Yes, that’s technically meeting the qualifications for Level 4, which is fully human free operation within its operating domain (a fixed track, zero tolerance for any obstacle on that track), and safely handling detection and deviation from that domain (shutting down if there is anything on the track).

His point is that you have no assurance you will not encounter any of the things the car cannot handle when you are operating in that environment, because while the environment is reasonably constrained, it is not, in fact, constrained. You could encounter construction, animals crossing the road, an accident, suddenly…

The other thing about camera resolution is that it determines your maximum distance you can resolve disparity at for a given distance between your stereo pair.

Yeah, the only thing that really sucks is any kind of automated Kiosk (car wash, parking garage, etc) is waaaaay too high relative to the window to use without getting unreasonably close to it. And I have giant monkey arms since I’m 6'6". But that would be true of any 911 really.

My personal high point in “mundane every…

6'6" 991.2 owner: visibility is fantastic, beltline does not feel unreasonably high. And you can actually see under the rear view mirror, something that isn’t true for most cars.

As someone with a 991.2 GT3 (the least practical Porsche one can still reasonably daily drive), it actually does all of those things pretty fantastically, and yes, it keeps a big grin on your face the whole time. The only thing it sucks for is long highway drives where the road noise is oppressively loud - I wear…

If we’re talking about 2005 dollars (first 997), $105k is $148k in today’s money. If we’re talking about 2013 dollars (last 997) it’s still $124,000. The 911, inflation adjusted, has actually been _decreasing_ in cost over the years, especially if you compare equivalent features that become standard.

The only obvious difference between a GTS and an S is the GTS gets the center lock wheels from the Turbo S. Short of that (and the GTS stitching in the seats if you get the GTS interior package) there isn’t really much to split them visually. Anything else exterior cosmetics wise is available on both cars, the GTS…

The price makes it unviable. There is sufficient competition in the EV space at that price point with double the range. Who would chose this over the other options?

As a wise person once said, there are no bad products, only bad prices. This is a bad price.

No, the existing systems are indeed explicitly L2. In order to qualify as L3, the system must be able to, in all conditions, detect that it is unable to handle some situation and return control to the driver. In an L2 system, it might for some, but not all, and thus the human is required to consistently watch for the…

Or, what all the dedicated SDV companies have been doing. And burning an enormous amount of money doing it.

I own a 911 precisely because I didn’t fit in a GT-R. Nissan’s roof design means the point of maximum headroom is not the point of maximum leg room. If you have shorter legs relative to your torso, you fit. If you have long legs relative to your torso, you don’t. The 911 on the other hand has the point of maximum…

Your idea for some new product/service/game/whatever is, legally, a trade secret. The execution of that idea may produce artifacts with different protections: copy-written works, for example, in the form of art assets or source code. Or patents, if you can prove you invented a patentable technology and want to…

Yes, I would, because that’s literally how trade secrets work. Unlike patented technology, the only protection for trade secrets from use by other companies is through their lack of knowledge of them. While it’s generally illegal to intentionally take trade secrets from one company to another, this is only because you…

The one part that is particularly onerous is the lack of cap on liability of the developer having to continue to fund development of the game, nor clear definition on under what circumstances the publisher can decide to exercise that option. But otherwise yes, this is a pretty standard contract (which is almost…

Correct. It’s intended to be the protection against “this pressure is too much, I’d rather take this $500,000 and go spend it on hookers and blackjack” outcome.

Yeah. It was a multi-million dollar deal, so it was worth the fight, but still, boy that original contract was bad.

Speaking of lending: my friend sold his pre-liquidity equity equity in a company he worked for to a third party equity accumulation firm. The original terms of the contract looked very much like this. Not only was he on the hook for any delta between what they paid him up front and what the equity actually wound up…

Yeah, the terms are brutal, but they’re not overtly malicious. The publisher is simply ensuring they get their $500,000 back, no matter what. They’re protecting themselves from the developer deciding they don’t like their job any more and not working on the game. The lack of a cap on liability for that condition is…

I don’t expect the kid to invest it. But I do maybe expect the kid to use it to pay for college expenses that might otherwise be put on a student loan at 7-10% interest or a credit card at 22% interest. Just avoiding $8,500 of student loan debt would pay for that finance charge no question.