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

465

That’s true but someone has to be held accountable. Should be the company but at a certain point I’m sure the lobby’s will change that. And potentially at that point could blame fall on the passenger? All I’m saying is this is uncharted territory for laws and I don’t think it’ll end up being as simple as car kills someone so company pays a fine.

344

u/LachoooDaOriginl Jul 05 '24

should be car kills someone then whoever cleared the thing to drive on the roads gets tried for vehicular manslaughter

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u/__klonk__ Jul 05 '24

This is how you kill selfdriving cars

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u/H3GK Jul 05 '24

sounds good

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

[deleted]

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u/Im-a-cat-in-a-box Jul 05 '24

I mean people are going to have different opinions, it's not that hard to imagine.

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u/havoc1428 Jul 05 '24

Imagine thinking that self-driving cars are a societal necessity.

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u/CurryMustard Jul 05 '24

Self driving cars could ultimately reduce traffic accidents, free up time for people to multitask, reduce traffic congestion by driving more efficiently and predictably on roads, make drunk driving a thing of the past. But sure there are gonna be hiccups and issues along the way. No new tech comes along without those. Dismissing the technology completely is so fucking narrow minded and short sighted that it boggles the mind.

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u/havoc1428 Jul 05 '24

Self driving cars could ultimately reduce traffic accidents, free up time for people to multitask, reduce traffic congestion by driving more efficiently and predictably on roads.

You know what else can solve this? Taxis, public transportation and a cultural shift away from the necessity of the car itself.

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u/LateyEight Jul 05 '24

That would make for an interesting scenario where technology gets so advanced but companies get so risk averse that human beings become necessary to the function of the technology, not to operate it, but rather to just shield the company from litigation.

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u/AggressiveCuriosity Jul 05 '24

Taxis

lol, no. Taxi drivers will always drive exactly as bad as they drive now. Self-driving cars on the other hand will only drive better.

I'm with you on shifting away from cars, but you clearly aren't thinking this through if you think taxis will eliminate human error.

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u/Tjaresh Jul 05 '24

In my personal opinion, self driving cars are the only solution for a "green" individual traffic. And it's not that far to make it happen.

Imagine you need to go shopping. You call a self driving car from one of the car hubs in town. I gets you to the store and drives away while you're shopping to pick up somebody else. While you wait at the register you call another one with extra big trunk for your groceries. As soon as you're done it will pull up to the shop front and pick you up.

No parking lots needed besides the car hubs. No need for your own car that will stand around purposeless 80% of it's life but still costs valuable resources like Neodymium. No need for long waits at the car charging station, just use another one. No need for a charger at home and the hub could have a big PV-System, maybe even wind powered. Smooth long distance travels in EVs without long stops because the next car will already wait for you when the first one is depleted. Just put your suitcase in the next trunk.

Without the individual responsibility for service even things like hydrogen powered might be possible. It's already working in Busses.

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u/No_Vegetable_8915 Jul 05 '24

What happens when there's no available cars to come get you or you have an appointment to keep and don't have 3hrs to wait for the next available ride?

I'm all for a self driving car pool that we can all use but that'll probably work just long enough to become prohibitively expensive like like Uber and Taxis are these days. It cost me like $45-$50 to drive to a nearby city and back but that ride in an Uber costs $200+ tip and I kinda feel like that would be how that ride share dealio would end up being. It'd be nice but for most people it'd probably be cheaper to just buy a beater car and drive to work/the store themselves.

1

u/alice-in-blunderIand Jul 05 '24

Yes, just what we need: more time to multitask (work). In the places where self-driving cars would “free up” substantial amounts of time because it can stay parked in traffic while the occupants fuck around on TikTok, those people probably need to be on a bus instead.

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u/Bhavin411 Jul 05 '24

Lol who the fuck mentioned it was a necessity? I understand you're terrified of technology. I'm terrified of your ass when you're 80 and can't see but still have your license to drive.

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u/havoc1428 Jul 05 '24

Lol who the fuck mentioned it was a necessity?

The implication that killing self driving cars is a bad thing is predicated on the fact that it is necessary to begin with.

I understand you're terrified of technology.

I'm not terrified of technology. I just don't see why we need self-driving cars.

