Cited on HN 5 times, 2012–2022, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Cited as an early milestone of autonomous driving, and later as an example of over-optimistic timelines.
Google's 2012 video of Steve Mahan, who is legally blind, taking a drive in its self-driving car including a drive-through stop. It was shared as a human-interest demonstration of the technology's promise.
“They've been working with the guy in the video for over 6 years [1]” (HN, 2018)
I disagree, they have already made significant progress on this and have done hundreds of thousands of miles with actual self driving cars. [this video] I think with something like this, if it isn't Google then it will be one of the large car manufacturers first. I just don't see a random company popping out of nowhere and bringing something like this to the market as the costs involved in the production are going to be huge.
There are actually quite a few driverless trains already[1] and Google's demonstrations of their driverless car are getting increasingly[2] impressive[3]. The question is really only when the transition to driverless cars will happen - we're long past the if . [1] [link] [2] [link] [3] [this video]
They've been working with the guy in the video for over 6 years [1], and he's the former CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, which has aims for "a future where awareness, legislation and technology meet at a crossroads to provide individuals who are blind and visually impaired the same opportunities as their sighted peers" [2]. It sounds like they're taking this seriously. [1] [this video] [2] [link]
Google showed a self-driving car taking a blind guy through a Taco Bell drive-through. Clearly ready for prime time, probably just a year off. [this video] That video was released on March 28, 2012. Nine years ago in 48 days. You'd think if it was just a little regulatory red tape a multi-billion dollar corporation or two (or three) would have figured it out in nine years. Maybe its more than just a few rules changes that's keeping truly full self driving carson some very select routes.
This video is just over 10 years old today: [this video] It shows a waymo/google driverless car driving a multi-mile route on public streets with no supervision. And today we're seeing... Pretty much the exact same thing!
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