LordFerret

That's ok, we're not doing rocket science here. It's total area. As a child growing up there, occupancy was 4 people... 5 if you count my dog, which holds greater truth than you'd believe. Diverting back on topic, Uber... I was reading a few sources last night which stated Uber's AI cars were below performance, that the AI's performance was 'struggling', and that Uber knew this... but apparently did nothing about it, nor did they openly admit it to anyone. At least that's what I'm getting from what I'm reading. I'm sure today's news will hold and cover more of this, if not by Monday. Also the notion of Toyota taking up Uber's partnering offer(?) of putting AI in its cars. I have to dig more on that one. If Toyota does run with such a thing, I know they have the ability and facilities to do it right... which just might save Uber's ass.

I am thy LordFerret... obey and send treats to me. Sorry, couldn't resist.

I'm curious, do you consider 1505sq/ft (single level) a mansion? I don't. I find it comfortable... although I'll always wish for more storage space for, you know, junk. lol Give me a few examples of those reasons, if you would please.

This touches on politics, so I can't really reply to that first sentence. I'll just say that the power of the vote and some self-reliance and common sense goes a long long way. This unfortunately is true. I'm tempted to use it as an example of the failure multiculturalism is. How does one move to Japan and become Japanese? Germany / German? Italy / Italian? Etcetera. Yes, we're a melting pot here, yet left alone without the interference and insistence of government and various political ideologies, people of like kind just naturally gravitate together... as if there's something wrong with that. I'll disagree. I've seen and known many who have lifted themselves up and out, and others who've been lifted up and out, and still others who - no matter what is done for them - will never have the ability to get up and out. There are so many 'personal' variables involved here, it's a whole topic of its own, and likely not permitted on these forums.

@tater LOL! You were reading my mind.

Oh really? As if we don't have such already? Clearly you don't know of what you speak. Allow me to introduce you to the cesspool of public housing that you'll find along the east cost of the US, the major cities... I hate to bash these folks, but public housing of this type is a nightmare (anything government run is a nightmare). It's way too overcrowded. Most of the projects I've ever seen are a shambles and unkempt, dirty and filthy with litter of every description... and the crime rate is simply through the roof. Not my style of living. No thank you.

I'm shuddering looking at those images of 'buses'. One collision or better yet roll-over..... I'm not going to get into it, but I can tell you that here in the US, anywhere in the US, that is a flat-out NO. I don't know the situation in all 50 of our states, but I can tell you that in NJ - the car is king. Good luck getting people to give up their cars... I don't care how great Uber becomes. And I agree with @tater, there are many places here where mass transit just isn't possible and a car is a requirement. And speaking of tunnels, I'm to understand the proposed tunnel between Hoboken(?) and Manhattan NYC has been approved. The previous governor turned it down... but the new one says it's a go. I don't know where the hell they're expecting to get the money for it. I don't know where NYC is going to park all the additional cars. Not my problem anymore, I'm outta there.

One might consider this... ...as overkill and a waste..... until you run into this... ...which is a prime example of summer traffic looking to head to the beach. And then there's the GSP (Garden State Parkway)... in the summer, picture 6 (six!) lanes of the above.

Here in NJ alone, I could take you places where you'd change your mind and view about that in 5 minutes. I give you for example, the city of Newark, where carjacking was invented, a city which is touted as the carjacking capitol of the world. Such places are but one reason folks are armed... but we'll not get into that. Trains. We've got trains here. I used to commute by train years back. I rode trains from northern NJ where I lived down to Hoboken, the hub, where I'd then ride the Path into NYC and the WTC. I still ride the train from time to time with M'Lady, a novelty during the summer, the North Jersey Coast Line. During the height of the summer season, with all the 'tourists' and their cars, the coast is total gridlock... so the train can be fun as it runs through the center of most all the coastal towns. Convenient for attending various summer events. Bring a good book. Hope you find a seat. Trains are expensive, my monthly commuter rail ticket was expensive, and all Path has ever done is gone up in price. Trains are also noisy. They're also dirty and a serious health hazard (the asbestos brake linings)... and how it is that environmentalists never jumped on that bandwagon, I'll never know. And, @Kerbart, being you know the 'Elmwood Park' area, you should also know that - for example - the town of Garfield has approximately 1 rail death per year (for like the last 15-20 years running). And Garfield isn't alone. Nearly every single town alone that northern NJ line (which splits into 2 lines up near Hawthorn and Glenrock area, before merging back to 1) on up through Mahwah/Suffrn, straight on out to Port Jervis, all are faced with these same issues... pollution, noise, expense. And, fencing or walling-in the rail paths is not practical in these areas; Access is still gained at crossings.

