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It’s available across all of the mapped area of San Francisco where the test fleet operates, and the app works like any ride-sharing experience, mapping ride re
by chubot 9y ago
It’s available across all of the mapped area of San Francisco where the test fleet operates, and the app works like any ride-sharing experience, mapping ride requesters with available cars.
What area is that? Isn't all of San Francisco "mapped" 100 times over by this point?
If the "mapped area" isn't all of San Francisco, does this speak to a limitation of their tech or a regulatory/deployment issue?
- aetherson 9y agoProbably they need more precise maps than are available from Google Maps or the equivalent. And other autonomous car companies aren't willing to provide their maps.
- maxerickson 9y agoThey may be creating their own highly detailed maps. In that case it would be a limitation of how much effort they have invested in generating the maps.
- jrowley 9y agoYeah, they have their own in house maps team.
- chubot 9y agoI'm not an expert, but the more detailed your maps, the higher chance that they are inaccurate. Details of SF streets change regularly. If they don't have good coverage of SF now, it's not just a fixed effort to make it more detailed. It's a continuous effort. Also there is no map of detours, etc. I had thought that many self-driving algorithms were not relying as much on maps for this reason, but I could be wrong. At least Elon Musk said that humans don't need a global map to drive. They just need two cameras pointing out the front windshield. Global maps help to navigate, but they don't necessarily help you drive.
- maxerickson 9y agoYeah, they are all pretty tight lipped about exactly how map dependent they are. But anytime they start talking about limited operating areas it is an obvious question to ask. And it is even possible that operating in areas with detailed maps is simply more valuable (if the map improves their ability to evaluate the performance of other systems).
- miheermunjal 9y ago100 times over, but by 100 different silo-ed datastores... so its hard to equivalent draw conclusions needed for AV's in a city. not to mention the biggest complexity is still understanding deviations from said-detailed environments.