12 pointsby chris_money2023 hours ago8 comments
  • catsquirrel282 hours ago
    > Imagine the conversation New York legislators could have had if every robotaxi ride generated a cryptographically signed, tamper-evident record of the vehicle's behavior — independently verifiable by any regulator, auditor, or safety agency.

    This is putting the cart before the horse. The problem with autonomous vehicles is that there's no standardized third party test suite to validate and certify ahead of time and periodically that the vehicles are capable of behaving correctly in all road conditions even with their sensors degraded as will happen over time.

    This kind of validation should be done by the state or a neutral third party like UL in the US before a single vehicle is allowed on public roads.

    Without it they're just unleashing multi-ton weapons on the streets with no guarantee they'll perform adequately. The problems with this were evident in SF when the blackout happened and the Waymos clogged up the roadways. If that happens during a real emergency and blocks the roadways it could result in thousands of deaths.

    Autonomous vehicles are a bad idea anyway for the reasons in this video[1].

    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040ejWnFkj0

    • chris_money202an hour ago
      The cart is before the horse in some instances, but each state and each city will approach risk a little differently. Cities like SF and Austin are willing to take bigger risk without data, other states and cities will want the data from the risk taking cities to see.

      I agree though, these products should be certified ahead of time by industry standards. That is what PhyComp will help accomplish.

    • ameliusan hour ago
      Thanks, that's a good video.
  • Zigurd2 hours ago
    The article somewhat strangely proposes a technology solution to a problem that they claim isn't a technology problem. Disclosure and reporting regulations can be enacted that don't need a technology element other than what vehicles already have installed.
    • cogman102 hours ago
      Yup. If someone vomits in a vehicle, it's not the lack of a blockchain detailing the vomit event which is the problem.

      That's the actual trust issue.

  • dzdt2 hours ago
    I had aasumed the plan was killed for cynical political motivations, the same as apparantly caused the hangup and Hochul's near killing of NYC congestion pricing. Its really hard to gather evidence about what is the motivation for things though...
  • xnxan hour ago
    Unnecessary solution to imaginary problem. I'd rather have this required for human drivers.
  • amelius2 hours ago
    > PhyWare is a data platform for autonomous systems, and we're building it specifically to close this gap.

    Why isn't Google/Waymo building it. Sounds like they are much better equipped for it.

    • chris_money2022 hours ago
      They likely are, but say I have a fleet of Waymos and Teslas. I’ll need two separate systems for telemetry, safety, and compliance.

      There’s also the problem of independent evidence when incidents happen. Insurers, OEM, operators, and possibly the public should all have the same view of data and can trust its presented honestly and in its entirety. Phyware systems prevent tamper and Phyware itself has no stakes in the game, all the data is provided as captured.

  • deafpolygonan hour ago
    Long story short: Liability. We need a clear cut way of placing blame in the event something goes wrong and it can’t be the NYS.
  • 3 hours ago
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  • cynicalsecurity2 hours ago
    Save yourself time reading it, it's just a shameless plug for some SaaS service.

    The only reason why Waymo was denied access to New York is they haven't given a bribe big enough that the city government requested. That's it. As soon as Waymo gives they bribe they requested they'll be in New York.

    • chris_money2022 hours ago
      Plausible take, but what about when a humanoid violates its rule and causes massive damage in a warehouse? Who pays? Who provides the evidence of what happened?
      • Yossarrian22an hour ago
        Who does those things today?
        • chris_money202an hour ago
          Agreed, this isn’t necessarily the problem of today.