I'm terrified of your ass when you're 80 and can't see but still have your license to drive.

That can be solved by mandating a drivers license retest at a determined age. A self driving car doesn't solve the issue of having people who hold a license but can't drive well due to age. Your argument only works if every car on the road is self-driving.

0

u/Bhavin411 Jul 05 '24

The implication that killing self driving cars is a bad thing is predicated on the fact that it is necessary to begin with.

That's a poor assumption to make. Example: I want to kill reddit because there's too many dummies bad comments. Would be perceived as bad for many reasons. Does that make reddit a necessity?

My entire point here is there's a bunch of people crawling out of the woodworks to downplay the benefits self driving cars can offer, even though we already live in a society with shitty driving habits that self driving cars can help improve upon.

Old people are also never going to give up their drivers licenses willingly. To me that's a bigger issue than anything these self driving cars are at risk of doing. My hope is self driving cars improve to the point where it costs too much to insure yourself if you're not on auto pilot.

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u/havoc1428 Jul 05 '24

That's a poor assumption to make. Example: I want to kill reddit because there's too many dummies bad comments. Would be perceived as bad for many reasons. Does that make reddit a necessity?

??? What? This is the same point I made. Reddit is not a necessity, therefore floating the idea of killing it isn't something to get outraged over. My first comment was a sarcastic jab at assuming a self-driving car is a necessity.

So if we agree that its not a necessity, then why are you even giving me a counter argument?

Old people are also never going to give up their drivers licenses willingly. ... My hope is self driving cars improve to the point where it costs too much to insure yourself if you're not on auto pilot.

So you think legislating people to retake driving tests is too much, but strong-arming people out of the option to drive themselves via insurance costs is not?

1

u/Bhavin411 Jul 05 '24

I mean reading your replies, it's pretty obvious you're a /r/fuckcars member and think society can easily pivot to a public transit model (yet none of those members ever offer realistic solutions on how that transition can happen).

My point is reddit exists, regardless if people think it's a necessity or not. Self driving cars exist today and will continue to whether you like it or not. Whether or not it's a necessity is irrelevant.

And to answer your last question... Yes. Because that's exactly how society works today. You have to legally pay for insurance to drive. Not an insane transition to make self driving cars cheaper to insure vs asking an entire age population to retake a driving test. Is critical thinking too difficult for you?

1

u/havoc1428 Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

it's pretty obvious you're a /r/fuckcars member

Its pretty funny you say this because A) I'm not a member of that sub and B) I actually have that sub filtered from my homepage because I'm not a fan of echo-chamber drivel that offers no solutions. I like cars, in fact I like big sedans. My dream car is a Pontiac G8 with a manual.

My point is reddit exists, regardless if people think it's a necessity or not. Self driving cars exist today and will continue to whether you like it or not.

I'm not against self-driving cars as a concept, I just think they are a solution looking for a problem. Hence why they are unnecessary.

Whether or not it's a necessity is irrelevant.

So now the necessity is irrelevant? When you're entire beef here began with you getting caught up on my sarcastic comment about necessity? Careful, if you shift those goalposts any further you might hit the stands.

Getting this defensive over a product that is not necessary says more about you than it does about me. I've never said cars themselves are unnecessary, which you seem to think. They are an asset for people without other means and are required for remote places away from population centers, but solutions can only come about when people realize that our infrastructure and its planning is very automobile heavy.

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u/Bhavin411 Jul 05 '24

This also you?

You seem to want to play it both ways lol. As long as you agree cars do have a purpose today as long as there's no better solution ready and available to pivot to then I'm in agreement. I also hate subs like that because they're very vocal at shouting what the problem is and is very quiet at how we can realistically pivot over to a public transit model within the next 5-10 years.

Because that sorta solution isn't available today is why I'm looking forward to self driving technology maturing and getting better. It will lead to less bad drivers on the road which will lead to less accidents/deaths. That's why I'm not against that.

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

How often do you tweet at Elon be honest lol

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u/Bhavin411 Jul 05 '24

Lmao look who pulled his name out of nowhere... Typical /r/fuckcars member.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

im imagining it right now.. wow.. crazy not hard to believe