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posted by mrpg on Monday October 30 2017, @01:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the cool-story-bro dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1

Waymo is the name of the autonomous vehicle program being developed under Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

Waymo announced on Thursday that it is bringing its Chrysler Pacifica minivans to the Detroit area to test how the company's technology performs in the region's harsh winters.

"Our ultimate goal is for our fully self-driving cars to operate safely and smoothly in all kinds of environments," Waymo CEO John Krafcik writes.

Krafcik says that Waymo has been doing cold-weather tests since 2012. But so far Waymo has done most of its testing in sunny places like Mountain View, California; Phoenix, Arizona; and Austin, Texas. where snow is rare. Waymo believes it has largely mastered driving in sunny climates and is preparing to launch a commercial service in the sun-drenched Phoenix area.

[...] "This type of testing will give us the opportunity to assess the way our sensors perform in wet, cold conditions," Krafick writes. "And it will also build on the advanced driving skills we've developed over the last eight years by teaching our cars how to handle things like skidding on icy, unplowed roads."

Source: Waymo starts testing in Michigan to master snow and ice


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @02:42PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @02:42PM (#589450)

    Not to mention the unique "Michigan Left" intersection topology, including odd (to me, from out of state) stop light positioning.

    > teaching our cars how to handle things like skidding on icy, unplowed roads

    What happens when the auto-drive system tries to correct a skid...and the ESC (electronic stability control) built into the car also tries to correct the skid? Interaction between the two systems seems likely...too bad these stories are likely to be confidential, they could be pretty funny.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @02:56PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @02:56PM (#589456)

    What happens when the auto-drive system tries to correct a skid...and the ESC (electronic stability control) built into the car also tries to correct the skid?

    It probably does the correct thing any Michigan driver knows to do by the time they're 17.

    However, it will probably take an additional measure that many in Michigan do not care to utilize: driving at a safe speed for conditions, so you don't skid in the first place! (Usually by the time there's two cars skidded off the freeway per mile, most people do figure out that 80-90 mph is not a safe speed for blizzard conditions. I always think it's extra hilarious because of how many of those vehicles that flew off the freeway were Ford F-Teen Fifties!)

    • (Score: 2) by Snow on Monday October 30 2017, @03:48PM (2 children)

      by Snow (1601) on Monday October 30 2017, @03:48PM (#589481) Journal

      I love seeing SUVs and pickup trucks in the ditch. Many people buy those vehicles because they are supposedly good for winter driving, but they are not. They have a high center of gravity and lots of mass. The sway this causes makes them more likely to spin out. Plus, the 4wd many have do not allow for slip in the center differential causing instability during higher speed turns.

      Add to all that the increased confidence that having a SUV/Truck gives you, and you end up with a lot of those types of vehicles in the ditch.

  • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Monday October 30 2017, @06:05PM

    by t-3 (4907) on Monday October 30 2017, @06:05PM (#589564)

    They've done testing in Phoenix, so they should have some experience with Michigan-style lefts, albeit the watered down Arizona half-lane bs. I would love to see one of these hit black ice on the freeway and start spinning, will it be able to correct, or smash headlong into the median? How will it deal with incredibly aggressive Michigan drivers? If they take it into Detroit, will it remember to stop or slow at every intersection in the neighborhoods, regardless of signs, or will it be t-boned by someone fleeing the scene of a crime?