monkmartinez

And look at the cost of planes and those systems. Absolutely out of reach for 97% of the world.

> There is every reason to believe these price drops will continue as more resources are put into scaling production and more companies enter the game of component design and production.

Why? We literally never see that with top shelf products. This isn't an arduino solder job. This is going to be an integrated software and hardware package that will rival an aircraft autopilot/navigation. Please check you facts on the cost of these things.

I don't want walmart brand, everday low price components on my self-driving vehicle. I want top of the line if my life is in the balance.

We still have $5000 personal computers in the '10s! Hell a new MacBook Pro with everything and some upgrades is $3499 to $4299... very few people can truly afford that.

Out of thin air. Why would it be cheaper? If you made the product, would you try to maximize profit or do it for SAFETY and the good of society?

Serious counter question; Why is nobody talking about cost? Cars are very expensive... is self-driving tech going to increase or decrease the cost of a vehicle? Do people generally want more freedom or less freedom choice?

Why does everyone assume the cost will decrease with scale? How many people can afford a Tesla right now? Let alone a fully autonomous car?

If flying were more affordable and less strict more people would own their own plane. It isn't and they don't. I see self-driving cars a lot like airplanes and John Deere tractors. That is, expensive proprietary tech that you have no control over. No thank you.

Why does everyone assume that most people want to share a vehicle?

Are you serious with this reply? It is obvious that you do not know very much about the cost of these systems. It is pointless to continue.

No you are not! HN seems to think the same way, and it is one of the worst cases of rose colored glasses I have ever witnessed. What about the cost? Who is going to be able to afford this? Also, what about people that rely on a vehicle for work? Retrofit $75K work trucks with another $75K in self driving gizmos? Find me a practical plumber, carpenter, A/C, lock smith, self-employed guy/gal that will sign up for that!

Edit to add... Have the crazy expensive and downright hostile self-driving John Deere tractors eliminated farming deaths?

Yeah, no heartbleed for cars will ever exist! We can just push an update... like mid-trip... I am dumbfounded by the rose colored glasses on this HN regarding self driving.

Also! Don't forget how expensive this software is... This puts it out of reach for like 97% of the world.

Yeah, it is working out great for farmers that use John Deere tractors.

> The additional hardware and software will be expensive as hell to develop, but once it's invented, the marginal cost should be fairly cheap compared to the price of a car.

Go talk to a pilot and ask them about Garmin products and the autopilot of their plane. Also ask them about update the software on these devices. Ask how much money they are asked to fork over for software...

Have a look at the self-driving tech of the John Deere tractors and how well that has gone for the farmers. I don't think the bulk of people here have really thought about this in a negative light.

You know there is a whole legion of jobs that require a vehicle? All construction jobs for example. Most service techs require a bunch of expensive tools and need a secure place to keep them on site. The list literally goes on and on...

Can an hunter ride share the pacifica out to the forest with his/her hunting gear? How about bicyclists? People with kids know about activity shuffling... I am not sure that sharing will work for my families schedule.

Driving drunk isn't the bulk of the accidents I go to on a regular basis. If we could just eliminate texting while driving, we could see a significant drop in accidents.

How are you so sure driverless cars will get into less accidents? Furthermore, how is this technology going to be make everything less expensive. Please explain.

For the record, I think this technology will make the prices for these vehicles prohibitively expensive for the mass market.

I find it smart that Waymo waited until the snowbirds left to start this. It will be comical when the blue hairs come back next winter and smoke a few of these self-driving cars.... or vice versa. Obviously I don't want anyone to get hurt, but... it is going to happen.

Yeah, because computers never crash right? <pun intended>

I think way too many people are viewing self driving vehicles with rose colored glasses. They underestimate the cost and overestimate the utility to the public.

I didn't read the entire piece...

People think the autonomous car is going to solve a lot of the current problems; Accidents, Parking, Congestion. It kind of makes me giggle a bit, as I ponder what may happen. That is, the conclusions drawn from "self-driving" vehicles are possibly way over cooked.

The certification process for these cars are going to be very, very expensive. Think about the software involved for the operation of aircraft and the review / testing process then apply it for the road. That is level of scrutiny that will be placed on "self-driving" vehicles.

