7 ms·

Please stop multitasking while driving. The tech seems neat and all but please stop multitasking while driving, encouraging others to multitask while driving,

Please stop multitasking while driving. The tech seems neat and all but please stop multitasking while driving, encouraging others to multitask while driving, and building products specifically designed to encourage multitasking while driving. If you want to work while you're in transit: take public transit.

giveita 1y ago
I agree. For safety mostly but even for "fuck cant we just drive somewhere and that be considered enough achievement, like it is 1989"
- bombcar 1y ago
  In 1825 people would stare at an ox’s ass for days straight thinking about nothing much. In 2025 we can’t spend 10 minutes without doing something else while traveling at speeds that would make a sailor blush.
  - aleph_minus_one 1y ago
    You make a wrong comparison: you can easily stare at a 3D printer for hours how it prints the object layer by layer. Try it out - watching this is sooo soothing and relaxing. :-)
    - rkomorn 1y ago
      You mentioned a 3D printer and I immediately thought you were going to suggest 3D printing an ox's ass for staring at.
      - junon 1y ago
        I would do this just for the meme of it, complete with screenshot, if it weren't for the fact it'd be huge and take up a ton of filament.
        eMPee584 1y ago
        now here's a legit ai use case: saving on filament for meme production
        xnx 1y ago
        Make the ox ass smaller and closer to the face. Could 3D print one on to glasses frames.
  - pclmulqdq 1y ago
    In 1825 they would enjoy the process of traveling. In 2025, there is nobody taking joy in the journey. It's all about the destination.
M_farhan_h 1y ago
I agree that we should find ways to limit instead of instigate multitasking while driving. Building tech is usually clearer than finding a clear use case for it. As we find ways to mature the tech to be aligned with the ultimate vision we have, we will test various problems the immature tech can solve. With that being said, if you have any ideas where this could really help people (for instance people with motor disabilities), please share them. We would like to serve people and build with humility.
- schmichael 1y ago
  People with motor disabilities seems like a great use case! Cooking and watching TV are two activities that benefit from voice control (due to dirty hands and remotes going missing). Nursing mothers often literally have their hands full. Lots of folks in safety critical situations rely on multitasking and voice commands: law enforcement, firefighters, pilots, heavy equipment operators, armed forces, etc. Many of them are in situations in which not multitasking isn't an option and receive special training to minimize risks. That being said now you're entering heavily regulated industries where the stakes couldn't be higher... not exactly an easy place for LLMs and startups to play. On the other end of the spectrum there is a tried and true industry for tech innovations where the stakes couldn't be lower: adult entertainment. There's millions of adults wishing they could operate screens without needing a hand free. Might not be as glamorous as helping firefighters and people with motor disabilities, but we all need to make a living. Best wishes!
- kelvinjps 1y ago
  For me voice control is not only about multitasking, but just being able to continue to work without being sitted down. For example I use voice control while standing or walking and I get more ideas that way that being sitted
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  Try a demo where you're doing work that needs your hands! Laundry, gardening, child/pet care. A cool demo could be using Blue to look up tutorials and order parts for pick up at the hardware store while fixing something around the house. Or maybe a demo where someone schedules an appointment while holding a fussy baby.
dmitrygr 1y ago
+1 People do not multitask well. The median driver can barely keep a car on the road in perfect weather on a good day. Please stop helping distract them! Luckily, most states lave laws about this, and drivers will get fined. Sadly, manufacturers rarely get fined. The people who made the original "hands on wheel" defeat device for Teslas got away with it, IIRC
- nashashmi 1y ago
  Multitasking is mostly for those who have muscle memory in driving home to work and back. I have a hard time remembering going to the grocery store on the way because of muscle memory
  - goopypoop 1y ago
    zoning out while driving doesn't mean you should pay even less attention to the road
  - gus_massa 1y ago
    Muscle memory is good, until you get unexpected unexpected. I remember an experiment about driving there the subjects had to go to a simulator and drive the same simulated route for some time, until they know it and it got boring. So, after a few days, suddenly a deer/pothole/kid/car/whatever appeared.
citizenpaul 1y ago
