The Tiny Startup Trying to Eliminate Self-Driving Car Crashes

Everyone's been there: driving in the pitch dark, attempting to decipher signs, handle sharp turns, and weave through multiple lanes of whizzing traffic. It's a difficult situation even for an experienced human driver--so how can a car that's driving itself pull it off? An autonomous vehicle must know its precise location, the location of other cars around it, the route to its destination, and any possible obstacles in its path. To deliver that information, automakers are turning to technology developed by San Francisco-based startup Civil Maps. The 30-employee company says it can give cars data that's more accurate and more frequently updated than competing self-driving systems.