ATLANTA (AP) – The city of Atlanta tested a self-driving vehicle on one of its busiest streets Thursday. The test on North Avenue in the city’s bustling Midtown area meant that Atlanta has become one of the largest urban areas to test autonomous vehicles, joining Sao Paulo and Shanghai. Here’s a look at some of the key aspects of the test and the issues involved:
THE TEST:
The test was aimed at showing how an autonomous vehicle would navigate in real-world traffic.
On Thursday, a Tesla vehicle made multiple trips along an approximately 1-mile-long (1.6-kilometer-long) route as members of the media rode along. Tesla was not officially involved with the test.
While driving an Associated Press reporter, the driver made minimal human interventions while monitoring the traffic data. The test was not for complete autonomous driving but was instead intended to test the sensors that had been installed along the street and gather data.