The problem is that probably over 98% of the roads in the country are almost 0 chance of unexpected event. Nearly empty roads, small towns and cities with crosswalks that never see a single pedestrian. In the bay though. Holy crap driving here was a wake up call for me. You cannot drive distracted here. I've driven in every major US city. The bay is by far the worst. Yes even then NYC, ATL and Miami. Chicago or Houston is a probably 2nd worst. At the same time my partner often gets mad at me for refusing to do anything but focus when I drive. So I agree in general but I'm not everyone. This device seems like it will help people avoid incidents.
- amarant 1y ago
  Please hand your driver's licence and car keys over at your nearest police station. Quickly, before you kill someone
  - citizenpaul 1y ago
    Your self rightousness got in the way of your reading comprehension.
  - rkomorn 1y ago
    Not OP but why?
    - sqeaky 1y ago
      Just thinking that an unexpected event can't happen on the road shows a huge lapse in judgment and that's just the first sentence. Thinking they're special and different other people is another big red flag.
      - rkomorn 1y ago
        How do they think they're special? What are y'all even reading? They're saying you always need to pay attention.
      - citizenpaul 1y ago
mikewarot 1y ago
As someone who walked away from a 5 car sandwich this past week HANG UP AND DRIVE! Don't talk, don't try to do anything other maybe listening to some music while you're driving.
- fragmede 1y ago
  it's boring as shit and people are gonna do whatever anyway. including being drunk while driving. Comma.ai works using only cameras and radar so the technology is there. Why are we waiting? People are dying!
  - gdbsjjdn 1y ago
    There's a really cool thing called a train where you can go places and do whatever you want in the process. If you want to be drunk and fuck around with your phone I recommend taking a train or bus.
    - fragmede 1y ago
      gdbsjjdn used condescending! It's not very effective! How are you going to get drunk people out of cars and onto trains? We've already made it really fucking shit for them. What's your next idea after trains? Prohibition?
- NetOpWibby 1y ago
  Glad you made it
marxism 1y ago
Counterpoint: don't blame the founder for leading with driving use cases. It's audience selection bias, not the founder being reckless. He's showing what gets traction, not necessarily what he thinks people should actually do I'm contributing to a similar open source coding tool [1] and I see the same skewed reaction: voice control of "whatever" while driving gets 5-10x the clicks of any other demo. There's a logical reason so many people think of voice control while driving. It's not because they're reckless. It reflects the hierarchy of needs. People with long commutes (often younger, lower-paid engineers living further out) spend 2+ hours driving daily. This is their biggest time sink, so of course they think about making it productive. When you're living far out for cheap housing and hear "coding while driving", its easy to think: finally, a way to get ahead without choosing between career growth and seeing my family. Again, I think its just an off-the-cuff reaction, not actually what people will do. Just like people try your app and tell you its amazing but then never pay. Doing stuff while driving just sounds nice until you know... you think about it for 3 seconds and yeah, its bad idea. [1] https://github.com/slopus/happy https://github.com/slopus/happy
- gpm 1y ago
  "Don't anthropomorphize the founder, they're just responding to market pressures" is not the defense that you think it is. For the same reason you don't want to do business with Oracle (see the great rant from which I borrowed this phrasing [1]) you don't want to do business with someone who will advertise their product for unethical use cases - they'll cross other ethical boundaries too involving screwing you over. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc&t=1981s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc&t=1981s
  - marxism 1y ago
    Let me rephrase this. I am feeling empathy for the Blue founder because I am in a similar position to show voice control to people and the overwhelming response is "cool, I'll use it while driving". And similar to people here, I don't like that conclusion. So I think it feels bad for the Blue founder to have people pile onto the driving detail that he likely already agrees with meanwhile people ignore the hardware accomplishment. To me the point of voice control is walking. I'm thinking of Einstein, Darwin, Thoreau. They believed that physical activity helped stimulate his mind and spark creative thought. You walk, you think, and occasionally you say something. But in practice people have been quick to jump to conclusions that surprise me. Such as "the point is to try to kill people". So I'm merely working backwards to figure out why people want to jump in a car first thing. And the charitable explanation is the people are just not thinking to carefully and are just excited by seeing a computer respond to voice with a low enough error rate.

