The Google Car (Drives Itself)

[RawBert]

Looks very promising.
Best thing is, it doesn't require governments investing in new infrastructures that can accommodate this AUTOmobile. It can use existing roads.

Information Week

Google researchers have created cars that can drive on public highways without a human at the wheel.
Using technology developed through participation in a series of autonomous vehicle races sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Google's self-driving Toyota Prius has already logged 140,000 hours on roads between the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters and its office in Santa Monica, Calif., with minimal human intervention.

The robot cars resemble Google's Street View vehicles. Instead of a camera on the roof, the autonomous cars have an optical LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) sensor on top, with additional radar sensors mounted on chassis.

"Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to 'see' other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead," explained Google software engineer Sebastian Thrun in a blog post on Saturday. "This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain."

The researchers involved in Google's project participated in DARPA's challenges. They include: Chris Urmson, a Carnegie Mellon robotics scientist, Mike Montemerlo, senior research engineer in Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Lab, and Anthony Levandowski, a product manager at Google who's noted for modifying a Prius so that it can deliver pizza without a person inside.

Google is pursuing self-driving cars to save us from ourselves and to help the environment. Noting that as many as 1.2 million people are killed every year as a result of road accidents, Thrun suggests that automated vehicle technology has the potential to reduce car-related mortality by as much as 50%. (The technology could also reduce movie budgets by making car chases too boring to film.)

Beyond increasing road usage and fuel efficiency through the creation of "highway trains" -- closely coordinated lines of autonomous vehicles -- Thrun says that self-driving cars would allow people to be more productive by working rather than driving during their commutes, which average 52 minutes per day, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Before such futuristic scenarios can really be considered, however, there will have to be changes in the legal system. Neither Google nor automakers will want to offer automated cars if they're held liable accidents.

There will also have to be changes in the American psyche. Cars have long been associated with independence and personal identity in the U.S., and elsewhere. It will take a major social shift before most people will accept Google as their driver.

I just pray Microsoft doesn't try copying this. God help us!

[rprebel]

What could possibly go wrong?

[QuarterSwede]

I remember the CEO of Ford being asked about the future of autonomous vehicles and his answer was that it's not that they can't do that currently but it's more of a case of slowly integrating the technologies so that the public will accept it.

It's really amazing how far this tech has come in the last decade.

[BigQid]

How long til it works and is affordable?

[steve2112]

Originally Posted by rprebel

What could possibly go wrong?

Not much, really. Well, except for your car getting hacked via the tire pressure monitor. Or a disgruntled car dealership employee remotely disabling your car.

Other than that, not much.

[roadbloc]

Originally Posted by RawBert

I just pray Microsoft doesn't try copying this. God help us!

Well... all the controls would be replaced by a button marked START. Even switching off the car. It would also randomly crash with no warning or reason.

[notjustjay]

Originally Posted by roadbloc

It would also randomly crash with no warning or reason.

Yup. And people would simply shrug their shoulders, brush off their scrapes, get back in the car, and keep on driving. A perfectly normal commute.

Personally, I'd love a system like this. I don't think it would be hard to sell this to the public (once they work out all the obvious issues like safety and reliability). It'd be like having a personal chauffeur all the time. Sure you'd want an override mode so you could take over the wheel and drive yourself, for fun, but your typical boring commute would cease to exist. Let the car fight the downtown traffic for me, while I read a newspaper and sip my coffee!

[rprebel]

Microsoft couldn't pull this off. Nothing they make works without drivers

[notjustjay]

Originally Posted by rprebel

Microsoft couldn't pull this off. Nothing they make works without drivers

*rimshot*

[rprebel]

Originally Posted by notjustjay

*rimshot*

Thank you I'll be here all week.

[steve2112]

Originally Posted by notjustjay

Yup. And people would simply shrug their shoulders, brush off their scrapes, get back in the car, and keep on driving. A perfectly normal commute.

Personally, I'd love a system like this. I don't think it would be hard to sell this to the public (once they work out all the obvious issues like safety and reliability). It'd be like having a personal chauffeur all the time. Sure you'd want an override mode so you could take over the wheel and drive yourself, for fun, but your typical boring commute would cease to exist. Let the car fight the downtown traffic for me, while I read a newspaper and sip my coffee!

So, it wouldn't really be any different than what people are doing now? At least that's what I see on my commute. You know, sip coffee, read the newspaper, text like crazy, shave, put on makeup, etc. Except there's no computer driving now.

And let's not get too biased. If Apple did this, it would just replace all your gauges with the spinning beach ball of doom. And, of course, your car would have to be made out of brushed aluminum with no options available.