Hacker News Reader

Comment by kbenson | Hacker News Reader

As much as I'm not a fan of Uber, I have to agree with the whole sentiment expressed by Uber in the article, which is that they are doing the exact same thing Tesla is, which is having a person behind the wheel and using the software to assist, so if Tesla isn't breaking the law, how are they?

View on HN

Tesla cars do not work in residential streets because it is far more difficult to navigate autonomously than the highway.[1]

This is what Uber is doing. Frankly, Uber is reckless and someone is going to die just so that their 2nd tier engineers can feel goey inside. They are running through red lights, cutting off cyclists with their half-baked products.

[1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-restricts-autopilot-on-res...

I use my self driving feature on my Uber in San Francisco all the time. It's an extra safety assurance against hitting a pedestrian.

The difference is here: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/testi...

Tesla is there, Uber is not.

Well, that by itself isn't actually what's in question. The question is what autonomous means, but the PDF linked there does define that, and what Tesla autopilot and Uber's cars are doing clearly does constitute autonomous under their definition. I'm left to conclude that either Uber messed up big time, or rep speaking in that article doesn't know what they are talking about, or it's the beginning of a purposeful disinformation campaign.

> (what) Uber's cars are doing clearly does constitute autonomous under their definition. I'm left to conclude that either Uber messed up big time, or rep speaking in that article doesn't know what they are talking about, or it's the beginning of a purposeful disinformation campaign.

Yeap. I have no idea why they choose not to apply for a permit. Money or resources cannot be the issue for sure.

My understanding is if they have the permit they are required to report all accidents, and they'd just rather not do that.

Tesla isn't doing autonomous city driving, far from it. What is deployed in customer cars right now is little more than highway lane keeping and collision avoidance.

For city driving, they have engineering vehicles that are properly registered and report disengagements and accidents like everyone else.

Tesla applied for and received a permit, did they not?

According to this[1], Tesla has a CA DMV autonomous vehicle testing permit, but the question is whether that applies to this and to Tesla's autopilot, or whether it's for future work towards an actual autonomous mode.

That said, if Uber does want an actual autonomous more eventually, not getting that permit, and thumbing your nose at the authority who gives them out, is probably not a winning strategy...

...

Okay, just looked into a PDF[1] linked form the other article, and according to that, autonomous clearly includes what's going on here, and with Tesla's autopilot. I think Uber may have made a big mistake.

1: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/testi...

2: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/d48f347b-8815-458e...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com