Why Aren’t We In Self-Driving Cars Yet?

It is common knowledge that Google has had many self-driving vehicles on the road, already logging over 500,000 miles with no accidents. A pretty good track record for anyone! While many people may prefer to drive their own cars, ultimately computers are going to be undeniably better drivers.

So why aren’t self-driving cars all over the road already? Even though they’re currently superior to human drivers in many ways, the computer operated vehicles do have some problems to overcome. The first problem is snow, which makes it harder for the cars to see lane markers and other indicators that keep them in proper position.

Another problem is when these cars encounter an area that is not updated in their onboard “map”, in which the car doesn’t know how to respond and gives control to the human user. A third problem is when the cars enter a construction or other traffic situation in which human hand signals are a main source of direction, especially if the hand signals conflict with a traffic light or sign.

It will be interesting to see how Google overcomes these problems. One way or another, we can expect to see more self-driving cars on the road in the future.