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Waymo Self-driving Cars Are Having Problems Turning Around Corners (siliconangle.com)
Alphabet's Waymo has long been regarded as the leader in autonomous vehicle development and technology, but all might not be as well as it seems at the company, according to a report published Tuesday. From a report: The Information quoted a number of unnamed Waymo insiders who claim the vehicles being used in the Arizona ride-hailing test have numerous problems. The test, which launched in November, is meant to be converted to a full commercial service later this year. The report claimed that the autonomous Chrysler Pacifica struggles to handle a number of driving tasks and even goes as far as annoying human drivers around them. Top among the problems is an apparent issue with turning left. "The Waymo vans have trouble with many unprotected left turns and with merging into heavy traffic in the Phoenix area, especially on highways," the report noted. "Sometimes, the vans don't understand basic road features, such as metered red and green lights that regulate the pace of cars merging onto freeways." If having problems turning left isn't bad enough, they also apparently on occasion have problems turning right. One woman claimed that she almost hit a Waymo vehicle as it suddenly stopped while trying to make a right turn.
When I was in high school, my sister had a friend who was deathly afraid of turning left from one busy street to another. She just didn't get the whole, "inch out until the light turns yellow, and you're sure oncoming traffic is gonna stop, and then complete your turn" thing. So, swear to god, she used to make three right hand turns instead. She drover her father's old '70 Buick Electra 225 4-door and that thing was like an aircraft carrier. But it had the first electric seats I ever saw and had the bucket seats instead of a bench in the front, which I though was cool.
In summary, as long as you can make a sufficient number of right-hand turns, you can get away without hanging a Louie.
You are welcome on my lawn.
OK ... So we have several problems
First the Waymo software is likely a bit buggy. No surprise there. It'll take several years to work through that Wait til they encounter some of the blinking red and yellow arrows recently installed on traffic signals around here. I don't have the slightest idea what they really mean. Neither does anyone else.. Neither, I'll bet, will Waymo. On top of which at some times on some days, the sensors trying to read the signals will be looking directly into the sun.
Second, the Waymo cars try to drive safely and legally. Whereas human drivers generally try to drive as quickly as possible without being delayed by accidents or police traffic stops.
Third, I expect, is that autonomous vehicles in general are likely going to have trouble with some forms of bad weather -- especially heavy snow which humans who like to stay out o0f ditches handle by driving quite slowly and keeping moving. This is likely not going to be apparent in testing in Sunnyvale or Phoenix.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
It is not going to happen on regular roads as we know them. Instead some big corporation is going to build a new city (possibly around a new campus) where regular cars will be banned and all trafic will be autonomous and roads will be smart as well with sensors, broadcasts, and what not. It will be so much simpler (for the AI) and so much more convenient for the humans. And once the benefits are obvious, other cities will follow suit. Building a city from scratch was Walt Disney's dream btw.
”One woman claimed that she almost hit a Waymo vehicle as it suddenly stopped while trying to make a right turn.”
If you almost hit someone because they stopped suddenly... that’s on you, not the other driver.
Don’t drive like an idiot.
#DeleteChrome
I'm not an ambi-turner. It's a problem I had since I was a baby. I can't turn left.
I'd like to hear Waymo's side of the story as I could imagine that the vehicle may have stopped during a right turn because it detected a hazard that was real (maybe a child running towards the road) or not real (paperbag flying towards the road). I also find the wording "the vans don't understand basic road features, such as metered red and green lights that regulate the pace of cars merging onto freeways" strange. Surely metered lights are not a basic road feature but something quite rare. I'm not saying that Waymo should not be able to handle those (surely they should!) but it does not seem to be a major failure either.
Considering Waymo vehicles can't make a turn without possibly causing an accident what are they up to now?
You can't cause an accident by stopping in the middle of a turn at an intersection. You can, however, cause an accident by following too closely. People coming to an abrupt stop should be an expected action. An animal or a human could run out in front of their car, or a bag could just blow out in front of them too quickly for them to see what it is. Something could fall off of the car in front of them.
I don't want to let Waymo off the hook here completely, it's still ridiculous behavior. But blaming them for a collision with someone behind them is even more ridiculous if their vehicle isn't in reverse at the time. And it's still more ridiculous when no collision in fact occurred.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The onus is on Waymo to drive in a predictable fashion here.
No, it really isn't. Unless Waymo is trying to cause a collision, the onus is on the following driver to watch out for irrational behavior. Humans are often irrational. Often, when following one driver, I see them do literally a dozen different irrational things in the space of a couple of blocks. They speed up, they slow down, they drift lanes, they start a lane change and then stop it for no reason... If I assumed they would be driving rationally and predictably, I would hit them. I don't, so I don't. The law is quite clear that if I run up their ass, I'm at fault.
Is the driver that is following too closely at fault in a specific accident? Sure. But should Waymo identify this as a factor in proper defensive driving and have their cars do it as well? Absolutely.
Yes, of course they should. And they will, because unnecessary stops are undesirable for a variety of reasons. What I take objection to is all the people who want to let the following driver off the hook because the Waymo car shouldn't have stopped. Human drivers do things they aren't supposed to do all damned day, and the rest of us are expected to account for that. Why would other drivers' inattention or poor practice suddenly become acceptable because they are behind an AV?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"