Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 216 posts

Re: Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

#41

Post by mortenjorck »

mjfern wrote: post #25

The key question is why would Google produce this technology and enter the autonomous driving market? I think one of the key issues for Google, from a corporate strategy standpoint, is "freeing up people's time." Driving is one of last places where we spend significant time awake without being able to use the Internet and hence any of Google's services (except if you use a smartphone, which is now illegal in some sta…

Dr. Thrun is known as a passionate promoter of the potential to use robotic vehicles to make highways safer and lower the nation’s energy costs. It is a commitment shared by Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, according to several people familiar with the project.

It sounds like this may be as much an idealistic pet project as it is any kind of corporate strategy.

Re: Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

#43

Post by K3G »

It will take a decrease in sensor costs for this to become commercially viable. The "device" on top of the car is a Velodyne LIDAR system, which if I recall correctly, costs around $75k. Using a sensor that costs more than the vehicle it controls makes selling this difficult, to say the least.

Re: Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

#44

Post by kissickas »

mjfern wrote: post #36
waterlesscloud wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Google paid me to sit at home, I'd have a lot more free time than if my car drove itself.

I assume this is sarcasm, but perhaps not. If Google is developing this automobile technology, perhaps it should enter and promote telecommuting technologies to reduce the amount of time that people are in their cars?

They're already trying with at least Google Docs and Google Voice in Gmail.

Re: Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

#45

Post by mortenjorck »

exit wrote: post #22

can anyone see this completely eliminating human taxi drivers within the next 10-15 years?

I've pretty much assumed this to be a given at some point in the next 75 years, but what's most interesting to me here is that rapid-iterating, money-is-no-object Google is doing this instead of a slow-moving auto giant or even an unpredictably-funded university program.

Could Google shorten the timescale for this massive shift to just a decade or two instead of most of a century?

Re: Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

#46

Post by ScottBurson »

From TFA:

“The technology is ahead of the law in many areas,” said Bernard Lu, senior staff counsel for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. “If you look at the vehicle code, there are dozens of laws pertaining to the driver of a vehicle, and they all presume to have a human being operating the vehicle.”

The Google researchers said they had carefully examined California’s motor vehicle regulations and determined that because a human driver can override any error, the experimental cars are legal. Mr. Lu agreed.

Re: Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

#47

Post by ScottBurson »

ScottBurson wrote: post #46

From TFA: “The technology is ahead of the law in many areas,” said Bernard Lu, senior staff counsel for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. “If you look at the vehicle code, there are dozens of laws pertaining to the driver of a vehicle, and they all presume to have a human being operating the vehicle.” The Google researchers said they had carefully examined California’s motor vehicle regulations and determi…

Gack -- that was supposed to go under eogas' item.

Re: Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

#48

Post by drm237 »

reader5000 wrote: post #21

I had no idea the technology was this advanced. Last I heard was the DARPA challenge where they were still struggling to navigate traffic-free dirtroads. Google blows mind once again.

I would imagine in some cases it's harder to navigate a poorly formed dirt road in the desert versus a paved road with lines, curbs, etc.

Re: Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

#49

Post by drm237 »

eogas wrote: post #30

I wonder if this is legal. I mean, if one of these cars went haywire and mowed down a bunch of pedestrians before the "driver" was able to take control, I reckon Google would have some splainin to do. With autonomous vehicles coming closer and closer to a reality, it's somewhat alarming that there appears to be no legal body attempting to define some guidelines on this subject. At the rate our government works, we'll…

I would guess that the drivers behave just like they would normally. If the car hasn't started breaking by the time the driver would typically, he just does it himself.
Post reply on HN