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Where's the lane? Self-driving cars confused by shabby U.S. roadways
al Reuters ^ | Thu Mar 31, 2016 | Alexandria Sage

Posted on 03/31/2016 7:00:43 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Volvo's North American CEO, Lex Kerssemakers, lost his cool as the automaker's semi-autonomous prototype sporadically refused to drive itself during a press event at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

"It can't find the lane markings!" Kerssemakers griped to Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was at the wheel. "You need to paint the bloody roads here!"

Shoddy infrastructure has become a roadblock to the development of self-driving cars, vexing engineers and adding time and cost. Poor markings and uneven signage on the 3 million miles of paved roads in the United States are forcing automakers to develop more sophisticated sensors and maps to compensate, industry executives say.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


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To: GraceG

It’ll eventually be there.


41 posted on 03/31/2016 7:39:33 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: IYAS9YAS

They use the redneck robo-chauffeurs for the muddy roads.


42 posted on 03/31/2016 7:40:12 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Obadiah

As long as you have a tag, if someone wanted to track your car electronically they likely could.


43 posted on 03/31/2016 7:41:41 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: central_va

“The goal is to make cars so expensive that the masses are force back to the city-gulag where they are more easily controlled.”

A Honda Civic with the sensing package costs $23,000.

It can follow a curving road and prevent a collision between the car and a pedestrian (or another car).

$23K is not an expensive car.


44 posted on 03/31/2016 7:46:18 AM PDT by BBB333 (Q: Which is grammatically correct? Joe Biden IS or Joe Biden ARE an idiot?)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

That’s a far cry from seeing a broad software glitch mysteriously, yet quite plausibly, hit “certain people” trying to get to the polls on election day. Perhaps their self-driving car suddenly can’t quite read the road sensors, you know, just enough where reliability is suspect and these certain people just don’t feel comfortable using their car for that day or that week.

You’re right, stuff like that would never happen.


45 posted on 03/31/2016 7:49:16 AM PDT by Obadiah
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Shoddy roads = real world conditions.

And, in flyover country we have these things called “gravel roads”, that don’t hold paint too well.


46 posted on 03/31/2016 7:51:16 AM PDT by lacrew
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To: discostu

“No, actually the goal is better cars. “

Touché!

We have a Honda Pilot with Honda’s sensing package and it’s wonderful.

The car steers itself around corners, keeps a reasonable distance behind the car in front and rocks the steering wheel if I happen to cross onto the shoulder. The sensing package is available upon virtually every Honda as a $1,000 option.

It’s a better car. I know it’s not a Honda exclusive, but Honda has made it available at a very desirable price point.


47 posted on 03/31/2016 7:52:10 AM PDT by BBB333 (Q: Which is grammatically correct? Joe Biden IS or Joe Biden ARE an idiot?)
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To: Obadiah

It would certainly raise a scandal, though if we are going to be tinfoil about it, a system that deals poorly with a large pedestrian presence would be one that might deal poorly with Election Day. After all, these things do have to park unless a competent driver is on board to do that, or if it will just leave off the passenger then come back later.


48 posted on 03/31/2016 7:52:48 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: homegroan

Charlotte NC has been under near perpetual road construction for decades.


49 posted on 03/31/2016 8:01:11 AM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: BBB333
$23K is not an expensive car.

To you.

Inflation calculator:

What cost $24,000 in 2015 would cost $3891.90 in 1970.

I would say cars have doubled in cost.

In 1970 my dad paid cash for a 1970 Ford Maverick it cost $2,300 with taxes. Yeah that is $14,183.31 in 2015 dollars.

So a Civic and a Maverick are pretty much the same economy type car. Except the Civic is $10,000 more than the Maverick in 2015 dollars.

50 posted on 03/31/2016 8:11:38 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Night Hides Not
My wife's car has an electronic warning when you stray from your lane.

Same here, but I turn it off when I'm driving on two lane roads. It doesn't like the lines I take through the curves. I don't need the car to nag me. It's a '15 Outback, in case you were wondering.

51 posted on 03/31/2016 8:13:17 AM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: discostu

Ahem...opposition to self driving cars makes one a luddite?

You know, those machines the Luddites smashed were doing their jobs BETTER than they could do manually. However, I have yet to be convinced that self driving cars perform their task better than, or even as well as a human driver. And frankly, I don’t see much promise of it ever achieving even parity with a human driver in the far off future.

So, perhaps the term Luddite should be replaced with Realist.

This Luddite has worked with LIDAR - one of the technologies being used on self driving cars. I know how it works, I know its capabilities, I know how it is able to recognize a cloud of 3 dimensional points as an object from its library...neat stuff. I also know that it is a sensitive instrument that is currently being shipped halfway across the globe for calibration. I also know that it takes a large amount of computing power...’on board’, because cell coverage isn’t everywhere (I suspect Google’s test fleet is always in a coverage area to mask this need), and I know that the computing power is heavy (we’re talking about a car here and weight matters), expensive, needs its own air conditioner (more weight), and delicate. I also know that in the real world, stripes fade, snow piles up, rain falls, and sometimes my car is caked with mud for weeks.

I have no idea what the fascination is with the self driving car - but don’t get your hopes up.


52 posted on 03/31/2016 8:13:58 AM PDT by lacrew
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I remember when they used paint “mud” cut with gasoline.

Then it was the rubberized “tape” that peeled off in rolls after about 20 minutes.


53 posted on 03/31/2016 8:15:27 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (Fear is the mind killer.)
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To: BBB333

Here in Seattle, every time you see a REALLY bad driver, they are driving a Honda. When you get close enough to see the driver, it is usually a little old oriental gal looking THRU the steering wheel.


54 posted on 03/31/2016 8:18:35 AM PDT by RainMan (Liberals are first and foremost, jealous little losers who resent anyone who has anything they dont)
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To: discostu

> Nobody developing them is doing ANY form of central control,

Yep, just for liability reasons alone. Also, who would trust that any interface wouldn’t be hacked?


55 posted on 03/31/2016 8:20:38 AM PDT by glorgau
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

So what happens when some prankster paints fake lane lines that turn into a fake tunnel entrance Willie Coyote style?


56 posted on 03/31/2016 8:24:07 AM PDT by CrazyIvan (Socialists are just communists in their larval stage.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Whoa! So these self-drive cars depend on road markings?

I see some SERIOUS pranks in the near future.


57 posted on 03/31/2016 8:26:16 AM PDT by moovova
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To: BenLurkin

Hey! I see pies in the sky!


58 posted on 03/31/2016 8:36:29 AM PDT by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: CrazyIvan

LOL!!!


59 posted on 03/31/2016 8:47:22 AM PDT by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: central_va

There’s plenty of choices. Buy lower end cars. I just bought a car in November that has no big crazy features. No GPS, no rear camera. 16 grand, maintenance included, only things I have to pay for on that car for the next 10 years is gas, tires, and probably a battery. If the average person can’t 1600 buck a year for a car INCLUDING maintenance then this economy is way worse than anybody is saying.


60 posted on 03/31/2016 9:16:22 AM PDT by discostu (This unit not labeled for individual sale)
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