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The edge case that I always go to on why truly autonomous vehicles are decades+ away is winter driving. Lane markers and road signs disappear. Slush and salt
by theluketaylor 6y ago
The edge case that I always go to on why truly autonomous vehicles are decades+ away is winter driving. Lane markers and road signs disappear. Slush and salt spray constantly obscure sensors.
Winter driving as a human driver requires an entirely different approach and Waymo hangs out in the Arizona desert where there is basically never any inclement weather.
- astrange 6y agoYou can simulate poor weather with sensors by either 1. simulating it or 2. driving at night.
- heavyset_go 6y agoThat, and construction, detours and city driving. In the latter, driving contexts can change without a second's notice, without any signs, markings or signals denoting the change. You learn what those contexts are from experience and understanding of what are ultimately complex social situations, and a shared understanding between you and the people around you.
- Barrin92 6y agodon't even need to go to bad environmental setting. Let's talk about other countries. I haven't seen a lot of self-driving cars in Rome or Mumbai yet, there's a lot of places where traffic rules are treated more like suggestions than actual rules. American style neat wide highways and grid-like streets are not how the places look where most cars are being driven right now already.
- sumedh 6y agoMumbai literally has bumper to bumper traffic, I think any self driving car's sensors would just go crazy and give up.
- klmadfejno 6y agoDigital data instead of signs seems like the obvious solution.
- Fricken 6y agoSimultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) was solved a while back. Autonomous vehicles can locate themselves using any detectable landmark, not just lane markings and road signs.