logoalt Hacker News

rottencupcakesyesterday at 7:04 PM2 repliesview on HN

I drove up there in the AM Thursday, Feb 18th, during the snowstorm, about an hour before they closed the pass for the rest of the day.

You couldn't see anything. As soon as there wasn't a car 20 yards in front of you, it was a complete whiteout. Ice built up on the wiper as quickly as you could possibly reach out of your window and clear it. Radar would probably be nice, but I don't think it'd be enough to keep driving. The cameras and lidar would be an absolute wreck.

I'm sure we'll get there eventually, but that is really the final frontier for AI driving I think. Waymos aren't even allowed to drive in a snowstorm right now. I suspect that you'll be dealing with Caltrans closing the pass for the rest of your life.


Replies

pj_mukhyesterday at 7:28 PM

Snowy/Ice-y driving? Check out all this Canadian work!

http://cadcd.uwaterloo.ca

Disclosure: My grad student advisor.

derwikiyesterday at 8:10 PM

Fair point, and I know it was bad on Thu. I was traveling back on Monday and, other than avoiding the impatient drivers, conditions were fine.