Tesla Robotaxis Go To Florida (theverge.com)
- Reference: 0184567672
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/21/2037254/tesla-robotaxis-go-to-florida
- Source link: https://www.theverge.com/transportation/968624/tesla-robotaxis-orlando-tampa-florida-earnings
> [B]ack in May, Tesla had five unsupervised robotaxis in Dallas, six in Houston, and 29 in Austin. As of today, there are only 17 unsupervised vehicles in Austin, four in Dallas, and zero in Houston, according to the Robotaxi Tracker. By comparison, Waymo is estimated to have over 3,500 fully driverless vehicles in operation across over 10 cities.
>
> Like Waymo, Tesla typically introduces robotaxis to a new city with a safety driver behind the wheel. Unlike Waymo, sometimes Tesla moves that person over to the passenger seat with access to a kill switch should anything go wrong. The company has been inconsistent in how it rolls out its robotaxis to new markets. The numbers go up and down, with zero explanation from the company as to why.
>
> [...] By adding new cities, Tesla is clearly trying to sell investors on the idea that its robotaxi project is growing. But the fluctuating fleet size, inconsistency in supervised vs unsupervised vehicles, and long wait times tell a very different story.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/transportation/968624/tesla-robotaxis-orlando-tampa-florida-earnings
They seem to rely on good weather (Score:2)
Cameras and lidar both struggle in rain and snow. I don't think this technology is going to fully replace humans in transport; there are too many variable that the current tech just cannot touch.
https://www.easyrain.it/robotaxi-weather-challenges-wet-snow/
And don't get me started on AI or ML for making driving decisions...
Re: (Score:1)
Absolutely they are starting in good weather climates but they do have a warning message when there is rain or other bad weather and they won't take you anywhere until it's cleared up. The thing is these cars don't have to perform perfectly, they just need to perform better than a human would, and like a human decide not to drive when the weather is especially bad. None of those decisions are out of reach of AI systems and Tesla's specifically already perform better than the average person in almost any me
Re: They seem to rely on good weather (Score:2)
Where I live, businesses are still open in a snowstorm. Meaning people still need to go to work in one. There's no such thing as deciding not to go.
Re: (Score:1)
Tesla FSD does work in the snow already, they just aren't starting out with automating it in taxi's without a supervisor. There really isn't any task that humans can do that AI won't be able to replicate or improve upon in the very near term - at this point its just how much power and compute does it take. AIs meant to specialize in one specific thing, like driving, are also far more advanced than the generalist LLMs most people chat with. Their energy and power is focused on that very narrow task rather th
Re: (Score:1)
> Cameras and lidar both struggle in rain and snow
As do human eyeballs peering through rain and snow soaked windows. But the advantage here arguably goes to the robot car with its multiple sheltered cameras, some of which, especially on Tesla Robotaxis and Cybertrucks, “self wipe”, heat, or blow air to stay clear. These cars can see in every direction at once with reliably very high detail. Tesla’s self driving demonstrate this directly via a 5X reduction in accidents, as reported by Te
Looking forward... (Score:3)
to all the incoming Florida man stories.
Sell tickets (Score:2)
See what Naked Face-Eating Man can do to the interior of a MechaHitlerMobile before it can get cops to respond.
How long before someone leaves an alligator or python in one?
One is not like the other? (Score:2)
> Like Waymo, Tesla typically introduces robotaxis to a new city with a safety driver behind the wheel. Unlike Waymo, sometimes Tesla moves that person over to the passenger seat with access to a kill switch should anything go wrong. The company has been inconsistent in how it rolls out its robotaxis to new markets. The numbers go up and down, with zero explanation from the company as to why.
Sounds like Tesla is A/B testing their safety driver/person. Maybe the one on the passenger side doesn't actually have to know how to drive, or even have a license, just be able push a button. Which one sounds less expensive? Noting that simply pushing a "kill switch" won't help in an accident avoidance situation...
Not even a player (Score:2)
Tesla is not even a player in the robotaxi industry, they're only mentioned because of Elon Musk. There are already several thousand robotaxis operating in China, and they expect to have half a million on the road there by 2030.
Re: (Score:2)
Had to do a little searching, but found this. [1]https://www.thinkchina.sg/tech... [thinkchina.sg]
Sounds like you are correct. One of the big factors seems to be China's ability to make inexpensive Lidar, 200 bucks. Contrast Google at 7500. And of course tesla with cameras. There is a graph showing just how behind tesla is with their "Number of disengagements/crashes" graph. Tesla is at 100 hours. The worst China one is 1000 hrs and waymo and the 2 best Chinese ones are at 10000 hrs. The article claims 1000 is around human p
[1] https://www.thinkchina.sg/technology/built-chaos-why-chinas-robotaxis-are-streets-ahead
Sadly... (Score:2)
...they were trying together to Oregon...
