Note, this was not some winding two-lane so typical of BC interior (Though this is getting better). This is a good road that was recently upgraded for the 2010 Olympics.
One again though, people are forgetting that "Autopilot" is just a marketing name for adavanced lane assist and adaptive cruise control (albeit of a relatively sophisticated variety). Expecting it to be able to cope with anything outside routine road conditions is a fools errand.
Came here to say the same. I've been waiting to see some mention of the use of autonomy throughout the coastal or rocky mountains. This road can be deceptively tricky, but relatively easygoing. I'd like to see a test of it from Salmon Arm to Banff or from Hope to Penticton.
I'd also add that these roads are scary in the best conditions.
Lol. That is the famous "sea to sky" highway. You should have seen it before the 2010 olympic upgrades. It is a runway compared to what it once was. It isnt really a mountain highway but a coastal route. It follows a train track most of the way. You all know it. Something like half of north america's car commercials are filmed in vancouver, and many of those use the s2s.
I used to ride it several times a week on my vfr. The real rollercoaster starts north of whistler: the dirty dusty duffy lake road.
> I used to ride it several times a week on my vfr. The real rollercoaster starts north of whistler: the dirty dusty duffy lake road.
Small world! I've ridden that very same road on my VFR several times: http://www.jbarham.com/photo/lillooet (although last time I did that was probably 2004)
I love it in the dark at 2am with bears running across the road, love those single lane bridges also. Wonder how automation deals with single lane bridges.
I can't wait for autopilot in mainstream vehicles but I'm not sure if I'd want to discover an "edge case" (pun intended) on a narrow mountain pass with no guardrails.
This isn't that terrifying guardrail-free road, though -- I drive this in a Model S ~15-20 times in each direction every winter on my way between Seattle and Whistler.
Autopilot is fantastic for that trip between UW and turning onto CA1 where BC99 intersects it. From there up to Lions Bay and from the far side of Lions Bay[0] to Squamish I keep the car in self drive after a few too many attempted suicides by Eddie[1]. It's not that there aren't guard rails, it's just that it really winds about as it hugs the cliff face. For most of that trip Autopilot generally doesn't want to engage -- it knows better when it can't predict the lane boundary far enough into the future. Past Squamish it really depends on conditions. My trip up this Saturday morning was downright boring and autopilot handled the whole thing. On other trips at night the road has essentially been one solid white surface where even humans avoid each other by treating it as one very wide lane in each direction and maintaining lots of clearance.
[0]: Lions Bay has a 60kph speed limit; autopilot can generally handle it fine, regardless of conditions, although the wide variance in prevailing traffic speed makes this among the most dangerous parts of the trip. I often wonder how the accident and injury statistics for Lions Bay compare to the rest of Sea to Sky.
[1]: My Tesla is named Edison's Lament. Yes, you name your car. Yes, I enjoy this feature.
Nor do most people want to deal with "edge case" bugs in any software. Fortunately there has always been an endless supply of people who love trying out new cutting-edge technology who are willing to take this risk... even when it means driverless cars on potentially dangerous roads.
How badly do you get motion sickness when using autopilot?
I find (like most people), that I don't get carsick when driving a car myself, but tend to get it as a passenger. With autopilot you're not really driving, but if you have your hands on the wheel, you sort of are driving.
...motion sickness is not always what it seems, how do you not know that you have low level carbon monoxide poisoning from breathing in car fumes?
As a driver you may be that bit more alert with a road to concentrate on, as a passenger you might just be not able to fence off the symptoms - feeling sick, failing vision etc.
The reason I say this is that a Tesla has the best air-con, the auto-pilot and no emissions, so 'sickness' could be nothing to do with 'motion sickness'.
What’s interesting is there is a local company that sells a package where you pay a fee to drive super cars on this road. That includes a Model S and they get you to enable auto pilot to experience it.
My buddy tried it and said it worked just fine - on the winding road before you get to Squamish.
I guess my anecdote is just as invalid/valid as the author’s.
[+] [-] vanjoe|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scoot|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nisse72|8 years ago|reply
https://www.tranbc.ca/2015/09/10/bc-road-trip-time-machine-h...
[+] [-] brailsafe|8 years ago|reply
I'd also add that these roads are scary in the best conditions.
[+] [-] hkjayakumar|8 years ago|reply
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Highway_99
[+] [-] mitjak|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandworm101|8 years ago|reply
I used to ride it several times a week on my vfr. The real rollercoaster starts north of whistler: the dirty dusty duffy lake road.
[+] [-] jbarham|8 years ago|reply
Small world! I've ridden that very same road on my VFR several times: http://www.jbarham.com/photo/lillooet (although last time I did that was probably 2004)
[+] [-] creator_lol|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dawnerd|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] everdev|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jsolson|8 years ago|reply
Autopilot is fantastic for that trip between UW and turning onto CA1 where BC99 intersects it. From there up to Lions Bay and from the far side of Lions Bay[0] to Squamish I keep the car in self drive after a few too many attempted suicides by Eddie[1]. It's not that there aren't guard rails, it's just that it really winds about as it hugs the cliff face. For most of that trip Autopilot generally doesn't want to engage -- it knows better when it can't predict the lane boundary far enough into the future. Past Squamish it really depends on conditions. My trip up this Saturday morning was downright boring and autopilot handled the whole thing. On other trips at night the road has essentially been one solid white surface where even humans avoid each other by treating it as one very wide lane in each direction and maintaining lots of clearance.
[0]: Lions Bay has a 60kph speed limit; autopilot can generally handle it fine, regardless of conditions, although the wide variance in prevailing traffic speed makes this among the most dangerous parts of the trip. I often wonder how the accident and injury statistics for Lions Bay compare to the rest of Sea to Sky.
[1]: My Tesla is named Edison's Lament. Yes, you name your car. Yes, I enjoy this feature.
[+] [-] dmix|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skgoa|8 years ago|reply
This is here already. E.g. pretty much every VW can be ordered with it.
[+] [-] smegel|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toomanybeersies|8 years ago|reply
I find (like most people), that I don't get carsick when driving a car myself, but tend to get it as a passenger. With autopilot you're not really driving, but if you have your hands on the wheel, you sort of are driving.
[+] [-] Theodores|8 years ago|reply
As a driver you may be that bit more alert with a road to concentrate on, as a passenger you might just be not able to fence off the symptoms - feeling sick, failing vision etc.
The reason I say this is that a Tesla has the best air-con, the auto-pilot and no emissions, so 'sickness' could be nothing to do with 'motion sickness'.
[+] [-] shane999|8 years ago|reply
My buddy tried it and said it worked just fine - on the winding road before you get to Squamish.
I guess my anecdote is just as invalid/valid as the author’s.
[+] [-] sunstone|8 years ago|reply
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