The outlook for autonomous, or self-driving, vehicles is the kick-off presentation this morning at the state’s annual “Toward Zero Deaths” traffic safety conference in Saint Paul. State Traffic Engineer Jay Hietpas says MN-DOT will do trial runs with a small electric shuttle bus at their test facility — a lot different than operating on a bright sunny day in California. He says, “We’re gonna have snow-covered roads, we’re gonna have blowing snow, we’re gonna have salt on the road, and just kinda get that first kinda flavor how these vehicles would react in a winter weather condition.”
Hietpas predicts semi-autonomous vehicles will first appear on freeways and do basic manuevers with the driver still in control, “but operating in a dense urban environment is gonna be a little more challenging, and that’s… [where] I think… the technology has a long ways to go.”
Much more in this interview with MNN’s Bill Werner: