Alphabet's Waymo and Intel Are Launching Public Campaigns To Build Trust In Self-Driving Cars (theverge.com)

Alphabet's Waymo and Intel announced plans today to sponsor ads about self-driving cars. "Alphabet's Waymo is launching a public education campaign today called "Let's Talk Self-Driving" aimed at addressing the skepticism many people have about autonomous technology," reports The Verge. Meanwhile, "Intel said it would be airing its commercial starring LeBron James in the run-up to the NBA season opener on October 17th. From the report: The ad campaign will launch first in Arizona, before spreading to other states. Waymo is preparing to launch its first commercial ride-hailing service powered by its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans, according to a recent report in The Information. This public education campaign would appear to be a prelude to inviting ordinary people to take a ride in a driverless vehicle. Both companies recognize that in order to make lots of money, there will need to be a robust effort to persuade people that autonomous vehicles are as safe, if not safer, than human-operated ones. Recent polls suggest that most people wouldn't take a ride in a driverless car, even if they like the idea surrounding the technology.

Comments

How about trying to EARN trust.

[mjensen]

Having famous people promote the cars is a sign
to me that the cars are not reliable.

Re:How about trying to EARN trust.

[Anonymous Coward]

With traditional cars the failure rate ties straight in with operating costs. Failures in the deployed fleet are a poor reflection on the manufacturer and cause recalls. When we find the brake shoes are defective by design we haul them in and fix them all. It's all easy to see after the fact and we conduct a post-mortem to construct root cause and fix things. Very mechanical. Very science. Very professional. This part will continue to exist.

Compare this with software. When software goes wrong we all point fingers at everyone else and stick our fingers in our ears. If things get bad enough the startup will shutdown or get bought out by Google who will shut it down or rebrand it. When they aren't dealing with catastrophic fires they're busy finding ways to connect the CAM bus to the latest video playing shoemebob shovelware which will get hacked tomorrow.

Software is an immature industry. It's been that way for a very long time and there's no sign that it wants to improve beyond that. Do I trust them to make a car? No fucking chance. No fucking chance at all. I work in that industry and I *know* they can't build it right. Anything they can make will be broken 12 months later and then crippled by ineffective and destructive software updates which remove all the functionality they hadn't verified the first time around.

The problem is the software industry is broken by design.

Trust comes from strict regulation and oversight

[Jzanu]

Companies can't play god with public safety. Build trust by lobbying for increased automation regulation. Enact laws requiring strict safety functionality in all functions, and advertise heavily once you exceed it.

Re:Less Talk, Have a Safe and Consistent Record

[TWX]

Who's Lebron James?

Trust Google.

[Chas]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

No...

Let me get this straight...

[burtosis]

Autonomous car makers get the the house to relax nearly all regulations on autonomous cars. Now they want us to just trust them? I don't even trust the senate isn't as well paid off and this will become law.

Re:Trust comes from strict regulation and oversigh

[burtosis]

How about offering a $100m dollar prize payout to each of the first 100 fatalities caused by thier faulty cars. Ohhh, the computer has fancy sensors and can't make math mistakes so it's impossible! Do that and I'd trust them a little.

Trust isn't the problem

[hyades1]

Traffic flow is the problem. Self-driving cars will adhere slavishly to every letter of the law, even when it creates traffic havoc. Imagine a self-driving car doing exactly the speed limit in the passing lane as it inches by a self-driving transport truck doing five kph under the speed limit.

I believe Dennis Leary wrote a song that mentioned a situation much like it.

Re:Trust isn't the problem

[JohnFen]

That's an interesting point. Plus, the actual laws about speed limits aren't always cut-and-dried.

I live in a "basic rule" state, where it's technically legal to exceed the speed limit if, taking into account road and weather conditions, it is safe to do so.*

If you're driving in a traffic stream that is going a certain speed, the legal thing to do is to match the speed of traffic even if that is above the posted limit. You can (and it does happen, although it's rare) get a ticket for driving too slowly if you fail to match the flow.

*With exceptions such as school and hospital zones. Also, if you are exceeding the posted limit, there's a good chance you'll get a ticket no matter how safe you are. You have to make your "basic rule" claim in court, and you have to be able to prove your case.

Re:Trust isn't the problem

[freeze128]

That might be the problem where you live, but not where I live: Minnesota. Will self-driving cars still be reliable when the street is covered in snow, so it can't see the lines? Or when it snows so much that the snow sticks to traffic signs making them unreadable? How about stopping at a traffic light when the street is covered in black ice?

You want my trust in self driving cars? Then have several of them drive around here in the winter.

Re:Trust isn't the problem

[ShanghaiBill]

Imagine a self-driving car doing exactly the speed limit in the passing lane

Or look at reality. Tesla's Autopilot and other driving assisting software will exceed the speed limit if the human requests it, and they can do so safely. Why would Waymo do it differently?

Re:Trust isn't the problem

[JohnFen]

That's also an interesting point.

One thing is certain: that these systems will not be as adaptable to the environment as people. (Of course, in the conditions you describe, even people are usually officially discouraged from driving).

So self-driving cars cannot used in all circumstances. I'm guessing that the car itself will often know when it's hit those circumstances. White-outs and the like are easy error conditions to detect.

The real issue will be that your car will just stop working if conditions were to change, potentially stranding you somewhere.

Re:Trust isn't the problem

[burtosis]

But what the hell, let's compare self driving cars that only operate in perfect daytime sunny conditions, mostly on pre-planned routes with light traffic only making right hand turns with freezing rain pileups and rush hour traffic drama. Then declare self driving cars more safe. I haven't seen a single apples to apples comparison of safety where the autonomous cars drive only in the same conditions as humans when measuring safety.

I'm sorry dave...

[PhantomHarlock]

...I can't take you to that destination. The government told me not to.

saying we will cover you in court is a better way

[Joe_Dragon]

saying we will cover you in court is a better way.

be by saying we are liable for civil stuff and if there happens to be a criminal case we will cover your costs + bail if needed.

Re:Less Talk, Have a Safe and Consistent Record

[viperidaenz]

Advertising is a powerful thing. You obviously underestimate it.

It's like saying "Trumps chances of being elected will go out the window as soon as he opens his mouth"

How'd that turn out?

Going to be Interesting when!

[oldgraybeard]

Individuals figure out things like:
- They are mobile billboards for your tagging prowess and skills.
- And don't forget the videos screwing with them, so one can get that 15 minutes of fame online.

Everyone does recall what Phone Booths in urban areas looked like! OOPS right ;) lol I have dated myself ;)

Alphabet - As Trustworthy as a Credit Bureau

[mnemotronic]

Your data, and your lives, are safe with us. Like, totally.

Sincerely, Alphabet and Equifax.

Marketing fail

[RightwingNutjob]

Good marketing falls into one of the following categories:

Problem with X? Use Product Y!

Product Y: Better at X than other products!

And the always-favorite: Product X: Apply directly to the Y!

What they all have in common is getting your name out there to people who may be looking for it, and occassionally telling people about a need they didn't know they had. This could be that, or it could be an airline telling potential customers that it's 10 times less crash-and-burn-y than the competition. Self-driving cars seem like a solution to a non-existent problem for the average person. That's the barrier to cross more than anything else right now.