
Self-driving car without “murder pedestrian” mode will never move in Manhattan - telotortium
https://twitter.com/philritz1/status/1200902496950128641
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the-rc
Does the poster actually live in NYC? It's one of the few places where drivers
are actually already intimidated by pedestrians. As soon as car traffic at a
crossing slows down, jaywalkers take over despite their red light and pass
through vehicles, especially in Midtown, where we outnumber drivers.

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neumann
Pretty sure that is the point OP is making.

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jascii
1\. Self driving cars do not change the laws of physics. I would not walk in
front of a car (self driving or otherwise) if I didn't reasonably expect it to
stop in time and driver response time is only a small part of that.

2\. Self driving cars are likely programmed to honor pedestrian crossings(in
my experience few drivers do). This would inspire me to actually use said
pedestrian crossings, helping regulate pedestrian traffic.

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MiracleUser
what about when the light changes but the crowd is still moving across the
intersection and the only thing that stops them is oncoming traffic inching
closer and smacking the horn?

self-driving cars will need to at least be able to rev their engine and blast
the horn when it detects a green light and people in the way

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jascii
what about when the light changes but cars keep turning right and you still
can't cross till you jump in front.. I think we can come up with a million
examples back and forth without getting anywhere.

In the end, moving through congested areas is a pain for everyone involved.
Besides, most drivers are pedestrians at times and most pedestrians drive..
Self-driving cars may shift the status quo somewhat but we all have places to
go and traffic will flow somehow. Be it slower than time on a Friday
afternoon..

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MiracleUser
i think we agree. the city does not make any sense for self driving cars right
now. But they will inevitably interact well before full integration due to
popularity increasing outside of the cities. status quo will adapt a bit im
sure, but throughput will probably be artificially lowered by pedestrian abuse
until people start getting tickets.. which will probably happen

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smt88
SDCs don’t have to work everywhere to be useful and/or revolutionary.
Manhattan currently has many other obstacles, like weather, poor signage, and
reckless drivers.

This person makes a good point, but it’s a bit like saying that colonizing
Pluto will be impossible when everyone else is talking about colonizing Mars
for now.

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zelon88
Turn one of the windshield sprayers on the hood around backwards. So it sprays
in front of the car.

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salawat
I love how the first suggestion in the Twitter thread is facial recognition
for "repeat offenders" (people who walk in front of a car).

How quickly we seek to embrace the Orwellian. Or maybe they just like seeing
people in masks?

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smabie
Or maybe they are joking?

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jakeogh
It's a rather obvious outcome.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8195712](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8195712)

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Havoc
If proximities are that closer then surely the answer is that it should be a
pedestrian friendly zone.

I get what he’s trying to convey and mechanically he’s not wrong. But seems
like a fundamentally wrong transport paradigm

