Why Robot Trucks Could Be Headed To Afghanistan (And Everywhere Else) 135
malachiorion writes "I'm surprised I haven't seen more coverage of Lockheed Martin's autonomous truck convoy demonstration — they sent a group of robotified vehicles through urban and rural environments at Fort Hood, without teleoperation or human intervention. It's an interesting milestone, and sort of a tragic one, since troops could have used robotic vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan. What's fascinating, though, is that Lockheed is hoping to get into Afghanistan just before the U.S. withdraws, to help ferry gear. Plus, they have their sights set on what would be the defense contractor's first real commercial product—kits that turn tractor trailers into autonomous vehicles. Here's my post for Popular Science."
First Post! (Score:5, Insightful)
I’ve been lurking Slashdot for over 10 years and never posted before. It’s a bit sad that my first post is going to sound like a eulogy
I don’t like the beta-look, I think it is going to break the community and I’ll join in on the boycott next week.
Just in the case nobody comes back, I wanted to thank you, Slashdot.
Thanks for showing me there’s more people “like me” and thanks for making me proud to call myself a nerd.
I remember the Good Times. When we could still Slashdot a site, when Rob proposed, when we called the ipod lame, when ‘we’ fought scientology (before it was cool to fight ‘m) and when we heard Firefly was made into a movie :)
And the tough times, when the community really showed it’s good side, 9/11 comes to mind as well as the deaths of several pioneers in tech.
Although Slashdot always has news 3 days after every other blog, it’s still months before my friends know any of it. If only I had set up a beowulf cluster of bitcoin miners when Slashdot first started posting about it :)
But the best part remains the commenting. I was and am still amazed by the depth some people go to post their comments. The relatable stories of the new guy, or the insights of the old guy (shout out to all you get-off-my-lawn-ers / low-id). And I remember being touched on a deep level by some very personal comments; a comment of struggling just with being who you are — and then getting a reply by multiple people who had the same experience.
Thanks also for always showing the other side of things. I never RTFA’d (something to be proud of, I guess), I new better what was going on than anybody else through the comments.
By posting, you show part of your thoughts, and seeing many people’s thoughts also makes opinions more moderate. I have a better understanding now of things I would otherwise strongly oppose. It sounds cheesy, but I know I’m a better person because of it.
Slashdot has been my home for a long time, eventhough it changed through the years. I hope it’ll stay, but I’ve grown pessimistic.
So, so long and thanks for all the fish!
I’ll see y’all lurking somewhere else :) (XKCD-forum, most likely)
Purpose? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't really see what good these autonomous vehicles will do. They won't do anything to help get rid of Slashdot Beta, so what's the point?
Robot Slashdot? (Score:3, Insightful)
Slashdot is obviously being run by a bunch of autonomous jackasses who prefer to follow "trends" in the "latest" website designs than using what works.
Less dangerous than Beta? (Score:2, Insightful)
Why is there no slashdot beta poll on slashdot? (Score:1, Insightful)
"What do you think of the new Slashdot Beta?"
I for one would love to see the results of such a poll. Is there a silent majority or isn't there? This would be an easy way to find out.
Unfortunately I get the feeling that there's a strong back room agenda behind this beta thing. But they are forgetting that slashdotters are not an audience; they are the content creators. Piss them off and your site is doomed.
Not Google cars (Score:4, Insightful)
i've been telling people for a while that the first we'll see of autonomous vehicles in any big way isn't in personal Google-style vehicles, but in the long-haul trucking industry.
Now I know that's true, because it's the only physically possible way to safely haul away the toxic mess that's the fucking Beta shit being sprayed everywhere like something out of a low-budget slashbeta horror flick.
Fuck the Beta,
b&
Please listen to the feedback! (Score:5, Insightful)
Now this community has clearly stated that proposed BETA changes are not wanted and even worse will drive many of the old users away from this site. Others have clearly outlined the faults of the new BETA and the effect it will have on commenting and moderation. This feedback should not be ignored.
Hence, please reconsider BETA or at least listen to the community feedback on how to improve it!
Re:The Last One (Today)? (Score:1, Insightful)
Even a ROBOT could avoid this land mine... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know what DICE was thinking (perhaps they weren't) but it doesn't take a genius to figure out they need to stop the beta site and stop it now. Unlike every other news aggregator, the majority of the people are here FOR the discussion forums. We also submit the news, vote on what should be published, comment on the news, moderate the comments, and moderate the moderators. DICE you don't do a damn thing compared to what the community gives to you in exchange for access to the site.
Pull your collective heads out of your various orifices and fix this while you have time. Without the community you have NOTHING to sell. Want proof? Look at comments on stories from a week ago versus comments today... with the community protesting you have nothing of value to sell other than a niche already covered by CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox, and God knows how many other sites that now aggregate the news. Slashdot will NEVER be a mainstream site... Fix this NOW or the community will fix it for you.
Re:Beta sucks (Score:2, Insightful)
I think the key point to what we want from the beta is that we don't want the comments section of the beta to be just like the comments section of every other website that has comments.
There are features and capabilities that exist in the classic website that MUST exist in any future modification of the website.
Just like system updates in the software used by companies, if you upgrade the system and take away the functionality the users rely on day in and day out, expect a horrendous backlash.
The old style of the site may not be pretty, but we've grown accustomed to how it works and what it can do. The new site is pretty and doesn't appear to have given two shits about how the site should really work or has worked in the past.
Re:The Beta, The (last one from me today) (Score:4, Insightful)
These copy paste posts are ok, but people will soon gloss over them. Try to work hate for the beta in with an on-topic comment.
Re:FUCK BETA! (Score:4, Insightful)
if you have positive karma make sure to disable advertisements as part of your protest, for years i had the option but left them enabled to support /.