A History of America in 100 Maps

AFTERWORD: THE ROAD AHEAD 259

the same way as we see and hear. They then process this

information in real time in order to move through space.

In fact, in the course of generating this new technology the

engineers at DeepMap were reminded of the extraordinary

power of the human brain. From speed limits to navigating

rules of intersections, merging, and taking a car through

curves, humans rely on their senses and their prior experience

to process an enormous amount of information while driving.

Automated vehicles will require similarly sophisticated

systems to replicate this operation. And, for this reason,

the measurements involved in this mapping database must

be far more precise than any road map in history, down to

a centimeter.

All of this presents a rather colossal challenge for DeepMap.

Yet it is also an oddly old-fashioned task of creating wayfinding

aids to get from one point to another. This same quest drove

so many mapmaking efforts over the past five centuries, in the

service of discovery, conquest, settlement, or general mobility.

To teach cars to drive themselves, we are in a way replicating a

very basic cartographic operation. But the creation of platforms

for autonomous vehicles also reminds us that maps are far more

than instruments of navigation. Maps make this technological

innovation possible. In turn, the technology demands an

entirely different kind of map. This reciprocal dynamic has been

at work throughout American history: across five centuries,

maps have both reflected and mediated change.