giveita 1y ago

I agree. For safety mostly but even for "fuck cant we just drive somewhere and that be considered enough achievement, like it is 1989"

bombcar 1y ago
In 1825 people would stare at an ox’s ass for days straight thinking about nothing much. In 2025 we can’t spend 10 minutes without doing something else while traveling at speeds that would make a sailor blush.
- aleph_minus_one 1y ago
  You make a wrong comparison: you can easily stare at a 3D printer for hours how it prints the object layer by layer. Try it out - watching this is sooo soothing and relaxing. :-)
  - rkomorn 1y ago
    You mentioned a 3D printer and I immediately thought you were going to suggest 3D printing an ox's ass for staring at.
    - junon 1y ago
      I would do this just for the meme of it, complete with screenshot, if it weren't for the fact it'd be huge and take up a ton of filament.
      - eMPee584 1y ago
        now here's a legit ai use case: saving on filament for meme production
      - xnx 1y ago
        Make the ox ass smaller and closer to the face. Could 3D print one on to glasses frames.
- pclmulqdq 1y ago
  In 1825 they would enjoy the process of traveling. In 2025, there is nobody taking joy in the journey. It's all about the destination.

M_farhan_h 1y ago

I agree that we should find ways to limit instead of instigate multitasking while driving. Building tech is usually clearer than finding a clear use case for it. As we find ways to mature the tech to be aligned with the ultimate vision we have, we will test various problems the immature tech can solve. With that being said, if you have any ideas where this could really help people (for instance people with motor disabilities), please share them. We would like to serve people and build with humility.

schmichael 1y ago
People with motor disabilities seems like a great use case! Cooking and watching TV are two activities that benefit from voice control (due to dirty hands and remotes going missing). Nursing mothers often literally have their hands full. Lots of folks in safety critical situations rely on multitasking and voice commands: law enforcement, firefighters, pilots, heavy equipment operators, armed forces, etc. Many of them are in situations in which not multitasking isn't an option and receive special training to minimize risks. That being said now you're entering heavily regulated industries where the stakes couldn't be higher... not exactly an easy place for LLMs and startups to play. On the other end of the spectrum there is a tried and true industry for tech innovations where the stakes couldn't be lower: adult entertainment. There's millions of adults wishing they could operate screens without needing a hand free. Might not be as glamorous as helping firefighters and people with motor disabilities, but we all need to make a living. Best wishes!
kelvinjps 1y ago
For me voice control is not only about multitasking, but just being able to continue to work without being sitted down. For example I use voice control while standing or walking and I get more ideas that way that being sitted
trenchpilgrim 1y ago
Try a demo where you're doing work that needs your hands! Laundry, gardening, child/pet care. A cool demo could be using Blue to look up tutorials and order parts for pick up at the hardware store while fixing something around the house. Or maybe a demo where someone schedules an appointment while holding a fussy baby.

dmitrygr 1y ago

+1 People do not multitask well. The median driver can barely keep a car on the road in perfect weather on a good day. Please stop helping distract them! Luckily, most states lave laws about this, and drivers will get fined. Sadly, manufacturers rarely get fined. The people who made the original "hands on wheel" defeat device for Teslas got away with it, IIRC

nashashmi 1y ago
Multitasking is mostly for those who have muscle memory in driving home to work and back. I have a hard time remembering going to the grocery store on the way because of muscle memory
- goopypoop 1y ago
  zoning out while driving doesn't mean you should pay even less attention to the road
- gus_massa 1y ago
  Muscle memory is good, until you get unexpected unexpected. I remember an experiment about driving there the subjects had to go to a simulator and drive the same simulated route for some time, until they know it and it got boring. So, after a few days, suddenly a deer/pothole/kid/car/whatever appeared.

