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DoorDashers are getting paid to close Waymo's self-driving car doors

⁨438⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.engadget.com/transportation/doordashers-are-getting-paid-to-close-waymos-self-driving-car-doors-122711640.html?src=rss

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Comments

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  • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Putting aside all the late stage capitalism going on here, I still can’t get over the fact that Alphabet (Google) spent billions of dollars developing self driving car technology only to arrive at, “Oh shit. Someone left the car door open. What do we do now?”

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    • Lumidaub@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Giving them the ability to close their own doors just screams “kid’s arm smashed in automatic car door failure”.

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      • toynbee@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        I used to have a Tesla (traded it in). In the app you could open, but not close, the windows. It could be inconvenient at times but I assume the reasoning was similar.

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      • b_tr3e@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Behold the miracle of the slipping clutch, millenials. See It working without being digital and all without an app by the ancient secrets of mechanics!

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      • a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Perfect argument that they are too immature to be on the road.

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      • timestatic@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Just make the motor not slam the door but close it slowly with not enough force to harm someone and put like two sensors + 1 backup in there

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      • andrewrgross@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        That’s silly. This is already a ubiquitous feature in minivans.

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      • Smoogs@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        But they built in a saw blade killswitch if a finger is detected a good decade ago or more. Surely they can apply such technology to cars.

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    • partofthevoice@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      This shows you just how strong our culture is an influence here. You can leave a door open and cause enough trouble that they need to hire someone else to go manually shut it. I’m willing to get there are a lot of seemingly innocuous ways to cause friction with these companies. The more people know and exploit them, the better.

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      • RobotToaster@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Supposedly a salt circle drawn like “no entry” road markings can trap them.

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      • jimmy90@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        the revolution IS YOU

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    • Chulk@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Even if this thing was left on a single city block for 8 hours with its door open, the data it collects about nearby cars, Bluetooth devices, phones, WiFi SSIDs, recorded video/audio, etc. makes it worth it for alphabet, I imagine.

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    • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      When I was a kid my dad would drive forward and slam the brakes to close our van door.

      It was really fun until that became the only way that closed the door.

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  • Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Clearly that’s why it’s called DoorDash. /s

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    • siravious@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Take my upvote and gtfo 😂

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  • edgemaster72@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Does it charge extra to the last person that used the Waymo to cover the cost? Because if not, might as well just leave the door open every time, now you’re a job creator.

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    • Corngood@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Just keep the door and you’re creating even more jobs in the door factory.

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  • DannyMac@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    They have self-driving cars, but self-closing doors is still at least 10-15 years away.

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    • Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Only because you can’t outsource door closing to the Philippines

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    • Matty_r@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I imagine there would be a gigantic list of safety concerns for self-closing doors.

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      • real_squids@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        They already exist though? There are a bunch of EVs with servos in their doors. You can still overpower it just like you can an auto closing trunk

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      • Krzd@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Eh, we already have self closing trunks. As long as they are programmed correctly (not by Tesla) they sense resistance and stop.

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      • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        I’ve seen cars with self-closing doors though. Also I’m not sure where the safety consideration would come in since we have so closing building doors right now and no one seems to get cut in half by those.

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      • b_tr3e@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Nothing a slipping clutch won’t fix. There already are self-closing doors everywhere. Maybe not in cars but in all sorts of vehicles and everywhere in buildings.

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      • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Minivans have had self-closing doors for decades bro

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      • DannyMac@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        You’re right! Tech companies need to stick to the easier problem to solve, self-driving cars! 😆

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  • skip0110@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Hmmm…so it costs Waymo $11.25 if you “forget” to shut the door.

    Maybe people will become very forgetful.

    Or, upon reflection, just don’t use Waymo, and don’t play into it at all.

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    • LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      If you leave it all the way open, the car just needs to drive a couple feet with decent acceleration to close it.

      If you ALMOST close it, but not all the way, that would require some sort of intervention.

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      • tyler@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Nah, you just speed up then slam on the brakes to open it, then you can close it as you said.

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    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Need a car to get to the airport, because my city doesn’t have mass transit.

      If the only cars in my area are Waymos, do I just skip my flight?

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      • Lumidaub@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        “Don’t use X” always means “it’s okay to use X if there are no alternatives but do look for alternatives”. Unless X is X. Then don’t use X.

