Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

New York Times ^ | October 9, 2010 | George Markoff

[lbryce]

Necessity is the mother of invention seems nowadays to have been superseded by Build it and they will come.
Your mind goes WTF at first but then settles into perplexed curiosity as to how, why and what for, as a kind of chicken-or-egg scenario for the commercial market but see incredible opportunity in applying the technology for military purposes.

[Smokin' Joe]

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.

If the same criteria were applied as with air crashes, and as stringently, "accidents" would break down to a combination of negligence and pilot error, with mechanical failure far behind. Just saying.

It might not be a good idea to be texting while surfing the web on the laptop while changing clothes and doing makeup during breakfast while fiddling with the gizmos in the car while allegedly driving with a fresh hangover...

[ThomasThomas]

How much would it cost to keep the other car from getting the parking place? If cars are driven by computer then some cars will become more equal than other.

[La Enchiladita]

A funnel-like cylinder would look like... a dunce cap?

[DannyTN]

I think it’s brilliant. I’ve long called for us to “Automate Driving” on this board.

Imagine a world where the elderly and the young no longer have to be chauffeured. Where there are few or no autobody shops, few traffic cops, few traffic courts, no speeding tickets, no ambulance chasing lawyers, car insurance would be cheap.

The amount of waste in the economy from wrecked cars and injured automobile occupants would be eliminated.

It’s one of the best things we could do, and it should be well within our reach.

[Don Corleone]

Harder to notice was that the person at the wheel was not actually driving.

Sort of like Obama in the 1/2 white house.

[Jack Hydrazine]

I’m sure the car of the future will have a MS Windows OS that will crash at the wrong time. Explain that one to your insurance agent.

[muawiyah]

The writer missed a really big point when he said :Autonomous cars are years from mass production" because, as it turns out, the test vehicles were already in mass production ~ the control units and retrofit modules aren't yet ~ but that's a really minor issue.

These guys were going way beyond proof of concept right into making automobiles operate a new way.

[muawiyah]

You could send your car all by itself to the dealer for a check up and any warranty work.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

I hope these don’t spend too long in the overpriced novelty stage. Being epileptic, a car like this could really change my life for the better...

[NurdlyPeon]

I want to know what the car will do to me when I flip it off in traffic.

[cruise_missile]

Google out sourcing jobs.

[cruise_missile]

Google out sourcing jobs.

[dfwgator]

[Tucker39]

Man! I wish my ‘60 Chevy Impala would have had that! Imagine being driven around while you neck in the back seat. I was born too early!

[4buttons]

How did it become legal for these guys to NOT be in control of their automobiles?

[GeronL]

I bet it is illegal to do that. Not that anyone will care unless they wreck and kill a bunch of people.

[benewton]

Agreed.

70 MPH and you get to inspect the blue screen of death.

Any shot at a manual ejection seat?

[Ultra Sonic 007]

I’m skeptical. If only because I wonder about who would control the computer controlling your car.

Imagine: certain destinations need to be approved by your local DMV. Oh, you’ve reached your federally-mandated Fast Food Quota for the month, no McDonald’s for you...

That, and you’d have an easily accessible log detailing everywhere you travel.

[PapaBear3625]

Imagine a world where the elderly and the young no longer have to be chauffeured. Where there are few or no autobody shops, few traffic cops, few traffic courts, no speeding tickets, no ambulance chasing lawyers, car insurance would be cheap.

Imagine a world where your car's autopilot runs under Windows.

Now imagine a world where a bunch of hackers (or terrorists) take control of a whole bunch of cars at the same time...