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Robotaxis could also be a lot better, safer drivers than most people — perhaps — however there’s little question that there are nonetheless a wide range of edge instances the place people would deal with a state of affairs higher, and there most likely all the time shall be. The newest instance is a “humorous” one (on this case), however gives warnings that Waymo ought to take severely and attempt to tackle.
At an intersection wherein there have been a number of police automobiles and one suspect, the entire police automobiles had been on the other aspect of the intersection from the place the Waymo was approaching, however the suspect was laying on the bottom on the road to the left, along with his automobile there and the door open. Police had their weapons aimed on the suspect on the bottom. A human, just like the one filming under, would know to not drive proper up subsequent to the suspect, however the Waymo didn’t have that sort of frequent sense. It turned left and drove slowly proper previous the man laying on the bottom.
You’ll be able to NBC Information protection of the occasion and different issues within the YouTube video straight under, or you may watch the unique video on Instagram under that, however word the audio makes it a NSFW watch.
This isn’t the primary time a Waymo has pushed right into a police scene. I recall an analogous story a few years in the past. It appears the corporate must do a greater job of programming its autos to keep away from police automobiles as a lot as attainable. That stated … what if the police automobile is making an attempt to tug it over? Hmm…. These are a few of the odd edge instances the corporate nonetheless has to determine.
On an analogous word…
A pair months again, a good friend of mine despatched alongside the video above of a Waymo automobile driving throughout a golf course. I used to be ready for more information on how this occurred, however nothing actually got here out about it. The account that posted this later responded to somebody, “Sadly, we’ve discovered that the automobile was purported to be driving onto a soccer discipline and fully missed the mark.” I’m nonetheless a bit confused about how this occurred, however there’s grass parking at many huge sporting complexes, so I suppose I might think about a robotaxi driving into what it thought was a grass parking space … and ending up on a golf course? I don’t know. It’s nonetheless a little bit of a thriller, but it surely’s received to be one of many funniest Waymo movies I’ve seen. I ponder how lengthy it took for the automobile to discover a street once more.
To be trustworthy, you might think about a human driver who wasn’t paying shut consideration or was flustered by all of the police autos making the error within the prime video above, however I there’s there’s no approach somebody would find yourself driving throughout a gold course like that Waymo except it was a part of a film. (Cue folks sending me clips of people driving throughout golf programs drunk or excessive….)
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