XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: jclarkeusenet@cox.net   
      
   In article , robban@clubtelco.com   
   says...   
   >   
   > On 24/01/2014 4:31 am, 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, and to even have the self driving car   
   > > check the signs on the road that the human drivers use too.   
   >   
   > It will be interesting to see how they cope with those "Detour" signs   
   > that spring up around major road works and which, all too often, just   
   > fizzle out leaving you lost in an unknown suburb.   
      
   The same way any GPS-map system addresses such things.  It finds a route   
   and follows it.  If that route is blocked it finds another one.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)