If they can operate in London, they will have really shown that autonomy is working. London is full of two-way roads that are only one car width wide, roads were you can just get stuck and have to fully back out, vehicles entirely blocking roads requiring complex cooperation between drivers to negotiate, etc. And that's not even considering the complex logic of figuring out where you can stop to let someone out.
I would love to see this navigating central London on a Saturday night. It is a mind draining nightmare.
Also, the small streets which are one car wide, and where one often needs to look far ahead to see whether there's a gap for you to sneak into whilst letting other cars by, will also be good to see handled.
Wow I thought this would take at least another decade, given how difficult driving in London is compared to American cities. I will still be really surprised if they can actually make this work
When I visited San Francisco recently the Waymos were really awesome and worked well, but also there's barely any traffic compared to London. The streets are all really wide and you can pretty much just pull over anywhere. Some even just stopped in the middle of the road and I was amazed to see people waiting patiently behind them! London is entirely different.
Still, props for trying. Will be very interesting to watch what happens!
I’ve been to London a lot over the years and I’ve noticed black cabs have changed the last couple years. It used to always be a native Londoner who passed the knowledge and got access to driving black cab. But recently I’ve had some black cabs with immigrants - this would never be the case historically. So I think they all see the writing on the wall here.
How do autonomous driverless cars handle the stand off that occurs when two cars meet on a narrow London street and both parties are of the opinion that the other has to back up 50 meters to let them through? Will the car instruct the passenger to get out and do the arm waving and swearing required for the right of way negotiation?
If they can operate in San Francisco, eg North Beach, they can operate in London. Likely they will just avoid narrow roads for a while. But I was very impressed in SF to see that Waymos are quite pushy to enter / cross traffic.
They might so as they did elsewhere like choose few streets and saying they operate driverless in London just for show. I don't think one can take their word until it is done.
15 comments
[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 36.1 ms ] threadAlso, the small streets which are one car wide, and where one often needs to look far ahead to see whether there's a gap for you to sneak into whilst letting other cars by, will also be good to see handled.
When I visited San Francisco recently the Waymos were really awesome and worked well, but also there's barely any traffic compared to London. The streets are all really wide and you can pretty much just pull over anywhere. Some even just stopped in the middle of the road and I was amazed to see people waiting patiently behind them! London is entirely different.
Still, props for trying. Will be very interesting to watch what happens!
Then what? How soon until trucks, ships, etc are now autonomous?