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veen  ·  3443 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Self-driving tractors give a glimpse of the future

The biggest problem I had with comparing a tractor and Google's car is that the latter is on an entirely different level. These vehicles have been running for some years now in Rotterdam:

It's a fully automated shuttle service between a business park and a train station two miles away. Started operating in 2005. Just like a farm, the vehicle operates in a closed-off environment. The shuttle has its own roads, which means that it doesn't need to predict human behaviour. It only needs rudimentary object recognition. Whether it's a tractor or a shuttle, driving a vehicle in such a simple environment is baby steps compared to what 'real' automated driving is about.