Coming to ‘The City:’ ‘Robotaxis’

benfell

Self-driving cars


Fig. 1. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

With ‘robotaxis’ arriving in San Francisco,[1] it’s easier to see why some folks buy into the hype around self-driving cars. But there’s a real dissonance as both Uber and Lyft sold off their self-driving car development units because they couldn’t sustain the long-term development that would be required,[2] Argo AI has gone out of business because it wasn’t succeeding quickly enough,[3] Tesla’s self-driving hype has drawn the very wrong kind of attention from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles[4] and a criminal investigation at the federal level,[5] and investors get antsy.[6]

I don’t know quite how to resolve that dissonance. My earlier thought was that

[c]omputers can’t deal with ambiguity quite the way humans can. What backers have to be counting on is that artificial intelligence idiocy[7] in combination with truly ubiquitous lightning-fast data networks (even most 5G, at least as I experience it, won’t do) and lightning-fast reaction times can substitute. Maybe it can, but the longer this drags on, the more I suspect that some way, somehow, as a practical matter, it can’t, at least for the foreseeable future.[8]

I think that’s still true. Kevin Truong’s experience riding in a San Francisco ‘robotaxi’ included a truck double-parking in front of it, and robotaxi taking quite some time, perhaps with a remote operator’s assistance, to figure out that it should drive around the truck. Truong also observes that these cars drive, as some have put it, “like your grandmother,” with a creeping caution far beyond that of any experienced human driver,[9] which probably means not like your grandmother.

So a few issues appear here. First, there’s the ambiguity problem I thought about earlier.[10] Second, I think it’s true that we’re holding self-driving technology to a higher standard than we do humans, which may be desirable but is also an unfair rap on the technology. Third, I wonder about capacity: What is a computer on board the vehicle capable of doing? How much help can it really get from presumably more massive remote systems and human operators over often unreliable mobile data connections? What can those remote systems really accomplish? In short, even if you solve the not inconsiderable software side of this problem, can the hardware and network connections handle it?

Kevin Truong, “Cruise’s Robotaxi Revolution Is Hitting the Gas in San Francisco,” San Francisco Standard, December 1, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/cruises-robotaxi-revolution-is-hitting-the-gas-in-san-francisco/

Fossil fuels

Northeast (especially Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)


Fig. 2. Photographer unknown, circa 1940-1950, from Smoke Control Lantern Slide Collection, ca. 1940-1950, AIS.1978.22, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh., via Bloomberg,[11] fair use.

This should sound familiar:

“This history of paying fines instead of reducing emission violations indicates a willingness of U.S. Steel to operate the Clairton Coke Works in a ‘pay to pollute’ relationship with [Allegheny County Health Department],” Matthew Mehalik, Breathe Project executive director, said in the news release.[12]

Of course, it’s the nearby residents who pay a higher price.[13]

Maddie Aiken, “U.S. Steel hit with $458K fine for air pollution violations,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 3, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/u-s-steel-hit-with-458k-fine-for-air-pollution-violations/

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 3. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[14] fair use.

Reuters, “Twitter CEO Musk says user signups at all-time high, touts features of ‘everything app,’” November 27, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-ceo-musk-says-user-signups-all-time-high-touts-features-everything-app-2022-11-27/

Philip Bump, “Hey, Elon Musk? Twitter polls are not the ‘voice of the people,’” Washington Post, November 28, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/28/hey-elon-musk-twitter-polls-are-not-voice-people/

David Frum, “It’s apparently pro free speech when Elon Musk charges you $8 for access to his platform, but anti free speech if Apple charges him $2 for access to theirs,” Twitter, November 28, 2022, https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1597332772687085569

Sarah E. Needleman and Tim Higgins, “Elon Musk Claims Apple Is Threatening to Remove Twitter From App Store,” Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-attacks-apple-tim-cook-over-advertising-and-censorship-11669662024

Sheila Dang and Katie Paul, “Twitter not safer under Elon Musk, says former head of trust and safety,” Reuters, November 29, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-not-safer-under-elon-musk-says-former-head-trust-safety-conference-2022-11-29/

Robert Mackey and Micah Lee, “Left-Wing Voices Are Silenced on Twitter as Far-Right Trolls Advise Elon Musk,” Intercept, November 29, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/

Reuters, “Twitter rolls back COVID misinformation policy,” November 29, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-rolls-back-covid-misinformation-policy-2022-11-29/

