A crowd destroyed a driverless Waymo car in San Francisco

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 442 points –
A crowd destroyed a driverless Waymo car in San Francisco
theverge.com

A crowd destroyed a driverless Waymo car in San Francisco::A Waymo car was destroyed in San Francisco as a crowd began vandalizing it and ultimately set the car on fire. Nobody was in the vehicle at the time.

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With trucks, minivans, cargo bikes, and backpacks and hand carts. The first two are commercial vehicles, the last two private, the one in the middle either.

Cool, regardless of whether they're commercial or or private, it would still be better if they killed fewer people than they do today.

With your tractor? Rather pointless to buy a car just for that distance and if you don't own a tractor what are you doing out there.

I don't think you've spent much time in the country, most people don't own tractors. It's not just farmers as far as the eye can see, they still require a huge community / support system of electricians, mechanics, plumbers, shops and suppliers, entertainment, etc.

Cool, regardless of whether they’re commercial or or private, it would still be better if they killed fewer people than they do today.

Then build streets that take pedestrians and cyclists into account and make sure that people don't have to commute by car. That's the coffee-drinking mobile-swiping distracted drivers thinking their Tesla can drive for them.

It’s not just farmers as far as the eye can see, they still require a huge community / support system of electricians, mechanics, plumbers, shops and suppliers, entertainment, etc.

...in a village, which means bus stop in walking distance, not in single home with a five kilometre driveway. Also electricians, mechanics, plumbers, shops and suppliers all have commercial vehicles, entertainment the fuck do you mean? If there's a cinema in the village chances are the operators live in the same building, if it's a circus troupe they have wagons because itinerant.

Then build streets that take pedestrians and cyclists into account and make sure that people don’t have to commute by car.

Cool beans bro, you can do that, you'll still have cars for the reasons I listed above. There is literally no city in existence where an elderly person can get to their doctor's appointment in the middle of snow and rain without a car.

…in a village, which means bus stop in walking distance, not in single home with a five kilometre driveway.

Lmao. No it doesn't. You're not going to have a machine shop or feed supply shop in a village, it's the size of a lumber yard and not zoned to be in a residential area.

Also electricians, mechanics, plumbers, shops and suppliers all have commercial vehicles,

Again, what's your point about commercial vs private. Do you think self driving technology cares? Also that Waymo taxi they trashed is a commercial taxi.

entertainment the fuck do you mean? If there’s a cinema in the village chances are the operators live in the same building, if it’s a circus troupe they have wagons because itinerant.

Restaurants, theatres, rinks, stadiums, etc. You know, stuff people do for entertainment.

Also, lmfao at this specifically:

If there’s a cinema in the village chances are the operators live in the same building

It's not 1920 with a projectionist living in an apartment beside the projection room.

There is literally no city in existence where an elderly person can get to their doctor’s appointment in the middle of snow and rain without a car.

Your health insurance doesn't pay for a taxi or transport ambulance if you're immobile? What kind of 3rd world shithole do you live in (don't say I know the answer: America).

You’re not going to have a machine shop or feed supply shop in a village, it’s the size of a lumber yard and not zoned to be in a residential area.

That's not a village that's a farm.

Again, what’s your point about commercial vs private. Do you think self driving technology cares?

What's the point of self driving when the car doesn't need to move without someone in it?

Restaurants, theatres, rinks, stadiums, etc. You know, stuff people do for entertainment.

On your farm with ten kilometre driveway?

It’s not 1920 with a projectionist living in an apartment beside the projection room.

Then what went wrong?

Your health insurance doesn’t pay for a taxi or transport ambulance if you’re immobile? What kind of 3rd world shithole do you live in (don’t say I know the answer: America).

A taxi, you mean like a car? You mean like the Waymo taxi that was trashed?

That’s not a village that’s a farm.

We're discussing how there are people in the country who don't own tractors.

What’s the point of self driving when the car doesn’t need to move without someone in it?

Because self driving cars have the potential to be safer and less dangerous than human drivers. Waymo's safety record is already better than the average human on a per mile basis.

On your farm with ten kilometre driveway?

The people who work those jobs, also live out in the country.

A taxi, you mean like a car? You mean like the Waymo taxi that was trashed?

Yes. I never said that those things have no place.

We’re discussing how there are people in the country who don’t own tractors.

Then either they should have a bus station in walking distance or be covered by a collect taxi service.

Because self driving cars have the potential to be safer and less dangerous than human drivers. Waymo’s safety record is already better than the average human on a per mile basis.

The average human is not a good driver. You have to compare performance, and not just safety but also route efficiency, flexibility to unforseen events etc. not against the average driver, but professional taxi drivers.

The people who work those jobs, also live out in the country.

Why the fuck don't they live at the farm. What's it with USians trying to make everything as hard for themselves as possible.

Yes. I never said that those things have no place.

Then why trash an autonomous taxi?

Then either they should have a bus station in walking distance or be covered by a collect taxi service.

Lol. You do not understand the distances involved.

The average human is not a good driver. You have to compare performance, and not just safety but also route efficiency, flexibility to unforseen events etc. not against the average driver, but professional taxi drivers.

