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A comment on Waymo: Google's self-driving car company. Parent comment

Re:Waymo: Google's self-driving car company by goseeastarwar on Tuesday December 13, 2016 @01:53PM (#13169509)
Presumably the cars won't continue driving if their systems are inoperable or unsure how to proceed. One could also argue that riding around in several inches of snow is a bad idea regardless of who's driving, human or computer.
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Re:Waymo: Google's self-driving car company by randomdata on Tuesday December 13, 2016 @02:16PM (#13169801)
That's a little concerning. Especially to the lee of the lake, snow storms can pop up out of nowhere and can last for days at a time. Usually, with care, a human driver can traverse to the nearest shelter to weather the storm. But if the car just stops out of the middle of nowhere, with limited energy to keep the cabin warm in the harsh cold, that seems like a recipe for disaster.
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Re:Waymo: Google's self-driving car company by erikpukinskis on Tuesday December 13, 2016 @09:06PM (#13173222)
We're talking about mobility-as-a-service, so presumably the service would use other means to get you to your destination, like having the car towed, or sending out an SUV with a professional driver.

These kinds of extreme situations are scary, but that's what insurance is for.

Everyone is worried about how we get autonomous driving that's perfect in every situation, but that's not how automation works. You just have to automate the common case so a small number of humans can focus on the corner cases.

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Re:Waymo: Google's self-driving car company by randomdata on Tuesday December 13, 2016 @10:14PM (#13173484)
> We're talking about mobility-as-a-service

We are? I went up the comment chain again and still did not get that impression the second time around. What statement in particular gave you that idea?

> These kinds of extreme situations are scary, but that's what insurance is for.

Like... life insurance?

> You just have to automate the common case so a small number of humans can focus on the corner cases.

If I'm going to be sitting in the car anyway, I can drive it in those conditions, assuming the vehicle allows me to. However, Google has stated before that it is unlikely that they will release a car that needs to be taken over by human drivers. It's all or nothing for them.

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