5 ms·

There are additional confounding variables noted in the paper: - Age of driver - Specific highways used (congestion, road conditions) - What is classifie

by adolph 5y ago

There are additional confounding variables noted in the paper: - Age of driver - Specific highways used (congestion, road conditions) - What is classified as a highway Overall this is pretty good news for "autopilot" systems. It gives some humans an ego-boost as they clutch to steering wheels like John Henry. It gives others interested in a more relaxed driving experience the confidence that the computer isn't going to kill them any worse than they already do.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago
And you know what? All I want out of the first fifteen years of self-driving is a really good highway autopilot. As in one I can hopefully sleep at the wheel on a late night trip between midwestern US cities. John Henryism can navigate the suburbs, stroads, and drivethrus. If they achieve a backup safety system that monitors the humans, well, ok great. But right now, I want long distance automation, and I can handle the messy last mile. Highways are much easier to get uniform infrastructure convergence: some sensors, PSA warnings, better signs + markings + construction notices, etc. I think Uber making as big a splash at it did sidetracked this low hanging fruit. IMO that was where the bootstrap bucks were, because you would have gotten freight/shipping to pay the cost of the next gen software, and would have provided the impetus for the convergent infrastructure. Alas, they are obsessed with robotaxis.
- dreamcompiler 5y ago
  > But right now, I want long distance automation, and I can handle the messy last mile. Me too, and my Tesla handles daytime good-weather non-construction highway driving pretty well with just the standard autosteer. I finish a long road trip much less fatigued in a Tesla than I have in any other car. (Part of that is the seats. Tesla really sweats the details of making seats comfortable.) But FSD is kind of a sad joke. Off-highway navigation only works in particular major cities, the car stops at green lights, tries to turn right from the left lane, etc. And Elon thinks that's worth an extra $15k. Nope. It really isn't, at least for me.
- gefhfffh 5y ago
  Actually, seems like you want a train
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    Sure, and let me know where I can effectively vote and petition for extensive trains. But until they get built freeway autopilot is nice.
  - Yaggo 5y ago
    Trains don't operate from door to door. The last mile problem persist, unless you travel between railway connected city centres. Not everyone lives anywhere near a railway station. (I live in Europe which has relatively good railway network, still I prefer my Tesla as transport method.)
    - shaklee3 5y ago
      highways don't go door to door, and that's what they were suggesting.
      - fedorareis 5y ago
        They were suggesting they want to use the same vehicle door to door with it being automated during the freeway bit. A train would still mean find some transport to the station, wait for the train, ride train, find transport from station.
        meheleventyone 5y ago
        Or a train that takes cars, like a Ferry, obviously that massively cuts down on space efficiency but it’s not impossible.
        dmoo 5y ago
        Like the euro tunnel
contravariant 5y ago
Obviously the article goes into a lot more depth, though in my opinion things could be a bit clearer if they first established if Autopilot performs any differently on freeways or not and then try to see if controlling for any of the other possible confounds has any effect. I'm also not overly fond of their reweighting method, if not done carefully you'll just be amplifying a lot of noise.

by adolph 5y ago

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

And you know what? All I want out of the first fifteen years of self-driving is a really good highway autopilot. As in one I can hopefully sleep at the wheel on a late night trip between midwestern US cities. John Henryism can navigate the suburbs, stroads, and drivethrus. If they achieve a backup safety system that monitors the humans, well, ok great. But right now, I want long distance automation, and I can handle the messy last mile. Highways are much easier to get uniform infrastructure convergence: some sensors, PSA warnings, better signs + markings + construction notices, etc. I think Uber making as big a splash at it did sidetracked this low hanging fruit. IMO that was where the bootstrap bucks were, because you would have gotten freight/shipping to pay the cost of the next gen software, and would have provided the impetus for the convergent infrastructure. Alas, they are obsessed with robotaxis.

dreamcompiler 5y ago
> But right now, I want long distance automation, and I can handle the messy last mile. Me too, and my Tesla handles daytime good-weather non-construction highway driving pretty well with just the standard autosteer. I finish a long road trip much less fatigued in a Tesla than I have in any other car. (Part of that is the seats. Tesla really sweats the details of making seats comfortable.) But FSD is kind of a sad joke. Off-highway navigation only works in particular major cities, the car stops at green lights, tries to turn right from the left lane, etc. And Elon thinks that's worth an extra $15k. Nope. It really isn't, at least for me.
gefhfffh 5y ago
Actually, seems like you want a train
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  Sure, and let me know where I can effectively vote and petition for extensive trains. But until they get built freeway autopilot is nice.
- Yaggo 5y ago
  Trains don't operate from door to door. The last mile problem persist, unless you travel between railway connected city centres. Not everyone lives anywhere near a railway station. (I live in Europe which has relatively good railway network, still I prefer my Tesla as transport method.)
  - shaklee3 5y ago
    highways don't go door to door, and that's what they were suggesting.
    - fedorareis 5y ago
      They were suggesting they want to use the same vehicle door to door with it being automated during the freeway bit. A train would still mean find some transport to the station, wait for the train, ride train, find transport from station.
      - meheleventyone 5y ago
        Or a train that takes cars, like a Ferry, obviously that massively cuts down on space efficiency but it’s not impossible.
        dmoo 5y ago
        Like the euro tunnel

contravariant 5y ago

Obviously the article goes into a lot more depth, though in my opinion things could be a bit clearer if they first established if Autopilot performs any differently on freeways or not and then try to see if controlling for any of the other possible confounds has any effect. I'm also not overly fond of their reweighting method, if not done carefully you'll just be amplifying a lot of noise.