with reduced autonomy
I think the tech industry (specifically silicon valley) suffers from an industry-wide Dunning-Kruger effect - and I think its dawning on people now that we are close to 10 years down the line on autonomous vehicles.
"self-driving" is orders of magnitude more difficult than they understand....I mean wouldn't we first have things like self-driving trains or airplanes? Both of those are much simpler than the chaos of cars on roads....
reply
good point, i do wonder why many trains still have conductors today. it seems like that is the easiest “self-driving” problem to solve.
reply
I think we are far more likely to see the "Self Checkout Cashier" model for trains / planes / cars. That is like Walmart has....1 human cashier overseeing 10 self-checkout kiosk....will be the same: One human driver remote-control driving 4 different trucks each with AI assist.
Or conversely maybe the model becomes: AI assist driving with lower-qualified driver behind wheel who can press a big red STOP button if things go awry.
reply
interesting, i think the supervisory role is probably most relevant for trains. wouldn’t that still be super difficult for one person to monitor 4 planes/cars at the same time?
the benefit with trains is that there aren’t many external environmental variables to consider.
reply
Well I think it could be arranged so out of the 4 trucks, only 1 could require active supervision at a time. Like 2 could be going down empty interstate, 1 is being unloaded/loaded somewhere, and 1 with active remote driver in city.
Also even if the truck needed to pull over on side of road for 20 mins until the human could take control, that would still probably be a big win compared to labor cost of 4 humans.
But yeah, trains seem like the slam dunk (but I don't know anything about the complexity of driving trains)
reply
What's at the core of apple's car?
reply
20 sats \ 4 replies \ @kr OP 24 Jan
not sure what you mean by “core” here. i suspect Apple will work closely with select suppliers to build the Apple Car, though at scale an Apple Car Factory seems much more efficient.
reply
They will have already issued a seed round for funds, let's see what the turnover is like.
The only thing they'll struggle with is installing windows
reply
20 sats \ 2 replies \ @kr OP 24 Jan
apple raised a seed round? doesn’t sounds right to me
reply
32 sats \ 1 reply \ @okpj 24 Jan
I think they were making puns
reply
😂
reply
Given that Tesla has made cars since 2008 and they still don't understand how to do it properly, I imagine it's going to be tough for Apple to actually compete in this market, although they do have the advantage of not having Elon Musk as their CEO.
reply
What makes you think Tesla doesn’t understand how to make cars properly?
Their profit margins (largest in the auto industry), growing sales, and $700 billion market cap seem to suggest otherwise…
reply
The terrible build quality.
reply
11 sats \ 8 replies \ @kr OP 24 Jan
what makes it terrible?
surely their customers wouldn’t continue to buy vehicles for 15 years straight if their build quality was truly terrible, right?
reply
They don't know how to align panels properly, or paint them properly, or design features like door poppers that don't end up punching holes through the doors, etc. Tesla build quality is worse than anything US automakers were building in the 2000's when their cars sucked so bad that the government bailed them out.
They also don't know how to service their own vehicles, especially in a manner that allows customers to get their vehicles fixed promptly for a reasonable price.
surely their customers wouldn’t continue to buy vehicles for 15 years straight if their build quality was truly terrible, right?
Tesla has a lot of fanboys. If you mention any of these obvious, persistent flaws, they act like you're making up facts. They actively deny them. Delusion is a powerful drug.
reply
11 sats \ 6 replies \ @kr OP 24 Jan
i hear you, but i still don’t understand why these tesla fans continue buying these cars if they are as bad as you claim.
perhaps there are other features that compensate for the build quality, causing people to continue buying Teslas at an increasing rate?
reply
Possibly, but my guess is that it's mostly hype, ignorance, active resistance to facts they don't like, Stockholm syndrome, and/or mindless adoption of new technology with zero regard for potential negative consequences.
For instance, I think you have a screw loose if you trust a Tesla enough to park it inside your own garage, especially if your garage is attached to the house you sleep in and you regularly charge the vehicle overnight. But many people seemingly have no problem doing exactly that.
reply
11 sats \ 4 replies \ @kr OP 24 Jan
Possibly, but my guess is that it's mostly hype, ignorance, active resistance to facts they don't like, Stockholm syndrome, and/or mindless adoption of new technology with zero regard for potential negative consequences.
have you taken one for a test drive before? might be worth trying to get a full understanding of why tesla proponents continue to buy them
i suspect apple will find a way to make their car meaningfully different from the existing EVs on the market.
at first, it seemed like they’d try and do this via driverless tech, but this article claims they’re now pulling back on the driverless front a bit.
if not driverless tech, in what ways might this upcoming car differ from the Tesla/Polestar/Porsche/Ford EVs that exist today?
reply