Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[Tamas]

Fair

[Zanza]

It was a real question, not a rhetorical one. I don't know how developed self-driving AI are for more complex traffic scenarios.

I don't know in that level of detail either.

That's why expect the breakthrough to be on highway level 4 driving. Much less complex than level 5, less safety challenges (typically no pedestrians etc.), less options (swerving with a semi is never a good idea) and a business case that is better than self-driving taxis.

[Zanza]

I am assuming self-driving cars would be eminently doable already if all cars would be switched to such at the same time. Predictable behaviour and linked communications and voila.

That's assuming the most challenging issue is with other cars, rather than things like children and dogs running suddenly into traffic, bicyclists not behaving like cars, some idiot deciding to ride their e-scooter down a busy street etc

That's what Elon Musk's Neuralink is for. 

[Jacob]

That's why expect the breakthrough to be on highway level 4 driving. Much less complex than level 5, less safety challenges (typically no pedestrians etc.), less options (swerving with a semi is never a good idea) and a business case that is better than self-driving taxis.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. As you said uphread - if they can keep the trucks on the road something like 22-24 hours/day that's a pretty big economic incentive.

[Barrister]

This  biggest problem with "defaulting to braking" I can imagine is on an highway, where perhaps the car just can't tell where it's going.  The worst thing you could do in such a situation is immediately stop.

Why would the car not be able to tell where it is going? I don't understand the situation you describe here. The car has sat nav, has exact maps, has great sensors able to "see" further and more than a human.
[/quote]

So first of all as I understand it Tesla doesn't have "great sensors" at all - it just has multiple video cameras, on the theory that if it's good enough for humans' it should be good enough for an AI.

But most other manufacturers use LIDAR if I understand it correctly - which absolutely can be faulty in snow or rain.  As for "sat nav and exact maps" - sat nav isn't that explicitly precise - it can tell you what road you're on, but not what lane etc.

[Tamas]

Yeah I think you guys are right. Turning motorways into these things where you drive up manually, turn ElonAI on and sit back reading for a few hours while your car makes it way across the country would be pretty sweet.

[Barrister]

Yeah I think you guys are right. Turning motorways into these things where you drive up manually, turn ElonAI on and sit back reading for a few hours while your car makes it way across the country would be pretty sweet.

Oh no doubt!

I mean I like driving, but you've probably never driven across the Canadian prairies before.

For kicks I turned on the driving instructions to Winnipeg (from Edmonton).  It includes "Drive 381 km", "drive 134km", "drive 243 km" and "drive 564 km".  If I could snooze, or even just stay awake but read, that would be AWESOME.

[Sheilbh]

You guys are gonna go wild when you hear about trains

[HVC]

Yeah I think you guys are right. Turning motorways into these things where you drive up manually, turn ElonAI on and sit back reading for a few hours while your car makes it way across the country would be pretty sweet.

Oh no doubt!

I mean I like driving, but you've probably never driven across the Canadian prairies before.

For kicks I turned on the driving instructions to Winnipeg (from Edmonton).  It includes "Drive 381 km", "drive 134km", "drive 243 km" and "drive 564 km".  If I could snooze, or even just stay awake but read, that would be AWESOME.

The deer carcasses along sask highways kept my very focused on the road . The random intersections on the highways were amusing too.

[HVC]

You guys are gonna go wild when you hear about trains

You guys are gonna go wild when you hear about trains

AI trains would be great. No more strikes

[Jacob]

You guys are gonna go wild when you hear about trains

 

[Sheilbh]

AI trains would be great. No more strikes

Again incredible technological advancements have been made that in many ways mean AI wouldn't really be necessary for trains: tracks

[HVC]

AI trains would be great. No more strikes

Again incredible technological advancements have been made that in many ways mean AI wouldn't really be necessary for trains: tracks

But that doesn't alleviate strikes 

[Sheilbh]

No, that's true. Fair pay, benefits and conditions alleviate strikes

[Barrister]

You guys are gonna go wild when you hear about trains

You're going to go mad when I tell you about VIA Rail...

That same route I just told you about: Edmonton to Winnipeg - travels twice per week.  The next train departs on Saturday at 7:50 pm, arriving Sunday at 10pm.  Cost is $311 for economy, $444 for a berth (coverts to a curtained sleeping area with two stacked beds).

That's compared to $562 for a flight on Westjet the same day (could probably be cheaper if flexible on the day) and would only take 6 hours (those are all with a connection in Calgary, there are direct flights as well).

6 hours versus 25 hours (driving would only take you about 13)...