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Can you elaborate on how you think that map data is important? I would expect that mapping data at best gives you a route - something the user could supply. Nai

Can you elaborate on how you think that map data is important? I would expect that mapping data at best gives you a route - something the user could supply. Naively, I would think that the hard problems are responding to obstacles in the road, cross walks, stop lights, etc., where map data won't help much.

mtgx 14y ago
Even Google's own data isn't perfect. A couple of years ago someone even tried to sue Google for "getting her on a highway" and then having an accident. I think she was walking, and obviously she can't blame Google for not noticing the highway! But with self-driving cars, it's different. A car landing on a highway, when it's not supposed to be there, and then getting into an accident, is not good news. So that's why I think accurate map data will be very important for this.
- Someone 14y ago
  Mapping data will be important, but not to prevent accidents. Maps will not be 100% accurate, so even with perfect maps, cars will end up on roads they think aren't highways while in fact, they are. There also will be newly one-way streets that aren't in the mapping database yet, roads closed due to construction or accidents, etc. Yes, both will be rare, but multiplied by millions of cars (necessary to get the 'worth trillions' part)? Not so. So, let's say you are driving a vehicle that isn't allowed on the highway but incorrectly takes one. How do you think maps will help with the "and then getting into an accident" part?
coopdog 14y ago
My (admittedly limited) knowledge of the cars is that they 'cheat' a lot, in that they don't just look at sensors to make decisions rather they look at a map of data to determine ie approach this corner at maximum 40mph, pot holes on left side of road at this point, always stop at this intersection as it's tricky to see, etc. So the parallel between improving maps data with phones will be improving the car detail map data with cars.

mtgx 14y ago

Even Google's own data isn't perfect. A couple of years ago someone even tried to sue Google for "getting her on a highway" and then having an accident. I think she was walking, and obviously she can't blame Google for not noticing the highway! But with self-driving cars, it's different. A car landing on a highway, when it's not supposed to be there, and then getting into an accident, is not good news. So that's why I think accurate map data will be very important for this.

Someone 14y ago
Mapping data will be important, but not to prevent accidents. Maps will not be 100% accurate, so even with perfect maps, cars will end up on roads they think aren't highways while in fact, they are. There also will be newly one-way streets that aren't in the mapping database yet, roads closed due to construction or accidents, etc. Yes, both will be rare, but multiplied by millions of cars (necessary to get the 'worth trillions' part)? Not so. So, let's say you are driving a vehicle that isn't allowed on the highway but incorrectly takes one. How do you think maps will help with the "and then getting into an accident" part?

coopdog 14y ago

My (admittedly limited) knowledge of the cars is that they 'cheat' a lot, in that they don't just look at sensors to make decisions rather they look at a map of data to determine ie approach this corner at maximum 40mph, pot holes on left side of road at this point, always stop at this intersection as it's tricky to see, etc. So the parallel between improving maps data with phones will be improving the car detail map data with cars.