Linked – Why Self-Driving Cars Keep Running Into Things
Turns out, this is a real difficulty –
Finally, stationary objects turn out to be a real issue for automated systems. There are so many of them alongside and above the roadway that need to be ignored that it is harder than you’d think to know which ones to pay attention to.
After spending the last few days driving, I was reminded of just how much “stuff” is on the road, alongside, the road, etc. We actually spend quite a lot of time subconsciously identifying things in the road and making decisions about what needs to be avoided, and how. Roadkill, tire debris, paper and plastic, disabled cars, potholes, etc. We are constantly seeing and identifying things in our line of sight, but we’ve kind of gotten used to it. That’s not so easy to program. Get it wrong and you are either hitting something you really should have avoided, or stopping constantly for things that you don’t need to stop for. Finding the proper balance, is hard. We’re not there yet, and people assuming that current technology is good enough to quit paying attention, when even the companies making the AI tech tell them otherwise, are fools.
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/270049-why-self-driving-cars-keep-running-into-things
