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Why are driverless cars still hitting things? Depends on how they 'see.'

The article from Popular Science discusses the reasons behind the incidents involving driverless cars hitting objects or people. Despite the advanced technology, these vehicles still face challenges due to limitations in their current systems. Key issues include the complexity of real-world driving scenarios that are difficult to replicate in testing environments, such as unpredictable human behavior, adverse weather conditions, and rare edge cases. Autonomous vehicles rely heavily on sensors, cameras, and machine learning algorithms, which, while improving, can sometimes misinterpret or fail to detect certain obstacles or situations. For instance, sudden movements by pedestrians or cyclists, construction zones, or unusual road conditions can confuse the systems. Additionally, the article points out that these incidents often occur during the testing phase, where the vehicles are still learning and adapting to real-world conditions. Companies like Waymo, Cruise, and others are continuously updating their software to handle these scenarios better, but the path to fully autonomous, accident-free driving remains fraught with technical and practical challenges.

Read the Full Popular Science Article at:
[ https://www.popsci.com/science/why-are-driverless-hitting-things/ ]