Until we live in your made up fantasy world where the only drivers allowed on the road are professionals, then sure. But we're not, we're discussing real world performance today.

Why the fuck don’t they live at the farm.

Because they're not farmers, try and keep up with the conversation.

What’s it with USians trying to make everything as hard for themselves as possible.

I'm not American, and it took literally thousands of years of development to turn Europe into what it is today, so maybe try and have some perspective on the feasibility of your "solutions".

Then why trash an autonomous taxi?

You mean why did homeless people trash an autonomous taxi? I'd say because inner-city liberal techbros care more about fancy tech toys than providing stuff that people actually need, such as shelter and healthcare. At least that's the usual logic of riots and vandalism.

Why the fuck don’t they live at the farm.

Because they’re not farmers, try and keep up with the conversation.

So if you work at a farm, but are not a farmer, you can't live there? You are legally required to have a 20km commute based on a law to preserve the integrity of farm life or something? What kind of bullshit is that.

You mean why did homeless people trash an autonomous taxi?

Uh, you can watch the video, it wasn't homeless people.

So if you work at a farm, but are not a farmer, you can’t live there? You are legally required to have a 20km commute based on a law to preserve the integrity of farm life or something? What kind of bullshit is that.

Again we're not talking about people who work on farms. We're talking about people who work in farming communities in jobs that are necessary to support farmers. Most of them don't even work on a single farm but service multiple farms. Stop trying to act like you understand country life well enough to reshape it, you're just as arrogant as every European colonizer before you.

Uh, you can watch the video, it wasn’t homeless people.

Elsewhere in the thread someone who knows the city well better than me (or probably you) said that it's an area known for mobile home encampments. Yes, that's homelessness, even if it's upper class homeless.

Again we’re not talking about people who work on farms. We’re talking about people who work in farming communities in jobs that are necessary to support farmers. Most of them don’t even work on a single farm but service multiple farms.

So your electricians etc. which I already said have their commercial vehicles which don't fall under individual transport. They're also lugging means of production around.

I invite you again to imagine city roads without commuters. That single change, and nothing else. It's like 98% of traffic in car-dependent cities.


Merging the threads because I'm getting tired of it:

So now every technology improvement needs to solve every single systemic problem or it’s not worth pursuing?

No. Use autonomous technology if you want. Just don't hail it as the silver bullet it isn't when there's much more deep as well as tried and true solutions to the issues we have. You're taking attention away from the actual solutions in favour of gadgetry unaffordable for most which need to drive in places like the US. Pedestrians won't be safe no matter how good the tech becomes, as long your average burger flipper still needs a car to get to work and can't afford that fancy stuff there's going to be distracted commuters out there. You could get all of them off the street, pretty much instantly, by having proper public transit.

Oh wow, the literal millions of road deaths every year are now “nothing of relevance”.

Millions of road deaths which don't need autonomous technology to severely curtail. Have a look at statistics US vs. Netherlands.

No they’re not. Not for the distances covered in many rural areas. Try and wrap your brain around the fact that not everywhere is Europe where there’s millions of people packed into a postage stamp.

Not many pedestrians out there getting run over either, though, are there? Yes of course if you live 100km away from the next power pole you'll need some form of individual transportation, but you're also statistically insignificant.

You literally quote the answer to that:

Again, you’d still have a delivery person for critical deliveries, they just wouldn’t be driving.

So how do you push a car out of the way with your fire truck if you aren't driving?

Elsewhere in the thread someone who knows the city well better than me (or probably you) said that it's an area known for mobile home encampments. Yes, that's homelessness

It was in Chinatown during a Chinese New Year's celebration. I'm done with this conversation. You seem to want to believe that the rest of the world will magically densify into Europe faster than we'll develop self driving cars that are safer than human drivers.

Good luck! I mean that earnestly, because it would be a better future, but I also don't mean it remotely earnestly because that's not how the world works and that's not going to happen. That's a problem that is solved on a generational timescale. Self driving cars is a couple decade timescale.

LA urban area is a bit more dense (2888pop/km^2^) than Hamburg (2506) your objection is completely nonsensical: Having more space between cities doesn't mean that your cities must suck. The difference is that one is a couple of high rises and then endless car-dependent single-home sprawl, while the other is almost entirely stuff that's illegal to build in the US. Changing building codes to allow such uses wouldn't just solve their housing crisis, it would also densen up suburbia to allow for rail-based public transport. Plop down stations, zone a radius around them as medium density, also make sure have a grocery store, doctor's practice, daycare, cafe and restaurant there, crucially no car parking -- but make space for cargo bikes so that suburbanites within the catchment area but outside of walking distance can use all that infrastructure. You won't recognise the city in 10 years, it'd totally transform, very much for the better.

You won’t recognise the city in 10 years, it’d totally transform, very much for the better.

Bruh, it takes ~10 years to plan and build a single major infrastructure project in America. Again, the timelines you're talking about are nonsensical. Yes, building out transit and reorienting communities like that is the ultimate solution, but the idea that that will happen so much and so extensively that we'll have no need for autonomous cars in even 20 years is absolutely absurd and detached from reality.

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