"Correct" or florida meanings of title? (Score:2)
It could mean "now there's robotaxi service on florida", but as it's florida it could mean "robotaxis went haywire and invaded florida and now are hybridizing with the alligators".
Re:Not sure why they don't do what Google does (Score:4, Interesting)
I liquidated my 401k into money market accounts; crash incoming...
Re: (Score:2)
Didn't you have to pay a shitload of taxes though? There are usually penalties for extracting money out of a 401k. I didn't think there was a way to move them to something like a money market account without incurring those penalties
Re: (Score:2)
401K may have money market as an option. My IRA and SEP both offer a "cash" option which is currently paying around 3.3% I'm probably 90% cash at the moment. I think 401K you are at the mercy of the corp administrator.
Re: (Score:2)
This is peak "I have no idea what I'm talking about" content from your firehose of BS. Why is it that you think you are personally being asked about every question here? Why do you think you need to have an opinion on all of it?
Re: (Score:2)
Having taken Waymos a couple dozen rides so far I am willing to say those things work. If Google was able to build a system to allow someone in the Phillipines to drive like they do they kudos to them for that because you can't tell, it reacts very fast.
If anything I am always a little taken back at how defensive Waymon can act, it will assert itself in situations and driving on the I4 corridor, possibly the worst stretch of highway in America is a scenario where it will need to be on point. Those people
Re: (Score:2)
Google is spending a lot of money right now to make them work. They also have backup centers in the United States. As soon as they think they can transition it to a profitable business all of that goes out the window and we're going to have to live with these things fucking up our freeways.
It's like boiling a frog except the frog is smart enough to jump out of the pot
Re: (Score:2)
I mean in this case the profitable business model is giving safe rides to passengers. I would hope Google can understand the very simple concept of if you can assure that you've created a money printing machine. If riders think they are unsafe it's joever for them or any self driving company. Look at how fast Uber's dreams were dashed.
Re: (Score:2)
> we're going to have to live with these things fucking up our freeways.
Given the choice between:
1. autonomous cars with extensively-trained algorithms, a wide array of sensors, and vehicle-to-vehicle communication; and
2. human-driven cars with all of the drivers' occasional lapses, unpredictable failings, and sometimes reckless choices;
it seems clear to me who is more likely to be "fucking up" our freeways: the ones that have been fucking up freeways ever since we had freeways.
Re:Not sure why they don't do what Google does (Score:4, Interesting)
> Having taken Waymos a couple dozen rides so far I am willing to say those things work. If Google was able to build a system to allow someone in the Phillipines to drive like they do they kudos to them for that because you can't tell, it reacts very fast.
They didn't. The GP is very, very incorrect.
When a remote operator takes control of the vehicle, you'll know it, because it will mean that the vehicle has already been stuck for a minute or so without being able to figure out how to proceed, and will be sitting there for additional minutes while the remote operator looks at camera/LIDAR data and draws a proposed path through the problem area on a map.
It is not physically possible, for any amount of money, to do what the GP is claiming. Sending a signal over a cellular network from the Bay Area to the Philippines and back takes a quarter of a second on average. That's up to a 33% increase in response time compared with a driver in the vehicle. If you tried to fake self-driving with a remote operator in that way, they would crash into things constantly.
Even if the remote operator were in the same city, the latency spikes would still likely cause the cars to crash into things constantly.
LEO satellites also won't work, because these things mostly run in cities, where tall buildings would block the signals, so again, the cars would crash into things constantly.
Maybe if you had a dedicated cellular network running in parallel with the public one on a private frequency band AND dedicated trunk lines to a control center, you might be able to get something that worked most of the time, but at a cost that would be mind-blowing.
Re: (Score:2)
What's wrong with being against fascism?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The MAGAts voted them into office, so fascism is what we're stuck with.
Re: (Score:2)
Antifa? More like Aunt Tifa am I right boyos?
Re: (Score:2)
> driving on the I4 corridor, possibly the worst stretch of highway in America
At least in Florida, I-95 in Jacksonville and Miami is a lot worse. Pretty much the nastiest part of I-4 is by the attractions area and it's really just your typical crawl along and don't rear-end anyone sort of traffic. It's something Tesla's consumer FSD would probably handle just fine.
The main thing that makes that part of I-4 a bit less awful is that you're not traveling through a high density urban area, so aren't a whole lot of on ramps and exits through that area, and most people tend to just stay i
Re: (Score:2)
The technology to pilot a car from the Philippines in traffic and in urban areas among pedestrians and cyclists would be 100x harder to develop than autonomous driving.