Imagine dying in a house fire because the fireman were on the other side of town taking a traffic cone off of the hood of a robot taxi when the call came in.
Waymo relies on firefighters and police to bail out stuck robotaxis | TechCrunch
Submitted 3 weeks ago by not_IO@lemmy.blahaj.zone to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
This is a good argument for actual robotaxis that aren’t just cars with extra servos and sensors bolted on.
helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yes, give it a robot arm to remove the cone. Or hire transformers for the job.
call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
“Privatize the profits…”
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
But this was not an isolated incident. Waymo has relied on taxpayer-funded first responders to navigate its vehicles when they encounter issues
This should be more than enough reason to cancel their operating permit (whatever it is called) immediately.
dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Do you think normal cars don’t occasionally break down in the middle of traffic and need to be moved out of the way by cops?
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Normal cars don’t do that (or maybe statistically next to never).
Think yourself: there would have been no news at all here if these cars did it as rarely as normal cars.
albert_inkman@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The image of firefighters rescuing robotaxis is perfect. We build these systems to be fully autonomous but then the whole time there are humans on standby, paid to bail out when the AI hesitates.
Self-driving is like the rest of modern tech. We sell it as magic, then quietly patch the gaps with human labor. But at least this is honest about it. The companies know who is really keeping these things moving.
snooggums@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
Government employees.
slaacaa@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Capitalized profits, socialized losses
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
But this was not an isolated incident. Waymo has relied on taxpayer-funded first responders to navigate its vehicles when they encounter issues, despite the existence of the company’s own roadside assistance team. In at least six instances identified by TechCrunch, first responders have had to take control of Waymo vehicles and move them out of traffic during emergency situations, including one in which an officer was in the middle of responding to a mass shooting.
fubarx@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
When this automation fad showed up, many people pointed out that there would be plenty of cases where the training data just didn’t cover edge-cases. Problem is, life is FULL of edge-cases. This is where humans are uniquely good at improvising and adapting in real-time, when faced with previously unknown situations.
In fact, you can argue humans are really, really good at handling exceptions to the rule. Pretty much the textbook definition of “creativity.”
Lydon_Feen@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That’s fine, 'cause they’re paying a fee for it, right?
Right?!
dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Now tell me how many times a cop or firefighter had to move a normal car out of the way in an emergency situation.
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Other commenters saw Waymo and instantly turned their brain off.
I cannot think of many situations where a car is broken down/stuck in the way of traffic and police do not help direct traffic out of the way while the vehicle is recovered. In this case, there is no driver so it needs to be moved by someone.
If, like the situation in the article describes, people are being routed the wrong direction, it’s really unlikely that a roadside assistance team operated or contracted by Waymo would be able to get to the vehicle. Who else is supposed to move it?
Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Impound them.
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 3 weeks ago
But… but… their profits!
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I thought Waymo was the one using overseas drivers to help when needed?
I’m looking forward to the schadenfreude when all this stupid “AI” shit finally blows up.
ramenshaman@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Imagine having an overabundance of cheap RAM and GPUs
scintilla@crust.piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Hopefully the GPUs will actually be useful to someone not running an LLM.
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
I thought Waymo …
It is complicated…
minorkeys@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
So…pay for a tow truck if your car is misbehaving.
febra@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yet another case of the poor funneling their money to the 1%.
The working class pays local taxes to fund the police and the fire department. The 1% make money by operating on a business model that relies on these taxpayer funded services to unfuck their product out of fucked situations. Thus the taxpayers unwillingly subsidize the 1% with their tax money. As such, the taxpayer funded services degrade because the fire department/police department have to babysit a private company’s products instead of attending to business they’re actually paid to do.
paraphrand@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They see themselves as infrastructure, so this makes sense. They want to install themselves into our life.
rumba@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
sounds like they needed to call a tow truck…
lettruthout@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I was going to suggest charging the company an exorbitant fee for each incident but your idea is better.
rumba@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
win-win, tow companies fill their lots with waymo, people from waymo need to come get the car, pay hundreds in cash (because all those places are cash only) there’s no room in the lot for normal tows.
The passengers should get free rides for a year.
Janx@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
That’s costs money. Whereas we, as taxpayers, pay for emergency services…
rumba@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
ohh no no. When Police call a tow truck, the tow company comes, takes the vehicle off to a lot and the owner has to come to collect it, generally with cash.
I’m not saying just do it maliciously, but if they’re asked to drive the car off, they should just block it and call a tow company.
Waymo pays for that toe and an outlandish amount of daily fees until they pick it up.
To them, it’s no big deal, a few hundred dollars.
but compound that with the car being out of service for a few days. hiring someone, or flying someone in to unlock it… easy peasy
devolution@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
A robotow.
I’ll see myself out.
Trex202@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Thank you very much, Mr. Robotow
I’ll follow you out
Tronn4@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Thank you very much Mr. ROBOTOW
rumba@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I love it, but it’s all fun and games until someone makes a self driving towtruck.