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Like I get where this is coming from, but given the UK's history with technology I feel like this will just end up retarding the growth of Self Driving technolo

Like I get where this is coming from, but given the UK's history with technology I feel like this will just end up retarding the growth of Self Driving technology in the UK. Also there's this little gem buried in the bottom of the article > Lisa Johnson, UK director of public affairs for Starship Technologies, said the company would welcome regulation, ...“There needs to be some sort of national regulation that underpins all decisions because we have invested a lot of time and energy in our safety case. If we don't have regulation, what's to stop somebody coming into the market who isn't as safe as us? ... And we don't want a free for all,” she said. And there's the push for this, a corporation already in the UK that wants to ensure that there are regulations to "keep people safe" (a.k.a keep competitors out.) and yes I understand regulation can be good and helpful, but regulatory capture can be an insidious b*h

dazc 4y ago
I would also welcome legislation since their robots operate on public pavements which were originally designed for human beings to safely walk on without having to navigate around motorized vehicles. I would start with banning these things from all public pavements.
ChatGTP 4y ago
Honest question here, who really wants / needs autonomous cars so badly ? I feel like this is a real Silicon Valley mission, I’m not so sure the rest of the world gives much of a toss about it?
- fomine3 4y ago
  Let's count how many cars run in worldwide
- TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
  I guess Silicon Valley would be screaming something about disruption if they would have come with something resembling ETCS. But they did not, so they pretend that trains does not exist.
  - localplume 4y ago
    [dead]
- sebzim4500 4y ago
  Over a million people die annually in car accidents. At minimum, their families probably care a fair bit about it so that's quite a lot of people right there.
- vorpalhex 4y ago
  1. Senior citizens 2. Truckers 3. People reliant on public transport 4. Everyone else on the road who appreciates being alive 5. People who would like less traffic 6. People who drive long stretches in remote areas
  - scratcheee 4y ago
    7. People wanting to get home from the pub legally and safely at 3am.
    - ChatGTP 4y ago
      You can't do that now?
  - Balero 4y ago
    Many of these people would be better served by having better funded public transit, especially in densely populated areas. This would 1. help the elderly have more freedom. 3. help people who already use public transport. 4,5. It would make roads safer and allow for less space being used for private vehicles which makes the remaining spaces safer. Improving intercity and freight rail can also help many people in category 6 who can now do something productive or fun on the train rather than risk driving long distance, and can take some long distance freight off of roads. The only people who need to have private vehicles are those would live in rural locations, who would still benefit from traveling to a more distant urban area, and people who's jobs demand it such as tradies (trades people). These would all be served by having less people on the roads when they don't need to be.
    - vorpalhex 4y ago
      Public transit doesn't run enough. In Japan, which has one of the most functional train systems in existence, staying out late (and not even very late!) means paying for a hotel room or post-drinking room (they serve you snacks and wash your clothes, etc). This is in Tokyo. Public transportation can't replace private vehicles. It can help. It can be useful. It can't replace them. It's like trying to replace traditional powerplants with wind - it doesn't work.
- AlotOfReading 4y ago
  Not everything has to be a cure for cancer. Things can just be cool tech. But autonomous vehicles do solve some real issues as well. Many of the women in my life have full on PTSD about certain aspects of driving. There are days they struggle to get themselves to work. Autonomous vehicles are a drop-in solution for that, with better safety and privacy than Uber/Lyft. Some people would say that better public transit would also solve this, but those people have never done infrastructure advocacy in the US. A moonshot like autonomous vehicles has a genuinely better likelihood of existing for most people in the US than effective public transit. They're also a potentially safer and more enjoyable solution to the non-joy driving many people do daily. There's no need for those miles to be done by humans who are distracted by other concerns. Companies also really want it to exist. Pretty much everyone with a large delivery program is in talks with one or more AV companies to automate their shipping. It's going to become a significant part of the industry as soon as the costs are competitive.
  - TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
    > with better safety and privacy than Uber/Lyft. LOL if you really believe that. Self driving cars will be connected to cloud with camera pointed on you the whole ride. Reasoning for this will be simple - people are pigs without a bit of a care for property of others when they are not supervised
    - AlotOfReading 4y ago
      Virtually every Uber already has one or more cameras inside to monitor the passenger. It's even a feature of the driver app to do this with the phone on the dashboard. Companies like Google have far better track records with their internal privacy controls than random Uber drivers and I'm at least somewhat hopeful that US lawmakers will get their act together on regulating the use of the data. As for safety, have you ever been in an Uber? Waymo at least is already meeting that bar.
- smcl 4y ago
  I personally don't care about it too much - I'd much rather see greater investment in public transport. But there's some interest in the UK - there's a driverless service across the Forth that keeps popping into the news (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-64350096 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-643...) and I'd be surprised if there wasn't some activity going on in academia around autonomous/driverless
- rtkwe 4y ago
  Personally I'd love to be able to just relax on longer road trips rather than driving. Taking the 2 hour trip back to my parent's neck of the woods is much less annoying if I don't have to drive it too.

dazc 4y ago

I would also welcome legislation since their robots operate on public pavements which were originally designed for human beings to safely walk on without having to navigate around motorized vehicles. I would start with banning these things from all public pavements.

