- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
Two Cruise driverless taxis blocked an ambulance carrying a critically injured patient who later died at a hospital, a San Francisco Fire Department report said, in another incident involving self-driving cars in the city.
On Aug. 14, two Cruise autonomous vehicles were stopped in the right two lanes of a four-lane, one-way street in the SoMa neighborhood, where the victim was found, according to the department report. It said that a police vehicle in another lane had to be moved in order for the ambulance to leave.
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I think these driverless taxis are the future, but it’s fucked up that a city has to put up with being the test ground.
Tech companies aren’t forcing this on SF. SF is allowing Google and GM to test their AV and EAVs in exchange for data about their performance.
And as sad as this incident is, and as shitty as blocking first responders is, so far the AVs have not been at fault in any collisions that killed people. So they may actually be a net positive for saving lives.
Also why was a police car blocking “another lane” I can’t get to the article because of paywalls. So I am picturing a 4 lane wide one way street. The claim is that 2 driverless cars are blocking the far right lanes. The 3rd lane was blocked by an officer and the 4th was moving traffic? If so why on earth would they block the third lane instead of parking behind or in front of one if the taxis? If there is video footage in the article?
It is impossible to fully test things like this in test courses. Just like medicine, eventually you do all the tests you can and then expand it to the public. It sucks but there’s no way to foolproof something in a lab.
I don’t see the benefit of driverless taxis over regular taxis. They won’t be priced any lower. They won’t go any faster, they’ll probably go slower because they will be programmed to obey the speed limit at all times. And it will get rid of a bunch of jobs. It seems like a solution in need of a problem to me.
it will get rid of a bunch of jobs
So does public transportation. You gonna get rid of school busses so more kids will have to take taxis to school or something? Get rid of subways so companies can sell more cars?
But what’s the reason for firing taxi drivers in favor of driverless cars? All I can see is it’s a novelty.
Why replace a horse with a car? It’s probably just a fad.
That’s not an explanation. There are a lot of good arguments to be made for replacing horses with cars. What is your actual argument for replacing taxi drivers with driverless vehicles?
I don’t know. I’m not doing it.
It seems like a solution in need of a problem to me.
It’s more like the drive to earn more profits, which is driving this (pardon the puns).
The city has to “put up” with it by allowing them to be tested there? What?
The city government allowed it and the city residents have to put up with it.
The residents also have to put up with human drivers. And if you’ve driven through SF commute traffic, you know how shitty they are.
Question is, are they a net positive?
They’re getting in less collisions. Autonomous vehicles in SF have only been at fault in one death. And it was a dog, and a safety driver was behind the wheel in the AV.
AVs are going have problems, but are those problems worse than the ones human drivers cause?
In order to save lives we need to study the bigger picture and not get hyper focused on individual tragedies.
In order to save lives, USA needs to get off car centric transportation. More cars is not the solution. Neither is automating them in urban and dense environments. AVs belong on the highways only.
We are trying to solve a problem with “tech” that has been a solved problem by other countries for decades. Netherlands is a great example of how to move people around efficiently without using cars as the primary mode of transportation. Amazing public transportation. Towns and cities designed around alternative forms of transportation such as walking, or biking. Infrastructure is cheaper to maintain since it lasts longer and is not constantly pounded on by multi ton vehicles.
I agree that the US actually needs more public transport. Fatalities aside, that’s often going to be the best solution for congestion and climate change. Congestion alone in SF is still a fucking nightmare. SF is small as fuck, but driving across that town between 3 and 7pm can take 1-2 hours.
As a local, I feel like the current state of MUNI, BART, CalTrans, AC Transit, and cycling are not going to be a good fit for EVERY single use case. If I’m injured, am carrying bulky stuff, or am trying to hit up a part of town that would take too long with public transport, an AV EV could be a good solution.
I usually try to avoid cars in SF. They’re often more trouble than they’re worth. But, there are times, IMHO, when cars solve a current route and use case better than alternative solutions. And it if they’re still going to be used for certain use cases, it would be nice if they killed fewer people.
If I’m injured, am carrying bulky stuff, or am trying to hit up a part of town that would take too long with public transport, an AV EV could be a good solution.
Why not a car share instead? Or just an Uber?
Because the goal is to have an Uber that removes human error.
I’d say this article shows that error is still a problem.
It very much is, but the errors are different. An AV isn’t going to get distracted by their phone, by an argument, by rubbernecking, etc. But an AV might encounter something that the sensor AI is confused by, and the cars might Mitch McConnell themselves in the middle of the road. So far at-fault accidents are way down with the AVs, but stalls are way up.
Thank you, that at least is a good argument.
Combined with e-bikes to “flatten” hills and make distance traveling easier, we could really make some amazing improvements to city design.
save lives
You are not saving lives by blocking emergency services.
Thats not what hes asking. Humans are notoriously awful drivers. Does gradually replacing humans with AI drivers save more lives than unintentionally blocking an ambulance?
How many drivers cause this exact thing every week? You’re only hearing about this because it’s novel.
Right. Where are the corresponding articles about human drivers that have blocked ambulances due to ineptitude? I’m sure we won’t find them, but I’m sure it happens more often than we think.
This is just like reporting of Tesla crashes and fires by the media. It makes it seem like a big deal, but only because regular vehicle crashes and explosions are so frequent they just don’t get reported. I’ve personally seen several cars on fire on the side of the road, and just a few weeks ago saw a car rollover crash on the highway. None of these ever made the local news.
Humans block ambulances even when they’re not drivers https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/climate/i-would-block-ambulance-with-dying-patient-onboard-says-xr-founder-roger-hallam-b2185727.html There are way too many shitty people.
I completely agree with you but unfortunately public opinion doesn’t always work that way. People are irrational and don’t understand how numbers and statistics work. They hear ‘driverless car caused fatality’ and brains will just turn off.
Won’t someone think of the children?!?
the only thing that makes driverless tech at all useful is reducing parking spots. If people don’t need to own cars then cities can be built denser, be more walkable and have lower fixed infrastructure costs (less parking and parking access).
Of course they don’t do any of this as well as subways and trains so its still ultimately going to only be effective as a transitional measure.
Yeah, okay, they were blocking part of a road. It was a four -lane. These two were in two lanes. Sounds like a police car was blocking the rest of the road
