Ask HN: Why aren't remote human drivers a thing?

4 points by s_r_n 6 years ago | 13 comments

I saw an article today where Steve Wozniak said he didn't think autonomous cars would come to fruition during his lifetime. However, I have not read very much about any sort of innovation around a system that uses human drivers to control vehicles remotely. Why isn't this idea being explored more?

icedchai 6 years ago |

Connectivity in general. You need a 100% reliable, low latency, high bandwidth connection. Milliseconds matter in an emergency.

MS90 6 years ago | |

The USAF is able to deal with latency issues when controlling and targeting drones on the opposite side of the planet, though I do believe they use local people with line of sight connections to handle takeoffs and landings.

I don't see why something like their systems couldn't be applied here. Well, other than the fact that you'd need the resources (see: cash and massive satellite network) that the USAF has...

shoo 6 years ago | | |

Reaction time requirements are probably much more forgiving for drones -- don't need to suddenly brake or change course due to the movements of other tightly packed drones around you during the daily commute

abhinuvpitale 6 years ago | | |

There is also the question of trust, one of the biggest non-technical challenge to overcome would be to convince general public to get into a car which doesn't have a driver. It would be similar to getting into a rollercoaster.

No control whatsoever of what might happen next despite every bit of your trip being pre-planned to the dot.

gshdg 6 years ago | | |

USAF has billions to throw at the problem.

convolvatron 6 years ago | | |

usaf importantly doesn’t have any liability in the case of accidental death

TheEndless 6 years ago |

Maybe because it still requires a human to be occupied during the task, and they also don't have physical safety stake in the activity. I don't think I'd feel quite at ease if a driver over the Internet had my fate in their hands. Also that brings up the fact that latency and failure of wireless communications could mean death.

udayrddy 6 years ago |

I do not see any use case with it. If I have to remote control it, I would rather control directly. Isn't the whole purpose to make use of your time on other works instead of driving?

jolmg 6 years ago | |

Maybe the idea is that as soon as you're detected to be sleep, a driver from some company gets alerted and takes over your driving until you wake up.

thecrumb 6 years ago |

Tunnels? Overpasses? Trees. Thinking about how many times my satellite radio fades out.

tdeck 6 years ago |

They are a thing. This company is doing it with trucks: https://www.starsky.io/

raztogt21 6 years ago |

no skin in the game for the remote driver

wingerlang 6 years ago |

Imagine driving a car over Skype