(I’m assuming we’re talking about unprotected left turns.)

I don’t know if I ever saw it happen, myself, so I can’t say for certain. My understanding of the SDC’s logic is that if it was already in the intersection, it would complete the turn, and then pull off to the right shoulder to let the emergency vehicle pass. If it hasn’t yet entered the intersection and detects siren lights behind it, I believe it will turn on the hazard lights and remain stationary unless honked at (I could be mistaken, but I think it’ll recognize being honked at by emergency vehicles, and will assume it to mean “move forward and clear a path”). The SDCs have an array of microphones around the car to detect honks, sirens, nearby crashes, etc, and can tell the direction the sounds are coming from for this purpose.

That said, because it’s listening for sirens, the SDC will usually be aware that there’s an emergency vehicle heading toward it well ahead of time, and if they’ve got their lights on, the SDC will usually be able to determine which vehicle, specifically, is the emergency vehicle, so it can monitor its trajectory and make sure it’s staying out of the way when possible. Typically, they will be proactive about steering clear of anything with lights/sirens running.

This would also considered a higher-priority event, and usually it will automatically ping a live human to remotely monitor the situation, and depending on the specific context, they may either command the SDC to remain stationary, proceed forward, make a U-turn, or whatever else may be necessary. In case the emergency vehicle has a loud speaker, we’d be able to hear any requests they’re making of us, as well.

For what it’s worth, I know that Waymo also works pretty closely with the Phoenix PD, and provide them with updates about any significant changes to the car’s behaviors or any tips/tricks for dealing with a stuck car in an emergency situation, so if a situation got particularly sticky, the cops would know how to work around it. My understanding is that Phoenix PD has generally been very cooperative, though they’ve apparently had issues with state troopers who don’t seem to care to learn about how to deal with the cars.

I tried it on mine, but couldn’t get it to happen. It’s possible that Gboard might be trying to make a grammatical correction. Not to imply that you don’t know how to write, but something that needs to be asked from a troubleshooting perspective: Are you sure you’re using the correct word for the sentence?

Also, and this might be an annoying step to take but, does it continue after clearing the Gboard app settings completely? I think Gboard will also make “habitual” corrections based on your usage, so it could also be possible that it thinks you frequently delete “don’t” and replace it with “didn’t”, and is trying to preemptively correct it.

I used to work on the software for these cars, so I can speak to this a little. For what it’s worth, I’m no longer with the project, so I have no reason to be sucking Google’s dick if these weren’t my honest opinions on the tech being used here. None of this is to excuse or defend Google, just sharing my insight on how these cars operate based on my experiences with them.

Waymo’s cars actually do a really good job at self-navigation. Like, sometimes it’s scary how good they actually are when you see the conditions they can operate under. There are so many layers of redundancies that you could lose all of the camera feeds, GPS, and cellular data, and they’ll still be able to navigate themselves through traffic by the LIDAR sensors. Hell, even if you removed the LIDAR from that scenario, those cars accurately know their location based on the last known location combined with how many times each tire has revolved (though it’d just run into everything along the way, but at least it’d know where it’s located the entire time). All of the other sensors and data points collected by the cars actually end up making GPS into the least accurate sensor on the car.

That said, the article mentions that it was due to “inconsistent construction signage”, which I’d assume to be pretty accurate from my own experience with these cars. Waymo’s cars are usually really good at detecting cone placements and determining where traffic is being rerouted to. But… that’s generally only when the cones are where they’re supposed to be. I’ve seen enough roadwork in Phoenix to know that sometimes Mad Max rules get applied, and even I wouldn’t know how to drive through some of those work zones. It was pretty rare that I’d have to remotely take over an SDC, but 9/10 times I did it was because of construction signs/equipment being in weird places and I’d have to K-turn the car back where it came from.

That’s not to say that construction consistently causes the cars to get stuck, but I’d say was one of the more common pain points. In theory, if somebody were to run over a cone and nobody picks it back up, an SDC might not interpret that obstruction properly, and can make a dumb decision like going down the wrong lane, under the incorrect assumption that traffic has been temporarily rerouted that way. It sounds scary, and probably looks scary as hell if you saw it on the street, but even then it’s going to stop itself before coming anywhere near an oncoming car, even if it thinks it has right of way, since proximity to other objects will take priority over temporary signage.

The “driving through a red light” part I’m assuming might actually be inaccurate. Cops do lie, after all. I 100% believe in a Waymo car going down the opposing lane after some sketchy road cones, but I have a hard time buying that it ran a red light, since they will not go if they don’t detect a green light. Passing through an intersection requires a positive detection of a green light; positive or negative detection of red won’t matter, it has to see a green light for its intended lane or it will assume it has to stop at the line.

In the video, the cop says he turns on his lights and the SDC blows through a red light. While I was working there, red light violations were so rare that literally 100% of the red light violations we received were while a human was driving the car in manual mode. What I’d assume was likely going on is that the SDC was already in a state of “owning” the intersection for an unprotected left turn when the lights came on. When an SDC thinks it’s being pulled over, it’s going to go through its “pullover” process, which first requires exiting an intersection if currently in one. So what likely ended up happening is the SDC was already in the intersection preparing for a left turn, the light turns red while the SDC is in the box (and still legally has right of way to the intersection), cop turns on the sirens, SDC proceeds “forward” through the intersection until it’s able to pull over.

