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Have you actually driven in SF? There’s plenty of rain in the winter and the roads can get quite interesting. Right turns that are actually 170 degrees and a 15

Have you actually driven in SF? There’s plenty of rain in the winter and the roads can get quite interesting. Right turns that are actually 170 degrees and a 15% incline. Red lights that are way off to the side and obscured (one on market right after you turn right exiting 101). It’s honestly a pretty good stress test as far as American cities go.

nradov 3y ago
As a stress test, SF is good but not great. Autonomous vehicles seem to have huge problems dealing with snow due to the obscured lane lines. It never really snows in SF (maybe a few flakes in rare conditions but not enough to stick).
- VBprogrammer 3y ago
  I don't see why not being able to see lane lines would be a the problem, at least for the full-fat Waymo solution. My understanding is they are using lidar sensors to correlate their exact position in addition to GPS which can be accurate to sub-meter level. In fact, they would have much more information to go on than most wet-wear drivers, assuming they can correlate the position of street furniture etc. The bigger problem I would imagine is finding the car not responding to inputs in a predictable way. I would image at a certain point they are going to give up. Even a human driver might need a push in some conditions.
- danans 3y ago
  > It never really snows in SF (maybe a few flakes in rare conditions but not enough to stick). It never snows, but between the fog and strong winter storms directly off the Pacific, visibility can often be near zero in SF. I've lost sight of lanes and surroundings many times.
lm28469 3y ago
I lived in SF and besides the occasional annoyance of parking my motorcycle in heavily inclined streets I don't remember anything remotely problematic. I remember plenty of waymo cars glitching though but that was a long time ago. tbh waymo's ceo said what I said here: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo-john-krafcik-autonomous-cars-wont-ever-be-able-to-drive-in-all-conditions/ https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo...
- jjulius 3y ago
  You lived in SF and still feel confident saying that it gets 365 days of sun?
- vpribish 3y ago
  that's ridiculous. I live in SF now and the driving situation is seriously challenging. Even the straight, flat, streets can be nuts - like Polk St: pedestrians can jump out anywhere, slalom of delivery trucks, delivery scooters, ride-hail cars, double parallel-parked, with bike lanes - its a major cyclist route also busses and those little tourist scooters - oh and the electric unicycles that are always blowing stop-signs! the type, shape, size, and behavior is all over the map. go two blocks over and you have to deal with cable-pulled trolleys having the right of way across the 12% grade intersection. last week there were hundreds of drunken santa-clauses jay-walking between bars. oh and the line of tourist cars (who knows what traffic behavior they might follow!) heading up to see the crooked street - as the high school is getting out. LOL get your memory checked, memory checked, if you recall driving in SF as unproblematic.
- jjulius 3y ago
  >tbh waymo's ceo said what I said here: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo... All the CEO said was that he thinks autonomous driving won't work in every condition or ever be perfect, and that they're always finding and working through unique challenges. That's quite a bit different from "our cars only work on straight lines and with 365 days of sun".

nradov 3y ago

As a stress test, SF is good but not great. Autonomous vehicles seem to have huge problems dealing with snow due to the obscured lane lines. It never really snows in SF (maybe a few flakes in rare conditions but not enough to stick).

VBprogrammer 3y ago
I don't see why not being able to see lane lines would be a the problem, at least for the full-fat Waymo solution. My understanding is they are using lidar sensors to correlate their exact position in addition to GPS which can be accurate to sub-meter level. In fact, they would have much more information to go on than most wet-wear drivers, assuming they can correlate the position of street furniture etc. The bigger problem I would imagine is finding the car not responding to inputs in a predictable way. I would image at a certain point they are going to give up. Even a human driver might need a push in some conditions.
danans 3y ago
> It never really snows in SF (maybe a few flakes in rare conditions but not enough to stick). It never snows, but between the fog and strong winter storms directly off the Pacific, visibility can often be near zero in SF. I've lost sight of lanes and surroundings many times.

lm28469 3y ago

I lived in SF and besides the occasional annoyance of parking my motorcycle in heavily inclined streets I don't remember anything remotely problematic. I remember plenty of waymo cars glitching though but that was a long time ago. tbh waymo's ceo said what I said here: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo-john-krafcik-autonomous-cars-wont-ever-be-able-to-drive-in-all-conditions/ https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo...

jjulius 3y ago
You lived in SF and still feel confident saying that it gets 365 days of sun?
vpribish 3y ago
that's ridiculous. I live in SF now and the driving situation is seriously challenging. Even the straight, flat, streets can be nuts - like Polk St: pedestrians can jump out anywhere, slalom of delivery trucks, delivery scooters, ride-hail cars, double parallel-parked, with bike lanes - its a major cyclist route also busses and those little tourist scooters - oh and the electric unicycles that are always blowing stop-signs! the type, shape, size, and behavior is all over the map. go two blocks over and you have to deal with cable-pulled trolleys having the right of way across the 12% grade intersection. last week there were hundreds of drunken santa-clauses jay-walking between bars. oh and the line of tourist cars (who knows what traffic behavior they might follow!) heading up to see the crooked street - as the high school is getting out. LOL get your memory checked, memory checked, if you recall driving in SF as unproblematic.
jjulius 3y ago
>tbh waymo's ceo said what I said here: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/alphabet-google-waymo-ceo... All the CEO said was that he thinks autonomous driving won't work in every condition or ever be perfect, and that they're always finding and working through unique challenges. That's quite a bit different from "our cars only work on straight lines and with 365 days of sun".