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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

The article goes on about it. They send a remotely operated dozer with GPS to blaze a guide path, then other dozers come in to take off layers and then it's down to 6 or so feet they send in the blowers. So, it's many machines doing many passes to get the job done.

I do appreciate the pristine snow not contaminated with rock salt, however.

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It's not remotely operated:

> The GPS and sat phone work in tandem to provide the driver a detailed video screen image of the dozer’s location in relation to the center of the snow-buried highway. This driver’s job is not to clear snow, but simply to lay out an accurate track of the road itself.

Reading it again, I think you're right

Makes me think though why could they not manoeuver it remotely with remote feedback if necessary, why put someone in the cab if they have it equipped with sensors. Some other heavy equip are operated remotely.

In fact, in a lot of situations, Humans are just cheaper.

because if the terrain is dangerous to drive on (with all that snow, probably yes), the driver will likely judge much better than anything you could do remotely with current technology on whether to risk moving ahead or not

possibly, sensors have difficulty with snow? Low coefficient of friction, high reflectivity, differing levels of compressibility, difficult to judge slipping tracks, etc. Dead reckoning based on the track output probably doesn't work great.

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