common-b6816312bdd2 https://medium.com/swlh/what-do-self-driving-cars-and-elevat...
      - ggreer 5y ago
        I’ve tried to find the original source of that claim and come up missing. All of the online articles either don’t reference a source or they eventually link to an out of print book.[1] At this point I’m pretty sure it’s not true. If past public sentiment was so against automatic elevators, there would be at least one newspaper clipping or digitized article. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25585122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25585122
      - tialaramex 5y ago
        Right, it's eerily similar. People say this about automated railways too. And as with the elevator on your hundredth trip you are not thinking "Oh no, this is automated, it might kill me", because of course it's automated, you're thinking about whether Jim meant to complement you or it was intended as an insult last night, and did you bolt the back door?
godelski 5y ago
Didn't they have "chase" cars in the beginning? Maybe I'm thinking of a different company. Cars that would follow around the driverless cars and could respond immediately if something happened.
- TulliusCicero 5y ago
  IIRC they did chase cars when they started doing fully driverless operations, yeah.
TulliusCicero 5y ago
Waymo also has remote driving navigators/coaches who don't directly steer the car, but can tell it where to go navigation-wise.

tacomonstrous 5y ago

According to the DMV press release (submitted elsewhere on HN), this is incorrect: >Waymo is authorized to use a fleet of light-duty autonomous vehicles for commercial services within parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties. The vehicles are approved to operate on public roads with a speed limit of no more than 65 mph and can also operate in rain and light fog. Waymo has had state authority to test autonomous vehicles on public roads with a safety driver since 2014 and received a driverless testing permit in October 2018.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]