Discussion
RE: https://mstdn.science/@MarcAbrahams/117355712313509121
Robotaxis are basically a scam. There are so many ways they can trap you in horrific situations that a human driver could easily extricate from. And they can even kidnap you, as a pair of teens found out.
@PeterLudemann My preference is to not put life and death decisions in the hands of MAGA-controlled Big Tech Billionaires who show all the caring for humanity of malaria-infested mosquitos.
@lauren My preference is to not put life&death decisions about treatment authorization in the hands of billionaire health insurance executives, or food safety in the hands of giant food corporation executives, or airplane safety in the hands of "self certification" Boeing executives, etc etc ... but here we are. By comparison, self-driving cars appear to provide significant benefits compared to their risks and also compared with human drivers (Waymo might "kidnap" passengers at the directive of police but it's not going to assault a woman passenger)
@PeterLudemann No, it only might leave them stranded somewhere with a lunatic trying to break in terrifying her, nobody else around, authorities many minutes or more away. Horrifying. Oh yeah, and who's going to be there to help when something else goes wrong. A minimum wage worker in the Philippines searching for the right option to pick? Nightmare fuel.
@PeterLudemann The point you keep missing -- or perhaps are choosing to ignore -- is that these vehicles can be trivially immobilized, in some cases effectively trapping the riders, in ways a human driver could easily extricate from. The lack of another human in the vehicles and in control to deal with "unusual" situations can be lethal in new and awful ways that we know Google, et al. don't give a damn about anymore.
Install bonfire.cafe
Get the full app experience
@lauren Conversely, human drivers can do some pretty horrific things also (see lawsuits against Uber for assaults) and have a much worse overall driving safety record, anecdotes about self-driving notwithstanding. It's a question of risk trade-offs - which is a common situation (e.g. the benefits of a medication vs the side-effects).