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Apparently, People Say 'Thank You' To Self-Driving Pizza Delivery Vehicles (technologyreview.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Last summer, Ford worked with Domino's Pizza on a test in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where it delivered pizza to randomly chosen customers in a self-driving Ford Fusion hybrid. An operator was inside the car, and a regular human-driven car trailed behind, videotaping the drive. Customers had to approach the car and enter a number on a touch screen on the side of the vehicle to get their pizza. Speaking at CES, the annual consumer electronics show, in Las Vegas this week, Jim Farley, Ford's executive vice president, acknowledged that the idea sounds silly, "but we learned so freaking much," he said. Apparently, most people say "thank you" to the car after getting their pizza.
"Thank you" doesn't cost you a dime, there is absolutely no drawback at all whatsoever to say "thank you".
I fail to see the problem.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
This should be a lesson on how important human contact is for people. If it was -13F and a blizzard, they would likely be saying something else.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I talk to my computer at work all the time, but less thank you's and more "come on!" and "are you kidding me??" Point is, people tend to personify inanimate objects. It's part of how we interpret and interact with our surroundings.
The article didn't indicate it was a problem, just that they thought they should react to it somehow (you're welcome!).
I see a lot of potential to mine cute robot voices and mannerisms from movies, like Johnny Five I think would make a good pizza delivery personality. Or that luggage inspection bot from the Star Tours ride at Disney.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Just seems polite.
When true AI emerges, I won't be one of the ones out there claiming they are "just machines."
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
If one of those cars delivered pizza to me, I'd say thank you also. I would assume that the transaction is being monitored by a human somewhere, so why not be polite? I'd want the car to be polite to me as well.
BAH. Obviously the proper response is " I love you ".
I mean, Jesus Christ, this robot is bringing you Pizza.
Also, TIL some terminators play a long game, bringing Mankind down with arteriosclerosis.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
It says there was someone in the car. Perhaps they were thanking the person in the car?
Ok, why is it worth being mentioned?
That's a great question. From TFS:
An operator was inside the car
So of course they said thank you . . . unless the operator wasn't visible (like that prank where the guy diguised himself as a car seat), which probably means they reasoned that someone was listening even though the car was completely empty. In that case I ask: were they right or wrong?
The reporting attempts to imply these customers behaved nonsensically, when all the reported facts show the opposite.
How can evolution, that pits individuals of the species one against another foster anything other than selfishness? The seminal breakthrough came in 1970s and 1980s when it became possible to simulate in a computer model interactions. The well known iterated prisoner's dilemma problem, the tournament of strategies found nice strategies at the correct level of pay off, can create conditions that foster altruism. The most famous and most successful strategy was tit-for-tat (Dont be the first one to be nasty, always be nasty to nasty people and always be nice to nice people, don't be jealous when falling behind in point count, forgive historical slights instantly)
But tit-for-tat is not a evolutionarily stable strategy. Once it takes hold and drives out all the nasty people, it is no different from "always be nice" strategy. Without punishment and reprisals, mutant nasty players gain an advantage. That is what is happening here, in the West people are so used to being nice to one another, they are nice to even machines.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Or put pineapple on it.
During the testing phase, an engineer and a driver will be in the car -- but the windows will be heavily tinted so customers can't see them. And both have been instructed not to interact with people at all.
So with the current facts, it appears absolutely certain that the customers assumed they were talking to (at least) the car's driver (a real human). This looks like a complete non-story.
People applaud at the end of a good movie too, even though nobody who helped make the movie can hear them. (What's more interesting is that I see this behavior in movie theaters, but not when watching at home.)
As a Boy Scout many years ago, we were taught when receiving a bladed object from someone, to say 'Thank you" when and only when we had a firm grip on the object, letting the other person know it was safe to let go. In a similar way, for many Americans, "Thank you" signals the end of an interaction. The people are merely informing the car that they had completed the transaction, received the pizza, and had no more need of it anymore. It just do happens that the car isn't capable of making use of that information, but that is likely a temporary condition.