Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/28/waymo-self-driving-vans-having.html
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Turning left is one of those holdovers from human drivers anyway, where we think we’re going the shortest route, because we can’t see from a 30,000 foot, system-wide view that making 3 right turns is more efficient. Google engineers (in their detached-from-human-reality way) probably know turning left will be deprecated and aren’t dedicating much time to the problem. But in the meantime, I guess it is the more conservative plan to have them drive like little old ladies.
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Just keep turning right & you’ll get there eventually.
Unless you’re on a dead end street - then - just move in?
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No problem, just chain three right turn operations together!
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I really think that driving in city and suburban streets, like many AI problems is still in the “we’re only just now discovering how difficult this is,” stage. I think that it will be more than a decade before the technology is ready for it. But at least in good weather AI’s are probably good enough to drive on the interstate. So to me the question is really "What can we do with self driving vehicles that are only good on the interstates? I think we could imagine long haul trucks that drive from truck stop to truck stop and have humans do the final delivery.
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I have trouble turning left too. In fact, out of my garage I’ll make three rights just to avoid a blind corner. Thanks to SUV’s, there’s a lot of blind corners here.
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Maybe the cars just need more advanced signs to follow?
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I bet that self driving trucks will be badasses at backing up. Backing up with a trailer breaks my brain. I’m in awe of truckers that can back a trailer into a narrow alley from a 2 lane street. Gods, I tell you!
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UPS figured that out several years ago:
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Turning right in a timely fashion requires not only skill but also chutzpah.
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Yeah, I think you may be right. I hate to admit it, as self-driving cars can’t get here soon enough for me, but based on what I’ve been reading (especially wrt adversarial attacks), urban driving may not be possible for autonomous vehicles for the foreseeable future. Maybe more than a decade - after all, Moore’s Law has ended, so we can’t rely on faster processors to paper over the flaws in the systems.
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Waymo self-driving vans having “trouble turning left”
This is just a ploy to make drivers like myself identify more with them.
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The other day I chained 3 lefts in place of a right so that I would end up able to turn into my destination. I must be doing it wrong. Or possibly I need someone to move to a different location.
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Meh, just drive on the left side of the road…
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Naturally developers went for the low hanging fruit first when it comes to autonomous driving. Investors like to see rapid progress. The Hard Problems remaining could mean we don’t see widespread implementations for decades. It might just be easier to adapt our roadways to accommodate the software in any way possible.
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Another aspect of the rightward drift in Silicon Valley politics.
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I give it 15 years until we have them in cities that don’t get snowfall. But as you imply, there are going to be a lot of Americans with HS or less put out of decent-paying work long before then:
Most Common Job by State (2014)
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Well, yes … if you drive your car right-side up.
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It sounds more like it’s rigorously following the safety recommendations and can’t handle real world conditions where some intersections you gotta drive more aggressively or you’ll be stuck for a very long time.
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They will increase pressure to install more lights with left turn arrows.
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