Waymo Exec Admits Remote Drivers in Philippines.

@jwz I mean I don't change gears manually in my car any more and when I use the radar cruise control on the freeway I guess I'm just advising the vehicle as well, rather than driving it. I'm still in the driver seat though, and if CHP tell me to pull over I'm going to pull over and have my licence, registration, and insurance card ready by the time they get to the window.

@fluffydotorg @jwz I'm guessing you also don't claim to be changing gears manually when you aren't. When you say "I'm driving", everyone knows you aren't a little homunculus inside the engine moving pistons and pushing fluid around. When Waymo says the cars are self-driving, it leads people to believe they... drive themselves, which is not the case.

@theorangetheme @jwz 100% exactly my gen-x cynical point

@jwz Absolutely shocked at this development.

@jwz For reference (I'm assuming `whitehouse.gov` is hosted in the US and isn't using some anycast CDN. It was the first US-based site I could think of.)

```
stuartl@rikishi ~ $ ping4 -n whitehouse.gov
PING whitehouse.gov (192.0.66.51) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.0.66.51: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=25.9 ms
^C
--- whitehouse.gov ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 25.850/25.850/25.850/0.000 ms
stuartl@rikishi ~ $ ping6 -n whitehouse.gov
PING whitehouse.gov (2a04:fa87:fffd::c000:4233) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2a04:fa87:fffd::c000:4233: icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=221 ms
^C
--- whitehouse.gov ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 220.696/220.696/220.696/0.000 ms
```

25ms might be low enough to not care… but 221ms definitely is "drunk driver" territory.

@jwz There was some prior, unrelated bombshell about this, I think which came out in discovery: each additional Waymo on the streets requires closer *two* people to manage it, than the one you'd need for a taxi/uber/lyft. So they're not even an efficient form of automation. What's compelling, though, is the operators don't need to be local, or even in the same country, and you don't even need to pay those pesky income taxes to the local government.

@docpop @jwz also JWZ can we get Dread Zeppelin to perform? Sorry for even asking.

@jwz time to post up some cardboard signs around town