I Conscientiously Object to Self-Driving Cars

Re:I Conscientiously Object to Self-Driving Cars by forgetfreeman on Saturday July 15, 2023 @01:28AM (#36733864)

I hear you. I'm not great, just a product of my generation. I was expected to be able to operate literally anything with wheels and most things with treads by the time I was 18, that's pretty normal for folks growing up rural in the 80s. I'm not trying to fight the tide here, the point I'm trying to underline (and that we appear to agree on) is that the tech simply is not on a level where replacement of human operators is sanely viable.

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Re:I Conscientiously Object to Self-Driving Cars by bruce511 on Saturday July 15, 2023 @01:43AM (#36733940)

One day Mavrick, your kind will be extinct. We don't need drivers who make mistakes, need to rest, make bad judgement calls, have no patience or consideration.

Sure, it's not today, butvyhe day is coming. Its not far away now (on human time lines, not necessarily tech time lines).

Until then, enjoy the ride ;)

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Re:I Conscientiously Object to Self-Driving Cars by forgetfreeman on Saturday July 15, 2023 @02:02AM (#36734026)

That's just it. A career in software engineering has lead me to believe that that day may never come, that the industry will, as it so often does, strike upon exactly the right focus-group tested line of bullshit to drive mass adoption without ever hitting the technical requirements that would make that ethical. If the day does come I'll nap my ass for a lap around the country on one truly epic road trip. I just hope the driver is smart enough to not park directly under a street light while I'm trying to sleep.

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Re:I Conscientiously Object to Self-Driving Cars by pdonis on Saturday July 15, 2023 @05:23PM (#36741077)

> We don't need drivers who make mistakes, need to rest, make bad judgement calls, have no patience or consideration.

But eliminating human drivers isn't just eliminating that. It's also eliminating humans who are not tired, who are making good judgment calls, and who do have the patience and consideration to drive responsibly. Unless you are claiming there are no such humans anywhere, which is ridiculous (the majority of human drivers meet the requirements the majority of the time).

For self-driving technology to be truly viable, in other words, it's not enough for it to outperform humans who are tired and impaired. It has to outperform humans at their best. Otherwise the humans who aren't tired and impaired will have no good reason to use it, and will have an ironclad objection to being forced to.

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Re:I Conscientiously Object to Self-Driving Cars by forgetfreeman on Saturday July 15, 2023 @11:52PM (#36743437)

You stated that much more articulately than I was able to and I thank you for it.

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