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Google demos driverless cars

engadget.com

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Re: Google demos driverless cars

#61

Post by cake »

StavrosK wrote: post #56
cake wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine cars on demand. You don't own a car, you text a car to get you to work at 8:30, the car picks you up at home, drops you off (no parking space required) and goes on to the next ride. I can't wait to see driverless cars.

That's an ingenious concept! I will start a company like that right now, I will call them... Taxis!

Yes almost like a taxi, what I meant to say is that today you don't drive to work in a taxi because they are so expensive most of the time or inconvenient because few are available.

If driverless cars became maintream I'm pretty sure it would drastically decrease the price of such commutes thus changing the way we own a car today.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#62

Post by [deleted] »

nolok wrote: post #60
jrockway wrote: post #58

The iPhone has been able to drive cars since version 3.0.1. Google should really be focusing on making lists more springy at their ends instead of this sort of trivial thing.

Is this a serious post ? How does an iphone "drive" a car ? If you think GPS and turn by turn instructions is the same thing has actually controlling the car on a road, you couldn't possibily be more wrong ... Your second point is strange too, do you actually think that a big tech company like google should not try to research new stuff outside of its comfort zone ? Or because one of their product is imperfect, they…

[deleted]

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#63

Post by InclinedPlane »

edge17 wrote: post #55
InclinedPlane wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. This is why it's smart to be a technology company first. It worked like crazy for Bell Labs for generations.

Agreed. Amazon's done amazing things where their competitors have... well, filed for bankruptcy.

Also a good example. 37Signals has great advice here: sell your byproducts. Amazon was forced to invest heavily in scaling dynamic websites as a byproduct of running a high-volume retail store, it invented a lot of internal tools to support that some of which they've adapted and spun-off into standalone products like AWS, EC2, S3, etc. In the process they've helped leverage themselves into more of a technology company than merely a web-store.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#64

Post by sharmajai »

sharmajai wrote: post #9
MikeHo wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Prius corners pretty mean ...

Ahh so the all the recalled priuses were actually alpha versions of google's self driving cars. I see.

Ok, I get it there is no place for humor here. Xkcd can do it, I can't. Well I have a great respect for google as a company, that's the company I have always dreamt of working for, and my real feelings about this are that I feel great respect and a tad bit of jealousy for our real life iron men larry and sergey who backed by their enormously successful businesses can work on their world changing toys.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#66

Post by mikepurvis »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #15
mdonahoe wrote: post #12

Unless all cars are driven by machine, the driverless car won't make a huge difference in our lives. You can already experience the magic of not having to drive by paying someone else to do it for you. The real gains of automation occur when a machine doing the job can do it faster than a human. Computers calculate and communicate faster than people, and factories/robots build stuff faster. A machine driving a car ha…

Rush hour in major cities would be an entirely different experience with automated cars. In my observation, the vast majority of congestion is caused by drivers either overcompensating for changes in conditions (ie slowing down even more than the car in front of you slowed down) or otherwise reacting slowly. I believe highways could handle considerably more traffic if all the traffic were automated. I think it's poss…

Increased density of cars on the road has the potential for a huge economic wins, in terms of getting governments out of widening highways to increase throughput.

Automated cars would be be able to (one day) receive information about down-the-road conditions and congestion which would enable the automation of William Beaty's "jam busting" techniques at a more expansive scale: http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/trafexp.html (For example, slowing down gradually, rather than screeching to a stop as you pile into the back of a jam.)

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#67

Post by frazerb »

maeon3 wrote: post #14

Driverless cars are not going anywhere until they can prove themselves 20% superior than the average driver in ALL the following conditions: Dealing with Rain (visibility and deep water on the road), Hard to see tire eating potholes causing damage, Ice and snow (on road and caking on instruments), Snow accumulation ruts, causing car to move unexpectedly, Evasive driving - cutting across a lawn, (avoiding the pool and…

There will doubtless be lots of peripheral benefits from this piece of research. But private vehicles being automatically driven on the road ? Is Ford/Audi/Chrysler going to swallow the liability implications ? Look how much they get burnt by questionable brake cables....

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#68

Post by iron_ball »

nolok wrote: post #60
jrockway wrote: post #58

The iPhone has been able to drive cars since version 3.0.1. Google should really be focusing on making lists more springy at their ends instead of this sort of trivial thing.

Is this a serious post ? How does an iphone "drive" a car ? If you think GPS and turn by turn instructions is the same thing has actually controlling the car on a road, you couldn't possibily be more wrong ... Your second point is strange too, do you actually think that a big tech company like google should not try to research new stuff outside of its comfort zone ? Or because one of their product is imperfect, they…

It was sarcasm. The point was that the iOS vs. Android wars pale in comparison to potentially world-changing research like this.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#69

Post by khafra »

laut wrote: post #10

Looks like what BMW had on Top Gear some a few years ago. Just faster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AYCUSAMF9U A bonus video about what is more environmentally friendly and economical - a Prius or a BMW M3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKTOyiKLARk

Note that, witty and knowledgeable as he is, Clarkson isn't exactly the most reliable and unbiased source on the merits of cars he dislikes.

Disclaimer: I have an M3, not a Prius. But I average 27mpg.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#70

Post by moblivu »

alttab wrote: post #21
moblivu wrote: post #5

If applied correctly this could solved a lot of traffic problem. I still don't understand why cars don't have a retractable bar under them. So you normally drive everywhere, but big roads like highways are in fact rails where your car gets on.

That idea sounds too simple to be true, but I'd file that under "crazy enough to work"

The craziest ideas are the best ;) and what's crazier: a car on rails or a self driving Prius from a search and advertising company ?
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