[rayiner]

The optimism surrounding self-driving cars is just mind-boggling to me. Decided to drive to work this morning (usually take the train). Siri totally shit the bed and took me on a 45-minute scenic tour through DC. Took me off the highway too early onto busy local streets, kept trying to take me onto a road that was closed for construction, and tried to get me to turn left at a T intersection of two 2-way roads where only right turns were allowed. Just an utter disaster.

And it's not unusual. Siri loves to take my mother in law on harrowing trips through the ghettos of Baltimore.

[ser_tyrion]

Using Siri as a counter argument for self-driving cars completely misses the point. You ignore Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication and using a multitude of sensors besides phone GPS. IDK why you think Siri is the epitome of sophisticated trip pathing, there are better options out there and solutions that will continue to be improved.

[rayiner]

I don't think it does. The technology we have for self-driving cars in the near term relies on a known map, and the route-finding core of that technology isn't going to be appreciably better, any time soon, than what's in Siri. You can improve the technology by adding vehicle-to-vehicle communications, etc, but now you're pushing out the "5-6 years" timeline that people keep throwing around.

I have no doubt that in 50 years we'll have self-driving cars. It's not an intractable problem by any means. But I have friends who were researching self-driving cars a decade ago, as part of the DARPA Grand Challenge, and in many ways those techniques were more sophisticated than what's on the table for commercialization in the near-term. It's going to be a very long slough from here to there.

[gdulli]

It also fails to address the major problem of low-passenger vehicles vs. public transportation.

[jordanpg]

> mind-boggling

Agreed. And you're just talking about the charming parts. What happens when someone's driverless car runs over an column of kids exiting a school bus? It doesn't matter that it could happen with or without a driver. The headline will be "DRIVERLESS CAR RUNS OVER CHILDREN, MFR DENIES SAFETY SYSTEMS FAILED" and that will be the end of driverless cars for 10 years.

[JoeAltmaier]

Yeah what's with gps' and their compulsion to get off the freeway, often many exits too soon? I've experienced this. I don't give in to it, but my wife spent an hour driving 100 blocks downtown and missing her appointment.

[cle]

Never used Siri (Android user), but Waze is so good that I barely even bother learning routes anymore, I just plug it into Waze and go. Using Waze makes me excited about the future of self-driving cars.

[dllthomas]

Does Siri rely on Apple Maps?