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by masonic 2487 days ago 

  fleet of 10,000 vehicles might need only 100-200 remote operators
It won't scale in a predictable way. Let's say there's a major event in NYC (natural disaster or unnatural). You may suddenly need 700 operators at the same time just to deal with NYC and environs.
3 comments
vasilipupkin 2487 days ago
Let’s say there is an event in NYC. Within milliseconds of the event, all the robot cars can be notified and their human drivers can take over, only the cars immediately in the vicinity of the event need robot operators. It’s not straightforward, but it can be done.
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vonmoltke 2487 days ago
Thus requiring the car to always have a licensed driver in the driver's seat. Basically, exactly what we have now with the safety drivers.
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ghaff 2487 days ago
Even if you assume requiring human takeover to be a relatively uncommon event (whatever that means), as soon as you posit it as something that will be needed from time to time, you've significantly constrained the car's usage models. You now must have a licensed, unimpaired driver in the car at all times. Even if they don't have to be paying attention, this means no empty cars, no unaccompanied children, no "driving" home from the night out, etc.
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vasilipupkin 2487 days ago
Sure, but maybe we can start there. I would certainly buy a car that could drive itself a significant percentage of the time
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ghaff 2487 days ago
Oh, I would too assuming it were relatively affordable. I'd be pretty happy with one that even just let me doze off when highway driving in a limited set of weather conditions.

I was just pointing out that, if you can't guarantee you won't need to handoff to a physically present driver, then there are a lot of things you can't do with the car even if needed interventions are just an occasional thing.

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mlonkibjuyhv 2487 days ago
Yeah... Used to work for a small start-up that had a product to basically automate a switchboard used for elderly care. It was fun when the need for manual operation suddenly came around. Didn't have the manpower, nor the actual switchboard.
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Nokinside 2486 days ago
You reduce the number of vehicles available in those rare cases.
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