Comment by random_duck
Comment by random_duck 3 days ago
They they are being very transparent about it.
Comment by random_duck 3 days ago
They they are being very transparent about it.
How is hitting a child not a failure? And actually, how can you call this a success? Do you think this was a GTA side mission?
Immediately hitting the brakes when a child suddenly appears in front of you, instead of waiting 500ms like a human, and thereby hitting the child at a speed of 6 instead of 14 is a success.
What else to you expect them to do, only run on grade–separated areas where children can't access? Blare sirens so children get scared away from roads? Shouldn't human–driven cars do the same thing then?
17 mph is way too fast near a school if it's around the time children are getting out (or in).
"and thereby hitting the child ... is a success."
> What else to you expect them to do, only run on grade–separated areas where children can't access?
no, i expect them to slow down when children may be present
If failure is defined such that failure is the only possible outcome, I don't think it's a useful part of an evaluation.
They've gone to the courts to fight to keep some of their safety data secret
https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/28/22906513/waymo-lawsuit-ca...
Well, as a comparison, we know that Tesla has failed to report to NHTSA any collisions that didn't deploy the airbag.
Tesla report ids from SGO-2021-01_Incident_Reports_ADAS.csv with no or unknown airbag deployment status: 13781-13330, 13781-13319, 13781-13299, 13781-13208, 13781-8843, 13781-13149, 13781-13103, 13781-13070, 13781-13052... and more
Is this a success? There was still an incident. I'd argue this was them being transparent about a failure
> they also surely realize how much worse it would be if they tried to deny or downplay it.
Indeed. Waymo is a much more thoughtful and responsible company than Cruise, Uber, or Tesla.
"Cruise admits to criminal cover-up of pedestrian dragging in SF, will pay $500K penalty" https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/cruise-fine-criminal-cov...
They handled an unpredictable emergency situation better than any human driver.
Was it unpredictable? They drove past a blind corner (parked SUV) in a school zone. I'm constantly slowing down in these situations as I expect someone might run out at any second. Waymo seemed to default to the view that if it can't see anyone then nobody is there.
even as far as we know they aren't
The Waymo blog post refused to say the word "child", instead using the phrase "young pedestrian" once.
The Waymo blog post switches to "the pedestrian" and "the individual" for the rest of the post.
The Waymo blog post also consistently uses the word "contact" instead of hit, struck, or collision.
The Waymo blog post makes no mention of the injuries the child sustained.
The Waymo blog post makes no mention of the school being in close proximity.
The Waymo blog post makes no mention of other children or the crossing guard.
The Waymo blog post makes no mention of the car going over the school zone speed limit (17 in 15).
The speed limit of a school zone in California is 25, not 15, which would explain why they didn't mention it.
As every company should, when they have a success. Are they also as transparent about their failures?