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Comment by meowkit | Hacker News Reader

Tag the coded signs on a GPS map. If the detected "sign" is not on the GPS map the system can label it as "probably malicious".

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Then why use the signs at all rather than just use this gps based road rule database

Because not all cars are self-driving or have the ability to access this hypothetical database. That will remain the case for likely the next 30 or more years.

Right, but the cars that are scanning signs and will have the ability to read said code are the ones being suggested that they should consult this database to avoid errors. If they're consulting it to avoid errors, they could just use it directly

Now you have two sources of truth for autonomous and non-autonomous cars. You end up with two groups playing the same game by different rules on the same board simultaneously.

Whether or not that's a problem in practice is not clear to me. Among others, taxis, construction vehicles, emergency vehicles, garbage and delivery trucks, municipal busses, school buses, bicycles, motorcycles, and vehicles in funeral processions all play by different rules than the average motorist.

This mostly doesn't cause disasters. Of course they're visibly different for the most part and make up a comparatively small percentage of traffic.

Ride hailing vehicles might be an interesting point of comparison: they're visibly similar to normal vehicles, comparatively common, and play by something resembling taxi rules.

honestly if we're going this far we may as well embed a speed system in the road itself and have the signs for redundancy.

I can see potential problems with temporary signs, such as those put up for road works, around accidents or for police enforcement.

Plenty of places have no reliable GPS reception.

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