Posted on 03/22/2023 5:23:03 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
In 2017, automakers were scrambling to develop cars that could drive themselves.
Ford Motor bet a billion dollars on a startup called Argo AI to catch up to flashy tech companies like Google, Uber and Tesla. Volkswagen, the second-largest automaker in the world, signed on as a backer in 2019, investing $2.6 billion Argo AI at a valuation of more than $7 billion.
By 2021, Argo AI was valued at $12.4 billion and counted 2,000 employees, with offices on two continents and self-driving tests underway in seven cities.
There were plans to bring a self-driving taxi service to market by 2021, rivaling those by Waymo and Ford’s larger Detroit rival, General Motors.
But in October 2022, Argo AI shut down.
It was another sign that after years of big investment, investors were reining in expectations and money was drying up.
After a rush of enthusiasm, self-driving projects have grown besieged by the challenge of developing needed technology and establishing a business model that’s sufficiently profitable to justify the billions they spend.
In fact, all kinds of mobility projects are losing money — bike-share, ride-hailing, scooters and shuttles, alike.
“The challenge for Ford and for everybody else is trying to figure out how to provide these kinds of mobility services and actually build a viable, self-sustaining business out of it while keeping the cost of the service affordable for people using the services,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst at Guidehouse Insights. “They’re still struggling. Everybody is still struggling with that part of it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
You know Americans have gone to hell when they are too damn lazy to drive their own car. Guess they want to sit in the back seat eating bon bons and poking their cellphone.
Just sell the car and take uber, right?
Liability issues make self-driving too risky for manufacturers.
Juries can award tens of millions in a single case.
Who speaks for the rest of the country who does NOT want to be driving on roads with driverless vehicles (and we probably already are).
I was in software for 30 years - I know none of it is bulletproof. I'd rather not be killed by someone's buggy code, written at 3AM while they were trying to make a deadline, and not adequately tested because "Let the Beta folks test it".
Indian software?
Had a rental recently that had lane change and next lane vehicle warning technology......made me a damn nervous wreck......I couldn’t imagine letting one drive 100%......F that!
Our ruling class is driven around. Trump admitted not driving. They are busy… and more important than the working class.
the terrorists love it
cuz everybody knows the toughest part about a car bomb
is finding a driver
Lane change/blind spot
I liked it on a few rentals but took me a time or two to get used to it - after that it was very welcome
Insert Demolition Man car
Does it actually do any maneuvering for you? That would freak me out.
Our truck has next lane warning light in the mirror, and an “approaching car in front too fast warning”. You get used to those. The “approaching too fast” lights up your whole dash board and beeps. Scared me to death initially. Now I just ignore it. The backup warning camera/beeper is another nuisance.
I think as long as you combine those features with common sense and being physically defensive, they’re helpful. Depending on them 100% is a no-no.
Automated vehicles?
Train runs over automated food delivery robot:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2eTl3NHsFkQ
“Had a rental recently that had lane change and next lane vehicle warning technology......made me a damn nervous wreck.....”
Are you referring to the blind spot monitoring?
“In fact, all kinds of mobility projects are losing money — bike-share, ride-hailing, scooters and shuttles, alike.”
They can add EVs to that list, since the Virtue Signalling class of people now have their EVs, meaning that EVs now have to actually COMPETE against gasoline cars (at least until government forces everyone to buy EVs).
“Guess they want to sit in the back seat eating bon bons and poking their cellphone.”
Reminds me of that now-headless chick in Florida who was watching a movie when her self-driving EV decided to try its luck sneaking under an 18 wheeler crossing the road in front of her.
Here’s a pretty interesting interview with the leading German auto insurer: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/insurance/klaus-jurgen-heitmann-on-the-journey-to-mobility-ecosystems?
Essentially refers in guardrd terms to transitioning their business beyond the “mobility” world in a decade plus. Suggests that in the near term they are going to buy up local repair shops and in the medium term, they expect to supply car services on a monthly rate basis, before even that disappears (for peons, of course).
Makes sense that as the globalists wind down the right to own and drive cars independently that they might want to buy up local service shops. Also gives insight on how they might plan the wind-down/control in other countries as well.
* That is, monthly car-access rental services as opposed to individual auto ownership.
I’ve also spent 35 years+ in software, still am. While I hear, very loudly, what you’re saying I’ll point out that 99% of the time airplanes are flying themselves. I work in automotive mainly, meeting functional safety development standards is hard, it’s not like developing code in most environments. Ultimately, every function must trace to requirements, every requirement must trace to code, and one or more tests must exist tracing back to every requirement. Static analysis tools *must* be used, MISRA-C coding guidelines followed, as well as SIL, PIL, HIL, etc. testing performed etc. etc. Then there’s meeting SOTIF standards on top.
IMHO - it’s knowing this that is causing such headaches. It’s orders of magnitude more expensive to certify code, as required, than regular software. For this application there so much code (tens of millions of lines) that this standard approach, as followed in avionics, is an economic problem.
From my view, the industry is reverting to long laundry lists of ADAS capabilities - I have a list of 30 that are going into vehicles. I do believe autonomous vehicles are inevitable but the problem is harder than most thought. I’d rather the investment be put into technologies that, in the short term, save lives - this should have been the focus. This is now the trend - but full autonomy distracted from this goal, even if a lot of derivative work does go into ADAS features.
Interesting comment. These things can be turned into an unmanned self driving bomb. Take a pickup and load it up Timothy McVeigh style and send it off. This would be a terrorists dream, or an enemy such as the ChiComs. They could take out every major building in DC from Peking.
I don’t think you are the first to think of this, for terrorists and the Chicoms and who knows who else are several steps already in that direction.
No maneuvering but in traffic it drove crazy
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