NASA talks up Perseverance Mars rover's self-driving rock-avoiding abilities

As Perseverance begins to roll its way around Mars, NASA engineers are gradually allowing the rover to drive autonomously, to a degree, using computer algorithms running on a navigation computer. The six-wheeled, SUV-sized science lab primarily relies on humans to tell it where to go and how to get there. Scientists on Earth …

[redpawn]

By the time

it returns samples, we will find out if Earth was once habitable.

[macjules]

‘thinking while driving'

That wipes out it being used in BMWs then I guess.

[Snapper]

Re: ‘thinking while driving'

Real shame, they already hadn't supplied it with indicators!

'Perseverance will roam the Jezero crater'!

In my non-caffinated state this morning I read that as 'Perseverance will ream the Jezero crater'.....

[Draco]

"Scoot around" and "120m per hour" don't seem to belong in the same sentence ...

... and they weren't - they were in separate paragraphs.

[Pascal Monett]

"any chance we could get more of that on Earth"

Okay, I'm really sorry to rain on anything that NASA has going, but we need to remember two things about this 'thinking while driving' thing :

1) Perseverance is driving at 3.33 cm/second - not exactly breakneck speed

2) there are no intersections on Mars, or stop signs, or school crossings, or basically any other unexpected event in any way possible

So no, Perseverance-style 'thinking while driving' is not going to be of much use on our Blue Planet.

Not unless we institute a global speed limit of "oh God I'd be better off walking".

[RM Myers]

...global speed limit of "oh God I'd be better off walking"

Ah, just like driving in New York City during rush hour then. or the 405 in Southern California anytime.