
Free robot lawyer has a 64% success rate - ollysmit
http://www.thememo.com/2016/06/30/parking-fine-robot-lawyer-overturn-free-has-a-64-success-rate/
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vincent_s
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11138419](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11138419)

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teh_klev
Perhaps more councils should follow my local council's approach. You get the
first 15 minutes free so you can "click and collect":

 _" Perth is the first city to recognise the 'click and collect'[0] culture
and has introduced a 15 minute free parking policy. This only applies to
Council-run car parks and on-street parking spaces. A valid ticket must be
displayed and can be acquired free of charge by pressing the button on the
parking machine."_ [1]

Then after that they don't gouge you too much when you do have to pay. Their
parking attendants aren't too bad either so if you're two or three minutes
late they don't immediately slap on a ticket (unless you're doing something
idiotic like parking in a bus stop or abusing disabled spaces).

[0]: "Click and collect" being where you order something online to have it
reserved or ordered into the nearest convenient high street store (e.g. Argos,
Marks and Spencers, etc).

[1]: [http://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/3441/Parking-in-Perth-City-
Cen...](http://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/3441/Parking-in-Perth-City-Centre)

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jfries
What does "click and collect" mean?

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unwind
I think it's a reference to pre-ordering things online and then going to the
physical store to collect. You click online, and collect in person. This of
course becomes easier if you can park your car close by for a short while, for
free.

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akerro
AI lawyer is overstated... it's more like a questionnaire with immediate
results, but hey! It's still in the cloud!

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16bytes
A questionnaire with results would not be a bad way to describe an initial
interaction with a lawyer.

"Did you say yes to these 10 questions? If so, you have a case and we'll
proceed. I'll file some paperwork for you."

If the target topic is as small and well-constrained like this one, it's not a
far jump to consider this a legal service.

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lmm
> “I think the people getting parking tickets are the most vulnerable in
> society,” Browder told VentureBeat this week.

Surely the most vulnerable can't afford cars at all.

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wmeredith
Yeah, I thought that was a bit much. I think most people getting parking
tickets are assholes who think they're the pretty little snowflake and can
take an exception to all the rules everyone else supposed to follow.

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pavel_lishin
But they literally just needed to run in for a second! They couldn't have
spent more than five minutes inside!

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CalRobert
So put just a dime in the meter..

(I do recognize the sarcasm, of course)

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tehabe
>“I think the people getting parking tickets are the most vulnerable in
society,” Browder told VentureBeat this week.

Did I read that correctly, seriously, did I read that correctly, he didn't say
that people who get parking tickets are the most vulnerable people in society,
right? He didn't. He can't.

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FussyZeus
Perhaps not the _most_ vulnerable in all senses, but you could make the case
that they're the most vulnerable financially. It's no secret that a lot of
smaller towns (and some big cities for that matter) balance their books on the
backs of their lower income residents via traffic tickets and other such tiny
violations. When you're check to check a $50 parking ticket can blow away 1/6
of your biweekly income without breaking a sweat, and for some that's all it
takes to put them on the street.

While it's not a guarantee that whomever violated isn't just an entitled
clown, I don't think it's a massive logical leap to assume people who live
paycheck to paycheck might have a harder time feeding a meter.

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imgabe
Exactly. If you have money you're more likely to park in a garage to avoid the
hassle of looking for a spot on the street, or maybe you took a cab or an Uber
and didn't need to park to begin with.

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CalRobert
Donald Shoup has pointed out how weird it is we tend to price street parking
lower than garage parking, generally because only the latter is run by private
business.

Street parking is generally closer to where you want to go, and easy to get in
and out of (unless the street is extremely busy - I always hated parking on
Wilshire in LA, even when I found a spot). Making it as expensive as it needs
to be to ensure at least one spot is available would ensure easy access for
those who want to quickly run in to a shop, while a garage can continue to
serve people who want multi-hour stays and for whom a few minutes entering and
exiting is less dissuading.

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MichaelBurge
It seems like a natural consequence of things like this could be a computer
program on the other end automatically doing the judging of minor offenses,
with an option to appeal to a human for a slight cost.

One way to introduce it could be for the courts to produce standardized forms
for extremely common offenses, with the judges expected to simply follow the
instructions unless someone files another form for a deeper investigation.

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elthran
What you're saying pretty much already exists in the UK, to a certain extent.

Automatic speed cameras that trigger sending a penalty notice, with details on
how to pay the fine, and how to appeal the charge.

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UyumazHakan
I tried it for delayed flight option. I didn't see anything cannot be done
without an AI.Also, it does not understand your answers if you write more
complicated statements than yes or no. All can be done with simple form based
questions. Can it be considered as an AI?

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CalRobert
That parking tickets even exist is a sign we grossly undervalue the land cars
are parked on. Just price parking to the market and it's a non-issue.

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chillydawg
Huh? Surely if parking prices went up, more people would illegally park and
tickets would become more prevalent?

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CalRobert
I was thinking of overstaying. You make a point, though, regarding non-
payment. If I can park for two hours for $4 then presumably I should be able
to for 8 hours for $16. We often prevent this, because we underprice parking.

