[wang_li]

Those all sound like more or less the same problem: traffic.

Why don't some of the teams impress me and try driving somewhere with black ice, strong crosswinds and blowing snow. If their systems can't drive in negative environmental conditions, they will be largely worthless in many locales.

[andegre]

I see this response a lot about autonomous vehicles won't work until they can handle the situations that you mentioned. That's not fair. Those are the ultimate worst/hardest situations for ANY driver, human or autonomous.

In my opinion, the fully autonomous vehicles shouldn't need to handle those situations. Leave that up to the human to navigate.

Fully autonomous should be able to handle the NORMAL day-to-day driving responsibilities. If you're going to require those situations that you mentioned, we'll never have fully autonomous vehicles.

NOTE: when I say fully-autonomous, the car will still have a steering wheel and someone sitting in the driver seat. The google car that had no steering wheel would never happen in the "real-world" only tightly controlled environments.

[throwaway7767]

For me, the entire reason for being excited about these developments is the hope that we'll reach fully autonomous ("level 5" autonomy) vehicles, as that will be game-changing. No more need for driving ed or licenses, mobility for younger, older and disabled people, cheap autonomous taxis, being able to take a car home after drinking, etc.

If we never see a car that can actually drive itself without human intervention, I will be severely disappointed. All that work and hype just for some driving assistance systems?

[wang_li]

>Those are the ultimate worst/hardest situations for ANY driver, human or autonomous.

They may be difficult conditions, but people drive in them all the time. Something like 30-40% of the US population drives in snow and wind for months at a time. They're not uncommon. What's the great utility of a car that can only perform its function in ideal circumstances, i.e. on a closed track.

[dismantlethesun]

I wouldn't consider it terrible to have a car that can only self-drive during the summer.

I'd compare it to having a convertible car---it has one lovely feature, that only really proves it worth during elusive weather conditions.

[akotulski]

> In my opinion, the fully autonomous vehicles shouldn't need to handle those situations. Leave that up to the human to navigate.

This will make driving in those conditions even more dangerous. If people start relying on self driving cars, their driving skills will deteriorate. If computer can't drive the car safely, rusty driver won't do better job.