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NASA’s code runs on devices that have am very specific missions. They can test all of the edge cases because they’re going from A to B once and they have a deca
by ok_dad 3y ago
NASA’s code runs on devices that have am very specific missions. They can test all of the edge cases because they’re going from A to B once and they have a decade to prepare that journey. People riding electric scooters and etc will run into more variability each day than NASA will in a whole mission.
I crashed and broke my back on a two wheeled scooter in SF due to a pedestrian walking on a red don’t walk sign, for example.
Plus, none of these companies are doing NASA quality assurance or anything close, so why even compare them to NASA?
- flatline 3y agoI’m saying that organizations can, in fact, write safety critical code. One wheel does not need to account specifically for pedestrians crossing the road, but it does need to behave properly under a wider variety of conditions than a spacecraft or launch vehicle. Give it a decade with a half dozen teams working to making the code correct, and I think you could get there. I am inclined to think that a commercial entity cannot reliably write safety critical code for a primary income driver. You need different financial incentives and probably a different organizational structure for this to work. At the risk of derailing my point in minutiae, I suspect Waymo will ultimately deliver safe self-driving technology sooner than Tesla, for example.
- ilyt 3y ago> I crashed and broke my back on a two wheeled scooter in SF due to a pedestrian walking on a red don’t walk sign, for example. And how exactly it was software's fault ?
- dools 3y agoIt's not, it's an illustration of the variability faced riding "electric scooters etc." versus controlling a space shuttle: > People riding electric scooters and etc will run into more variability each day than NASA will in a whole mission. > I crashed and broke my back on a two wheeled scooter in SF due to a pedestrian walking on a red don’t walk sign, for example.
- ok_dad 3y agoYes, the point is that even without bad software, the world is a dangerous place. Better to not have unsafe, unstable, dangerous vehicles to compound that. It was part my fault and part the pedestrians fault that I crashed, but the real cause was the instability of the platform. If I had been on a bike, I’m certain I could have stopped or avoided the pedestrian.