Naomi Nix, “Twitter needs Apple more than Apple needs Twitter,” Washington Post, November 30, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/30/apple-musk-tim-cook/

Patience Haggin, “Twitter Offers Advertisers Generous Incentives After Many Marketers Left Platform,” Wall Street Journal, December 1, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-offers-advertisers-generous-incentives-after-many-marketers-left-platform-11669922354

Newley Purnell, “Kanye West Suspended From Twitter After Swastika Tweet,” Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/musks-twitter-suspends-kanye-wests-account-after-swastika-tweet-11669971389

David French, “Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson Don’t Understand the First Amendment,” Atlantic, December 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/elon-musk-and-tucker-carlson-dont-understand-the-first-amendment/672352/

Joseph Menn, “Surging Twitter antisemitism unites fringe, encourages violence, officials say,” Washington Post, December 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/03/twitter-antisemitism-violence-jan-6/

  1. [1]Kevin Truong, “Cruise’s Robotaxi Revolution Is Hitting the Gas in San Francisco,” San Francisco Standard, December 1, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/cruises-robotaxi-revolution-is-hitting-the-gas-in-san-francisco/↩
  2. [2]Igor Bonifacic, “Lyft is selling its self-driving unit to Toyota for $550 million,” Engadget, April 26, 2021, https://www.engadget.com/lyft-sellss-level-5-self-driving-toyota-woven-planet-204353240.html; Heather Somerville, “Uber Sells Self-Driving-Car Unit to Autonomous-Driving Startup,” Wall Street Journal, December 7, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-sells-self-driving-car-unit-to-autonomous-driving-startup-11607380167↩
  3. [3]Ryan Deto, “Argo AI, a Pittsburgh driverless car pioneer, goes out of business,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 26, 2022, https://triblive.com/business/technology/ford-cuts-investment-in-autonomous-vehicle-unit-posts-loss/; Kirsten Korosec, “Ford, VW-backed Argo AI is shutting down,” TechCrunch, October 26, 2022, https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/26/ford-vw-backed-argo-ai-is-shutting-down/↩
  4. [4]Russ Mitchell, “California DMV accuses Tesla of falsely advertising Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features,” Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-08-05/dmv-false-advertising-tesla↩
  5. [5]Christiaan Hetzner, “Tesla may have hidden a federal criminal investigation into its self-driving tech from shareholders,” Fortune, October 27, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/10/27/tesla-autopilot-elon-musk-federal-criminal-investigation-justice-department/↩
  6. [6]Tim Higgins, “Slow Self-Driving Car Progress Tests Investors’ Patience,” Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-are-losing-patience-with-slow-pace-of-driverless-cars-11669576382↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “Our new Satan: artificial idiocy and big data mining,” Not Housebroken, April 5, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/01/13/our-new-satan-artificial-idiocy-and-big-data-mining/↩
  8. [8]David Benfell, “‘The bird is freed’ and may now crash,” Irregular Bullshit, October 28, 2022, https://disunitedstates.com/2022/10/28/the-bird-is-freed-and-may-now-crash/↩
  9. [9]Kevin Truong, “Cruise’s Robotaxi Revolution Is Hitting the Gas in San Francisco,” San Francisco Standard, December 1, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/cruises-robotaxi-revolution-is-hitting-the-gas-in-san-francisco/↩
  10. [10]David Benfell, “Our new Satan: artificial idiocy and big data mining,” Not Housebroken, April 5, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/01/13/our-new-satan-artificial-idiocy-and-big-data-mining/↩
  11. [11]Mark Byrnes, “What Pittsburgh Looked Like When It Decided It Had a Pollution Problem,” Bloomberg, June 5, 2012, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-06-05/what-pittsburgh-looked-like-when-it-decided-it-had-a-pollution-problem↩
  12. [12]Maddie Aiken, “U.S. Steel hit with $458K fine for air pollution violations,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 3, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/u-s-steel-hit-with-458k-fine-for-air-pollution-violations/↩
  13. [13]Jessi Quinn Alperin, “Clairton, PA, wants to be clear: Residents demand accountability from U.S. Steel,” Environmental Health News, May 13, 2019, https://www.ehn.org/clairton-coke-works-air-pollution-2636784943.html; KDKA-TV, “‘It’s Making Clairton Sick’: Poor Air Quality Impacting Clairton, Liberty Areas,” December 23, 2019, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/12/23/air-quality-impacting-clairton-liberty-areas/↩
  14. [14]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩

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