Robotaxi Outage In China Leaves Passengers Stranded On Highways (wired.com) 31
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: An unknown technical problem caused a number of robotaxis owned by the Chinese tech giant Baidu to freeze on Tuesday in the middle of traffic, trapping some passengers in the vehicles for more than an hour. In Wuhan, a city in central China where Baidu has deployed hundreds of its Apollo Go self-driving taxis, people on Chinese social media reported witnessing the cars suddenly malfunction and stop operating. Photos and videos shared online show the Baidu cars halted on busy highways, often in the fast lane.
[...] Local police in Wuhan issued a statement around midnight in China that said the situation was "likely caused by a system malfunction," but the incident is still under investigation. No one was injured, and all passengers have exited the vehicles, the police added. It's unclear how many of Baidu's robotaxis may have been impacted. [...] There were at least two other collisions on the same day, according to photos and videos posted on Chinese social media. A RedNote user in Wuhan confirmed to WIRED that she drove past a white minivan that had gotten into a rear-end collision with a parked robotaxi. The back of the Baidu car was badly damaged, but the two people standing beside the scene looked unharmed, she says. She added that she estimates she also saw at least a dozen more parked robotaxies.
[...] Local police in Wuhan issued a statement around midnight in China that said the situation was "likely caused by a system malfunction," but the incident is still under investigation. No one was injured, and all passengers have exited the vehicles, the police added. It's unclear how many of Baidu's robotaxis may have been impacted. [...] There were at least two other collisions on the same day, according to photos and videos posted on Chinese social media. A RedNote user in Wuhan confirmed to WIRED that she drove past a white minivan that had gotten into a rear-end collision with a parked robotaxi. The back of the Baidu car was badly damaged, but the two people standing beside the scene looked unharmed, she says. She added that she estimates she also saw at least a dozen more parked robotaxies.
Well Duh! (Score:2)
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Trapped? (Score:2)
Either they were too stupid to open the doors and get out or the doors have a dangerous, potentially fatal interlock preventing them being opened even if the vehicle is disabled. Which is it?
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In the middle of a busy highway? Safer to stay in climate control with crumple zones and airbags than step out into danger until police arrive to control traffic.
Re: Trapped? (Score:2)
Yeah, getting rear ended by a 30 ton truck is sooooo much safer.
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Yeah, getting rear ended by a 30 ton truck is sooooo much safer.
Yes.
Getting rear ended by a 30 ton truck while strapped into a car with specifically-designed structural safety measures is, unsurprisingly, several orders of magnitude safer than getting rear ended by a 30 ton truck while standing upright picking your way across multiple lanes of traffic. For a very large number of medical/physics reasons.
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I suggest you go watch some crash videos on youtube where that actually happens and maybe you can educate yourself as to what really happens as opposed to what you imagine does. Cars are far less crash protected at the rear plus in all the videos I've seen of these broken down self drives, all the other traffic is going around them very slowly so it would be no problem for people to get out and walk to the shoulder.
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Either they were too stupid to open the doors and get out
Yes too stupid to *checks notes* get out of a car in the middle of a highway.
If one day you said something intelligent while insulting someone we can all conclude you've finally been replaced by an AI.
Re: Trapped? (Score:2)
Yeah, busy highway with the other traffic going around at , oh 10mph. You have seen the videos right? Right?
Fundamentally Untrustworthy (Score:3, Insightful)
Humans have flaws. Taxi drivers sometimes commit crimes. Nothing I will say here is meant to imply that humans are perfect. But they can at least be trusted to do something predictable most of the time. A computer cannot, so you can't trust it on its OR even as much as a human. But you also can't trust central management. QED, you simply cannot ever trust an autonomous taxi.
Finding ways to replace human work is the backbone of progress, but sometimes replacing a human is not actually a good idea.
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Better that China be the guinea pig testing grounds for this technology, to iron out the major systemic failures.
It can be there with 'recklessness', and it's considered 'acceptable' for the greater good.
Testing in real time in China, since humans are seen as a tool to be used, and expendable, in light of less authoritative legal system of protecting human safety.
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Better that China be the guinea pig testing grounds for this technology, to iron out the major systemic failures.
Even if that were true (Chinese people matter too) we're also testing this technology here, so the "better" scenario you posit doesn't exist.
Re: Fundamentally Untrustworthy (Score:3)
Yeah. They are pushed as self-driving cars. That should mean autonomous, not intermittantly-supervised-remotely-by-some-guy-with-a-laptop.
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Yeah. They are pushed as self-driving cars. That should mean autonomous, not intermittantly-supervised-remotely-by-some-guy-with-a-laptop.
I approve of them receiving supervision, but not requiring it. At minimum they should at least be able to operate at a reduced speed in questionable circumstances so they don't have problems exactly like these.
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You're reinventing the BC Skytrain but stupider.
No, dear clown, I'm trying to mitigate stupid. I have been a PRT proponent since before you had an account here.
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You're imagining it can only be done on asphalt with tires. Tiny minds like yours hold back progress. Don't feel bad, there's plenty more like you here. You can all have a "we can't do anything" party together.
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Put down the bong.
You could put the system on rails and the problem would still be that the passenger capacity per vehicle is still about on par with a minivan. The relatively large vehicle for the relatively small capacity is the problem with PRT. To move mass amounts of people, you need large passenger capacities per vehicle, and frequently scheduled fixed route service people can predictably use, or a big sidewalk and get rid of the vehicles entirely. Otherwise you run into the same traffic congestion
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Put down the bong.
You think that's supposed to be some kind of insult? Yawn.
You could put the system on rails and the problem would still be that the passenger capacity per vehicle is still about on par with a minivan.
That's a feature.
To move mass amounts of people, you need large passenger capacities per vehicle
Plainly and obviously false. We are already moving mass amounts of people with cars, despite all their many deficiencies.
and frequently scheduled fixed route service
Also false, although it does make planning simpler and wait times shorter so yes, you would likely run a certain percentage of empty vehicles through the system.
or a big sidewalk and get rid of the vehicles entirely
PRT can be elevated, and use basically no space on the ground, so it can coexist with all existing forms of transport.
Ever try to take a shuttle to a rental car agency at LAX?
Rental car agencies require a large f
Interesting (Score:4, Funny)
In Wuhan, a city in central China
Never heard of it. Maybe this incident will put it on the map
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I have. Gee, a quick look, and it has a population of over 13M.
Bet none have heard of you.
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It's a joke dude. If you look it up on the internet, you'll see that Wuhan was in the news for something that happened in 2020.
Re: Interesting (Score:2)
What are you blithering about? Nothing happened in 2020, everyone stayed home.
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I heard the bats and pangolins there are delicious.
And a top-notch medical research jobs are available!
China late to party I guess. (Score:2)
self driveing cars just stop in unsafe ways with n (Score:2)
self driveing cars just stop in unsafe ways with no network?