GM self-driving tech unit Cruise laying off about 8% of staff

Re:GM self-driving tech unit Cruise laying off about 8% of s... by kylec on Thursday May 14, 2020 @04:44PM (#23185167)

I think we're very far away from general-purpose self-driving that can drive in all locations, conditions, and handle all scenarios. But we don't necessarily need an all-or-nothing solution - I think we could be reasonably close to a self-driving system that can handle a whitelisted set of roads and highways, especially if those roads were augmented to accommodate that self-driving in some way.

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Re:GM self-driving tech unit Cruise laying off about 8% of s... by etrk on Thursday May 14, 2020 @04:55PM (#23185309)

Regardless of road quality, weather conditions are unpredictable.

When the rain or snow or haboob kicks in, I guess your car will pull over to the side of the road and you'll need to drive manually until conditions improve. We'll need to keep the steering wheel around for the foreseeable future.

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Re:GM self-driving tech unit Cruise laying off about 8% of s... by gizmo385 on Thursday May 14, 2020 @06:04PM (#23186138)

Does anyone know what Waymo does when a haboob happens? Those are at least relatively common in the Phoenix area.

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Re:GM self-driving tech unit Cruise laying off about 8% of s... by mikepurvis on Thursday May 14, 2020 @04:52PM (#23185260)

Yeah, I've always understood that to be the big initial play— get all those long-haul trucking miles autonomous, relegate human drivers to handling the in-city miles and cargo yards. I think Ottomotto (remember them?) might have even made a video years ago which pitched this exact scheme.

Of course, the environmentalist in me is saddened by the thought of further driving down the cost of that shipping mode which might be most compatible with being switched to rail freight.

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