Time to buy a new car because Google no longer wants to support yours.
The wonders the future holds.
The wonders the future holds.
Their cars are deathtraps without human drivers.
Meanwhile, insurance companies estimate humans average about 250,000 miles between accidents. Factor in unreported incidents and we get a safe estimate that human drivers could be closer to 150,000 miles between accidents.
At the most generous factor I can provide, humans are three times better drivers on average than Self-Driving Cars.
...But wait. During the same 424,000 miles, the cars' automated driving system had a system failure, reverting to the human driver, 272 times. (Roughly every 1,500 miles.) Without a human driver to take the wheel, who knows how many more accidents they could've caused.
The secret to the Self-Driving Car's safety record isn't their software. It's humans. Google's "1.4 million miles driven" isn't a really useful statistic, because it ignores all of the "hard parts" of driving where humans had to take over and save the car. Bear in mind, Google's test drivers are trained, and are attentive and alert at all times to quickly take over control. The human test drivers, therefore, are better than the human average, and that's where your safety figure comes in.
Source: http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/...
This is appealing to me because I have no special attachment or interest in cars other than as a means to get from point A to point B. I understand many people enjoy car ownership and the culture surrounding it, but I just want a tool.
Something like the Massachusetts Right to Repair Initiative.
The inititative would have to go deeper, and include all the issues brought up in this article.
I am so tired of throwing away perfectly good items I bought because I can fix it, can't get parts, can't afford the Authorized Repair Center, not agreeing to one sided TOS, not having access to their sacred propriatiatry systems, etc.
Obviously, the initiative will need a lot of thought put into it, but it's time. I'm still on the fence when it comes to original propriatiatry information, but most of it is not original, or inventive. It's just information they don't want us to have!
My biggest gripe is not this Nest product Google bought.
It's not having access to my cars electricial system, schematics to electronic devices (the one's the company technicians use--they are like cartons. Company technicians have wonderful repair information.), appliance repair information, all electronic devices, and even the factory oiling diagram of that Rolex on your wrist.
Right to buy parts if available from the company would be tacked onto the bill. Oh yea, the intentional bricking of any devise would become illegial, or only warrantied in special cases--that would be decided by a judge.
I just want information, and parts, and some protection from sneaky ways to brick a product. The initiative won't be perfect, but it will give a company second thought when they decide to get Cute/Slick. Not having access to the repair of your product is sneaky way to keep you spending.
The time has come. The average consumer could care less. They seem to buy whatever looks shiny. You people will have to push for some protection.
I really don't linke where this is going. Apple started it with the phones by making repair very difficult. Now others have also gone that way. Even the MS Surface has its battery fused so you can't replace it easily.
I understand it if you make a device that is water proof but for anything else there is no reason.