this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
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[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 153 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (33 children)

These cars need to have a panic button that allows a remote operator to talk to the passengers, assess the situation, alert police and override the auto driving to get them out of bad situations. Same as an emergency call button on an elevator basically. I dont understand these cars to have any feature like that so far, and I'm assuming this woman would have used it if one was available, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

These cars are likely going to turn into hijack machines if they're programmed for "maximum safety" in situations where, realistically, breaking every traffic law, hitting a pedestrian or causing damage to the vehicle through dangerous terrain may be the only way out with a living passenger. The second it begins to percolate among criminals that these things are super easy to stop at the perfect location of your choosing like this, they are going to become a massive target.

Or they turn into a hearse if the passenger has a medical emergency and the car doesn't redirect while the passenger is incapacitated. They might be coherent enough to press a button, but not to open their phone, navigate the app, call for help or redirect the car to a hospital...

But that of course requires labor so it will not happen until legally mandated after a minimum threshold of people die.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 156 points 2 months ago (8 children)

“The men came over to the car again and stood in front of it for a few minutes. Finally when they left, the car was still stalled but I clicked the ‘in car support’ on the screen and they seemed to be aware of the issue,” Amina said. “They asked if I was OK and the car began to drive towards my location. They asked if I needed police support and I said no.”

When she was almost to her destination, Waymo support called her again to ask if she was ok, she said. “I assured him that I was fine and he told me I would be given a free ride after,” she said. “After many hours I was called one last time by their support team. They asked if I was OK and told me that they have 24/7 support available. They also said I would get the next ride or next two rides (uncertain) free.”

"In an instance like this, our riders have 24/7 access to Rider Support agents who will help them navigate the situation in real time and coordinate closely with law enforcement officers to provide further assistance as needed," a spokesperson for Waymo told 404 Media in an email. "While these sorts of events are exceedingly rare among the 100,000 trips we serve a week across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix, we take them very seriously. We continuously look for ways to improve rider experience and remain committed to improving road safety and mobility in the cities where we operate."

[–] LePoisson@lemmy.world 151 points 2 months ago (4 children)

they should have [thing that already exists]

Nobody reads the article though...

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 21 points 2 months ago

Agreed, but to play devil's advocate, the support wasn't branded as such and customers could've not reported out of shame, which wouldn't happen if they knew they could do that at the beginning before it became anything substantial.

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Honestly a proper panic button would have an alarm go off and speed dial 911. But I'm sure people would abuse it.

[–] erwan@lemmy.ml 25 points 2 months ago

She talked to an operator who asked if he should call the police and she said no. It's in the article.

Not sure what a button would have changed...

[–] Kalysta@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

It’s blocked for me unless i want to sign up. And I don’t for one article.

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