Google’s self-driving cars still can’t drive through bad weather

There’s no arguing that Google’s self-driving car is a thrilling development worthy of enthusiastic discussion, but there are a number of reasons to rain on this parade – rain itself, for one thing. That’s because the autonomous automobile has yet to prove that it can drive through heavy rain, not to mention snow, parking garages and many other everyday driving scenarios. Despite the more than 700,000 miles Google’s self-driving cars have traversed so far, they still have many hurdles to overcome. While the cars can slow down or stop when traffic or obstacles are detected, they aren’t able to know if a new stoplight pops up overnight, according to the MIT Technology Review. The cars can detect and stop at unmapped stop signs, but a four-way stop may cause them to be overly slow and cautious.

Would you buy a self-driving car that couldn’t drive itself in 99 percent of the country? Or that knew nearly nothing about parking, couldn’t be taken out in snow or heavy rain, and would drive straight over a gaping pothole? If your answer is yes, then check out the Google Self-Driving Car, model year 2014. Of course, Google isn’t yet selling its now-famous robotic vehicle and has said that its technology will be thoroughly tested before it ever does. But the car clearly isn’t ready yet, as evidenced by the list of things it can’t currently do—volunteered by Chris Urmson, director of the Google car team. Google’s cars have safely driven more than 700,000 miles. As a result, “the public seems to think that all of the technology issues are solved,” says Steven Shladover, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies. “But that is simply not the case.” No one knows that better than Urmson. But he says he is optimistic about tackling outstanding challenges and that it’s “going to happen more quickly than many people think.” Google often leaves the impression that, as a Google executive once wrote, the cars can “drive anywhere a car can legally drive.” However, that’s true only if intricate preparations have been made beforehand, with the car’s exact route, including driveways, extensively mapped. Data from multiple passes by a special sensor vehicle must later be pored over, meter by meter, by both computers and humans. It’s vastly more effort than what’s needed for Google Maps.