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I've spent a fair bit of time driving in New York City, since the early 90's. When is autonomous driving ever going to get to NYC? It sometimes seems insane to

I've spent a fair bit of time driving in New York City, since the early 90's. When is autonomous driving ever going to get to NYC? It sometimes seems insane to drive there. I have a hard time imagining computer drivers being able to deal with NYC human drivers. (Same goes for Boston, only more so.)

IanCal 7y ago
What is it about the driving that doesn't seem reasonable for a computer to deal with? I've never been. Often what appears to be hard is because it hits things that are hard for humans. Full 360 degree constant coverage isn't a problem, fast reaction times are easy (so if it's about quickly stopping/starting that should be easily better). Complex parts come from more "human" standards, if you can only come out of a junction easily by making eye contact with an oncoming car for example.
- ghaff 7y ago
  >Complex parts come from more "human" standards, if you can only come out of a junction easily by making eye contact with an oncoming car for example. It's that kind of thing. If you drive like you would in some calmer and less congested city you'll never get anywhere. You often have to take your space because no one is going to give it to you. It's not just vehicles. If a car pauses at a crosswalk because someone has stepped into it, the rest of the crowd will smell hesitancy and just cross en masse against the light. Plus lots of police manually directing traffic at intersections. Lots of partially blocked streets because of construction and delivery vehicles. Parts of the city are really nerve-wracking to drive in at busy times of the day. I actually do think it's worse than Boston with respect to a previous comment although the layout is much more of a grid which makes things easier in some respects.
- stcredzero 7y ago
  What is it about the driving that doesn't seem reasonable for a computer to deal with? It's not just the other humans, though that's a big part. There have been times when the condition and design of the streets and roads themselves have been challenging.
- Skunkleton 7y ago
  > What is it about the driving that doesn't seem reasonable for a computer to deal with? Computers are still learning how to deal with freeway driving, why do you think city driving isn't a harder problem? > Complex parts come from more "human" standards, if you can only come out of a junction easily by making eye contact with an oncoming car for example. If you want computers to drive alongside humans, this is still a valuable piece of information.
  - IanCal 7y ago
    I didn't say it was easier, but was wondering what would make it so much more difficult that the other user had a hard time imagining it. > If you want computers to drive alongside humans, this is still a valuable piece of information. Valuable is different from required though.
jiveturkey 7y ago
meh. try driving in India.
- ghaff 7y ago
  India. A lot of the big Southeast Asia cities. Even places like Paris, Florence, or Rome. I probably wouldn't drive in any of those (although language is part of the issue) and I don't really have a problem driving in New York City even though I don't like doing it.

IanCal 7y ago

What is it about the driving that doesn't seem reasonable for a computer to deal with? I've never been. Often what appears to be hard is because it hits things that are hard for humans. Full 360 degree constant coverage isn't a problem, fast reaction times are easy (so if it's about quickly stopping/starting that should be easily better). Complex parts come from more "human" standards, if you can only come out of a junction easily by making eye contact with an oncoming car for example.

ghaff 7y ago
>Complex parts come from more "human" standards, if you can only come out of a junction easily by making eye contact with an oncoming car for example. It's that kind of thing. If you drive like you would in some calmer and less congested city you'll never get anywhere. You often have to take your space because no one is going to give it to you. It's not just vehicles. If a car pauses at a crosswalk because someone has stepped into it, the rest of the crowd will smell hesitancy and just cross en masse against the light. Plus lots of police manually directing traffic at intersections. Lots of partially blocked streets because of construction and delivery vehicles. Parts of the city are really nerve-wracking to drive in at busy times of the day. I actually do think it's worse than Boston with respect to a previous comment although the layout is much more of a grid which makes things easier in some respects.
stcredzero 7y ago
What is it about the driving that doesn't seem reasonable for a computer to deal with? It's not just the other humans, though that's a big part. There have been times when the condition and design of the streets and roads themselves have been challenging.
Skunkleton 7y ago
> What is it about the driving that doesn't seem reasonable for a computer to deal with? Computers are still learning how to deal with freeway driving, why do you think city driving isn't a harder problem? > Complex parts come from more "human" standards, if you can only come out of a junction easily by making eye contact with an oncoming car for example. If you want computers to drive alongside humans, this is still a valuable piece of information.
- IanCal 7y ago
  I didn't say it was easier, but was wondering what would make it so much more difficult that the other user had a hard time imagining it. > If you want computers to drive alongside humans, this is still a valuable piece of information. Valuable is different from required though.

jiveturkey 7y ago

meh. try driving in India.

ghaff 7y ago
India. A lot of the big Southeast Asia cities. Even places like Paris, Florence, or Rome. I probably wouldn't drive in any of those (although language is part of the issue) and I don't really have a problem driving in New York City even though I don't like doing it.