Self-driving cars are admittedly a lofty, almost far-fetched prospect. Even the most optimistic people behind the Google team say it’s at least eight years away from reaching consumers. But the promise it holds! With self driving cars on the road, researchers say road capacity can double since robots will drive at closer distances from one another. Plus, robot cars can theoretically react faster than humans and with the right sensors, can see the road from a 360-degree perspective. Not to mention they never get drunk, sleepy or text while driving either.
Google’s been working on these self driving cars in secret but are actually testing them right now, right out in the open. The NY Times saw one of these cars in action:
A Prius equipped with a variety of sensors and following a route programmed into the GPS navigation system nimbly accelerated in the entrance lane and merged into fast-moving traffic on Highway 101, the freeway through Silicon Valley.
It drove at the speed limit, which it knew because the limit for every road is included in its database, and left the freeway several exits later. The device atop the car produced a detailed map of the environment.
The car then drove in city traffic through Mountain View, stopping for lights and stop signs, as well as making announcements like “approaching a crosswalk” (to warn the human at the wheel) or “turn ahead” in a pleasant female voice.
Ideally, there’s a driver sitting at the steering wheel, ready to take over whenever anything goes awry. Once you hit a red button, move the steering wheel or tap the brake, the car is back under your control. I was never a big fan of driving so I’m hoping these self-driving cars become reality in my lifetime. [NY Times]
MarioC
Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 9:56 PMAwesome, the power of Google is crazy, if only Google could work out a way to FIX traffic issues with Australia, especially Sydney where i live, its a joke, new traffic lights are setup to catch speeding and red light, and what do they do, they shorten the times, so only 3 people can go thru each, time, pathetic really, instead of easing traffic, they worsen it. Why are these people still hired to do a job they obviously cannot do is beyond me! Google needs to get in there and setup an algorithm.. haha
Karl von Muller
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 7:11 AMSame in here in Melbourne… The best way to fix the traffic issues would be to teach people to drive properly, then they wouldn’t have to go after just speeding as people would be able to drive at higher speeds safely and not kill themselves.
Lamboman007
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 7:26 AMI’m never going to buy one of these cars because some guy named Keith is going tobuy one of these and is going to fix his autonomobile himself. I could never ride in one of these in peace knowing that Keith could be driving towards me.
:D
James
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 10:11 AMDam straight MarioC, in Victoria Brumby and his team of dimwits have put in so many speed cameras (both fixed and mobile) – Traffic has gotten alot worse, and so has the road toll – proving that speed cameras do NOT save lives, they generate money from people sometimes going 5km over the limit, and increase the congestion in traffic.
On a side note, there are two ways to stop speeding
1) stop making it look cool; Every movie and TV show that has a car chase makes it look really really awesome – i have been in a few and i can tell you that it is not fun, it is really intense, and not fun for anyone.
2) education;
Finally, speed does not kill people – idiots behind the wheel do.
back on topic, auto cars are a really good idea (the technology has been around longer then you think, and is going to be avaliable sooner then you think too, the one thing that will stop it is the “what if everything goes wrong” factor that governments will worry about.
Dr_Stef
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 2:55 PMAI of Car: ‘F this I’m tired, I don;t want to drive anymore’.
Stops in front of trafficlight.
Connor
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 4:17 PMI hope they are not going to use Google maps!! There will be so many crashes!!
Reoh
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 6:55 PMI can fix your traffic problems, it’s called public transport.
If I was a cabbie, I’d be real worried about now…
Sylver
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 6:57 PMHow about groups of automated cars that draw into ‘squads’ of maybe 6 or 8 cars in a 2×3 or 2×4 form and travel on roads? It would reduce overall air-drag and require much less real estate, instead of however many automated cars all trying to do their own thing.
It all sounds very cool, and heres to hoping they don’t hurt anybody while they’re at it.
agmar
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 9:56 PMself driving cars will usher in a new golden age where I can get completely tanked and the car can drive me home. :)
Leo W'ski
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 2:40 PM“jonny-cabs” – circa 90′s – “Total Recall”.
YES!!!!!!!
gromit
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at 9:35 AMIt will be interesting to see if networking is included in Google’s plans. By this, I mean the ability to understand what other cars around you are doing. If you had a group of cars (as Sylver mentioned) travelling together, then the car at the back would be aware when the car at the front was braking, meaning that you could safely cut the inter-car gap significantly, However this might be a problem if it caused human drivers to assume they could do the same…..