All houses and businesses in North Ogden and Pleasant View will soon have their street addresses changed due to serious problems with street numbers and names which is wreaking havoc on our modern mapping system. The problem has recently come to the forefront with the advancement of new technology. For decades, there have been minor problems with inconsistencies in our addressing system but the troubles have been minor nuisances. Recently a major problem has come to light due to self-driving cars, which are quickly moving from science fiction to an everyday reality. As self-driving cars are being tested throughout the country, technologists are working with communities across the nation to help them realign and sometimes readdress their streets and homes so that the technology can work safely, without problems.
North Ogden and Pleasant View are at the forefront of this change because of years of misaligned cartography. One example of a problem area is the intersection southeast of Weber High School. The autonomous test cars currently proceed correctly until they reach the intersection of Weber High Drive and 300 west. Or is this intersection actually 3100 N and 250 W? It is currently marked as both. Pleasant View City recognizes the intersection as 3500 N 300 W and North Ogden City sees the intersection as 3100 N 250 W. Both cities cannot be right. At least one of them has to be wrong and the self-driving cars don’t know which one is right. With that confusion the test cars go into a digital meltdown and default safety systems take control. Sitting in the middle of the intersection with the left front tire at 3500 N 300 W, the left rear tire at 3100 N 300 W, the right front tire at 250 W 3500 N and the right rear tire at 3100 N 250 W, the onboard computers suddenly calculate that the car is simultaneously in four separate intersections spread out over a quarter of a mile.
One of the autonomous test cars attempted to work through the perplexing data and became stuck in a self-made round-a-bout, circling the intersection, every split second calculating it was in one intersection but then recalculating that it was 400 yards away, move one inch then recalculate back to the previous intersection. This malfunction went on for some time, the car just circling the intersection at 3 mph unable to correct itself until the control center in California overrode the onboard system and shut the car down. By then the car’s system was so confused it had to be towed away and reprogramed. The problem is spread through both of our beloved cities and will need to be corrected.
Please watch for an upcoming announcement regarding your soon to be adjusted address.
Happy April Fools Day!!