Self-driving cars and the pandemic
Dec. 7th, 2020 05:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutFrom the NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/technology/uber-self-driving-car-project.html?smid=tw-share
Uber spun out its autonomous unit to Aurora. Aurora is working on trucking. This is a good choice; long haul trucking is _hard_ for humans but _easy_ for computers. So, good match!
I have been making an Uber joke for a while: what’s the difference between a self-driving Uber and a regular Uber? The Regular Uber has one human driver; the Self-Driving Uber has two. Obviously, in a pandemic, that presents a real problem!
“The coronavirus pandemic presented more problems. It curtailed testing because social-distancing rules prevented companies from keeping multiple drivers in cars to guard against accidents. Some industry veterans admitted that success was further away than they had expected.”
Probably no one will even notice that this is happening; there is too much other stuff happening. But still, it is nice to have two basic beliefs confirmed. First, self-driving ain’t happening any time soon. Second, and especially not for taxis (but maybe for highway driving).
All those idiots contemplating ethical tradeoffs (do I hit the pedestrian in the crosswalk or not!) have been shown to be idiots, altho of course they will have already forgotten that they even had an opinion on the topic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/technology/uber-self-driving-car-project.html?smid=tw-share
Uber spun out its autonomous unit to Aurora. Aurora is working on trucking. This is a good choice; long haul trucking is _hard_ for humans but _easy_ for computers. So, good match!
I have been making an Uber joke for a while: what’s the difference between a self-driving Uber and a regular Uber? The Regular Uber has one human driver; the Self-Driving Uber has two. Obviously, in a pandemic, that presents a real problem!
“The coronavirus pandemic presented more problems. It curtailed testing because social-distancing rules prevented companies from keeping multiple drivers in cars to guard against accidents. Some industry veterans admitted that success was further away than they had expected.”
Probably no one will even notice that this is happening; there is too much other stuff happening. But still, it is nice to have two basic beliefs confirmed. First, self-driving ain’t happening any time soon. Second, and especially not for taxis (but maybe for highway driving).
All those idiots contemplating ethical tradeoffs (do I hit the pedestrian in the crosswalk or not!) have been shown to be idiots, altho of course they will have already forgotten that they even had an opinion on the topic.