That is too funny. So we crash the car while distracted, filming the demo for AI powered voice email we do during our commute, and "Judges love the demo". Pretty funny when nobody gets hurt, not so funny when we rear end a family of 4 or injure a pedestrian.
It's a controversial story, generates buzz. But as usual, the human cost seems to fall by the wayside along the way. You need brainpower to process email, right? Can people really drive properly while trying to focus on something else? Seems like the answer is instantly no, and they are still in YC. Makes me a little sick.
conductr · 1h ago
I think the funny part is they continue on promoting the service as something you can do while you drive after having failed at it. Plenty of value in the service, but the while you drive part would have been something I kept to myself after having had an accident doing it
borski · 1h ago
You need brainpower to process music, right? Can people really drive properly while trying to focus on something else, like the radio? Or a podcast? Or a phone call with another actual human being over Bluetooth?
dghlsakjg · 1h ago
Frequently no. They can’t do those things well.
We have the data to prove it.
Do I really need to spell out that just because we have normalized some bad behavior that we shouldn’t do more of it?
borski · 18m ago
Okay. As another argument, hands-free ADAS systems are becoming more and more prevalent, and also assist in this issue.
jwilber · 2m ago
Another argument for what, exactly?
1zael · 30m ago
How do you stay alive when there's a billion AI email companies out there?
vedhsaka · 1h ago
We didn't expect this will come on hackernews.
But more on this - April is voice first app to manage email and calendar so you can read/reply/draft emails while driving or doing other chores.
Crash was because of the panic - we were getting late and I reversed the car while taking a turn and didn't see the pillar - I crashed into it - this was before we started recording or started speaking with April.
But that is a good flag - will update the article with more details.
acyou · 9m ago
But it says in your article, "We record a demo and dent Akash’s car while recording, just minutes before the deadline." So I think the only thing to do now is to own up to it and please post the demo including the crash so that we can all have a good laugh, and also appreciate the demo that got you into YC?
kristopolous · 1h ago
There's been a number of projects on this pipeline
aprilthird2021 · 1h ago
> We record a demo and dent Akash’s car while recording, just minutes before the deadline. Judges love the demo.
I am not sure why it sounded like a good idea to mention potentially breaking the law during the application process...
The product sounds nice though. Are there any examples of successful email-related software companies? I can think of Superhuman. Maybe hey?
It's a controversial story, generates buzz. But as usual, the human cost seems to fall by the wayside along the way. You need brainpower to process email, right? Can people really drive properly while trying to focus on something else? Seems like the answer is instantly no, and they are still in YC. Makes me a little sick.
We have the data to prove it.
Do I really need to spell out that just because we have normalized some bad behavior that we shouldn’t do more of it?
Crash was because of the panic - we were getting late and I reversed the car while taking a turn and didn't see the pillar - I crashed into it - this was before we started recording or started speaking with April.
But that is a good flag - will update the article with more details.
I am not sure why it sounded like a good idea to mention potentially breaking the law during the application process...
The product sounds nice though. Are there any examples of successful email-related software companies? I can think of Superhuman. Maybe hey?