4 ms·

> The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.

by verve_rat 2y ago

pclmulqdq 2y ago
It's distributed in the very few places where the future is very easy to build.
- signatoremo 2y ago
  When Waymo was only available in Chandler AZ it was often said here on HN that it needed to go to SF, with all of the foggy weather, and narrow and hilly streets, to prove its worth. I guess Waymo has passed that test and SF has became an “easy” place. What would be the next difficult place that will become easy someday?
  - pclmulqdq 2y ago
    They don't run the self-driving cars in the fog. Also, the streets aren't that narrow compared to most other major cities. It's certainly a step up from Arizona, though.
    - minwcnt5 2y ago
      They absolutely do run in the fog, I live in a particularly foggy part of the city and take them several times a week. And SF absolutely does have lots of narrow streets. There are a lot of neighborhoods where the roads are only wide enough for one direction of traffic at a time due to parked cars. Either you or the oncoming car needs to pull to the side in front of a driveway to pass. Waymo handles these situations expertly. Based on your other posts in here you seem to have some kind of axe to grind and are making stuff up. Go watch some Youtube videos.
      - pclmulqdq 2y ago
        > And SF absolutely does have lots of narrow streets. There are a lot of neighborhoods where the roads are only wide enough for one direction of traffic at a time due to parked cars. Either you or the oncoming car needs to pull to the side in front of a driveway to pass. Waymo handles these situations expertly. That is not a narrow urban road, unless you have about 3 inches on either side of your car. Drive in Europe or NYC sometime. I have no axes to grind, but I find the optimism of "[X technology] works in [Y very easy condition], so it's going to explode any time now" somewhat tiresome and naive. I have been hearing it about self-driving cars for >10 years now (since the DARPA challenges). Plenty of technologies never leave the garden of that easy condition.
        minwcnt5 2y ago
        I've driven in NYC plenty. I think if they can navigate situations that are this narrow they can probably handle narrow roads in NYC adequately: https://youtu.be/YtbhoLp96DE?t=423 https://youtu.be/YtbhoLp96DE?t=423 People said for a long time that self driving cars would never handle the complexity of SF, the fog, the rain, the hills, the bikes, the narrow streets, the crowds of pedestrians. Now that they do, I take the opposite view of you. I think the only hurdles left are snow, economics, and regulation. They are high hurdles, but seem solvable.

> The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.

pclmulqdq 2y ago

It's distributed in the very few places where the future is very easy to build.

signatoremo 2y ago
When Waymo was only available in Chandler AZ it was often said here on HN that it needed to go to SF, with all of the foggy weather, and narrow and hilly streets, to prove its worth. I guess Waymo has passed that test and SF has became an “easy” place. What would be the next difficult place that will become easy someday?
- pclmulqdq 2y ago
  They don't run the self-driving cars in the fog. Also, the streets aren't that narrow compared to most other major cities. It's certainly a step up from Arizona, though.
  - minwcnt5 2y ago
    They absolutely do run in the fog, I live in a particularly foggy part of the city and take them several times a week. And SF absolutely does have lots of narrow streets. There are a lot of neighborhoods where the roads are only wide enough for one direction of traffic at a time due to parked cars. Either you or the oncoming car needs to pull to the side in front of a driveway to pass. Waymo handles these situations expertly. Based on your other posts in here you seem to have some kind of axe to grind and are making stuff up. Go watch some Youtube videos.
    - pclmulqdq 2y ago
      > And SF absolutely does have lots of narrow streets. There are a lot of neighborhoods where the roads are only wide enough for one direction of traffic at a time due to parked cars. Either you or the oncoming car needs to pull to the side in front of a driveway to pass. Waymo handles these situations expertly. That is not a narrow urban road, unless you have about 3 inches on either side of your car. Drive in Europe or NYC sometime. I have no axes to grind, but I find the optimism of "[X technology] works in [Y very easy condition], so it's going to explode any time now" somewhat tiresome and naive. I have been hearing it about self-driving cars for >10 years now (since the DARPA challenges). Plenty of technologies never leave the garden of that easy condition.
      - minwcnt5 2y ago
        I've driven in NYC plenty. I think if they can navigate situations that are this narrow they can probably handle narrow roads in NYC adequately: https://youtu.be/YtbhoLp96DE?t=423 https://youtu.be/YtbhoLp96DE?t=423 People said for a long time that self driving cars would never handle the complexity of SF, the fog, the rain, the hills, the bikes, the narrow streets, the crowds of pedestrians. Now that they do, I take the opposite view of you. I think the only hurdles left are snow, economics, and regulation. They are high hurdles, but seem solvable.