The last time I covered driverless vehicles for NextGov, the big focus was adding the technology to trucks so that they could drive down highways to deliver their goods without human assistance. Several states are working with companies on pilot programs, and New York recently announced that it was moving ahead with actual testing on public roads as soon as possible.
Enter one of my all-time favorite videogames, Grand Theft Auto V from Rockstar Games, into that picture. The game, or GTAV as it’s known to fans, is set in and around a realistic-looking simulation of a massive city called Los Santos, which approximates modern day Los Angeles, plus the surrounding areas like Santa Monica and other towns up and down the California coast.
It turns out that the simulation behind GTAV is so good, that researchers are using it help train their driverless vehicles. Find out all the details over at NextGov Magazine in the emerging tech column!