Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco

Re:Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco by SketchySeaBeast on Wednesday March 30, 2022 @12:29PM (#30857448)

I think about all the times during winter when my car's traction control straight up gives up as I try to accelerate through an intersection or when I need to start slowing down an extra two blocks away because the ABS goes on every time I try to stop. I have no idea how AVs will nail that stuff, it's so much harder than keeping the car between the lanes and sussing out road signs.

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Re:Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco by dont__panic on Wednesday March 30, 2022 @04:05PM (#30860140)

I think about all of the lanes in my city where line paint disappears intermittently, or where old lines/construction-era lines mess with my ability to comprehend where the lanes are, let alone an autonomous vehicle's.

And then I think about all the potholes that I dodge when I drive around town. And how 4-ton electric vehicles are going to make road wear worse, not better.

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Re:Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco by bglazer on Wednesday March 30, 2022 @04:52PM (#30860631)

The control aspects of self driving are much easier to solve.

Here’s an autonomous drifting Delorean https://youtu.be/3x3SqeSdrAE

The physics and control of cars are quite well understood, even in extreme conditions. Further, sensors allow a car to detect changing road conditions much more quickly and adeptly than a typical human.

The hard part of self driving seems to be understanding and predicting the humans in its environment.

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Re:Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco by SketchySeaBeast on Wednesday March 30, 2022 @05:47PM (#30861226)

That example is still a car on a known good road conditions. Do you have an example where half the parking lot is covered in ice, or trying to break on a road with unpredictable traction so that they don't end up halfway through the intersection?

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Re:Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco by busyant on Wednesday March 30, 2022 @09:21PM (#30862829)

> Do you have an example where half the parking lot is covered in ice, or trying to break on a road with unpredictable traction so that they don't end up halfway through the intersection?

If the car is "smart," maybe it will simply refuse to travel (because the calculated risk of traveling over an icy parking lot is above some maximum threshold risk).

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Re:Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco by hedora on Thursday March 31, 2022 @12:38AM (#30863872)

Humans have no trouble in these conditions (after a brief training period).

What happens the first time a steering wheel free car strands a family in a blizzard due to a few feet of icy pavement, ultimately freezing them to death?

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Re:Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco by ricardobayes on Thursday March 31, 2022 @08:28AM (#30866405)

I don't think cars will ever remove steering wheels. That was just Elon's fantasy for a limited use (driving through Boring tunnels). Similarly how you don't have a steering wheel in a driverless metro. Or perhaps it will be retractable when not in use, like a tow hook.

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Re:Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco by SketchySeaBeast on Thursday March 31, 2022 @09:58AM (#30867261)

That would make commuting in northern areas very interesting.

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