4 ms·

It's remarkable how little press these get in the West. One question not addressed in the article though: what does the safety record look like?

shadilay 5y ago
I imagine they'll be programmed to run over a pedestrian twice if they hit one. 'Driven to Kill - Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit.' https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/09/why-drivers-in-china-intentionally-kill-the-pedestrians-they-hit-chinas-laws-have-encouraged-the-hit-to-kill-phenomenon.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/09/why-drivers-in-c...
- kierkegaard7 5y ago
  I wonder how true that article is
  - shadilay 5y ago
    Considering how many outlets have covered this phenomenon and the dearth of videos of it you can find in the dark parts of the internet I'd say it's completely true. Downvoting doesn't make it false either. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.3218166/some-drivers-in-china-are-intentionally-killing-injured-pedestrians-1.3218168 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-ed...
- mensetmanusman 5y ago
  “ Most people agree that the hit-to-kill phenomenon stems at least in part from perverse laws on victim compensation. In China the compensation for killing a victim in a traffic accident is relatively small—amounts typically range from $30,000 to $50,000—and once payment is made, the matter is over. By contrast, paying for lifetime care for a disabled survivor can run into the millions. The Chinese press recently described how one disabled man received about $400,000 for the first 23 years of his care. Drivers who decide to hit-and-kill do so because killing is far more economical. Indeed, Zhao Xiao Cheng—the man caught on a security camera video driving over a grandmother five times—ended up paying only about $70,000 in compensation.” Interesting to see economics play a life and death role. It’s analogous to the millions of forced gender selective abortions in China due to the experienced lower economic value of girls and the 1-child policy.
schleck8 5y ago
This doesn't have anything to do with 'the west'. Cruise doesn't get any mainstream media coverage either, and neither do Waymo or Mobileye. The only one frequently shown is Tesla's self driving because of the brand being used as buzzword.
- dustintrex 5y ago
  I'm not talking about mainstream media, but industry sites like HN. Waymo, Tesla, Otto, Cruise, Comma.ai etc feature(d) here regularly, but I don't think I've ever seen a Chinese self-driving car on the front page before.
  - 88840-8855 5y ago
    chinese topics are not popularity here as they often are encountered with a certain negative bias and a modern form of the Godwin's law where every discussion ends on how bad the party is (but ofc not the poor oppressed people, just they party with 100 mio members, a 90pc approval rating), how mean the chinese detention centers in xinjiang are and how mean china is bullying taiwan. even just the pointing out of that leads to abysmal post ratings, like this post (that will receive negative ratings). the good stuff about china (and there is so so so much amazing and great stuff happening there, ALSO on gov and party level) is being ignored or only receives very little attention. i think that many people just dont want to be voted negative and self censor them, which i have done also often.
    - mathverse 5y ago
      Chinese topics are not popular because us foreigners cant usually participate in them at all. If China ever reopens for foreigners you will see more positive attitude towards China. There is a lot of people that want to like China but China actively works on getting rid of any foreign influence from its country. I mean there is a lot of people who think of China as this cool place where they would want to live and work without caring too much about its issues in Xinjiang or with Taiwan. Because guess what. A lot of people just want to love their chinese partners, raise children or simply enjoy working in high tech Shenzhen.

shadilay 5y ago

I imagine they'll be programmed to run over a pedestrian twice if they hit one. 'Driven to Kill - Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit.' https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/09/why-drivers-in-china-intentionally-kill-the-pedestrians-they-hit-chinas-laws-have-encouraged-the-hit-to-kill-phenomenon.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/09/why-drivers-in-c...

kierkegaard7 5y ago
I wonder how true that article is
- shadilay 5y ago
  Considering how many outlets have covered this phenomenon and the dearth of videos of it you can find in the dark parts of the internet I'd say it's completely true. Downvoting doesn't make it false either. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.3218166/some-drivers-in-china-are-intentionally-killing-injured-pedestrians-1.3218168 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-ed...
mensetmanusman 5y ago
“ Most people agree that the hit-to-kill phenomenon stems at least in part from perverse laws on victim compensation. In China the compensation for killing a victim in a traffic accident is relatively small—amounts typically range from $30,000 to $50,000—and once payment is made, the matter is over. By contrast, paying for lifetime care for a disabled survivor can run into the millions. The Chinese press recently described how one disabled man received about $400,000 for the first 23 years of his care. Drivers who decide to hit-and-kill do so because killing is far more economical. Indeed, Zhao Xiao Cheng—the man caught on a security camera video driving over a grandmother five times—ended up paying only about $70,000 in compensation.” Interesting to see economics play a life and death role. It’s analogous to the millions of forced gender selective abortions in China due to the experienced lower economic value of girls and the 1-child policy.

schleck8 5y ago

This doesn't have anything to do with 'the west'. Cruise doesn't get any mainstream media coverage either, and neither do Waymo or Mobileye. The only one frequently shown is Tesla's self driving because of the brand being used as buzzword.

dustintrex 5y ago
I'm not talking about mainstream media, but industry sites like HN. Waymo, Tesla, Otto, Cruise, Comma.ai etc feature(d) here regularly, but I don't think I've ever seen a Chinese self-driving car on the front page before.
- 88840-8855 5y ago
  chinese topics are not popularity here as they often are encountered with a certain negative bias and a modern form of the Godwin's law where every discussion ends on how bad the party is (but ofc not the poor oppressed people, just they party with 100 mio members, a 90pc approval rating), how mean the chinese detention centers in xinjiang are and how mean china is bullying taiwan. even just the pointing out of that leads to abysmal post ratings, like this post (that will receive negative ratings). the good stuff about china (and there is so so so much amazing and great stuff happening there, ALSO on gov and party level) is being ignored or only receives very little attention. i think that many people just dont want to be voted negative and self censor them, which i have done also often.
  - mathverse 5y ago
    Chinese topics are not popular because us foreigners cant usually participate in them at all. If China ever reopens for foreigners you will see more positive attitude towards China. There is a lot of people that want to like China but China actively works on getting rid of any foreign influence from its country. I mean there is a lot of people who think of China as this cool place where they would want to live and work without caring too much about its issues in Xinjiang or with Taiwan. Because guess what. A lot of people just want to love their chinese partners, raise children or simply enjoy working in high tech Shenzhen.