4 ms·
A car that only reliably self-drives in good weather conditions is still (a) quite a hard problem, (b) almost certainly a commercially viable product on its own
by glenra 12y ago
A car that only reliably self-drives in good weather conditions is still (a) quite a hard problem, (b) almost certainly a commercially viable product on its own (c) a pretty good start on a car that reliably self-drives in any weather.
- aianus 12y agoI'm not sure about (b) since you'd need to buy two cars unless your boss will accept "but it was raining" as an excuse not to show up for work.
- ceejayoz 12y agoA self-driving car hardly has to be only self-driving.
- aianus 12y agoYou're right of course, I feel silly now. It wouldn't be as cool, though. I was imagining something like a limo without the driver compartment.
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoEventually for cities like Beijing to optimize congested transportation infrastructure, it would have to be.
- ceejayoz 12y agoSure, but that's not going to happen until the sensors can work in the rain (and smog).
- jareds 12y agoAs someone who is blind I'd buy a car if it could drive me where I need to go 75% of the time. This assumes that it weather forcasts would be accurate enough to let me know the car could get me to the grocery store and dry cleaner any time during the current day rather than leaving me stranded at my destination unable to get back home.
- glenra 12y agoI have two use cases in mind: (1) Delivery-bot. A car that drives itself to drop off a package and only delivers on non-rainy days. (if you need delivery on a rainy day, you pay extra for a person-driven delivery service. Otherwise the package waits at the warehouse) (2) Transport option for people who can't or shouldn't drive themselves - too old, too blind, too young, or physically impaired. The self-driving car takes them where they need to go when weather permits, otherwise they have to call a cab or van service as a backup option. (Much of California only has a couple weeks of rain per year.)
- warbastard 12y agoWhile in England, the delivery bots would work 2 weeks a year.