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And yet.. my car was surrounded by 5 self-driving cars with no people in them on the way to work on Thursday.

SquibblesRedux 8mo ago
Just like in "I, Robot?"
Teknoman117 8mo ago
Waymos require a highly mapped environment to function safely in. Not to take away from what Waymo has accomplished, but it's a far more bounded problem that what the "self driving" promise has been.
- emp17344 8mo ago
  And they still rely on human operators for some maneuvers, as we learned this week.
Brian_K_White 8mo ago
And your ability to go your own way is only temporary and due to inertia. Today, for a while, you can still buy a vehicle that requires a driver and doesn't look and perform exactly like every other waymo. But that's only because self driving cars are still new and incomplete. It's still the transition period. I already can't buy the car I want with a manual transmission. There are still a few cars that I could get with one, but the number is both already small and getting smaller every year. And none of those few are the one I want, even though it was available previously. I already can't buy any (new) car that doesn't have a permanent internet connection with data collection and remote control by people that don't own the car even though I pay full cash without even financing, let alone the particular one I want. (I can, for now, at least break the on board internet connection after I buy the car without disabling the whole car, but that is just a trivial software change away, in software I don't get to see or edit.) It's hardly unreasonable to suggest that in some time you won't be able to avoid having a car that drives itself, and even be legally compelled to let the car drive itself because you can't afford the insurance or legal risk or straight up fines. And forget customizing or personalizing. That's right out.
- tempodox 8mo ago
  > And forget customizing or personalizing. That's right out. Don’t panic, it’s only one additional subscription away. /s
- shash 8mo ago
  I think the decline of manual transmission is different from self-driving. Manuals, you could argue are a technological progression that doesn’t change the fundamental economics or sociology of driving. But self-driving has issues far beyond the technology. Like liability, like ownership of vehicles, availability, traffic rules,… I’m not even sure if, outside of highly mapped environments it even makes sense.

Just like in "I, Robot?"

Waymos require a highly mapped environment to function safely in. Not to take away from what Waymo has accomplished, but it's a far more bounded problem that what the "self driving" promise has been.

emp17344 8mo ago
And they still rely on human operators for some maneuvers, as we learned this week.

Brian_K_White 8mo ago

And your ability to go your own way is only temporary and due to inertia. Today, for a while, you can still buy a vehicle that requires a driver and doesn't look and perform exactly like every other waymo. But that's only because self driving cars are still new and incomplete. It's still the transition period. I already can't buy the car I want with a manual transmission. There are still a few cars that I could get with one, but the number is both already small and getting smaller every year. And none of those few are the one I want, even though it was available previously. I already can't buy any (new) car that doesn't have a permanent internet connection with data collection and remote control by people that don't own the car even though I pay full cash without even financing, let alone the particular one I want. (I can, for now, at least break the on board internet connection after I buy the car without disabling the whole car, but that is just a trivial software change away, in software I don't get to see or edit.) It's hardly unreasonable to suggest that in some time you won't be able to avoid having a car that drives itself, and even be legally compelled to let the car drive itself because you can't afford the insurance or legal risk or straight up fines. And forget customizing or personalizing. That's right out.

tempodox 8mo ago
> And forget customizing or personalizing. That's right out. Don’t panic, it’s only one additional subscription away. /s
shash 8mo ago
I think the decline of manual transmission is different from self-driving. Manuals, you could argue are a technological progression that doesn’t change the fundamental economics or sociology of driving. But self-driving has issues far beyond the technology. Like liability, like ownership of vehicles, availability, traffic rules,… I’m not even sure if, outside of highly mapped environments it even makes sense.