Robotaxis Malfunction in San Francisco - Would You Ride in a Driverless Car?

[MillauFr]

Even with people like Musk arguably pushing the envelope too far the accident rate per mile driven is still lower in autonomous cars. The only question is how wide the accident rate differential will have be between them and human driven cars before they are widely accepted.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Right now, probably not. In the future with more testing, sure.

 

[LilyWDW]

In a heartbeat... in the future. Right now no.

Part of the problem is the unpredictability of human drivers. Take those out of the equation and you will see accidents plummet.

 

[Genie+]

Honestly… probably more safe than some cabs I’ve been in.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I was actually in San Francisco about 2 months ago when I saw one of these get confused making a left onto Lombard. After watching it freak out, absolutely not. Never.

 

[kdonnel]

never inclined to do so, even less so since recently watching 'the new york times presents: elon musk's crash course'. terrifying.

Tesla's version of self driving and the version in these cars are not even remotely alike.

Waymo and other leaders in driverless cars have many more redundant sensors

 

[ronandannette]

You don't think 40,000+ people killed and millions injured every year in the United States is a problem?

How will this solve that?

 

[MillauFr]

How will this solve that?

That depends what your definition of "solve" is. Will autonomous cars ever have an accident rate of zero? Probably not ever and definitely not in the near future. If you define "solve" as zero accidents then no they will not solve that. When the accident rate is 50% lower than human drivers then yes I believe government should encourage their use and insurance companies should charge you less for liability insurance.

 

[MillauFr]

I was actually in San Francisco about 2 months ago when I saw one of these get confused making a left onto Lombard. After watching it freak out, absolutely not. Never.

Amazing that an autonomous car can make it down Lombard....

 

[EveDallas]

Hard no for me. The rational part of me knows it wouldn't be that much different than an Uber in terms of control, but I just can't imagine ever being ok with no driver.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Amazing that an autonomous car can make it down Lombard....

That wasn’t what I was talking about though. I’m talking about making a left ONTO Lombard (off of Van Ness). And when I say freak out, I mean it. It couldn’t decide which way it wanted to go, not only blocking traffic, but entering other lanes. It was scary to watch.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Well our state became the 25th state to allow self-driving/fully autonomous vehicles due to a law being passed. They have the following rules in our state

• Does not exceed 34,000 pounds on tandem axles. The provisions of this paragraph shall expire and have no effect on and after July 1, 2025.
• Capable of achieving a minimal risk condition if a malfunction renders the automated driving system unable to perform.
• In compliance with the applicable traffic and motor vehicle safety laws and regulations.
• Certified to be in compliance with all applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards, including any reference to any exception granted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
• Cannot have hazardous material in the vehicle

I'm all for it, it's however a chicken/egg thing. In order for the situations to become safer (and more comfortable for people to be okay with) more have to be on the road rather than more human-driven cars and only some autonomous cars. But you actually have to get to that point of the tech being reliable and the ability for the vehicles to be allowed out on public roads.

 

[ThistleMae]

For those who are interested in driverless rides (when they evolve), can you tell me why? What problem are we trying to solve here? Is it just a matter of "if we (maybe) can, we should"?

It would be good to have if you have vision problems or can't drive at night anymore, or just get to old to drive as good. I'm in!

 

[TipsyTraveler]

For those who are interested in driverless rides (when they evolve), can you tell me why? What problem are we trying to solve here? Is it just a matter of "if we (maybe) can, we should"?

It would have been nice back when I was commuting 2-3 hours a day because it would’ve allowed me to “gain back” some of that lost time. If I could’ve done hair and makeup in the car, eaten breakfast, caught up on emails, or even just reclined the seat and gotten an extra hour of sleep, then I wouldn’t have had to take time out of my day to do those things at home. And it would’ve made the days of hellish traffic snarls more tolerable. Sitting in stop-and-go traffic for hours on end is miserable and I would’ve loved to have been able to stretch out, read, or nap my way through it. As a parent, I’d worry less about my teen behind the wheel if the car was driving itself.

 

[hopemax]

For those who are interested in driverless rides (when they evolve), can you tell me why? What problem are we trying to solve here? Is it just a matter of "if we (maybe) can, we should"?

Two parts. First, efficiency because human drivers think they know better but actually slow things down. Consider things like the zipper merge. In a sea of driverless vehicles, I would assume it would follow what is expected of how far down the lane that is going away a car is supposed to go and alternate correctly. No drivers going 55 in the left lane, passing on the right, unsafe lane changes that cause people to break, no looky-loos gawking at accidents and all the other bad behaviors that slow things down. Theoretically, more vehicles should be able to move faster on existing roadways instead of having to build more lanes; less stop-and-go. Second, I just don't like driving. Especially, on a highway for longer distances. There are places in my community that are half hour away, but I don't want to drive that far because of the previously mentioned bad behaviors.

Apparently, driverless cars are also more fuel efficient because of how humans push those gas & break pedals vs adaptive cruise control. Also, given all the supply chain issues, driverless vehicles don't have labor issues and that makes them cheaper, by estimates of 30-40%.

To answer the original question. Yes, I would, because I don't trust human drivers. On our drive home from dinner tonight, three different times when DH went to change lanes, the car sped up into his blindspot. I see more bad behavior all the time. We watched one car turn left one TWO different red lights. Not the light was changing and he went. It turned red, and since no oncoming cars were present, he turned.

 

[ronandannette]

It would have been nice back when I was commuting 2-3 hours a day because it would’ve allowed me to “gain back” some of that lost time. If I could’ve done hair and makeup in the car, eaten breakfast, caught up on emails, or even just reclined the seat and gotten an extra hour of sleep, then I wouldn’t have had to take time out of my day to do those things at home. And it would’ve made the days of hellish traffic snarls more tolerable. Sitting in stop-and-go traffic for hours on end is miserable and I would’ve loved to have been able to stretch out, read, or nap my way through it. As a parent, I’d worry less about my teen behind the wheel if the car was driving itself.

You said a mouthful there, even though you don't really know it yet. Teaching our DS to drive broke something in me... I'm not comfortable riding with anyone else as the driver anymore but I would literally want to climb out the window of a driverless car.

 

[ChrisFL]

20-30 years from now it will be great...right now it's scary due to the number of factors involved with driving, and the sheer amount of real-world data that they have to acquire....among regular cars/drivers.

It's really tricky to ask a computer why they pulled out in front of someone, braked really hard, etc. compared to a human being.

Do I think generally a well designed self-driving car is safer than a human driving? theoretically yes, but I don't know all of the details of what sensors and algorithms are being used

 

[Kennywood]

If I ever did, I'd probably end up so frustrated that I'd wind up doing something like this:

 

[ThistleMae]

 

[ThistleMae]