Unsupervised Robotaxi Enters Active Construction Zone!

Описание: A quick note for context: from what I could tell, at no point did the vehicle do anything overtly unsafe or dangerous. It was awkward, but it stayed cautious and ultimately exited the situation safely.

It’s worth emphasizing that all types of drivers (humans and AVs alike) will occasionally make mistakes. What really matters is how the system recovers. Can it recognize that it’s in a squirrely situation and get itself out safely? In this case, absolutely. It’s also important to draw a clear distinction between a mostly harmless, low-speed mistake like this and the kinds of truly fatal errors humans commit every day, errors that cost roughly 40,000 lives per year in the U.S. alone. These two things should not be conflated.

Why, in my view, this work zone seemed to confuse the system:
1. The flagger was present, but he wasn’t physically blocking the closed lane. He was way off to the right, blocking the straight path, not the road actually under construction, and gesturing in a way that wasn’t totally clear (even to me).
2. The road wasn’t physically blocked with obvious signage or cones across the lane. If cones or signs had clearly indicated a closure, I’d have expected a reroute (straight or right).
3. Heavy machinery wasn’t visible on the approach to the left turn, it only became obvious after the turn was mostly complete. If it had been visible sooner, the system might’ve rerouted earlier as well.

Because none of those cues were clear enough, the car committed to the turn. Once on the under-construction street, it paused for a couple minutes, and moved very cautiously and gave the machinery plenty of space. Someday, I’d love to see a shared system where municipalities can broadcast construction and closures directly to AV operators so situations like this are avoided entirely.

In the end, the unsupervised Robotaxi got me to my destination safely, I give the system high marks for safely exiting work zone and keeping the construction workers and me safe, which is what matters most!