3 ms·

I'm not going to get excited until this can drive in Boston/Cambridge. If it can navigate that nightmare (and not kill any cyclists) I'll be impressed with what

by tapoxi 2y ago

I'm not going to get excited until this can drive in Boston/Cambridge. If it can navigate that nightmare (and not kill any cyclists) I'll be impressed with what self-driving cars can do. Bonus points if they can work in snow when sightlines are obscured.

tayo42 2y ago
is boston that much crazier then san francisco? ignoring snow for now. I hate driving in SF
- ghaff 2y ago
  Depends on the location. I don't like driving in SF especially but there are some areas of Boston that are pretty crazy if you're not used to them and don't intuitively know when to get over into some lane and aren't used to driving pretty aggressively at times.
  - AlotOfReading 2y ago
    It's worth keeping in mind that autonomous vehicles find different things challenging than humans do. Weird road shapes and knowing how to route into some lane is pretty straightforward with map data. It's the "normal" parts of driving like predicting other road users that are more difficult.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      Totally fair. Things I might find challenging as a human unfamiliar with a given location (though GPS tends to help a lot) are probably different from an autonomous vehicle dealing with a lot of borderline crazy behavior by other cars, cyclists, and pedestrians darting out into traffic. A person also can just process so many inputs at once so you get into situations that are challenging in part because so much is going on.
- tapoxi 2y ago
  Boston doesn't have a grid system, lanes aren't marked, really weird and complex intersections, etc. This intersection is a local favorite, a backed-up lane off the highway onto a half-rotary that splits off into multiple directions: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3560154,-71.1859078,17.52z?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEwNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3560154,-71.1859078,17.52z?e...
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    That's relatively easy for a robot, though. It only has to learn the rules once. What's hard for a robot is dealing with crazy unpredictable people, and while Boston has its share of those, I think SF is worse.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      I don't know. Boston and New York may have a culture of taking whatever right of way you think you can get away with. The West Coast historically at least was more known for enforcing jaywalking though given the current state of SF I'm not sure that's still true. Boston/Cambridge also has a huge influx of students every year, many of which are pretty clueless about navigating an urban environment safely.
      - arebop 2y ago
        If you think careless/bold Harvard students are road hazards, wait until you meet the psychotic addicts of the Tenderloin.
        ghaff 2y ago
        I admit I probably know to not drive through SF on certain routes.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
hindsightbias 2y ago
They have been navigating the SF Tenderloin for over a year. Entire streets are a crosswalk. Most biologic drivers would barely function there. But I do wonder how lidar/visual integration works in snow.
- archagon 2y ago
  Barely function? C’mon. Just let the pedestrian pass and keep driving. Not that hard.
minwcnt5 2y ago
Boston? Pfft. I'm not going to get excited until this can drive in rural Turkmenistan. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35834271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35834271).

by tapoxi 2y ago

tayo42 2y ago

is boston that much crazier then san francisco? ignoring snow for now. I hate driving in SF

ghaff 2y ago
Depends on the location. I don't like driving in SF especially but there are some areas of Boston that are pretty crazy if you're not used to them and don't intuitively know when to get over into some lane and aren't used to driving pretty aggressively at times.
- AlotOfReading 2y ago
  It's worth keeping in mind that autonomous vehicles find different things challenging than humans do. Weird road shapes and knowing how to route into some lane is pretty straightforward with map data. It's the "normal" parts of driving like predicting other road users that are more difficult.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Totally fair. Things I might find challenging as a human unfamiliar with a given location (though GPS tends to help a lot) are probably different from an autonomous vehicle dealing with a lot of borderline crazy behavior by other cars, cyclists, and pedestrians darting out into traffic. A person also can just process so many inputs at once so you get into situations that are challenging in part because so much is going on.
tapoxi 2y ago
Boston doesn't have a grid system, lanes aren't marked, really weird and complex intersections, etc. This intersection is a local favorite, a backed-up lane off the highway onto a half-rotary that splits off into multiple directions: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3560154,-71.1859078,17.52z?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEwNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3560154,-71.1859078,17.52z?e...
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  That's relatively easy for a robot, though. It only has to learn the rules once. What's hard for a robot is dealing with crazy unpredictable people, and while Boston has its share of those, I think SF is worse.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    I don't know. Boston and New York may have a culture of taking whatever right of way you think you can get away with. The West Coast historically at least was more known for enforcing jaywalking though given the current state of SF I'm not sure that's still true. Boston/Cambridge also has a huge influx of students every year, many of which are pretty clueless about navigating an urban environment safely.
    - arebop 2y ago
      If you think careless/bold Harvard students are road hazards, wait until you meet the psychotic addicts of the Tenderloin.
      - ghaff 2y ago
        I admit I probably know to not drive through SF on certain routes.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

hindsightbias 2y ago

They have been navigating the SF Tenderloin for over a year. Entire streets are a crosswalk. Most biologic drivers would barely function there. But I do wonder how lidar/visual integration works in snow.

archagon 2y ago
Barely function? C’mon. Just let the pedestrian pass and keep driving. Not that hard.

minwcnt5 2y ago

Boston? Pfft. I'm not going to get excited until this can drive in rural Turkmenistan. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35834271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35834271).