4 ms·
Roads in Chandler are very regular (nice, wide grid), and the weather is clear and sunny the vast majority of the days. The particular geography helps isolate t
by eggpy 9y ago
Roads in Chandler are very regular (nice, wide grid), and the weather is clear and sunny the vast majority of the days. The particular geography helps isolate the number of factors the car needs to consider besides "just" driving.
From a NYT article[0],
>"The company did not say whether it was testing the driverless cars in environments considered challenging for autonomous vehicles, like bridges or tunnels, or more difficult conditions, like driving at night or in rain and snow — usually not a big concern in the dry Phoenix climate."
[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/technology/waymo-autonomous-cars.html?_r=0 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/technology/waymo-autonomo...
- icey 9y agoSo crazy to see this video shot in the neighborhood I lived in the summers as a kid. Chandler's got a lot of good things going for it as eggpy mentioned -- well marked roads, wide, very little rain. On the downside, the entire Phoenix area has some terrible drivers, which I suppose is good training for the Waymo cars. It will be interesting to see if they park the cars during monsoon season; conditions can get pretty treacherous on the first rainy days of the season -- roads get very slick, drainage isn't always the best so you can end up with large puddles of water on the road that cause hydroplaning, etc.
- dabeeeenster 9y agoEverywhere has terrible drivers - that's the point!