This is how self-driving cars deal with double-parking

It's annoying, but when you drive up to an Uber car or delivery van that's double-parked, you deal with it. For self-driving cars, it's a more complicated moment.

Cruise, the self-driving car company backed by General Motors, is currently testing in San Francisco, where its autonomous Chevy Bolt cars regularly encounter a large number of cars parked in the middle of the lane. Everyday, the Cruise cars maneuver around double-parked vehicles, for a total of between 200 and 800 times altogether.

The cars can't just give up when this happens. So here's what they "think" through, according to Cruise. First they "look" around and figure out what's happening, then they plan what to do next, and finally, they decide how to potentially pull off those decisions.  Read more...