But, that’s just my speculation based on my somewhat outdated understanding of the software behind these cars. I’d love to see the video of it, but I doubt Waymo will release it unless there’s a lawsuit.

I’m not sure why the police say it’s “not feasible” to issue Google a citation. Google are the registered owners of the vehicles and thus responsible for any actions it performs, just mail them a ticket?

Microsoft’s much-heralded Notepad.exe was storing files as plain text

Same level of security concern. Quit putting your sensitive data into apps that aren’t meant for it.

The Alabama Ammo Bandito?!

Texas here. Wishing I knew what that felt like.

Gee, I can’t imagine why somebody might make a throwaway account to ask a question about something they already said they’ve been bullied over.

Who cares if anybody finds it weird? You should find it weird that they’re so interested, in the first place. You have a close relationship with your sister, and you should cherish that while you can. Time has a way of splitting siblings apart, as you’re already seeing for yourself. Soon it’ll go from seeing each other every few months, to a couple times a year, to once every other Christmas dinner, to “I wonder if they’ll send a ‘happy birthday’ text this year”…

I think that’s what Diaspora is trying to be. I’ve not heard much from that project recently, though, so I have no clue if there’s any activity on that platform anymore.

I’d eat a Bell Delphine burger. I wouldn’t spend my own money on it, but I feel like that’d make for a fun story.

Sorry, I kinda got lost in the sauce on my original comment, lol. My issue isn’t so much with the data collection, itself. My problem is that their FAQs say things that appear to be outright lies. Not even just embellishing the truth or something, but complete falsehoods.

I don’t care so much that they collect a bit of data. But if they’re wiling to lie to a potential user about their data collection, I can’t help but wonder what else they might be willing to be dishonest about. I already have doubts about their crypto claim in the FAQ based on their founder’s history with NFTs, so I worry that this might also be something they’re not being truthful about.

Oh for sure, I don’t doubt that. The issue that I take is that their FAQ - which I imagine is rarely actually read by users, but is definitely read more often than the ToS - is directly contradicted by their ToS. While they say they only collect one data point in the FAQ, the ToS outlines several other data points they collect. While they say they don’t share your collected data with third parties, the ToS states that they may share your collected data with third parties for advertising purposes. The FAQ denies being connected to crypto schemes, despite their founder (Tiffany Zhong) and parent company being heavily involved in crypto.

While these are all standard practices for just about every web platform, it’s the lies in the FAQs that should be concerning to users. If they would have just said exactly what they do with your data or what their background is in, or even just not included it in the FAQs at all, I wouldn’t have any problem with it. But they’re willing to openly lie to their users, and I don’t think they should be trusted.

Yeah, I thought about that halfway through looking through their ToS. I wish I was smart enough to figure out how to package this into a message Gen Z can actually understand and care about.

No, it doesn’t. With exception to extreme outlier situations (where generally the youngest such an operation can be done is at 15), gender assignment surgeries are not being done on minors.

but he’s so so much better than trump.

The thing is, New Jersey seems to disagree. That’s why we need a stronger candidate than Biden. I know that realistically, he’s probably the safest candidate against Trump, but that doesn’t mean that we have to be happy about it.

Well, the bears do have a right to be armed, after all.

It can also be context-specific. Sometimes the L can stand for “Lunch”, for videos you shouldn’t watch while eating or might otherwise trigger a gag reflex (gore, pimple popping, anything with creepy crawlies, etc).

It’s okay, it’ll make sense once you sober up. :)

From noplace’s FAQs: *

do you collect my data?

we use your phone number as a way for you to sign up and log into the app. that’s the only thing about you we collect.

we don’t share your number or anything else about you with third parties like some other apps do. we want you to be able to securely log in and chat with ur friends, that’s it.

Emphasis mine. Now their privacy policy: *

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

Phone number Usage Data Usage Data Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service. Usage Data may include information such as Your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

So, it looks like they’re starting off with lies right at the top, like every other tech startup.

EDIT: To also address the “we don’t share your number or anything else about you with third parties” part, the privacy policy also outlines exactly how they will share your data with third parties:

We may share Your personal information in the following situations: […] With business partners: We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.

Go fuck yourselves, noplace.

EDIT: Another issue I just found with their FAQs:

is this a crypto thing?

wut? no.

I thought it was weird that crypto would be a frequently-asked question for what appears to otherwise be a pretty generic-looking social network. Then I found that noplace’s parent company, Islands XYZ, was originally launched to be an NFT platform of some sort, financially backed by our old friend Alexis Ohanian.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2021/11/30/web3-startup-islands-creators-nft-communities-launch/

So they’re totally not a crypto thing. Definitely not crypto. 100% something other than crypto.

Guys, I swear they’re not a crypto thing.