4 ms·

> That's a funny way to say the next biggest place with 300 days of sun per year. Why does that matter?

by TotoHorner 4y ago

colinmhayes 4y ago
Self driving cars don’t work in rain/snow
- 988747 4y ago
  ...yet. I think Waymo's approach of launching the service in the cities when it is easy first, and over time expanding to more troublesome climates is much more sensible than Tesla's "humans can do it, so AI should be able to, with just cameras".
  - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
    > Waymo's approach of launching the service in the cities when it is easy first, and over time expanding to more troublesome climates is much more sensible Is there a fundamental answer to this question? Start with low-hanging fruit and then build up? Or begin with the most challenging bits before gliding forward? The risk with the former is you end up in a dead end. The risk with the latter, finding the hard problems intractable without the experience of solving the easier ones.
    - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
      From a business perspective it's probably not even close. Start with the easiest + biggest. Scale matters here so you can't leave big easy markets there for the taking.
      - saalweachter 4y ago
        Also, "easiest" is different from "easy". It's not like there aren't hard problems to solve self-driving a car in fair weather, that also have to be solved before you can drive in bad weather.
- minwcnt5 4y ago
  They do work in rain, mostly (maybe not really heavy rain or flooded streets etc.)
  - jalk 4y ago
    Which humans are terrible at too
- ra7 4y ago
  Waymo does work in rain and fog. They are permitted to operate in both of those conditions in San Francisco. They also do extensive weather testing, including areas with snow, so presumably they are close to cracking that as well. https://blog.waymo.com/2021/11/a-fog-blog.html https://blog.waymo.com/2021/11/a-fog-blog.html
  - xenospn 4y ago
    Driving in the rain in places that don’t usually have rain is a completely different ballgame.
    - djohnston 4y ago
      Why?
- gamblor956 4y ago
  Correction: Tesla FSD doesn't work in rain or snow, or even for that matter all that well in regular daylight. Cruise is slightly better than FSD, but not by much. It's prone to driving really slowly and phantom braking, but at least it doesn't swerve into light poles or oncoming traffic like FSD does. Waymo works in rain.
- Rebelgecko 4y ago
  What happens to the passengers if you're on the freeway and it starts to rain. Does the car just dump them on the shoulder? Or is it smart enough to find a good place nearby to kick them out?

> That's a funny way to say the next biggest place with 300 days of sun per year. Why does that matter?

colinmhayes 4y ago

Self driving cars don’t work in rain/snow

988747 4y ago
...yet. I think Waymo's approach of launching the service in the cities when it is easy first, and over time expanding to more troublesome climates is much more sensible than Tesla's "humans can do it, so AI should be able to, with just cameras".
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > Waymo's approach of launching the service in the cities when it is easy first, and over time expanding to more troublesome climates is much more sensible Is there a fundamental answer to this question? Start with low-hanging fruit and then build up? Or begin with the most challenging bits before gliding forward? The risk with the former is you end up in a dead end. The risk with the latter, finding the hard problems intractable without the experience of solving the easier ones.
  - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
    From a business perspective it's probably not even close. Start with the easiest + biggest. Scale matters here so you can't leave big easy markets there for the taking.
    - saalweachter 4y ago
      Also, "easiest" is different from "easy". It's not like there aren't hard problems to solve self-driving a car in fair weather, that also have to be solved before you can drive in bad weather.
minwcnt5 4y ago
They do work in rain, mostly (maybe not really heavy rain or flooded streets etc.)
- jalk 4y ago
  Which humans are terrible at too
ra7 4y ago
Waymo does work in rain and fog. They are permitted to operate in both of those conditions in San Francisco. They also do extensive weather testing, including areas with snow, so presumably they are close to cracking that as well. https://blog.waymo.com/2021/11/a-fog-blog.html https://blog.waymo.com/2021/11/a-fog-blog.html
- xenospn 4y ago
  Driving in the rain in places that don’t usually have rain is a completely different ballgame.
  - djohnston 4y ago
    Why?
gamblor956 4y ago
Correction: Tesla FSD doesn't work in rain or snow, or even for that matter all that well in regular daylight. Cruise is slightly better than FSD, but not by much. It's prone to driving really slowly and phantom braking, but at least it doesn't swerve into light poles or oncoming traffic like FSD does. Waymo works in rain.
Rebelgecko 4y ago
What happens to the passengers if you're on the freeway and it starts to rain. Does the car just dump them on the shoulder? Or is it smart enough to find a good place nearby to kick them out?