Robotic cars drive themselves

Amhran Nua

I thought this was interesting, apparently Google has been secretly testing a robotic vehicle that can drive itself, and have apparently been quite successful.

With someone behind the wheel to take control if something goes awry and a technician in the passenger seat to monitor the navigation system, seven test cars have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only occasional human control.

One even drove itself down Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the steepest and curviest streets in the nation.The only accident, engineers said, was when one Google car was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light.

Autonomous cars are years from mass production, but technologists who have long dreamed of them believe that they can transform society as profoundly as the Internet has.

Robot drivers react faster than humans, have 360-degree perception and do not get distracted, sleepy or intoxicated, the engineers argue. They speak in terms of lives saved and injuries avoided — more than 37,000 people died in car accidents in the United States in 2008. The engineers say the technology could double the capacity of roads by allowing cars to drive more safely while closer together. Because the robot cars would eventually be less likely to crash, they could be built lighter, reducing fuel consumption.

Wouldn't want to be in the taxi driving, bus driving, truck driving or pizza delivery businesses in the next ten years.

CiniO

Amhran Nua wrote: »

Wouldn't want to be in the taxi driving, bus driving, truck driving or pizza delivery businesses in the next ten years.

You are dreaming.

Amhran Nua

CiniO wrote: »

You are dreaming.

As technology presses on, lots of jobs become redundant. Horse whip makers, blacksmiths, weavers, etc. Its really only a matter of time with this technology before similar effects are felt in the professional driving industries from the looks of it. I wouldn't neccessarily say that result is desireable in and of itself, but I can't see much stopping it, although it will probably be ten years out at minimum.

JohnK

Amhran Nua wrote: »

I thought this was interesting, apparently Google has been secretly testing a robotic vehicle that can drive itself, and have apparently been quite successful.

Wouldn't want to be in the taxi driving, bus driving, truck driving or pizza delivery businesses in the next ten years.

I'd say it'll be a bit more than 10 years but you could well be right on the taxi, bus & truck driving. On the other hand, pizza delivery will always need someone to walk from the car to the door so I'd say they're safe enough until those ASIMO robots get a bit less expensive. Dont see to many pizza places paying $1,000,000 for a pizza holding robot just yet.

PeakOutput

i dont know how secret its been really if you youtube stanford car you will see a working prototype of a self driving car

i dont know if google has anything to do with that one but with its close ties to stanford id be suprised if it didnt

most of the videos are pretty boring but there are a few cool ones