REAL LIFE NEWS: SELF-DRIVING CAR SCREW-UPS REVEALED IN REPORTS
by Hazed
Eight companies which are testing self-driving cars on the roads of California have been required to submit reports about “disengagements” – incidents when a human backup driver has to take over from the robotic car. These reports show just how far the technology has to go.
The problems include, as expected, hardware and software failures. But they also highlight problems to do with the way the cars sense their environment, and how they manoeuvre on the road. Some show that the cars struggle to deal with crowds of pedestrian, or with badly-marked lanes.
Many of the problems appeared in reports from more than one company: for example, misread traffic lights, drifting out of lanes, and problems with braking. Read the source article for the full list of things that went wrong.
One thing that always seems to cause the robot cars difficulties is when human drivers break the rules. If other drivers fail to yield when they should, run stop signs, or cut in front of the robot cars, the safety drivers have to take over because the self-driving cars can’t cope.
So it’s going to be a while before self-driving cars are ready to be rolled out for use outside of these test conditions.
Source: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/01/self-driving-cars-shortcomings-revealed-in-dmv-reports/
