MIT is teaching self-driving cars how to psychoanalyze humans on the road Digital Trends

In March 2004, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) organized a special Grand Challenge event to test out the promise -- or lack thereof -- of current-generation self-driving cars. Entrants from the world's top A.I. labs competed for a $1 million prize; their custom-built vehicles trying their best to autonomously navigate a 142-mile route through California's Mojave Desert. The "winning" team managed to travel just 7.4 miles in several hours before shuddering to a halt. A decade-and-a-half, a whole lot has changed. Self-driving cars have successfully driven hundreds of thousands of miles on actual roads.