this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
555 points (96.5% liked)

Technology

59646 readers
2694 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Safe Streets Rebel's protest comes after automatic vehicles were blamed for incidents including crashing into a bus and running over a dog. City officials in June said...

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The interviewed protesters sound a little whacky. Maybe the cars are doing surveillance with the police, but that idea seems far fetched and unrealistic. Maybe I’m wrong.

I agree with more public transportation, bikes, and so forth, but I also agree with self driving cars. I dream of a future in which all cars are driven automatically without human drivers. Humans are very fallible and we all know, in almost every city, how many shitty drivers there are. Autonomous vehicles could fix this.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe the cars are doing surveillance with the police, but that idea seems far fetched and unrealistic

I'm sure that's what people said about Ring, or Facebook messages being used to arrest women for abortions. Why would a company turn down an extra revenue stream (or subpoena)?

[–] damnYouSun -1 points 1 year ago

Facebook messages being used to arrest women for abortions.

That's a misrepresentation of what happened. The police already suspected her, and so they requested the information from Facebook. Facebook didn't voluntarily supply a bunch of data to the police for no reason, and then the police didn't comb through all the data to find this one crime that they otherwise didn't know about.

What is being suggested with the automatic cars is that the police are actively monitoring the surveillance footage looking for criminal activity. They definitely won't be doing that. It's way to much like work.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Cars are incredibly inefficient at transporting people though, like you need a massive highway to transport the amount of people a train can transport, not to mention how much higher maintenance roads are compared to train tracks.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Cars are incredibly inefficient at transporting groups of people long distances

FTFY

I'd love a legit train system to take me to locations across the state or country. But for running errands or local, day-to-day tasks, trains aren't the answer.

[–] tostiman 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Of course! For running errands and local, day-to-day tasks the bicycle is of course the best vehicle :)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When it isn't icy, rainy, or too hot, or you need to transport cargo, or need to be presentable when you arrive, or aren't healthy enough...

Wow, that's a lot of caveats. I still end up biking a decent chunk, and travel with public transport a bit as well (thanks to student rebates), but my car is a frequently used necessity.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Exactly, even if people wanted to not everyone can afford to arrive all sweaty or wet carrying a giant backpack.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Assuming you live in a bike-friendly area. Bad biking infrastructure means you're basically risking your life every time you go out on one.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

I mean, a car wouldn't help in that situation either, so..

[–] tostiman 2 points 1 year ago

Good luck getting through that with any vehicle lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I have taken the tram for whatever I need short distance so far, it's also free and goes from like behind my apartment to pretty much anywhere I would wanna go, including work. If I wanna visit my parents then yea, I take the train but I haven't needed a car in years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Inefficient but versatile. Hardly anyone has the same schedule or needs.

I wouldn't be able to do my job if I didn't have access to a personal vehicle, I have gear and tools I have to transport around town every day.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

If all cars became autonomous there would no longer be traffic, it'd be similar to train cars in that they are linked together with no disruption in progress due to other cars/drivers.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

Companies like this will sell their data to anyone willing to pay.