Oopsy! Waymo drove around/past a stopped, loading/unloading school bus!
 

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a69093599/waymo-federal-investigation-driving-around-stopped-school-bus/

Send a big fine to Wamo, and if it happens again, ban them from the roads until that is fixed.

100% inexcusable.

Supposedly, already fixed. But yeah, big (read "HUGE") fine regardless of whether it's now fixed or not. Beta testing when it's the lives of kids, potentially little kids, is not acceptible. My first thought was a temporary revocation of their license to operate, but at the same time, that sort of thing may be enough to put them out of business, and I don't think that this warrants putting the company out of business (unless it keeps happpening).

"driving safely around children has always been one of Waymo's highest priorities,"

LOL- It did a really good job driving around children- a whole busload.

waymo should go to court, appeal to the judge, and then take drivers ed to reduce points on it's record.

AI doesn't need a driver's license...

I have no issues with the tech and the goals of Waymo; here is their test "protocals".

https://assets.ctfassets.net/e6t5diu0txbw/2ixrl74N2SPK4qwIAdJI8E/8d69b50a102b8f2638a2334ff86dd28b/Collision_Avoidance_Testing_of_the_Waymo_Automated _Driving_System__1_.pdf

I could drive a Waymo Semi Tractor trailer through that document.

Operating a car autonomously on roads makes unmanning aircraft look like a lay-up.

There is a reason Waymo started operations in Arizona...the amount of influences on an autonomous car are exponentially more daunting than what a drone senses.

My issue is, as always, when are conditions too much for Waymo and the park themselves. They must come to grips with that. Aviation does.

Just another example of how hard autonomous driving (or flight) actually is. How do you account for every possible variable so the machine knows how to react? Granted you’d think programming in school busses would have been a pretty big no-brainer…

The City of Houston has been repaving seemingly every road in the city simultaneously in preparation for the 2026 World Cup.

As a result, traffic flows are changing daily, often with lots of orange cones and traffic being shifted in the opposing lanes to accommodate resurfacing of one side of the road at a time.

This has created numerous highly confusing driving situations, both logistically and visually, for me and others. And I've witnessed lots of in-the-moment wrong-way driving by humans.

And each time I've thought to myself: This is hard for humans, I'd love to know if/how self-driving vehicles are doing. We've only recently got Waymo. Most of the others vehicles have been semi-autonomous. I'm not hearing about any wrecks or stopped traffic, but it spooks me....

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You'd think so but they didn't even account for Amazon and other delivery trucks, which are absolutely everywhere in modern America, (and just about everywhere else in the world)! They would get stuck behind delivery vans because they did not know that they could just go around them. They fixed that one but it's baby steps all the way for that company. They are getting better all the time, though. I don't mind sharing our crowded roads with them at all.

Someone probably programmed the "if truck ahead = stop, then go around" to fix that, and forgot to tell the system "but school busses are different!"

Can it differentiate between school buses and delivery vans?

I have no doubt that you are correct. These tech companies are staffed by young people with a lot of brain HP but the common sense of a turkey.

My understanding that is if one has a thick wallet, you can go order a brand new Cessna 182, and get the full automated take off and landing autopilot. :eek: You better have a pilot on board as well however.

Our 2004 182T autopilot has to wait for the pilot to rotate and clear the airfield. Then just tell the autopilot what climb rate you want (within capabilities of the airframe) and what altitude you want to achieve, and what airport you are going to, and it will take you there, and announce arrival, and time for the pilot to assume command.

Most of our flights are get airborne, and go to a location and altitude for the aerial photo project, then head back to our home airport. Not much autopilot time.

I would be surprised if it couldn't.

AI models use learned database of images that they then compare to real life examples. I think they'll hardwire the software not to pass any bus, but I would imagine the difficulty for the AI to differentiate a school bus with a stop sign compared to a delivery truck that is parked at the end of a street (under a stop sign)...

I was in Scottsdale last week. When I arrived at the hotel to check in, they had some construction going which created some confusion at the entry/parking lot. 2 Waymo's were there picking up passengers. They were struggling big time trying to navigate their way out of the parking lot. I stepped behind a concrete barrier until the Waymo cars got things sorted and were on their way.

Our AI overlords have seen your post and will be sending someone to meet with you soon.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/42/77/da/4...30f420fea2.jpg

knock, knock...

^they were at my house today asking about this thread.
I denied everything, and they left, but they got stuck behind an amazon truck in the driveway and are confused about a neighbor's bigfoot statue by the side of the road across the street.

Last I checked they were still parked there....

A). Most people people see non-usual traffic patterns ahead and go to Level 2 caution.
Either the driver ahead is insane, having mechanical issues, or there is a valid causation waiting for the next driver ie self, such as living things crossing the road.

B). Current A.I. only sees more obstacles.
I predict a paid subscription for "BMW driver mode" for assisted-driving.

For instance I was recently accelerating onto a freeway on-ramp at night at about 40-50mph. Car behind. Wide open and straight. Didn't have brights on, deer danger level was low, and it should have been a no brainer. Time to start texting that tax return right? I kid I kid. Bam. A huge black wheelbarrow right in the middle of the road hiding in a shadow. Brake and turn. Dodge that. Bam there again is the wheel and axle a few seconds ahead in the middle of the road. Dodge that.
The car behind thankfully kept distance and stopped....

The good ending is that I went back to move/pick it up and got a free $220 wheelbarrow after finding the remaining wheel in the weeds a few days later. A few scrapes but otherwise complete.


"In the event referenced, the vehicle approached the school bus from an angle where the flashing lights and stop sign were not visible and drove slowly around the front of the bus before driving past it, keeping a safe distance from children," Waymo told Reuters.

GMAFB. How many ReCaptchas do we have to click on to identify a school bus?

https://waymo.com/blog/2024/08/meet-the-6th-generation-waymo-driver/
"complete with camera, lidar, and radar"

I'm sure their dash footage is totally submit-able as valid defense evidence in court.