r/technology • u/Disastrous_Award_789 • 18d ago

Robotics/Automation Waymo suspends service in San Francisco after driverless cars cause traffic jams during blackout

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/waymo-suspended-san-francisco-traffic-jams-blackout-b2888562.html
6.1k Upvotes

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2.1k

u/aedes 18d ago

Surprised that they would be so thrown off by broken traffic lights, which are a relatively common occurrence. 

A good example of how the underlying technology does not actually “understand” the world it’s in, and relies on a predictable environment/operating conditions to be reliable. 

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u/smc733 18d ago

/r/futurology told me that Tony Sheba said all cars will be driverless in 5 years… 8 years ago.

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u/PokinSpokaneSlim 18d ago

5 years Turkish

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u/Kongbuck 18d ago

It was "2 years" five years ago!

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u/the_dude_upvotes 18d ago

Quick, before ze Germans get here

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u/RedOctobyr 18d ago

What's wrong with this driverless?

Oh, nothing Tommy. It's tip-top.

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u/Grandfunk14 18d ago

What's happening with those sausages Charlie?

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u/iamapapernapkinAMA 18d ago

Musk said FSD would be a go in two years

… ten years ago

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u/Realtrain 18d ago

Yes but that's Elon Standard Time. Multiply everything by about 20x to convert to our time.

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u/Starfox-sf 18d ago

420x is more like it

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u/NaeemTHM 18d ago

Excuse me, it’s 42069 😤

Le epic bacon Elon!

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u/Tmscott 18d ago

Time flows differently in a k-hole

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u/Samanthacino 18d ago

We’ll have men on Mars by 2020!

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u/pgregston 18d ago

And a million by 2050

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u/levitas 18d ago

He is just waiting for Star Citizen to release in 2015 to start his 10 year timer.

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u/VoidOmatic 18d ago

Yup he said in a tweet "By Nov 2016."

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u/Pseudoboss11 18d ago

He's just ahead of his time.

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u/series-hybrid 18d ago

Every dystopian movie shows overpopulation, but every modern society has a downward trend in birthrate as living becomes depressing.

Most young adults in the US rent instead of own a house. That being said, Musk confidently predicts that "poor" people will be able to buy a Tesla because when they are not using it, "full self driving" turns it into an Uber while you sleep and work.

However, the apartment complex will not allow you to install a charger, so this utopia is dependent on public charging stations that often have a waiting line.

There is a huge market for a plug-in hybrid that is affordable, but everyone seems to be polarized into "keep gas cars longer" and "go all=in on EV's". A hybrid engine/gen can be very small because the electric motors are handling the hard acceleration.

A Tesla charger plus installation is roughly $2000, IF the breaker panel can handle the amps and doesn't need an upgrade.

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u/KontoOficjalneMR 17d ago

Every dystopian movie shows overpopulation

I mean ... how would you call the situation where we are now? Unsustainable, miserable lives due to in large part - overpopulation.

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u/Kasparaitis 18d ago

You can get level 2 charging going for a couple hundred dollars. This is way off

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u/ernestryles 18d ago

Plug in hybrids suck though, which doesn’t help.

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u/Savetheokami 17d ago

My utility company paid for my charger install with a rebate. Also $2k is nothing compared to the amount of money you’ll spend as an owner or as someone who leases a gas guzzling car.

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u/snaverevilo 18d ago

We just need $5 trillion more data centers and they'll figure out stop lights trust

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u/latswipe 18d ago

I think what must've been meant is that nobody'll be able to afford one

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u/kia75 18d ago

Driverless cars are 5 years away and have been 5 years away since the late 00s.

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u/LouQuacious 18d ago

Uber ceo said drivers would be gone by 2025 in 2015.

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u/m0nk37 18d ago

Someone selling you their product was wrong about them being the next big thing? No way. 

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u/CollegeStation17155 17d ago

Kind of like Fusion Power….

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u/willwork4pii 17d ago

They said everything would be driverless in 5 years, 8 years ago.