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Comment by benjaminl | Hacker News Reader

The reason why the steering wheel is there is due to these cars being modified Chrysler Pacifica minivans. It is easier all around just to leave the wheel as it.

There is no need for a passenger to take manual control. If the car or the self driving system has a problem. The car will pull over and another Waymo self driving call will arrive to allow you to complete your journey.

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This reminds me of Stephen J Gould's explanation for why men have nipples: In utero the male and female fetus initially develop the same features, and only after the nipples have been formed do males and females start to look different. Nipples aren't useful for men, but men have them because they are useful for women.

> If the car or the self driving system has a problem. The car will pull over and another Waymo self driving call will arrive to allow you to complete your journey.

So if a (perhaps malicious) environmental configuration consistently causes Waymo cars to fail, you’ll just collect an ever-increasing number of them at that point?

A lot like ants encountering the inside of a freezer. In this case, though, a human is going to be told "there is a broken car here someone has to come collect", and they will hopefully notice if they see two or three of them at the same location (seeing as how cars don't travel instantly so there is time to notice stuff in general).

there's a company testing a remote driver system to take control of self driving cars when they can't handle a problem ahead.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/sel...

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