 And so it begins. One of the "predictions" from my self-driving cars video that I was 100% confident would happen was that robotaxis will be programmed not to stop for pedestrians. The idea that a single individual, outside of a motor vehicle, could stop a robotaxi is antithetical to both the tech bro mentality and American traffic engineering. 18 comments
Self-Driving cars is to Driving as Masturbation is to Sexual Intercourse. insert image of #musk here _______ @notjustbikes Thanks for the link! A quote from the article: "Many human drivers donโt yield for pedestrians, either." Here in Portland, Oregon, pedestrians *rule*. So-called jaywalking is the norm, rather than the exception, and drivers typically slow down and stop at any intersection where pedestrians are clearly waiting to cross. So if Waymo ever decides to head up north from SF, they've got a whole lot of 'splainin' to do with this sort of automotive behavior. @jaredwhite @notjustbikes @apparentlymart @notjustbikes Which part of town are you in? I'm usually near the river, both west and eastside. @jaredwhite @notjustbikes Edit: I mean as opposed to many roads on the east side that are used as through streets to get to other places, rather than only for local access. @apparentlymart @notjustbikes Ah, yeah perhaps that area gets more risky through trafficโฆpeople think they can barrel down some neighborhood streets the same way they would on MLK. Bummer. I've had better luck in SE and yes, downtown. @notjustbikes I guess people are going to need a lot of traffic cones. @notjustbikes I don't know, but in the video the behavior of the Waymo vehicles is no different from those driven by humans. Apparently Google is simply copying the anti-pedestrian behavior of "normal" car drivers. @notjustbikes Isn't "let the thing run you over and sue the company into the ground" the way things work in the US? I wanna make a bet, although itโs very dystopian, that theyโll soon start lobbying to corral people off city streets entirely. Gotta get everyone to take the cars because safety you know. Itโs the pipe dream of all the PayPal mafia silicon valley, voyeur sociopath cult types. They gotta be involved in every freaking second and every moment of our lives. @notjustbikes It's only their mentality of not paying taxes that's stronger than their mentality of not stopping. At least that's why I believe I get to stop 7 lanes of traffic with a beg button here to shuffle across a collector road, whereas back in the Netherlands there would have been an underpass so I'm not intimidated and the drivers are not annoyed. If that's the reason it's penny wise pound foolish though with the opportunity cost of putting 7 lanes put out of business.  @notjustbikes please use the direct link to Washington Post. The MSN link is paywalled. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/30/waymo-pedestrians-robotaxi-crosswalks/  @notjustbikes I am an optimist.  |
ultracycling!
The video, in case you missed it:
How Self-Driving Cars will Destroy Cities (and what to do about it)
https://youtu.be/040ejWnFkj0