- "safety" is usually the first point out of the mouth of a self-driving advocate. If safety = preservation of life, I wonder how truly "safe" full Waymo supremacy would be when there are millions of Americans who drive for a living [1], in a country where working age adults need a full-time job to get basic healthcare.
Through that lens, I honestly don't know if Waymo's future would lead to preservation of life. I actually think it might increase physical harm to Americans, only that harm is laundered out of our roadways and into our failing healthcare system.
This is an important aspect of any tech that threatens whole sectors of employment.. "safety" is always thrown into question when you cut & consolidate economic lifelines without a societal safety net. If it happens to truckers it can happen to you, too.
[1] https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/06/america-keeps... This article lists 3.5 MILLION truckers, not even counting rideshare drivers and other CDL holders.
- I fundamentally agree with you, but at the same time I don't want the answer to be preserving labor sinks when the answer could instead be more fairly distributing the value produced by labor so that we just don't need to work as much in the first place.
- Unless those people are also driving taxis maybe.
Waymo Robotaxis Record Higher Serious Injury and Fatal Crash Rate Than NYC's For-Hire Fleet (https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/waymo-robotaxis-...)
It may also be worth noting that waymo doesn't report all crashes to the DMV and they went to court to keep crash data secret (https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/22/waymo-to-keep-robotaxi-saf...)
- This study compared national averages of Waymo to hyper-localized NYC cab drivers. NYC, where the maximum speed limit on streets in 25mph, should rightfully be viewed as an outlier. “ During the period analyzed, New York City's for-hire fleet was involved in 16 crashes that resulted in serious injuries or fatalities, while Waymo recorded three nationwide “
- Their argument is that comparisons against the driving record of cab drivers better represents what they should expect from waymo vs comparing them against every driver everywhere.
Waymo compares its safety record with that of the average human driver. The study says New York City's for-hire vehicles are involved in serious or fatal crashes at a rate that is 14 times lower than the average vehicle, making them a more appropriate benchmark for robotaxis. ... The researchers compared Waymo's nationwide crash data with New York City's for-hire fleet and found the robotaxis had a serious injury or fatal crash rate about 1.5 times higher per mile driven.
- > Per vehicle mile traveled (VMT),
does scale matter at all though?
do crashes stay constant per miles driven
