5 ms·
Self-driving cars is one of the biggest boondoggles of all time. How much money, time, effort, amd resources have been spent on this? And yet, there's barely an
by bmitc 3y ago
Self-driving cars is one of the biggest boondoggles of all time. How much money, time, effort, amd resources have been spent on this? And yet, there's barely anything to show and the end goal is still not even clear.
- kjkjadksj 3y agoThe goal was never a tangible product but a marketable investment opportunity. You can tell this is how it is because the latter went exceedingly well and there is still no product because there was never supposed to be a product. If it was about the product it would be done by now.
- bmitc 3y agoI agree, and this also applies to basically every venture capitalist backed venture these days. They are effectively pump and dump schemes.
- iknowstuff 3y agoI literally took a waymo this morning. What are you talking about
- kjkjadksj 3y agoWaymo is about as solid a business as a dime a dozen escooter company that came and went. Ill say its real when it rolls outside test markets.
- iknowstuff 3y agoI guess I don’t really disagree. I happen to think Tesla will be the first company to offer autonomous ride share profitably.
- ibero 3y agomy personal belief is that driverless car hype was the by-product of the "gig economy"/uber success story. and in that march for IPO, uber had to address its largest problem re: scalability-- human drivers. this issue of scaling drivers was seen as the achilles heel of its technology play. as a result they went deep into investing into the idea of driverless car technology, more for show than in reality. yes, hundreds of millions (billions overall) where dumped into this sector but it was really motivated by the incentive to keep a valuation high. this "driverless" story picked up steam because it resonated with a lot of tech companies, similarly looking to move the needle in their valuations. for big giant tech companies this was alluring as there aren't that many single plays or markets you can do to move the company share price. so here came in google, head first, and apple still tentatively. and then crucially, for established dinosaurs like Ford or GM, the opportunity to create tech valuations for themselves similarly appeared. so they jumped in. all in all, we are still feeling the after effects of this uber story play out, with dwindling returns and ever reducing pile of money behind it.
- iknowstuff 3y agoWow the cynicism. Waymo is successfully providing self driving rides TODAY. Tesla is actively trying to leverage their lean manufacturing prowess to provide this service en masse via FSD.
- khazhoux 3y agoHow is the end goal not clear to you? The goals have been stated clearly many times by many company -- but they happen to be extremely difficult.
- bmitc 3y agoWhat are they? Self-driving cars on the street is not a goal to me. What problem does that solve?
- khazhoux 3y agoGoals: * Drastic reduction in the >1 million annual worldwide vehicular deaths. ~40K/year in the US. ~20K/year in Europe. * Also, drastic reduction in damage and loss of productivity from traffic accidents. * Better utilization of roadways, e.g. from more responsive start/stops, and smoother acceleration/deceleration on highways to prevent phantom traffic jams. * Convenience.
- bmitc 3y agoSelf-driving cars will likely increase accidents before they reduce them, if ever. It is pointless to outfit our roads and highways 100% with self-driving cars carrying only a handful, if that, of people, which is the only way you get to that unrealistic ideal of utilization. Trains, subways, and buses are "self-driving" technologies that we already have and are far more efficient at solving these problems. It is incredibly inefficient to have low passenger vehicles already. Making them self-driving just increases the cost of that inefficiency.
- madaxe_again 3y agoThe nearest train, subway or bus to where I live is 100km away. How should I get there? By foot? Sprout wings and fly? Drag myself there by my tongue? Also, I have bad news for you. You know that human you see sitting at the front of buses, trains, and subways? They aren’t just there to collect your fare.
- varenc 3y agoIMHO, Waymo's autonomous taxi service is amazing. I think it's a superior product to Uber/Lyft. Consumers won't be getting FSD on their personal cars anytime soon, but managed self-driving fleets seem well poised to compete with ride-hailing services.