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Ex-Uber Engineer Claims a Self-Driving Car Drove Him Coast-To-Coast (theguardian.com)
"Anthony Levandowski, the controversial engineer at the heart of a lawsuit between Uber and Waymo, claims to have built an automated car that drove from San Francisco to New York without any human intervention," reports the Guardian. Levandowski told the Guardian that he completed the 3,099-mile journey on October 30th using a modified Toyota Prius, which "used only video cameras, computers and basic digital maps." From the report: Levandowski told the Guardian that, although he was sitting in the driver's seat the entire time, he did not touch the steering wheels or pedals, aside from planned stops to rest and refuel. "If there was nobody in the car, it would have worked," he said. If true, this would be the longest recorded road journey of an autonomous vehicle without a human having to take control. Elon Musk has repeatedly promised, and repeatedly delayed, one of his Tesla cars making a similar journey. A time-lapse video of the drive, released to coincide with the launch of Levandowski's latest startup, Pronto.AI, did not immediately reveal anything to contradict his claim. But Levandowski has little store of trust on which to draw.
This guy is mostly famous for being a big liar and a thief. Not buying it. Also not sure why anyone would care about this.
I still want my flying car!
Then go buy one, they DO exist, although I seriously doubt you can afford to purchase it and keep it airworthy. There have been a number of designs, some actually built and flown. Come to think of it, you might have better luck building your own experimental aircraft/car and it might be something you could actually afford to kill yourself in.
Flying isn't hard under ideal conditions, if I can do it, almost anybody can. However, knowing how to stay out of trouble when conditions are not so nice or when something goes wrong with the aircraft isn't quite so simple. Why do I mention this? Because, as a pilot, I really don't want a bunch of idiots out flying, especially the level of idiot I see on the roads around here. No flying cars for you guys. You people scare me...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Self-driving works the vast majority of the time. How many attempts were made (by him and/or others) that we're not hearing about because they had to be aborted? Just doing it once is not exactly Lewis & Clark territory here.
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Having drive across the USA on probably similar roads, I can tell you that this isn't really a test, even if he did do it.
In that 3000 miles, everyone was going the same direction with multiple lanes for most all of the way. There were no pedestrians, no animals, no left turns, no stop lights, no school buses, no varying speeds in lanes for most of the distance, probably good weather and no random variations. Were there interesting obstacles, I'm sure they'd be pointed out in the video for their points-value.
So is this a real trial, or just PR? I say: PR. Nothing to see here, move along, sort of stuff.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Just because Uber's car had some software disabled that would have prevented collusion with a pedestrian, how does the mean this guy lacks trust?
Are you saying the pedestrian was in on it?
Hop on I-80. Goes coast to coast. Sure, the limits go up and down. Even my lousy TomTom GPS knows what they are. Put your car on cruise, and you can steer only for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Straight stretches across Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and especially parts of Utah and Nevada..... cruise.
I've done stretches of it with a truck and trailer, diesel & TT. Same answer. Cruise. Faster where possible, some braking where not. Cities, merge lanes, pretty easy. Yeah, some occasional movements, always paying attention. Not an obstacle course save for a few grades, curves, and other-driver interference. Comparatively benign compared to The Dan Ryan on a Friday at 6pm, or I-10 on a late Sunday afternoon, etc. There are clearly awful and dangerous places to drive in the US. They're well-known.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
But if you had cruise control and lane assist that were trustworthy and legal to NOT have to pay attention (read a book, browse the net, sleep, be prepared to take over with a 30 second warning) that would be enormously useful, even if it only worked on highways. I hope we are not too far off that. Obviously cars without steering wheels are another thing entirely.
Or he should be prosecuted for reckless endangerment.