I was behind the wheel when a self-driving Uber failed here's what happens

[FrodosNewPet]

I was behind the wheel when a self-driving Uber failed — here's what happens

http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-self-driving-car-fails-2016-12/#first-a-brief-introduction-to-ubers-self-driving-car-in-pittsburgh-a-ford-fusion-retrofitted-with-autonomous-tech-the-car-has-a-massive-spinning-lidar-on-top-and-20-cameras-that-doesnt-even-factor-in-the-several-radar-and-lidar-modules-on-the-side-and-gps-units-helping-the-car-drive-safely-1

Danielle Muoio | Dec 24, 2016

Uber launched its second pilot program in San Francisco last week, but the day it launched, a car ran straight through a red light.

Uber has since said the incident was due to human error, but it's not clear whether that means a person drove through the light or failed to stop the car from doing so while it was in autonomous mode. Either way, Uber knows its cars will fail from time-to-time, which is why a safety driver and engineer sit upfront while the cars autonomously drive people.

~ snip ~

Uber let us get behind the wheel for the launch of its pilot program in Pittsburgh in September, and we got to see firsthand what it's like when the car fails and needs a driver to take over.

Keep in mind that Uber used self-driving Volvo XC90s for the San Francisco pilot instead of the self-driving Ford Fusions in Pittsburgh. As a result, the interface we experienced is slightly different from the one in the Volvo cars.

~ snip ~

[zippythepinhead]

1. If uber needs a driver to help navigate

How does it save money?

Do they pay the drivers less because of this?

How are the fare rates impacted?

Who's on first?

[Johnathan146]

2. Its research for self driving cars

Eventually they wont need a driver, and they can sell their research to other companies.

There is no savings today, but billions in savings in the future.

[zippythepinhead]

3. Savings for whom?

robots don't buy hamburgers.

What about the truck drivers?

Truck driving is one of the last industry offering half ass living wages for the underclass.

This would be a death blow to them like mechanization of coal mining in WV.

This is like a parasite eating it's host and then dying of starvation.

[yeoman6987]

4. Progress is always hard but worth it. We liberals should embrace progress

I am one that loves the idea of driverless cars and good they are trying them out and will fix glitches as they go before selling to the masses. I went into mcdonalds yesterday and saw two self ordering stations. This particular progress had nothing to do with self driving cars. For now they also had workers at the cash registers.

[USALiberal]

5. New inventions have replaced jobs for 1000s of years. No stopping progress and we should not stop it

[zippythepinhead]

7. Not until the machines take over

and there is an end to everything. All things must pass.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Self-driving cars and human-driven cars should not be allowed on the same roads ...

the technology is NOT ready yet, and the public should not be used as Guinea pigs.