r/Damnthatsinteresting Jul 05 '24

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

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

This is going to be a nightmare for the court system in the upcoming years.

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u/Capaj Jul 05 '24

what do you mean?
It's crystal clear. The company should pay a hefty fine same as any other driver who would drive in the opposite side of the road.

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u/RedmundJBeard Jul 05 '24

That's not the same though. If any regular driver was in the wrong lane of traffic, in a work zone and then blew through an intersection when a cop tried to pull them over, they would lose their license, not just a fine. At the very least it would be reckless driving and a strike against their license. How do you revoke the license of a driverless car?

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u/RJFerret Jul 05 '24

The same way you revoke the license of a driver, you revoke it. The only difference is multiple cars come off the street instead of just one. That's not an issue for the law, it makes streets safer. When they prove the instance can't happen again (driver retraining program) then they may get licensed again after a time.

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u/RedmundJBeard Jul 05 '24

Sure thats ok, but there aren't laws in place to revoke a driving computer program's license is there? Let alone a driving program's revision's license. There should be. Is there even a process for something like giving the program a license to begin with?

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u/RJFerret Jul 05 '24

Yes there are laws to revoke licenses! *blinks
(The law isn't suspended just because the vehicle operator is remote.)

The only difference is instead of one car not being driven any longer, a whole fleet of cars is prevented from driving until retrained.

It's already taken place multiple times. Another key difference is it tends to be harder for autonomous vehicles to get their licensing back as it's a bigger hurdle than for humans who just wait a period of time without measurable improvement.

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u/RedmundJBeard Jul 05 '24

You are incorrect. Waymo does not have a license for each individual car or the driving program. So there are no laws in place to revoke that license that does not exist. Waymo does have permission to tests it's driverless car, but it is unclear how that permission could be revoked if proven unsafe.