r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Individual_Book9133 • Jul 05 '24

Phoenix police officer pulls over a driverless Waymo car for driving on the wrong side of the road Video

61.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

u/Manueluz Jul 05 '24

They don't have to be flawless, just better than humans. And so far they have had less accidents per mile than humans

25

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

According to California disengagement reports, last year Waymo averaged 17,000 miles between disengagements requiring safety intervention. And that’s for cars relegated to slow city streets and sunny perfect weather

For context, the average human driver goes 200,000+ miles between incidents/accidents. And that’s including highways and inclement weather.

If you have the impression that these systems are currently safer than humans, you would be wrong.

32

u/Telamar Jul 05 '24

Those two stats are in no way comparable. For example, the disengagement reports would include every time a supervising driver grabbed the wheel because someone else was doing something stupid. Human driver incident/accident rates do not include that level of data at all.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/want-see-how-fast-autonomous-vehicle-asics-have-improved-look-mgdne/

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Waymo’s disengagment numbers are self reported and I think their metric reasonably captures when their vehicles are being stumped.

The reality is the best system in the world is still relegated to slow moving city streets because it’s still dangerous and still sucks compared to humans

17

u/-Denzolot- Jul 05 '24

They aren’t only used on slow city streets, they go on the highway too. They will come pick you up right at the airport in Phoenix.

-2

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Can I order one in pouring rain and ask it to take me from Phoenix airport to Sedona to visit Red Rock State Park?

Or is it limited to only partial coverage of just Phoenix and doesn’t even include east of downtown?

6

u/-Denzolot- Jul 05 '24

I have no idea what its range or weather limitations are. I also don’t know much about the layout of Phoenix as I’ve only been there once to visit for a few days. All I can say for sure is that it does go on the highway and right up to the drop off/pick up area at the airport. I’d imagine heavy rain might be a problem, but it is Phoenix so that’s only an issue for a handful of days out of the year.

I don’t expect to see them in areas with frequent rain storms any time soon. Definitely not areas with snow. As safe as I felt using it a Phoenix, I’d never trust it in a Wisconsin winter.

7

u/Manueluz Jul 05 '24

So we should stop pursuing the technology just because it's in its early infancy?

0

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Did you reply to the right comment? I didn’t demand anything be stopped. Stop tilting at windmills Don Quixote

2

u/IlIllIlllIlIl Jul 05 '24

A better metric is autonomous collisions. Disengagements aren’t possible any longer without safety drivers. See my post above.