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Creating an all-weather driver

125 points by boulos

by darth_avocado

5 subcomments

I was told by a very intelligent man demanding a trillion dollar salary that you only need vision cameras to have full self driving in all weather conditions. All of this is apparently unnecessary.

by zeroq

1 subcomments

I remember, back in the day, when first driving assistance systems rolled out - you know, keep lane, speed assistance according to road signs, etc. - I thought to myself "I bet you haven't seen our roads".
When I was getting my driver license I had to perform a series of tasks as part of the process. On of first was driving a 50m narrow curve forth and back. I had my exam in the middle of winter. The training yard was fully covered in snow. I was young and didn't knew better, so I got in the car and begin my test to quickly realize I couldn't see shit. I tried my best, but next moment I was told I got off the curve - the examiner knew it by heart - and I failed the test. Back to school and see you next semester.
A learning experience on so many levels.
Anyway, since then I always come back to that single experience when I read about self driving vehicles.

by gniv

3 subcomments

I wish Google would use their learnings from Waymo/Streetview in Maps navigation. When I drive through a complicated intersection for the first time it's a bit of guesswork what's the right thing to do. Here in France at least since space is at a premium there are a lot of weird intersections that are hard to navigate.

by milleramp

1 subcomments

At the Los Angeles Ciclavia two weeks ago Waymo's were getting stuck at the car crossings. There were police standing there waving cars through but the two I saw were not willing to drive through the intersection.

by daft_pink

3 subcomments

by b0rbb

2 subcomments

> Upstate New York
I'm guessing they meant _Upstate AND Western New York_.
Glad someone in Waymo saw the potential for testing for extreme snowy conditions there.

by marstall

1 subcomments

by awaymazdacx5

0 subcomment

by tonymet

4 subcomments

I hope this improves rigor and common sense around winter driving in the USA. In Eastern Europe, drivers care more about tires, angility and driver skill. In the USA , drivers rely on large 4wd vehicles with high clearance for snow and ice driving. I’ve seen way too many issues with large clumsy vehicles losing control due to poor tires .
I hope Waymo shares more solutions for winter driving to debunk a lot of the marketing for winter activity driving in the USA