What problem are autonomous vehicles solving?
Thursday, December 17th, 2020 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jesse_the_kThe Access Board has this to say about itself:
The U.S. Access Board is a federal agency that promotes equality for people with disabilities through leadership in inclusive design and the development of accessibility guidelines and standards.
Starting in March of next year, they’ll be holding ZOOM hearings re: autonomous vehicles and disabled people.
If you’d like to chime in with your thoughts, sign up here:
https://www.access-board.gov/av/
My thoughts:
AV pizza robots have already blocked curb ramps.
AV navigation depends on a deep understanding of the typical streetscape. But "typical" is a notion, not a reality. Every streetscape has atypical elements. For 50 years, I’ve observed the corner of Park and University Avenue. When UW-Madison is in session, the typical behavior is chaotic.
Color me doubtful and dubious. What problem are AVs solving?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-18 04:35 am (UTC)They can deliver to people who are housebound due to chronic illness; disability; parenting responsibilities; caring responsibilities and unlike human delivery staff
- they cannot give someone COVID or other contagious diseases [even after COVID, there will still be immunocompromised people, people on meds that suppress immune system, and people who the common garden variety cold = 4 months stuck in bed]
- they are not wearing perfume/deodorant that is a migraine trigger
- they are unlikely to do something that triggers someone's PTSD
- they will not make sexist, racist, ableist, fatphobic or homophobic remarks
- they will not harrass someone after the delivery for a date [this has been a problem with some eg Uber Eats drivers]
- they will never commit sexual assault
As a wheelchair user with Blind friends I 100% agree that AVs need to be made compatible with eg not blocking kerb cuts and getting out of the way of Blind people.
But I do see many upsides for them.
Human delivery drivers often wear so much perfume/spray on deodorant that it gives me migraines;
human delivery drivers have gotten angry that I could not walk out to their car, but needed the food to come to my front door;
human delivery drivers have gotten angry about how long it takes me to open my front door;
human delivery drivers have delivered to my next door neighbours
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-20 11:12 pm (UTC)Hmmm, thanks for making me think again!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-21 09:12 pm (UTC)I have heard how paratransit is perversely re-numerated to encourage not-on time service.
I wonder which is more likely, AV not making a 'nuisance' AND being profitable or Properly vetting human drivers and not sweating them. (Ride share and delivery are converging and I'm not really up on either. I keep a finger or two in on labor history grounds.) Long haul trucking has examples of the independent contractor model (cf. gig worker) making for very dangerous roads.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-21 09:34 pm (UTC)Four delivery riders die on Sydney roads in three months in massive crisis for gig economy
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-23/uber-eats-vows-to-improve-safety-cyclist-killed-in-inner-sydney/12913840
It seems to be a combination of
a) speeding to try and get as many jobs per hour as possible in order to make more money
b) cyclists cycling tired
c) inexperienced cyclists who have lost their jobs as eg waitstaff and are trying to make a living as food delivery cyclists
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-21 10:09 pm (UTC)Here Grubhub drivers might actually make less than their gas if they aren't careful, and the skin off the nose is the restaurant re:misdelivered food. (I don't know of any case that happened--it's more that drivers expect to be earning $x and then find they have to work way more hours to get to $x, which means they're maybe at minimum wage and wearing out their car. And the service scalping off the tips. Not sure how the taxes work for delivery, for waitstaff that would put them in the hole since they'd have to prove they didn't receive tips at the rate expected by the IRS.)
The usual dangers here are truckers driving under slept and now increasingly underfed. There's along with that drivers in trucks they don't know well and on routes they haven't been on before. Our streets aren't as uniformly marked as one might think (or are marked to be read in full daylight without the 'distraction' of speed or lane position.)
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-24 10:40 pm (UTC)Our house is at the intersection of three streets and a very busy bike path -- it's a spaghetti street subdivision designed between the World Wars. My street has four blocks: one end is a circle numbered in the teens, next the 4100 block, then the 4000 block, then my 800 block.
Which is all to say: the newly-hired FedEx, UPS, and Amazon Prime trucks drive around here like yellow jackets at a picnic. ||; vroom, screech, buzz, screech, slam doors :||
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-21 09:37 pm (UTC)I would always, always, ALWAYS prefer the BO.
BO can be gross, but it doesn't give me migraines that can last one to seven days...
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-21 09:53 pm (UTC)May you avoid migraines.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-22 06:45 am (UTC)I'm assuming the Fear was legitimate -
eg the driver made homophobic/racist/misogynist/transphobic remarks; the driver sexually harassed the client; the driver deliberately intimidated the client
and not illegitimate - eg the client objected to Black/Latinx drivers and just generally claimed to feel unsafe around People of Colour?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-22 08:05 am (UTC)The system didn't make it easy for women to be installers and made it very attractive to men that wanted to make their own rules.
Customers could be bad too, and I could deal with some of those issues within the rules.