The missed by Lidar issue will compound this, for sure. Not good for Uber. I kind of figured your friend would take that position. Others I know personally here, all in various levels of law practice, have stated pretty much the same. Not good for Uber. I was equally surprised to find the driver was female, I thought it a male... insert rude comment about appearances here. I'd also heard (but did not want to bring up) about their monitor drivers being lax in their duties. I'm not really surprised by this, looking at the caliber of employee involved. I'm not sure how this case will play out. I can imagine Uber will use it's financial might to try and worm its way out of as much liability as possible. For sure, what does happen next will likely set precedent... this is just the beginning. I really have to jump on this. THIS is exactly the problem with nearly all software development today... namely, it doesn't happen. You can use KSP as an example, you can use any Microsoft product as example, you can use just about anything there is out there save for maybe military / financial / medical mission critical systems... and that is - testing and debugging and trials are thrown onto the unsuspecting unknowing public. It's as bad as or worse than the pharmaceutical industry... of which I spent over 12 years in as a consultant**. People simply do not shoot for 100% anymore, not like was done back in the early days (before there was a PC). Today, stuff gets shoved out the door at 75% to 80%, and the rest is worried about in light of 'updates'... the Microsoft school of product development. If Uber, or any of them, were to do it right, they'd have a simulation village/town, complete with every manner of road and highway, with a very dedicated team of researchers and volunteers setting up and playing out all manner of real life scenarios while putting their AI cars through the paces. To the best of my knowledge, no such place exists in the Uber design / manufacturing arena. ** Alpha, Beta, and Clinical Trials. Today, it's all a 'fast track' through FDA approval (here in the USA anyway, used to be 12 years, now, I think it's 7 years). Next time you get yourself a prescription drug, read the PDR insert and make note about the statistics pertaining to Clinical Trials and Post Clinical Trials... check the numbers and see just how many have been tested. You're the testee. Back on topic... While not entirely pertaining to AI-driven cars, Uber and Lyft (and other's I'm sure) are not without their fair share of issues. We touched briefly on this previously (@YNM), the idea of thugs purposely stopping AI cars to rob the passengers. This is something we're going to see more and more of, not to mention the potential of hacked / stolen (car-jacked) AI vehicles. http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents

Good job. Congratulations!

Everything in existence is describable as a waveform. Yay Fourier. That's a very interesting concept which I've heard before, and seen many a video about on YouTube. It makes a compelling argument.

A manual typewriter and some whiteout. Personally, I think that's the only legitimate complaint one can have in life. Don't worry, soon enough even self-checkout will be history. Next big wave coming is super teeny-tiny little RFID chips embedded in everything (food included), where you'll just fill your cart/wagon with goods and roll it out the door. Everything will be instantly scanned, including you, as you'll be implanted with RFID as well.

It's trying to tell you something, it's something they typically do when they don't feel well. A Vet visit is in order, first step, to rule out medical issues. Happy 1st.

We got whacked with over a foot of snow last night, a wet and heavy snow. A lot of trees down (mother nature's method of trimming out the weak), and a lot of towns in our county without power. My power went out for 5 hours, but it was due to crews trying to fix line problems caused by downed trees. I'll say one thing... it was picture-postcard beautiful this morning when I woke up.

