Gnarly road planning, terrible weather and reckless habits make the Russian capital one of the worst cities in the world for drivers, thus building self-driving cars a unique challenge.
Disturbances like car wrecks, construction and government motorcades can wreak havoc for miles. Seat belts are scorned, and traffic laws widely ignored; speeding violations are enforced with $4 fines, paid by phone. The rate of road fatalities is nearly double that of the US, with an average of 20 serious accidents a day just in Moscow.
“We don’t have the luxury of California roads,” says Olga Uskova of Cognitive Technologies, a Russian software maker that specializes in autonomous vehicles. “The environment is ever-changing: the snow has covered traffic signs; it’s raining on your windshield, the sun is blocking you. Our people train using these kinds of data.”
Read the article at The Guardian.
