XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: dtravel@sonic.net   
      
   On 1/23/2014 12:31 PM, rex wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   > "Your Name"  wrote in message   
   > news:240120140855359808%YourName@YourISP.com...   
   >> J. Clarke wrote:   
   >>> In article <52e0c728$0$52806$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, dtravel@sonic.net   
   >>> says...   
   >>> > On 1/21/2014 9:49 PM, Your Name wrote:   
   >>> > > In article <52df5822$0$52798$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, Dimensional   
   >>> > > Traveler  wrote:   
   >>> > >> On 1/21/2014 7:46 PM, Greg Goss wrote:   
   >>> > >>> "John F. Eldredge"  wrote:   
   >>> > >>>>   
   >>> > >>>> Several years back, something got royally screwed up in the   
   >>> Google > >>>> Maps   
   >>> > >>>> database.  If I recall correctly, going from one particular   
   >>> town > >>>> to   
   >>> > >>>> another in Scotland showed, correctly, a land trip of about 20   
   >>> > >>>> miles.   
   >>> > >>>> Going in the reverse direction showed a trip of several   
   >>> hundred > >>>> miles,   
   >>> > >>>> passing through three different countries and involving two trips   
   >>> > >>>> across   
   >>> > >>>> the North Sea.   
   >>> > >>>   
   >>> > >>> I forget whether it was Google Maps, or some predecessor mapping   
   >>> > >>> internet program, but I was once told to turn left from one car   
   >>> > >>> ferry   
   >>> > >>> onto another near Nanaimo.   
   >>> > >>>   
   >>> > >> I once had map software on my laptop while I was entering St.   
   >>> Louis > >> via   
   >>> > >> a bridge across the Mississippi try to tell me to take a left   
   >>> turn > >> from   
   >>> > >> the divided interstate highway bridge a hundred feet up in the   
   >>> air > >> onto   
   >>> > >> the riverside jogging/bike path below.   
   >>> > >   
   >>> > > One example of NUMEROUS that prove self-driving cars simply aren't   
   >>> > > going to happen any time soon.   
   >>>   
   >>> If a self-driving car took its _only_ navigational information from a   
   >>> GPS this would be an issue.  But the Google cars take their information   
   >>> from a variety of sources and should not drive off of the road simply   
   >>> because a GPS tells them to.   
   >>   
   >> Without massive amount of expensive changes to the roading system and /   
   >> or a sudden, and currently immpssible, increase in the functionality of   
   >> "artificial intelligence", there's no way to stop the cars going the   
   >> wrong way down a one-way street (as one example) simply because Google   
   >> Maps told them to.   
   >   
   > It wouldn't be hard to ensure that google maps is always up to date   
   > with any road change like that,   
      
   Yes it is.   
      
   --   
   The 'Enterprise' crew in the 2009 Star Trek are adrenaline addicted,   
   hyper-active teenagers with ADD whose Ritalin got replaced with   
   methamphetamine, displaying a level of discipline that a Somali pirate   
   wouldn't tolerate.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)