Future Tense Getting up to speed with autonomous vehicles
15 snips
Oct 23, 2025 
Join experts Michael Milford, a robotics director at Queensland University of Technology, Milad Haghani, an urban resilience associate professor, and sociolinguist Abdesalam Soudi from the University of Pittsburgh. They dive into the current state and commercial uses of autonomous vehicles, touching on Tesla’s camera-based approach versus LiDAR systems. They discuss the social language of driving, how contextual cues can confuse AI, and consumer reluctance towards driver-assist technologies, revealing the complexities of acceptance and regulation in the evolving landscape of self-driving cars.
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Firsthand Waymo Rides In LA
- Michael Milford rode Waymo robo-taxis in Los Angeles and found their performance subjectively impressive.
- They operated across significant areas but avoided high-speed highways at that time.
Public Testing Creates Ethical Gaps
- Deploying experimental AVs in public raises ethical concerns because the public hasn't consented to testing.
- Human supervision is imperfect because vigilance degrades as systems require less intervention.
Vision-Only Failures Cited
- Milad Haghani cited incidents where Tesla's vision-only system caused sudden emergency braking and pile-ups.
- Such malfunctions have led to major crashes and public concern over safety.
