News Google is to start building its own self-driving cars

[Blobbenstein]

Google is to start building its own self-driving cars, rather than modifying vehicles built by other manufacturers.

The car will have a stop-go button but no controls, steering wheel or pedals.

Pictures of the Google vehicle show it looks like a city car with a "friendly" face, designed to make it seem non-threatening and help people accept self-driving technology.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27587558

Could be good for disabled, and people who have lost their license...people could have one just to go to the pub(the law allowing).

And of course, people could twitter as much as they want, without knocking over cyclists.

 

[ledboots]

I like the idea of it, though I don't think the car's face looks very happy.

 

[Blobbenstein]

though I don't think the car's face looks very happy.

well, it's concentrating on driving.

 

[beancounter]

Well it's going to be a long time before cars could be fully autonomous. For example, once you get to the destination, a human needs to drive it into a parking space. Also, if the guidance system is based on Google maps, that could cause issues.

On two seperate occasions, Google maps tried to lead me down non existent roads. Can you imagine a car driving through the woods because it thinks there's a road there.

Also, in most cases, the destination is an estimate based on some algorithm. If the street numbering at your destination doesn't conform to the software's assumptions, you could end up at not quite the right address. Very few locations have the exact cooordinates programed into the mapping software.

 

[beancounter]

I just read another article about this car. They're going to have to increase the speed limit to at least 55mph, if the want widespread adoption of the vehicle.

"Brin said that creating a car from scratch allowed Google to focus on building in safety measures, such as a foam bumper and a flexible, plastic windshield, and to install a 25 miles-per-hour speed limit for pedestrian safety."

http://www.businessweek.com/article...ing-wheel-no-brakes?google_editors_picks=true

 

[Amy SF]

I don't care how good they are, I wouldn't feel comfortable in a self-driving car. There's just something too Westworldish about the idea. (You remember Westworld, that movie written and directed by Michael Crichton, where the robots, including Yul Brynner, started going nuts and acting on their own, and...well, I ain't going to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it).

 

[yakherder]

I'd get one. I do lot of long drives, and the idea of sleeping through them is appealing.

Plus, I'd rather deal with an occasional glitch than drunk drivers, road ragers, etc. so... mandatory Johnny Cabs for everyone

 

[Tom L.]

^^^ I was going to say I'd never get in one of those things, except maybe for short trips at a fairly low speed.... but you make a good point about drunk drivers, etc. Still, I've had experiences with Google (Maps) such that I'm not ready to trust their software that far yet.

 

[Blobbenstein]

The UK government is to outline measures to permit driverless cars to use public roads by next year.

BBC News - UK to allow driverless cars on public roads

 

[Second Summer]

Here's an infographic describing the technologies behind Google's self-driving cars:



More: http://www.national.co.uk/tech-powers-google-car

 

[Blobbenstein]

 

[Andy_T]

We had this article some time ago in the forum, I find it quite interesting:

6 things I learned from riding in a Google Self-Driving Car - The Oatmeal

 

[Andy_T]

Those two articles on accidents that involved the self-driving cars suggest they might be very safe:

Google acknowledges its self-driving cars had 11 minor accidents | Technology | The Guardian

Crash involving self-driving Google car injures three employees | Technology | The Guardian

They had a total of 14 accidents over 2.8 million kilometers driven, which is quite good, I would say, and in none of these accidents, the driverless car was at fault (most often they were rear-ended by distracted other drivers).