> According to Cruise, which collects camera and sensor data from its testing vehicles, the fire truck was able to move forward approximately 25 seconds after it first encountered the autonomous vehicle.
Odd that we are focusing on the autonomous car that had no choice but to back up and not the double parked garbage truck that induced the need to backup in the first place.
I agree that the difference (5 secs) most of the time isn't all that important. I just don't see the need to round up for no particular reason.
If the point someone is trying to make is bad, inaccurate, or unconvincing that doesn't mean it's made in bad faith. It's actually less likely to be in bad faith.
People are nitpicking your nitpick, but the distinction really does matter in this kind of scenario where the argument is that "seconds count".
And yes, I absolutely would have checked my rear view mirror, then reversed (slowly).
Or tried to move over as much as possible to the right.
Or depending on the road and my position, U-turned and pulled in front of the garbage truck. Lots of options, blocking the firetruck not being high on the list.
There might have been room to U-turn for the automated vehicle. Bit of ascii art here
===DUMPTRUCK==
BOT===FIRETRUCK
Bot, in that situation can U-Turn. Perhaps maybe back up a metre or two first (let's pretend there was another car or two there but there was a metre or two to backup - although if bot slowly backed with hazard lights on and honking a car behind them hopefully would have too - maybe no U-Turn necessary). Yet there would be absolutely no way for a (large) firetruck to get through. Point is, require's a human's full awareness of world and flexible thinking and when it is appropriate to break the rules (rule of arriving at destination, rules of road conduct). These bots still don't have the neural complexity of a crow, much less a human (probably not even that of a goldfish really). They are ok at the predictable but that's it.
I have no doubt they'll get there eventually, at which point we might be having another ethical conversation about what a AGI should be allowed to do with its life, but they aren't there yet...