OT. Concrete & Driverless Car

[Dean Hoffman]

Technology still has a ways to go. A driverless car drove into freshly poured concrete.

[micky]

Normally I 'm happy to dump on driverless cars, but even a person would not know wet concrete from dry without a barricade in front of it. The picture doesn't show that there was or if there was a barricade. It might be necessary to add a standardized symbol to such barricades so that driverless cars can recognize it. This is similar to the X signs at railroad crossings. They didn't have to all be shaped like an X but somewhere along the line it was agreed that they would be.

Plus the octagon stop signs, the triangular Yield signs.

Even speed limit signs must be following some standard since there are in-car devices that can read the speed limit from the signs.

Unless the there was no barricade, unless had their been any barricade the car would have recognized it, if a symbol is necessary, the driverless-car people should have been on top of this, should have seen it coming, and should have gotten word to the barricade makers, including amateur and one-shot barricade makers, before driverless cars went on the road.

[hubops]

No need for special signage - just a proper barrier - sawhorses all around or the orange plastic fencing all around. Driverless cars and blind people would be stopped. John T.

[micky]

What I said was that IF there was a barricade that was not recognized by the car, then a special symbol might be needed. If there was no barricade at all, it's not the car's fault and afawk it would have recognized a barrier even without a special symbol.

The picture and the article didn't show what had been there.

[Ralph Mowery]

Barricades can pop up any time. During Christmas many roads are blocked off for parades. A tree fell across the road a few days ago and a main highway had a barricade at a cross road directing traffic to another road.

[micky]

Yes they can.

And all those barricades could have a special symbol on it if it turns out the symbol is needed.

If those who make self-driving cars can't come up with a 100% reliable method of detecting a barrice, of any style, when they see one, then they'll need to come up with some symbol that the cars can recognize, and everyone will have to use it or face civil and maybe criminal charges of negligence when a self-driving car plows through it.

It similar to the skull and crossbones which at one time both makers of poisonous substances and everyone else who happened to make one or to put one in a new unmarked container used to indicate poison. But there are no machines that take poison or give it to people without the person looking at it. So it's not so important in that case.