ChatGTP 4y ago

Honest question here, who really wants / needs autonomous cars so badly ? I feel like this is a real Silicon Valley mission, I’m not so sure the rest of the world gives much of a toss about it?

fomine3 4y ago
Let's count how many cars run in worldwide
TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
I guess Silicon Valley would be screaming something about disruption if they would have come with something resembling ETCS. But they did not, so they pretend that trains does not exist.
- localplume 4y ago
  [dead]
sebzim4500 4y ago
Over a million people die annually in car accidents. At minimum, their families probably care a fair bit about it so that's quite a lot of people right there.
vorpalhex 4y ago
1. Senior citizens 2. Truckers 3. People reliant on public transport 4. Everyone else on the road who appreciates being alive 5. People who would like less traffic 6. People who drive long stretches in remote areas
- scratcheee 4y ago
  7. People wanting to get home from the pub legally and safely at 3am.
  - ChatGTP 4y ago
    You can't do that now?
- Balero 4y ago
  Many of these people would be better served by having better funded public transit, especially in densely populated areas. This would 1. help the elderly have more freedom. 3. help people who already use public transport. 4,5. It would make roads safer and allow for less space being used for private vehicles which makes the remaining spaces safer. Improving intercity and freight rail can also help many people in category 6 who can now do something productive or fun on the train rather than risk driving long distance, and can take some long distance freight off of roads. The only people who need to have private vehicles are those would live in rural locations, who would still benefit from traveling to a more distant urban area, and people who's jobs demand it such as tradies (trades people). These would all be served by having less people on the roads when they don't need to be.
  - vorpalhex 4y ago
    Public transit doesn't run enough. In Japan, which has one of the most functional train systems in existence, staying out late (and not even very late!) means paying for a hotel room or post-drinking room (they serve you snacks and wash your clothes, etc). This is in Tokyo. Public transportation can't replace private vehicles. It can help. It can be useful. It can't replace them. It's like trying to replace traditional powerplants with wind - it doesn't work.
AlotOfReading 4y ago
Not everything has to be a cure for cancer. Things can just be cool tech. But autonomous vehicles do solve some real issues as well. Many of the women in my life have full on PTSD about certain aspects of driving. There are days they struggle to get themselves to work. Autonomous vehicles are a drop-in solution for that, with better safety and privacy than Uber/Lyft. Some people would say that better public transit would also solve this, but those people have never done infrastructure advocacy in the US. A moonshot like autonomous vehicles has a genuinely better likelihood of existing for most people in the US than effective public transit. They're also a potentially safer and more enjoyable solution to the non-joy driving many people do daily. There's no need for those miles to be done by humans who are distracted by other concerns. Companies also really want it to exist. Pretty much everyone with a large delivery program is in talks with one or more AV companies to automate their shipping. It's going to become a significant part of the industry as soon as the costs are competitive.
- TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
  > with better safety and privacy than Uber/Lyft. LOL if you really believe that. Self driving cars will be connected to cloud with camera pointed on you the whole ride. Reasoning for this will be simple - people are pigs without a bit of a care for property of others when they are not supervised
  - AlotOfReading 4y ago
    Virtually every Uber already has one or more cameras inside to monitor the passenger. It's even a feature of the driver app to do this with the phone on the dashboard. Companies like Google have far better track records with their internal privacy controls than random Uber drivers and I'm at least somewhat hopeful that US lawmakers will get their act together on regulating the use of the data. As for safety, have you ever been in an Uber? Waymo at least is already meeting that bar.
smcl 4y ago
I personally don't care about it too much - I'd much rather see greater investment in public transport. But there's some interest in the UK - there's a driverless service across the Forth that keeps popping into the news (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-64350096 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-643...) and I'd be surprised if there wasn't some activity going on in academia around autonomous/driverless
rtkwe 4y ago
Personally I'd love to be able to just relax on longer road trips rather than driving. Taking the 2 hour trip back to my parent's neck of the woods is much less annoying if I don't have to drive it too.