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 "It can't find the lane markings!" Kerssemakers griped to Mayor
Eric Garcetti, who was at the wheel. "You need to paint the bloody
roads here!"
Shoddy infrastructure has become a roadblock to the development of
self-driving cars, vexing engineers and adding time and cost. Poor
markings and uneven signage on the 3 million miles of paved roads in
the United States are forcing automakers to develop more
sophisticated sensors and maps to compensate, industry executives
say.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently called the mundane issue of faded lane
markings "crazy," complaining they confused his semi-autonomous
cars.
An estimated 65 percent of U.S. roads are in poor condition,
according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, with the
transportation infrastructure system rated 12th in the World
Economic Forum's 2014-2015 global competitiveness report.
Tesla, Volvo, Mercedes, Audi <VOWG_p.DE> and others are fielding
vehicles that can drive on highways, change lanes and park without
human help. But they are easily flummoxed by faded lane markers,
damaged or noncompliant signs or lights, and the many quirks of a
roadway infrastructure managed by thousands of state and local
bureaucracies.
 In other developed countries, greater standardization of road signs
and markings makes it easier for robot cars to navigate. In the
U.S., however, traffic lights can be aligned vertically,
horizontally or "dog-house" style in two columns. Pavement markings
use paint with different degrees of reflectivity - or don't exist at
all.
"If the lane fades, all hell breaks loose," said Christoph Mertz, a
research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. "But cars have to
handle these weird circumstances and have three different ways of
doing things in case one fails."
MORE SENSORS, MORE COST
To make up for roadway aberrations, carmakers and their suppliers
are incorporating multiple sensors, maps and data into their cars,
all of which adds cost.
Mercedes says the "drive pilot" system found in its recently
unveiled luxury E Class 2017 sedans works even with no lane
markings. The system - which incorporates 23 sensors - takes into
account guard rails, barriers, and other cars to keep cars in their
lanes up to 84 miles (135km) per hour, under "suitable
circumstances."
Boston Consulting Group estimates that initial semi-autonomous
features add $4,000 to a car's price. It estimated carmakers will
have to spend more than $1 billion over the next decade in research
investment for even more sophisticated autonomous features.
On a good road in daylight, cameras installed around a car are
sufficient to distinguish road lines, traffic lights and signs. But
without lane markings, the car needs more technology to judge its
position.
Enter radar and lidar, which send out radio waves or light pulses to
bounce off objects. The data sent back informs the car about
objects, their distance and velocity. Triangulating between trees to
the right, boulders to the left, and other vehicles ahead, for
instance, can give the car its bearings.
A host of companies - including Silicon Valley firms Quanergy and
Velodyne and international suppliers like Paris-based Valeo - are
vying to reduce the cost and size of lidar from the bulky, $75,000
Velodyne version first seen on the roof of Google's self-driving
car.
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In January, Quanergy unveiled a small $250 Lidar with no moving
parts. Automakers want the price to drop below $100 for production
vehicles, which Quanergy promises to do by 2018.
Sub-par roads are fueling efforts by companies such as Germany's
HERE and Dutch company TomTom to create three dimensional maps that
can provide the car's location on the road within centimeters, said
Chris Warrington, CEO of mapping technology company GeoDigital.
Automakers are looking to pay $50-$60 per car for such maps, which
may be well below the actual price, said Warrington.
"We know they're coming, but they don't exist yet. That's why lane
markings are so important now," said Gary O'Brien, director of
advanced engineering for automotive supplier Delphi Automotive
Systems PLC.
O'Brien snaps photos of bad roads when he travels.
"Look at this, there are no lane markings at all!" O'Brien said,
showing a picture he took on a desert road in Bluff, Utah where the
demarcation between the road and ground is barely visible.
"MAKE UP YOUR MIND!"
Some officials envision traffic signals that communicate with cars
at dangerous intersections and vehicles that can signal each other
their positions, direction and speed.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's "Smart City Challenge," a
competitive grant program, will offer up to $40 million this summer
to help one city integrate new technologies, which could include
infrastructure for self-driving cars.
The Transportation Research Board, an independent group that advises
the government, plans to issue recommendations for standardized lane
markings for machine vision by 2017. By then, several automakers say
they plan to offer models with some form of autonomous highway
driving.
Paul Carlson, a research engineer focused on infrastructure at Texas
A&M University, said he gets calls from transportation officials
asking how to accommodate robot cars.
He tells them to aim for consistency: "Make up your mind, people! Do
you want your traffic lights vertical or horizontal?"
(Reporting By Alexandria Sage)
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