The entire rhetoric relies on the idea that self driving road cars are
Feasible
Desirable over rail or bus
Tesla’s failed efforts have proven time and time again that the road is full of unexpected and arbitrary inaccuracies, ambiguities and risks that cannot be assessed by a machine alone. They’ve also been sued in multiple markets on claims of false advertising because autopilot is not, in fact, autopilot.
They don’t even have the best system in the industry, that would be Drive Pilot, a Level 3 autonomous assist system by Mercedes-Benz. The only systems to have level 4 are taxis that only operate in limited areas, on limited, known routes, and they are well known for being very easily confused and blocking emergency vehicles.
Tesla is far from the only player - they’re just the loudest, and sadly the most embarrassing. Waymo and Zoox, for example, are demonstrating its real feasibility and desirability.
To be fair, I’ve never stepped into a Waymo, but from what I’ve heard they’re sent on pre-determined paths around a delimited area. These only seem to be feasible you can either strictly control your environment or adjust for a finite number of cases, such as a delimited area, and even that isn’t working too hot for other road users.
I still don’t see the advantage versus a taxi bus.
The “delimited area” comprises entire cities, and they are not following predetermined paths, except in the sense that they only follow mapped roads. And the entire point is to share the road with human drivers.
The only systems to have level 4 are taxis that only operate in limited areas, on limited, known routes, and they are well known for being very easily confused and blocking emergency vehicles.
Even then, they have overrides for human operators when they fuck up. Driverless cars, my ass.
The entire rhetoric relies on the idea that self driving road cars are
Tesla’s failed efforts have proven time and time again that the road is full of unexpected and arbitrary inaccuracies, ambiguities and risks that cannot be assessed by a machine alone. They’ve also been sued in multiple markets on claims of false advertising because autopilot is not, in fact, autopilot.
They don’t even have the best system in the industry, that would be Drive Pilot, a Level 3 autonomous assist system by Mercedes-Benz. The only systems to have level 4 are taxis that only operate in limited areas, on limited, known routes, and they are well known for being very easily confused and blocking emergency vehicles.
Tesla is far from the only player - they’re just the loudest, and sadly the most embarrassing. Waymo and Zoox, for example, are demonstrating its real feasibility and desirability.
To be fair, I’ve never stepped into a Waymo, but from what I’ve heard they’re sent on pre-determined paths around a delimited area. These only seem to be feasible you can either strictly control your environment or adjust for a finite number of cases, such as a delimited area, and even that isn’t working too hot for other road users.
I still don’t see the advantage versus a taxi bus.
The “delimited area” comprises entire cities, and they are not following predetermined paths, except in the sense that they only follow mapped roads. And the entire point is to share the road with human drivers.
Taxi buses do not operate on-demand.
Even then, they have overrides for human operators when they fuck up. Driverless cars, my ass.