Sask. weather likely to be a challenge for self-driving cars

The transition from traditional to self-driving cars is likely to take years if not decades, and Saskatchewan's least favourite form of precipitation could make that process even longer, according to one expert. Autonomous vehicles use a variety of sensors to detect objects in the environment, and the province's climate is likely to prove more challenging than that of the southern United States, said Jonathan Cliffen, an engineer with 3M. "I think the value proposition is going to be a challenge at first," said Cliffen, who leads the Maplewood, Minn.-based materials company's efforts to build signs and road markings optimized for self-driving cars in Canada. "Much like owning a motorcycle, it's going to be a two-thirds-of-the-year solution, right? Autonomous vehicles, you're going to be able to use them year-round in manual mode and hopefully six to eight months of the year you're going to be able to use it in autonomous mode."