LarrySellerz

Do any of you who live in dystopian technocratic hellscapes encounter self driving cars regularly? The self driving cars at my work called Zoox have been acting wild lately, not slowing down for people. I was limit testing one today and went into its lane and it didn’t even slow down to avoid the head on. I just got a call from the head of security asking wtf I was doing, apparently the Zoox people decided to report it. Hopefully they deal with the problem instead of just whining that cyclists shouldn’t be riding towards them in their lane, cause I’m not allowed to test them anymore.

I heard Waymo is exploding in San Francisco.

Tomm Willians

Well the answer of course is the development of self driving bikes 🤣🤣🤣🤣

SpedFast

Who else do we know that will play chicken with an autonomous vehicle? Sure going to miss your sharp banter here Larry.

Edit-I'm going for a night ride tonight since I didn't have time during daylight. Thought I'd wear my all black rain gear and no lights=It's called being incognito Larry, you should try it some time, might speed things up for you.

Rick

You are just collateral damage. We have seen the problems in testing with a person sitting at the wheel. Insurance companies have already stated they want no liability. I personally don't like the idea of sharing a lane with one of them. On the other hand, I believe there is going to be a market for high powered portable EMPs.

Maelochs

@LarrySellerz has a rep even among the drivers of cars with no drivers .....

retswerb

Great post as usual Larry, keep up the good work.

As autonomous cars continue to develop I expect that most cyclists will soon trust them more than we trust human drivers. No concerns with inattention and I do believe that self-driving technology will produce a decrease in accidents of all sorts once the technology matures. Going to take a while to get there, though. The video labeled "TeleGuidance" on Zoox's page (» The ‘full-stack’ behind autonomous driving (zoox.com)) talks positively about how their human operators can assist the car, but then shows the car passing a stopped box truck by crossing a double yellow without a lot of room to spare, causing a car coming the opposite direction to swerve into the bike lane.

rsbob 

Larry never disappoints, dystopian hellscapes and what have you.

SurferRosa

Deranged local man "tests" head-on collision with a self driving car. Story at 11.

tomato coupe

I wouldn't slow down either -- sounds like it's working properly.

tomato coupe

Funny thing, "Dystopian Hellscape" is the name of our subdivision. We originally wanted to buy a house in "Dystopian Technocratic Hellscape", but it was more expensive and the lots were too small.

3alarmer 

...I have read about some complaints by SF fire and EMS, about their cars blocking emergency responses. But this is the first I've heard about their cars exploding.

LarrySellerz

Bit of backstory. Zoox is a Bezos special that’s bled billions of venture capital blood money, and now sucks on the governments teat using our campus to drive in circles and posture to the other self driving car companies.

it has been decided that autonomous vehicles are the future, and some believe they will be rolled out when the time comes even if the technology isn’t mature and the legal framework unable to handle them. Cyclists in Silicon Valley will be the beta testers and bear the burden of progress.

wolfchild

I believe the ultimate goal of science is to get the human race to a place where they don't have to go outside or perform any type of physical activity or use their brain and their human senses and emotions. Just let robots and AI do everything...So yeah I don't support self-driving car's and I also don't support EVs.

PeteHski

You have some strange beliefs. Maybe you should get out more?

mschwett 

I live in one of the neighborhoods where waymo and cruise have been testing full driverless for a long time. I have ridden past / around / behind / crossed hundreds of them. they drive far better than the average or worst human drivers in my experience. they used to be very timid at four way stops, but at some point quite a while ago seem to have figured it out.

while I definitely take liberties with traffic laws while riding if I’m certain it’s not inconveniencing anyone or putting myself at risk, I don’t tend to play chicken with cars. so I couldn’t say what a cruise or waymo would do. I’m pretty sure it would just stop.

Koyote

That would also make a great name for a hardcore punk band.

wheelreason

Wisteria, hysteria, potato, potatoe....

tomato coupe

Sounds like a worthwhile goal.

Bald Paul

Don't feed it.

Rick_D

"Exploding" an interesting choice of verbs but anyway, I do see them when I go there, Confess I don't know why they chose SF in particular to...uh...road test given it's famously complicated to get around but I suppose if they can work there, they can work most places.

We're in any case a long way from significant addition of autonomous cars to the fleet, no matter what Tesla might think. It's far more complicated than the tech bros first imagined. It's a tossup whether they'll be preferable to the median driver skillset, the bigger cars/trucks/SUVs become the worse the driving, is my observation.

My robot car challenge is to have an all-robot fleet meet at a suburban arterial four-way intersection, where each direction features a double left-turn, a dedicated right turn lane, and three straight lanes, with the signals out. Having experienced this myself, I found it horrifying guessing when it was okay to proceed, how will 40 Roombas handle it?.

rsbob 

If they are anything like my Roomba, they will slam into each other about three times, turn 45 degrees and get stuck under the back of the sofa.

kap 7

Maybe self-driving e-bikes are next

SpedFast

Quite efficiently, I'm sure

jon c. 

Makes a lot of sense. If we move away from gasoline our robot overlords will see that as a weakness and the takeover will begin. EVs are a sign of our ultimate and certain demise.

skidder

One of the companies (I think Waymo) started using them in a few limited 'zones' of the Los Angeles area. I think in the City of Santa Monica and the West Hollywood area. There was a story on one of the MSM new programs about them with a reporter taking one across its service area and it seem to work OK at stoplights, left turn intersections and stopping at the right location. So far I haven't heard anything more about them. None in my area, so no first hand experience, but with all the crazy distracted drivers I see daily I'd think a driverless car might work well.