Video: Kean Discusses Plans to Make NJ a Leader in Driverless Cars and Innovative Technologies

keanVIDEO: Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean appeared on Comcast Newsmakers to talk about his legislative efforts to make New Jersey a leader in developing driverless cars and other innovative technologies.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. As of August 28, 2014 the latest Google prototype cannot “handle heavy rain and snow-covered roads.” Functionally it can go at sluggish speeds when crossing an unmarked 4-way stop due to the algorithms of the computer taking extra precaution. There are also other limitations on discerning objects such as trash and debris that can unnecessarily veer the vehicle. Chris Urmson of Google has said that the Lidar technology cannot spot potholes or humans, such as a police officer, signaling the car to stop. The Lidar system works with on-board systems but some computation is performed on remote computer farms. So what happens if your on the GSP and the GPS in North Carolina gets wiped by a tornado?

    The vehicles are unable to recognize temporary traffic signals. They have not proven themselves in snow or rain. They are also unable to navigate through parking lots. Vehicles are unable to differentiate between pedestrian and policeman or between crumpled up paper and a rock. Google projects having these issues fixed by 2020 even though the car has racked up a lot of miles, approaching a million.

    Let me summarize:

    1. It hasn’t been tested in heavy rain or snow (too dangerous to try)

    2. It can’t read a traffic signal if the sun is behind it

    3. It can’t tell the difference between a piece of crumpled paper in the road or a rock, a scarecrow or a police officer, so it will try to drive around them.

    4. It can’t figure out what to do in a large parking lot or multiple-level garage. Any big lot becomes a “Target” lot.

    5. Humans are just a vertical mass of pixels, so it couldn’t recognize a traffic cop giving directions.

    6. Before EVERY trip, the EXACT route, and EVERY SINGLE DETAIL of the trip (like every single driveway) has to be mapped out or the car gets confused. One little deviation (like a traffic cone or trash cans) that were not on the “map” the car has memorized, and the car doesn’t know what to do.

    Oh, I forgot to mention, Google’s robotic cars have about $150,000 in equipment additional to the basic price of the car itself. Fastest route to get to your ownerless house.

    The Google rep claimed that all the kinks will be remedied within five or six years. 2020. Good luck with that. But no worries New Jersey’s ready.

    I guess we don’t have more immediate and pressing issues to deal with? You know, like crime and corruption.

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