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      • skip0110@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Well, in that case maybe you just forget to shut the door ;)

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  • itsathursday@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    The cost of doing business is to pay a poor to close a door and keep the wheels of progress spinning.

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  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    so from now on leave all waymo’s open and if you see one open no you don’t

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    • 87Six@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Don’t forget to fart as deep into the chair cushions as possible as well

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      • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        No this is more like that old legend about the French colonial forces trying to solve the local rat problem in a Vietnamese city by paying the local populations 1 franc per rat that they kill and turn in. It made the local breed rats to kill and turn.

        We need to recognize we are now “the locals” in that scenario. We need to milk the billionaire class dry at every turn.

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  • anon_8675309@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Give people a dollar discount off their ride if they close the door on the way out.

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    • scottrepreneur@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      But charge an extra dollar first

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      • cdf12345@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        have a friend stalk Waymo’s and give the passenger $5 to leave the door ajar a bit .

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    • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Why are people leaving the doors open in the first place that’s just wild. The super excited to get to work or something I don’t get it.

      Wouldn’t the simplest solution be to just ban people who leave the doors open, it’s not that hard to close them.

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      • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Probably the doors are in the “unlatched” position rather than wide open.

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      • pirat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Maybe some people simply expect an autonomous vehicle to be able to autonomously close its doors in the safest possible way without assistance. Maybe they actually think they’re doing it right by not forcing the doors?

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  • timestatic@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Why can’t they build a mechanism where the car can close its own doors. I thought that would be the smaller part compared to autonomous self driving

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    • bold_atlas@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      The gig worker is the mechanism. Very innovative tech.

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  • macke49@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Human driven taxis have mechanically closing passenger doors for decades. It’s a big bug software and a management a failure . This can’t be street legal. Autonomous cabs are billionaires snake oil

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    • Rentlar@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Hell, the Mexican colectivo van driver closes the sliding doors on his rattly 20 year old van simply by hard braking.

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  • nialv7@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    see? ai does create new jobs. checkmate ai doomers /s

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  • verdantbanana@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    is there no saving this timeline?

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    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      The future is clocking in for another 12 hour shift at the “making minor adjustments to the super intelligent AI widget making machine” so you can afford to eat the bugs and live in the pod

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  • Canuck@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Its funny because in the US, there are regulations that make it such that, even if they have the capability to close the doors remotely and anti pinch sensors etc, they are not allowed to unless it is done by someone from a device nearby while they hold down the close button.

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  • DarkCloud@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    New rule, if you order one - fail to close the doors properly.

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    • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Door dashers certainly will be doing this

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      • edgemaster72@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Instead of take-a-penny leave-a-penny, close-a-door open-a-door

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  • rollerbang@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Just accelerate at full power and the doors will close themselves, duh.

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    • XLE@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Move fast and break things!

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    • some_designer_dude@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Or reverse slightly and stop…

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  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    self driving cars

    Top notch, very latest, highest technology, aren’t they?

    LMAO!!

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  • Soulphite@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Humans are dumb. I mean humans can do awesome super intelligent things, but the average human is a dumb piece of shit.

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    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Humans know how to close a car door.

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      • EvilBit@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        This, along with the story of the driverless car running over a beloved neighborhood cat, highlight the fundamental problem here: they’re training these systems to be autonomous cars - and they’re impressively close - but they’re still miles away from creating a simulation of an autonomous human. Not everything about operating a car is driving it.

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      • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Obviously they don’t.

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      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        but they don’t give a fuck and just walk away.

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      • Soulphite@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        I didn’t imply the human didn’t know how to close a car door. I am saying the human is dumb for specifically choosing to be a piece of shit for NOT closing the car door.

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  • devolution@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    So what’s the point if a future car can’t close itself?

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    • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      The US has serious FUD w regards to self driving vehicles and legal issues are in the way. Obviously the car could be built to do this safely but there are laws that prohibit this.

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      • devolution@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Of course it is.

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  • anguo@piefed.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Can’t the car just back up half a meter then quickly go forward half a meter?

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    • brsrklf@jlai.lu ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Now I’m imagining the car shaking off like a wet dog to shut its doors.

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    • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      back up half a meter then quickly go forward

      …in order to kill a few more people than they already do?

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  • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Elon’s robots can close the doors.

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    • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      And lock them, then self immolate

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