Hacking, equipment failures, environmental surprises and more will be sure to keep a healthy portion of the public skeptical and possibly downright hostile to the idea for at least a decade, post certification, in my opinion. "Self-driving" will be contained and tightly regulated.

What people on the coasts forget about is, really, the rest of the country. The people that actually enjoy driving, where parking isn't a problem, and congestion takes place in the morning and after work, but only lasts about 5 minutes. Metro areas of > 2 million people don't have much problems with traffic in flyover country... at least not when compared to the coasts.

The counter arguments to the piece are plentiful for the foreseeable future.

Replace zip line with gondola.

You can't dead stick most aircraft in an urban environment. Unless you are Sully...

I am squarely middle class... how in the hell would I be able to afford this, pilot training, maintenance and more if I can't afford to buy a 1960's Cessna 172? Nevermind the maintenance, training and more?

Flying cars for the masses are a delusional pipe dream.

Well, the only definition that matters would be the regulating body with jurisdiction. In the case of the US, that would be the FAA. It is squarely an experimental plane.

I saw that and it is not a jet in today's parlance of what most pilots would call a "jet". Hell, it looks like there are 36 extremely large brushless outrunner motors.

Not everyone and the regulation is already done. Easy, cut and dry.

This is the part about the "flying car" that literally everyone gets wrong. If we are talking USA, ask the FAA if everyone can fly. There is the Class 3 flight physical that is required to fly as a PPL pilot... it is very, very thorough. If you can't pass that, there is a massive and growing sport class of flyers who are not full PPL's but still require pretty expensive training to get certified... and you are quite limited in size and scope.

In short, there is not going to be a massive "flying car" moment in this country unless they are autonomous or remotely piloted by ultra qualified people.

This is cool... and let me say I am no aerospace engineer. I am a flight enthusiast... mostly R/C quadcopter and plane as real planes are $$$.

It looks like an extremely large ducted fan R/C plane with VTOL. Calling it a "jet" in the parlance of today seems like a stretch. Are ducted fans "jets"? I guess the argument could be made. I would think the people buying these would very well think of a jet as propulsion from combustion. Also, the FAA and turbine (jet) rating... I could go on...

The VTOL is awesome, and something I think we'll see more of as quadcopter technology scales to more robust .gov missions. The applications for this tech are limitless...

You probably have a lot more "hit by bus" deficiencies in your code than you think. Even more so in open source.

Nah, I disagree... my Windows 10 - 8 inch tablet is pretty terrible for proper applications. I can get by in a pinch, but much prefer a proper laptop. I also don't want to put anything larger than the S8+ in my pockets.

I already use OneNote on my Android phone, Mac computer, and Windows tablet. I love the desktop version for longer planning sessions and researchy stuff. The phone is really good for quick notes, ideas, and stuff I will do later...

That said, I hope they build this into OneNote as it is hands down the best "brain capture" software I have ever used. Keep it up MSFT, you are kicking ass!

Edit to add: The only thing missing from OneNote is notifications. I can and do make todo lists all the time. I just need notifications on all platforms. Until then, I will keep using Google Calendar and Inbox for gmail.

That ship has sailed, and they are playing the long game now.

Because it is out of control! You have to have some serious "nalgas" to dive in... I tried some years back and said; "F this" I am going to learn Python and Java. I am not even paid to program in most cases. There is a LOT to be said about stability.

It does need to be reignited or it wouldn't be. It is like being a climate change denier at a climate conference. "Uhhggg why are we talking about this again?" I don't believe its a problem... Well, shit loads of people do!!!!!! SO suck it up buttercup.

If it wasn't a problem, it wouldn't be upvoted. That is how voting works. I'm not a JavaScript programmer, although I have dabbled extensively in the past. My impression of this thread is that not much has changed in that world. Sencha, titanium, and Phonegap were super hot back in the day, along with jQuery, SproutCore, Knockout and Backbone. Now it is all different for JS. That fuckng sucks.

This is not a terrible idea, but the overhead of running an actual hotel business and the associated costs would likely make it less attractive than the current wild west approach.

I assume, naively, that a lot of ABB'ers skirt taxes and short-term rental codes/taxes. The advantage comes from not recognizing the state/city/town bed codes/taxes.