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Comment by dawhizkid | Hacker News Reader

People are going to be smoking weed, doing drugs, having sex, generally making a mess when autonomous taxis roll out. They will be disgusting.

Once you remove the "let's respect the vehicle because it's owned by an actual human being sitting in front of me" you feel a lot less bad about being disrespectful when using a product owned by some corporate entity.

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Hello: Thank you, but Auto-Ma-Tron is refusing you service. On your last visit you abused the TOS. The actions that were flagged are viewable here <Video of user shitting in the car>. Your credit card account has previously been charged $150 US for damages. You are no longer allowed to use our services until <one year from today's date>. As we use facial identification, attempting to use alternate means of payment to avoid detection will result in criminal trespassing charges being filed.

Good day, prick!

Sure, but I think a few interior cameras would deter that behavior. Not saying that's desirable; just likely where it's all headed.

There are cameras in taxis today. I don't believe for a second a self-driving taxi would ever be used without internal cameras.

As a privacy minded person I think that is ok. When I enter a taxi I don't expect total privacy (obviously don't expect the recordings to end up on youtube though).

I'm more concerned by the external-facing cameras. Possibly registering everything and everyone that didn't take part in my ride.

Without laws in place that data will most definitely be used for evil and the excuse might be targeted ads.

I think they'll go on step farther. There will be a video screen with a video of a person on it who will be there to answer questions the customers might have, subtly advertise things and so forth. The presence of a human face who "interacts" with the passengers will help create a personal connection both to the company and to the car, so people will be less likely to vandalize things. Even crazier, whoever is the "face" of uber or waymo will be one of the most viewed human beings one arth, so there will be big bucks invested in find a face or faces that people will bond with on an emotional level. At some point, someone may say to you, "I prefer uber because Gina is so much nicer."

When there's no longer a human watching there will be cameras. Instead of the driver telling people to knock it off right away, passengers will do whatever. Then they'll get a hefty cleaning bill in the mail or kicked off the platform after the next passenger reports issues and a person checks the footage. It won't be perfect, but hopefully it will be good enough

This is why I would never, ever rent out an autonomously driving vehicle I own (something Tesla wants to offer). I really have to wonder about peoples' experiences with shared services that they think this is desirable.

It's easy to maintain accountability: any damage done can be trivially traced back to the party that did it. Anyone that opens up a disgusting mess will just report it, and that will be tied to the previous user.

This is already how car-share programs work. Each time you use a Zipcar, you look around for any damage and claim it. If you forget, you might be held responsible.

If it's really a problem, then people might not mind placing a sizable deposit to use a service where that's discouraged even more. Or accept that they'll be recorded for the duration of the trip, etc.

I agree it's an issue, but it seems like one that can be effectively mitigated.

This will probably be used as an opportunity for price discrimination. Want to get from A to B? That will be $5. Oh, you want to ride in a tidy car? That will be $15.

The same technology that can classify and map roads and hazards real time can also map and classify what happens in the cab of the vehicle.

either cameras will inform AI algorithms and they will classify you as a "bad" passenger, or the next person who rents the taxi will report the taxi as unsanitary.

Which means you're going to lose your taxi privileges. Cue Black Mirror comparisons. Though it's pretty much how Uber already works.

i imagine the interiors will evolve into a "very easy to quickly hose down" configuration. if you can run the interior through an automated powerwash in a mere few moments, i suspect it won't matter too much what... remnants... passengers leave behind.

So the cars will look and smell inside like... taxis?

The perfect crime.

This isn't true across the board. There's a lot of primitive shitheads out there but there are still civilized humans also.

Only takes a couple "primitive shitheads" to ruin it for everyone else unfortunately.

I think very strict moderation will come into auto taxis. If I'm paying a lease on a car, or better yet if I'm lending time in my own autonomous car, I'm going to exercise extremely judicious moderation. If it's not clean after UserABC rides, he never rides again. Simple.

Then we setup rules and processes to deter "primitive shitheads"

The Jaz Drive contagion effect.

Bad disks create bad drives.

Bad drives create bad disks.

Wah, rinse, repeat, pandemic!

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