On Friday, The Boston Globe (no link–behind the paywall) posted an article about the use of robotaxi service Waymo in the city of Boston.<\/p>\n
The article points out a very interesting problem with driverless cars in New England winters:<\/p>\n
With Boston debating whether to allow driverless cars on city roads, experts say a more fundamental challenge may prevent robotaxis from hitting the streets: snowy winters.<\/strong><\/p>\n Since robotaxi service Waymo spent two months mapping Boston streets earlier this year, the city council has been considering a potential ban on commercial autonomous vehicles lasting until the city studies their possible adverse impacts and adopts permitting restrictions.<\/strong><\/p>\n This week,a sometimes testy four-hour hearing at Boston City Hall laid bare many doubts and concerns about the mass deployment of driverless cars in the city.<\/strong><\/p>\n Rideshare drivers said they feared sudden and devastating job loss should autonomous taxis flood the city. Skeptics questioned whether the robotaxis are clever enough to navigate Boston\u2019s compact and confounding streets. Others fretted that self-driving cars could worsen safety on roads already plagued with aggressive and lawless human drivers.<\/strong><\/p>\n But perhaps one ofthe biggest, if less politically charged, hurdles mentioned was the weather: can driverless cars handle Boston\u2019s snowy winters?<\/strong><\/p>\n The article notes:<\/p>\n The car\u2019s on-board computer ingests information about the speed and position of nearby pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles, and other items in the road, dictating the car\u2019s movement accordingly.<\/strong><\/p>\n But snow can blur cameras and muddle the car\u2019s sensors.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article mentions Waymo’s past experience with winter weather:<\/p>\n Waymo, for its part, said it is up for the challenge and working its way toward a solution.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cFor years, we\u2019ve been advancing our system in some of the snowiest conditions across the country \u2014 regularly driving in Upstate New York, Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula, and the Sierra,\u201c the company wrote in a blog post published on Monday. \u201dWe\u2019ve amassed tens of thousands of miles in diverse, snowy conditions. This has allowed the Waymo Driver\u2019s AI to learn from real driving experience and train to navigate a wide range of winter weather.\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n Waymo could theoretically begin deploying its fleet in Boston only in warmer months as its software trains to conquer the snow. Even human drivers tend to avoid roads when the worst snowstorms hit.<\/strong><\/p>\n Driving in Boston is enough of a challenge without adding cars with no drivers (particularly in snow). I am hoping Waymo goes elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Friday, The Boston Globe (no link–behind the paywall) posted an article about the use of robotaxi service Waymo in the city of Boston. The article points out a very interesting problem with driverless cars in New England winters: With … Continue reading