[argonaut]

This is certainly a Google press release. On a meta level, what I find interesting is that when Tesla makes what is also basically a press release, few point that out. People just take at face value Tesla's pre-recorded demo videos, etc.

[sjwright]

At least Telsa have published videos. (All videos are "pre-recorded" unless they're live, making it an odd qualifier to include and emphasize.) Has Alphabet/Waymo published any videos?

What Tesla makes is not just a press release, but a fully production car that's in the market TODAY which you can buy TODAY with all the necessary hardware already in place. All that's left is the software, which they are currently working on. Has Alphabet/Waymo got actual production cars on the market with the necessary hardware in place?

And these "pre-recorded" videos show an entire trip – from multiple camera angles – of what we're told is entirely production hardware, not a hacked-together mule loaded up with a pile of sensors on a roof rack. Is Alphabet/Waymo testing with production grade hardware built into a car at the factory?

[datguacdoh]

Just want to call out that Tesla's videos seem to be a bit misleading. If you watch them closely, you can see they've made edits when switching from one camera angle to another. If you know the roads they are driving on, you can see the distances of road that they cut out. So even though they seem to be doing great, they have to actually demonstrated a fully self driving capability. Google let reporters test drive a car with no steering wheel or brake.

[sjwright]

That might be all true, but it still isn't reasonable to say Tesla is only issuing press releases when in fact they're selling the hardware to paying customers today.

[stuckagain]

Google released a video of their Prius driving a blind man through the drive-thru at Taco Bell, five years ago.

[ocdtrekkie]

This was basically an entirely pre-staged sequence. It might as well have been a movie set. This is marketing at it's finest, fiction presented as fact.

[sjwright]

You seriously think driving through one Taco Bell in a mule at low speed is even remotely comparable to driving real streets at real speeds for extended distances with 100% final production hardware?

[stuckagain]

So you didn't watch the video, then.

[sjwright]

Yes, I watched the video. And to jog my memory I just watched it again now. Excatly as I described earlier: "a hacked-together mule loaded up with a pile of sensors on a roof rack."

That video has exceptionally high production values indicative of a carefully stage-managed performance on near-empty streets with exotic hardware that's never going to be used in any consumer car. I don't mean to diminish Google's achievement, but it's hardly the same as actually shipping hardware to customers.

[Fricken]

I do not believe that Google was being disingenuous with their blind driver goes to taco bell video. But that's besides the point, demo videos don't mean shit. Getting a car to noodle around the neighbourhood under supervised conditions is a far cry from having a vehicle that can do that reliably all the time.

Waymo is down to 1 emergency disengage for every 5000 miles of driving, and that's a far more suitable metric for progress.