citizenpaul 1y ago

The problem is that probably over 98% of the roads in the country are almost 0 chance of unexpected event. Nearly empty roads, small towns and cities with crosswalks that never see a single pedestrian. In the bay though. Holy crap driving here was a wake up call for me. You cannot drive distracted here. I've driven in every major US city. The bay is by far the worst. Yes even then NYC, ATL and Miami. Chicago or Houston is a probably 2nd worst. At the same time my partner often gets mad at me for refusing to do anything but focus when I drive. So I agree in general but I'm not everyone. This device seems like it will help people avoid incidents.

amarant 1y ago
Please hand your driver's licence and car keys over at your nearest police station. Quickly, before you kill someone
- citizenpaul 1y ago
  Your self rightousness got in the way of your reading comprehension.
- rkomorn 1y ago
  Not OP but why?
  - sqeaky 1y ago
    Just thinking that an unexpected event can't happen on the road shows a huge lapse in judgment and that's just the first sentence. Thinking they're special and different other people is another big red flag.
    - rkomorn 1y ago
      How do they think they're special? What are y'all even reading? They're saying you always need to pay attention.
    - citizenpaul 1y ago

mikewarot 1y ago

As someone who walked away from a 5 car sandwich this past week HANG UP AND DRIVE! Don't talk, don't try to do anything other maybe listening to some music while you're driving.

fragmede 1y ago
it's boring as shit and people are gonna do whatever anyway. including being drunk while driving. Comma.ai works using only cameras and radar so the technology is there. Why are we waiting? People are dying!
- gdbsjjdn 1y ago
  There's a really cool thing called a train where you can go places and do whatever you want in the process. If you want to be drunk and fuck around with your phone I recommend taking a train or bus.
  - fragmede 1y ago
    gdbsjjdn used condescending! It's not very effective! How are you going to get drunk people out of cars and onto trains? We've already made it really fucking shit for them. What's your next idea after trains? Prohibition?
NetOpWibby 1y ago
Glad you made it

marxism 1y ago

Counterpoint: don't blame the founder for leading with driving use cases. It's audience selection bias, not the founder being reckless. He's showing what gets traction, not necessarily what he thinks people should actually do I'm contributing to a similar open source coding tool [1] and I see the same skewed reaction: voice control of "whatever" while driving gets 5-10x the clicks of any other demo. There's a logical reason so many people think of voice control while driving. It's not because they're reckless. It reflects the hierarchy of needs. People with long commutes (often younger, lower-paid engineers living further out) spend 2+ hours driving daily. This is their biggest time sink, so of course they think about making it productive. When you're living far out for cheap housing and hear "coding while driving", its easy to think: finally, a way to get ahead without choosing between career growth and seeing my family. Again, I think its just an off-the-cuff reaction, not actually what people will do. Just like people try your app and tell you its amazing but then never pay. Doing stuff while driving just sounds nice until you know... you think about it for 3 seconds and yeah, its bad idea. [1] https://github.com/slopus/happy https://github.com/slopus/happy

gpm 1y ago
"Don't anthropomorphize the founder, they're just responding to market pressures" is not the defense that you think it is. For the same reason you don't want to do business with Oracle (see the great rant from which I borrowed this phrasing [1]) you don't want to do business with someone who will advertise their product for unethical use cases - they'll cross other ethical boundaries too involving screwing you over. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc&t=1981s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc&t=1981s
- marxism 1y ago
  Let me rephrase this. I am feeling empathy for the Blue founder because I am in a similar position to show voice control to people and the overwhelming response is "cool, I'll use it while driving". And similar to people here, I don't like that conclusion. So I think it feels bad for the Blue founder to have people pile onto the driving detail that he likely already agrees with meanwhile people ignore the hardware accomplishment. To me the point of voice control is walking. I'm thinking of Einstein, Darwin, Thoreau. They believed that physical activity helped stimulate his mind and spark creative thought. You walk, you think, and occasionally you say something. But in practice people have been quick to jump to conclusions that surprise me. Such as "the point is to try to kill people". So I'm merely working backwards to figure out why people want to jump in a car first thing. And the charitable explanation is the people are just not thinking to carefully and are just excited by seeing a computer respond to voice with a low enough error rate.