If you were testing self-driving cars on actual, real-life roads in New Zealand, where would you start? On the steepest streets on Dunedin? The most traffic-filled in Auckland? Or perhaps 100kmph wide open country roads with a bovine hazard or two to contend with?
Well now you can check out the logic behind the testing locations currently being utilised. In Lebanon, apple maps contain basic mistakes - a threat to a system that relies on this electronic knowledge. Also, it's common for people to ignore road rules. This is important to know, because the fewer formal rules in place, the more the ability to predict intent matters. Around wild humans, cars can’t rely on shared guidelines to dictate behaviour. Basic driver assists that keep cars inside painted lanes, for example, are only useful if everyone else on the road respects lane markings.
Indian test-tracks include daring pedestrians to look out for, and at a secret compound for training its cars in the US, human assistants cut off self-driving minivans at high speed, back out of blind driveways into their path, and throw basketballs at them, all to test and improve the cars' reactions.
This comes on the heels of the most recent announcement from Waymo (Google's self-driving car division)- that self-driving cars are going to be tested in Michigan next. The wintery weather makes for perfect uncertain and icy testing conditions, so the cars will get a run for their money.
We think it's good to know these cars are being tested on everything us silly humans do on a regular basis. We'd love to know what you'd test if you could. You can read the full article here.
