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E.W. Niedermeyer Profile picture
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28 Sep, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Rivian embargo just hit, brace yourselves people
(turns out it's good)
I'd like to take this moment to say: these reviews affirm my impression, first formed long ago, that Rivian has cultivated an effective blend of traditional automotive values and high-tech startup culture. Much remains to be proven, but a very promising, balanced blend so far.
As I conclude in LUDICROUS, the future belongs not to the companies that go all-in on SV-style startup culture but those that blend its positive attributes with those of traditional automotive culture. Give it a read to find out why I reach that conclusion benbellabooks.com/shop/ludicrous/

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E.W. Niedermeyer Profile picture
28 Sep
First of all, this gross utilitarianism (people will die but it will be worth it) has no place in the development of complex, safety-critical systems. If you aren't principled about safety, you won't get it. Just ask Uber ATG... oh wait, they don't exist anymore!
Uber ATG bought into this utilitarian logic, it cut corners on safety in the development process, and it killed an innocent human being. What it never saw was the implicit payoff: a technical advantage arising from its embrace of these deaths as inevitable and worth it.
Today, Uber ATG no longer exists. There are lots of lessons to be learned from their experience, but the most important part is that rushing and cutting corners on safety only causes innocent deaths and delivers no advantages: thedrive.com/tech/27023/10-…
Read 9 tweets
E.W. Niedermeyer Profile picture
28 Sep
Fanboys be like "Tesla is such a leader in AV tech that the industry is banding together to take them down."

No fool, the AV industry is coming together to differentiate their shared technology and safety practices from this janky mess. Open your eyes.
Every time one of these half-baked camera-only nightmares crashes, taking out emergency responders or innocent bystanders, someone somewhere decides they will never get in an autonomous vehicle (which Teslas are not). Tesla is a menace to public adoption of this life-saving tech.
Blurring the line between driver assistance and autonomy (#autonowashing) not only leads to misuse of Autopilot and more crashes, but it also leads to misreporting of said crash as being by an "autonomous vehicle"... which leads to lower trust in a technology Tesla doesn't have.
Read 4 tweets
E.W. Niedermeyer Profile picture
27 Sep
Academics: unscrupulous ADS developers will use unsuspecting humans as a "moral crumple zone" to protect their imperfect systems from the moral consequences of inevitable failure

Unsuspecting humans: Image
The only thing @m_c_elish didn't predict in this mess was that toxic social media-fueled consumerism would make serving as a "moral crumple zone" a status symbol papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
"How is this different than what AV developers are doing?"

There is a fundamental difference between using highly-trained professionals as safety operators and pushing dangerously immature ADS software to any clout-chasing rando gullible enough to pay for the pleasure.
Read 5 tweets
E.W. Niedermeyer Profile picture
26 Aug
Big news from @nurobots: they're building a test track and factory in Nevada, where they will develop and test autonomous delivery vehicles on a platform supplied by BYD. Huge partnership and step forward for this exciting AV developer! businesswire.com/news/home/2021…
BYD has been talking about US market ambitions for ages, but I certainly didn't predict that the first light vehicle (not bus) to leverage a BYD platform in this country would be an AV! Will be interesting to see how this platform supplier business plays out for them.
Meanwhile, after decades of EV analysts looking down their noses at the less-energy-dense lithium iron phosphate chemistry pioneered by BYD, even Tesla is following BYD's lead and expanding its use of the heavier but cheaper and safer chemistry.
Read 6 tweets
E.W. Niedermeyer Profile picture
25 Aug
It is so, so disappointing to hear this kind of clueless, conspiratorial ranting from someone who is formally associated with the Society of Automotive Engineers.

Just Facebook-tier boomer cringe, from start to finish.
"Are we going to see General Motors or VW or Mercedes or any of the other car companies... are we seeing what they've come up with?

No! It's crap. It's crap. I've driven almost every self-driving car, or even Autopilot car, and it's crap."

~Sandy Munro 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ #autonowashing
Had Munro tried to engage with the substance of Autopilot safety concerns as clearly established by multiple NTSB investigations, we might have a debate on our hands. He didn't even try. Just straight to conspiracy theories and righteous boomer anger.

I'm embarrassed for him.
Read 6 tweets
E.W. Niedermeyer Profile picture
24 Aug
It is only with decades of hindsight am I beginning to appreciate how profoundly my psychic development was affected by carpooling with a family that owned a brand new Toyota Previa when I was in second grade.

Friends, it felt like the future. It felt like... mobility innovation
It looked and felt like something from Star Trek: ovoid and aerodynamic from the outside, airy and spacious on the inside. A huge moonroof and swiveling second-row captains chairs were like nothing I'd seen on a van before. I still remember looking up and watching the rain fall.
I thought that the most lasting impact riding in that van would leave me with was a traumatic response to the Little Mermaid soundtrack, but instead that light blue Previa became my archetype for automotive futurism. To this day it's the standard every robotaxi must live up to.
Read 5 tweets

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