Having read though that, I understand the point. It's not so far from the laws defined here (NJ). However, here is the issue at hand... This is not what happened. Clearly the woman was more than half-way across the road when the Uber happened upon her. In any state in the union, it should be (and I think ultimately will be) on the Uber. I will imagine that most states have a similar set of laws. Still, I can't see any of them putting more weight on 'rights' to the vehicle over the pedestrian. I'm tempted to draw a parallel here of boats out on the water, powered verses sails... if you know what I mean. While this might be true, it's my understanding that the liability is still placed on the car/driver. An examination of insurance payouts would emphasize that, and charges on record against the drivers. I don't recall anywhere that a pedestrian struck having their insurance to pay out for damages their body did to the vehicle, or face charges for same. I would imagine that if such has happened, the situation would be highly unusual - and probably an interesting read.

That's an excellent point! Scenario: You're in an Uber AI driven car. In the opposing lane (or even right in front of you), a horrendous accident occurs... bodies and parts flying everywhere. Will the Uber car stop so that you can run over and lend aid? No. The Uber will continue on (which will save you from becoming identified as a witness, forcing you to appear at the jury trial).

What that you?!?

Hey... we're also the nation with the largest debt in the world, and can't afford anything... and I'll put the blame for that on an inordinate amount of 'social justice'. You also need to drum into them that they cannot ever trust blogs either!

Again... don't base your observation on this video. The camera is poor quality and is not a fair representation of what your eye would actually see were you there. But, for the record, there are laws defining headlight illumination range and angles.

You keep putting this on the woman. This is on Uber. In the end, the family of this woman are going to be rich... very rich.

Our eyes are better than that, able to see into those shadows to a degree. Don't rely too heavily on this video, the quality is poor and it's a bad example to show someone what night driving looks like in reality. This does not matter. Rule one driving across this nation last time I checked, was "pedestrians have the right of way". I'm finding it rather rude of you to insinuate the woman had a 'problem', but so be it, your opinion. Mine is that Uber has a problem. In a nutshell, yes. These days the only excuse / exception I find has a political agenda behind it - then it matters. This applies to the likes of 'rights' movements, where plenty is said atop a soap box, but yet in reality where the abuses really occur (no matter where in this world) the voices are silent and all manner of stuff is tolerated. I don't want to get too deeply into that, because it's very political... and as we all know, that's a big No-No here. That's my point, stated above. It is misleading. And yes, other detection systems should be in use... auto-focus cameras would have seen her perhaps, no? Mathematics & sentience... DNA? Hummm. YOU, your entity, soul, what-have you, that energy flowing about in your head that is you and your thoughts, is not DNA. That DNA is just part of the physical construct which houses. That energy flowing about - that's the manifestation of the Mathematics I'm talking about... or, vice versa. An expensive proposition. Most folks don't liken to 'close down' anything... we've got this 'freedom' thing going on here. Anyone who would use Java to write such mission critical software, is an idiot. And that reality is; As I said before, the pedestrian has the right of way in all circumstances. That is the law. I'm going to throw a new factor here into this discussion. We'll use Uber as a perfect example. The day is coming, when thugs will walk out into the roadway causing an Uber AI-driven car to stop, and then rob the inhabitants. What will Uber do?

I thought the suicide idea was ruled out already? That's the gist I got from the news. I don't care who says so, you can't make a claim like that. The cop wasn't there, the monitor driver was playing with his/her phone, only the woman knows the deal - and she's gone. If you watch enough car crash videos on YouTube (which I do), you'll see enough examples of last second evasions you'd not think possible... like kids running out from between cars. My bet is that this didn't have to happen... speaking strictly on the human side... on the machine side, meh. If you're truly paying attention, you're watching down the road and not just in front of you, such defensive driving can make a big difference. I don't need to be telling you this however, because I know you already know. @DAL59 That last comic is disturbing. It's also what's indicative of what is today and how people today view such things... even relating to their own personal safety! Scary!

I didn't find the article (because I didn't go back and look hard)... but, I did find the announcement from the other day about the truck idea being put on hold... and it was Uber. https://www.trucks.com/2018/03/20/uber-self-driving-truck-autonomous-fatality/