Uber Self-Driving Cars Hit the Streets of San Francisco (go.com) 47
Uber is bringing a small number of self-driving cars to its ride-hailing service in San Francisco -- a move likely to excite the city's tech-savvy population and certain to antagonize California regulators. From a report on AP: The Wednesday launch in Uber's hometown expands a public pilot program the company started in Pittsburgh in September. The testing lets everyday people experience the cars as Uber works to identify glitches before expanding the technology's use in San Francisco and elsewhere. California law, however, requires a test permit for self-driving prototype vehicles, and Uber does not have one. The company argues that the law doesn't apply because its cars require a human backup. Uber has a history of testing legal boundaries. Although the company has been around less than a decade, it has argued with authorities around the world about how much of its drivers' histories should be covered in background checks and whether those drivers should be treated as contractors ineligible for employee benefits.
Bad choice of title? (Score:5, Funny)
Even better for hookups (Score:2)
No doubt every car will be its own LLC or a franchise owned by a separate person or stock company. Otherwise aren't they liable and if they own the fleet aren't they a taxi company? But driverless cars will be better for hook ups. Do the seats fold down? Though I guess they will need to have a camera on you the whole ride. (else vanadalism). maybe they will let you ride for free provided you let them stream your sex act to UberPorn amateur channel.
LLC or a franchise owned will not save them crimal (Score:2)
LLC or a franchise owned will not save them in an criminal case and if uber try some EULA or NDA to not give out logs / let an Third-party exports / the state look at the code / logs then it can be contempt of court.
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At least they didn't miss the streets...
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Karl Malden and Leslie Nielson and early 70s cars bouncing down the Frisco hills. What's not to like?
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Karl Malden and Leslie Nielson and early 70s cars bouncing down the Frisco hills. What's not to like?
Michael Douglas?
Re:Bad choice of title? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, that was my first reaction. Unfortunately, the less funny and real story is this:
The company argues that the law doesn't apply because...
Typical Uber, huh? I'm always torn when discussing Uber. I dislike the entrenched monopolies of taxis and love the idea of Uber, but damn, those guys really represent the worst of Silicon valley in terms of ethics.
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Seems like using "self-driving car" and "hit" in the same sentence might be a bad combination.
It's a 17 second clip from LA but this seems obligatory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1ZSGGTcE74 [youtube.com]
Test Permit? (Score:2)
requires a test permit for self-driving prototype vehicles,
It is like the human test permit? Where you can flat out fail but they go "eh, we're backed up. Don't do that thing you failed for again". Can you goad it into violating the rules of the road because "They won't work for this intersection" like my BMV employee had me do?
Uber Self-Driving Cars Hit the... (Score:4, Funny)
Better than the pedestrians, amiright? Is this thing on?
No they didn't (Score:2)
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can also take over
And if that occurs 'never' then is the car self driving or not?
If you ride a bike with training wheels are you not riding a bike? What if the training wheels never touch the ground?
Self driving cars are coming, they're already here.
You can continue to shout that water isn't wet but it doesn't mean these cars aren't coming.
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How long have these been running around PA? Other than the one going the wrong way down a road how many of them have just worked as intended the entire time?
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I can only assume
So you have literally zero evidence. Just your speculation. Based on how wrong you've been about "how" these cars work I'm more confident they're doing fine.
Re: No they didn't (Score:2)
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Self driving cars are coming, they're already here.
You can continue to shout that water isn't wet but it doesn't mean these cars aren't coming.
We've had self driving cars since the mid-nineties (see history of self driving cars on wikipedia). In spite of all the technology advances SDCS have not improved by much in the last two decades. What makes you think that they will improve in the next five years?
Yes they did (Score:2)
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Image a game you watch being played by the computer instead of you. The joystick moves, apeing the computer's decisions. You can override if the character does something idiotic. Now, how long til your brain shuts off, and you react too late when the character runs into a sword.
Now: imagine it's a car. You are in it. Your hand hovers over the wheel, trying every second to outguess the computer. You have a quarter second to react. You fail. You die.
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How many idiotic things does the human playing that video game do that the computer would easily avoid? How many times does that human back up over a ledge or blow himself up with a rocket straight into a wall?
Your analogy fails to prove whatever point your trying to make. A bot controlled player would kick your ass 99 to 1 at whatever game you're imagining, but you will surely gloat over how superior you are when you get that 1 kill/point.
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No they didn't. These cars actually have TWO drivers in them. Stop with the self-driving cars hype. They don't exist.
Well of course they can't drive by themselves until they are 16.
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Fist bump, my brother.
doesn't matter (Score:1)
Under California law, it doesn't matter if there is a person sitting in the driver's seat or not. If the car is in "autonomous" mode (self-driving), then the manufacturer must get a testing permit. Uber is full of shit here and is likely trying to get around the $5 million dollar insurance requirement that California imposes on manufacturers testing autonomous vehicles on public roads.
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What about the CEO doing hard time in san quentin (Score:2)
What about the CEO doing hard time in san quentin when that unpermited car messes up?
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Ho ho. A CEO in prison.
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Uber: "But laws about computer security don't apply to us!"
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Uber: "But laws about computer security don't apply to us!"
And to judge by Uber's absurdly high valuation, nor do the laws of common sense.
Yikes! (Score:2)
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Second result: http://www.thetruckersreport.c... [thetruckersreport.com]