[steveklabnik]

I am a long time skeptic of self-driving cars. However, Waymo has changed that for me.

I spend a lot of time as a pedestrian in Austin, and they are far safer than your usual Austin driver, and they also follow the law more often.

I always accept them when I call an Uber as well, and it's been a similar experience as a passenger.

I kinda hate what the Tesla stuff has done, because it makes it easier to dismiss those who are moving more slowly and focusing on safety and trust.

[calvinmorrison]

Yeah we don't need to compare robots to the best driver or human, just the average, for an improvement.

However, like railroad safety is expensive heavily regulated, self driving car companies have the same issue.

Decentralized driving decentralizes risk.

so when I have my _own_ robot to do it, it'll be easy and cheap.

[dns_snek]

> Yeah we don't need to compare robots to the best driver or human, just the average, for an improvement.

Sure, in theory. In practice, nobody is going to give up control on the basis that the machine is "slightly better than average". Those who consider the safety data when making their decision will demand a system that's just as good as the best human drivers in most aspects.

And speaking of Waymo, let's not forget that they only operate in a handful of places. Their safety data doesn't generalize outside of those areas.

[SketchySeaBeast]

> And speaking of Waymo, let's not forget that they only operate in a handful of places. Their safety data doesn't generalize outside of those areas.

Yeah, I'm curious in seeing how they function in environments that get snow.