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Does it make money? No Does it make you drive your car safely while sleeping ? No Does learn to drive such a hard thing? No Then why do we need this kind of c

Does it make money? No Does it make you drive your car safely while sleeping ? No Does learn to drive such a hard thing? No Then why do we need this kind of company? I don’t know.

echelon 3y ago
> Then why do we need this kind of company? I don’t know. Why bother doing anything at all with this attitude? Let's freeze in place and wait until the sun dies out. I don't know. To me, Waymo is exciting because it could unlock a next step function of capabilities, patterns, and economics. Everything we take for granted in transportation -- highways, traffic signals, parking, traffic itself -- we could potentially get to reevaluate a lot of previously-held assumptions. The second- and third-order effects could be wild. Maybe it'll all go bust. It's worth a shot, though. The rewards, if they succeed, will be tremendous.
- riku_iki 3y ago
  > It's worth a shot, though. waymo is 14 years old, maybe it is enough for a shot and time to move on something more proven? Like poor billions into smarter public transportation for example.
  - robotburrito 3y ago
    Agreed. Cars still destroy cities. No matter if they are driven by a human or not.
  - 2c2c2c 3y ago
    this comment would make sense if there werent a fleet of 100 cruise and 100 waymo sucessfully operating for months in SF now
    - jeffreygoesto 3y ago
      100 people is about one train carriage. That is not a lot of bang for the buck.
      - 2c2c2c 3y ago
        what is the point of this comment? if i need to get to an appointment im not going to go take the bart, risking missing the interval or delays + walk a mile to get to my destination theres obvious value in last mile transportation that trains will never provide. please go outside
      - echelon 3y ago
        At some point in history there were 100 single-celled organisms (or protocellular organisms?) presumably around some hydrothermal vent. Not a lot of promise there, either. I get the self-driving car skepticism. I'm a skeptic. But the expected value is insanely positive and warrants our attention.
    - oldpersonintx 3y ago
      [dead]
    - riku_iki 3y ago
      for businesses, successfully means it is profitable and does not require layoffs. But it sounds this kind of business may be not scalable.
braza 3y ago
> Then why do we need this kind of company? I come from a place that has in the last 13 years more than 500K people died, in almost 28% of the cases it happened roads/highways due to illegal overtaking and over-speeding. I would like to have in my lifetime a car that had some sort of technology that could prevent some of those accidents, and autonomous cars could help on it.
- spiznnx 3y ago
  Mandatory speed governors would help.
- up2isomorphism 3y ago
  Except it does not.

Does it make money? No Does it make you drive your car safely while sleeping ? No Does learn to drive such a hard thing? No Then why do we need this kind of company? I don’t know.

echelon 3y ago

> Then why do we need this kind of company? I don’t know. Why bother doing anything at all with this attitude? Let's freeze in place and wait until the sun dies out. I don't know. To me, Waymo is exciting because it could unlock a next step function of capabilities, patterns, and economics. Everything we take for granted in transportation -- highways, traffic signals, parking, traffic itself -- we could potentially get to reevaluate a lot of previously-held assumptions. The second- and third-order effects could be wild. Maybe it'll all go bust. It's worth a shot, though. The rewards, if they succeed, will be tremendous.

riku_iki 3y ago
> It's worth a shot, though. waymo is 14 years old, maybe it is enough for a shot and time to move on something more proven? Like poor billions into smarter public transportation for example.
- robotburrito 3y ago
  Agreed. Cars still destroy cities. No matter if they are driven by a human or not.
- 2c2c2c 3y ago
  this comment would make sense if there werent a fleet of 100 cruise and 100 waymo sucessfully operating for months in SF now
  - jeffreygoesto 3y ago
    100 people is about one train carriage. That is not a lot of bang for the buck.
    - 2c2c2c 3y ago
      what is the point of this comment? if i need to get to an appointment im not going to go take the bart, risking missing the interval or delays + walk a mile to get to my destination theres obvious value in last mile transportation that trains will never provide. please go outside
    - echelon 3y ago
      At some point in history there were 100 single-celled organisms (or protocellular organisms?) presumably around some hydrothermal vent. Not a lot of promise there, either. I get the self-driving car skepticism. I'm a skeptic. But the expected value is insanely positive and warrants our attention.
  - oldpersonintx 3y ago
    [dead]
  - riku_iki 3y ago
    for businesses, successfully means it is profitable and does not require layoffs. But it sounds this kind of business may be not scalable.

braza 3y ago

> Then why do we need this kind of company? I come from a place that has in the last 13 years more than 500K people died, in almost 28% of the cases it happened roads/highways due to illegal overtaking and over-speeding. I would like to have in my lifetime a car that had some sort of technology that could prevent some of those accidents, and autonomous cars could help on it.

spiznnx 3y ago
Mandatory speed governors would help.
up2isomorphism 3y ago
Except it does not.