Driverless cars can't deal with country lanes

[lljkk]

...admitted an industry rep the other day, in coverage about automated cars now licensed on UK roads. A listener had messaged in to ask about lanes where drivers have to reverse back to passing places, wait in passing places for incoming vehicles or (often) pull up on the verge/into a driveway to get 2 vehicles through.

"No, our cars can't deal with that environment," said the rep. "They will be programmed not to go to those places."

Anyone share my amusement? So much for the great tech revolution that is going to take all our jobs.

Oh dear! Surely all those skills are also needed on urban roads that are made single lane by parking?

It's still early days though. I do believe there will be very sophisticated driverless cars eventually.

Good point about roads made into singles by parking habits.

They can't cope with snow either, apparently. The surroundings being all white messes them up.

So that's us in Canada fucked Nov-Mar then....

But... But... wait, lots of countries like UK only get occasional snow but then certainly enough that could create an all-white street scape for many hours of daylight. So everyone dependent on the auto-car would... what, have to charge up the batteries on their old self-drive car? How could it work to only have PT auto-cars??

I’m guessing they won’t be seen on El Camino de la Muerte anytime soon then?

It seems like round here cars with drivers in them can't deal with country lanes

The key to country lanes is to get the cars to talk to each other (Bluetooth presumably since you can’t rely on 4G in your average country lane) and play instantaneous electronic scissors rock paper to decide who has to reverse and who gets to go on. Not actually even joking.

yeah Bluetooth is ok,... but what the industry rep was saying is that the auto-car can't go off road, so can't get up on the verge to squeeze past. I imagine situations where there's nowhere to reverse back to.

Also, I suspect autocar won't enter a private driveway... or would it? To avoid hitting a horse or pedestrian, maybe?

It’s not just snow they can’t deal with-wasn’t the first death in a driverless car caused by fog?
Tesla car went under the trailer of an HGV and it was caused by fog, the trailer plus white fog background blended and car couldn’t detect lorry-decapitated driver.

Listening to a guy on the radio today, also can’t yet cope well with ‘the unexpected’ . Like for instance a child running in to the road, or a human crossing the road far enough in the distance but then, unexpectedly dropping their shopping bag and stopping and bending down to pick it up. They can’t yet really deal well with other road users doing what they’re not supposed to e.g. speeding, running a red light, going the wrong way down a one way street. So unless everyone is driving one , or rather not driving one so that they can efficiently communicate with each other, they’re not really viable. Their high powered processors can’t really cope to well with things on the surface level of the road, things like potholes, puddles and even shadows could temporarily confuse them. Only certain parts of the road network will be mapped in to their data base, no problem right? You just avoid the roads that are not mapped. But what about an unexpected road closure when all traffic is diverted down a country lane to get off the motorway where there’s just been an accident. What happens then? Will they just stop dead blocking the road or will they think ‘ah, fuck it’ and plough on ahead anyway? Sort of reminds me, in a modern technology update way, of the old Will Rogers joke....I want to die like my grandad, peacefully in his sleep. And not screaming in terror, like the passengers in his car.

There would still be a role for driverless taxis in cities though. You could make all city centres EV and driverless.
It would be a beginning...

They're going to work better on major roads and in towns, I think. Imagine how much better it would be getting in and off motorways if all the cars were self-driving... no dithering on slip roads then slamming the brakes on, nobody tailgating so there'd always be a gap, body getting tired and swerving out of their lane... so much better. But the trick will be to have everything automated, or nothing to remove 5e element of unpredictability that humans add to the mix.

But on little country roads, it's going to be a long time before a computer can manage, I suspect, because driving on those roads requires you to sometimes break the 'rules' (for instance, by getting onto the verge) and that judgement needs a human being - at least for now.

So driverless cars will be OK in urban areas and on major routes where there are usually public transport alternatives for those who don't or prefer not to drive. Whereas in rural areas where there is often little or no public transport they will be useless. Sounds like all the under 18's and elderly where I live will have to keep begging for lifts for a while yet.

I’ve been wondering how driverless cars would cope with flooding.

not to mention walkers, cyclists, horseriders, people pushing buggies, wheelchair users who will be on the roads in the countryside seeing as there mostly isn't much in the way of pavements...