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Google demos driverless cars

engadget.com

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Re: Google demos driverless cars

#101

Post by laut »

ippisl wrote: post #57
orangecat wrote: post #23

If Google plays their cards right over the next several years, this could easily produce more revenue for them than ads do.

There are quite a few teams working on driveless cars. for example six won the last DARPA challenge , a european funded vehicle won did a 8000 miles trip from italy to china , israel is using similar technologies for military purposes, and GM and folksvagen is working on systems. from the other side , google's total investment in the project is a yearly $15 million ,which is not unsourmountable. I don't have a very d…

You can buy cars today that can almost drive by itself. Adaptive cruise control. Automated parking. Lane assist. Automatic braking to avoid accidents. BMW has demonstrated a driverless racing lap on Top Gear before can be seen in the link I posted in another comment.

I was downvoted for asking what this Google car did that other companies haven't already demonstrated. No answer though.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#102

Post by laut »

bpeters wrote: post #7
zitterbewegung wrote: post #2

I would really like this on top gear and compare it to the other drivers on their closed course. I wonder how well it would do in their celebrity challenge that they do every episode?

I don't know if Jeremy Clarkson would let a Prius back on the show...

Why not? He has had them on the show before. There would have to be a reason for it to be on again though. The driverless lap has already been done. The Google Prius would just be slower.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#103

Post by lanstein »

laut wrote: post #101
ippisl wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are quite a few teams working on driveless cars. for example six won the last DARPA challenge , a european funded vehicle won did a 8000 miles trip from italy to china , israel is using similar technologies for military purposes, and GM and folksvagen is working on systems. from the other side , google's total investment in the project is a yearly $15 million ,which is not unsourmountable. I don't have a very d…

You can buy cars today that can almost drive by itself. Adaptive cruise control. Automated parking. Lane assist. Automatic braking to avoid accidents. BMW has demonstrated a driverless racing lap on Top Gear before can be seen in the link I posted in another comment. I was downvoted for asking what this Google car did that other companies haven't already demonstrated. No answer though.

it doesn't 'almost drive by itself'. it drives by itself.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#105

Post by jonknee »

angkec wrote: post #104
jonknee wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would imagine way better than a human. Computers don't get scared.

Instead of scared, they crash :)

The biggest danger is an overreaction, which a computer is much less likely to do (if programmed correctly of course). Newer luxury cars already save you from yourself when you try and overcorrect, so I suspect this is already a solved problem.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#106

Post by electrum »

Jach wrote: post #42

If anyone can make this work out to be used by the public, Google can. They seem to be fairly good at pissing off established business. (Though they're still learning as Android shows.) Demos are great, just reinforces that Google is really an AI Company. Where my pessimism lies for this reaching the public even if it's technically sound is that there are a lot of established multi-billion dollar businesses to conten…

Insurance is easy: Google provides the insurance. Looking at the market share and market caps of Progressive and Allstate, which together have an 18% market share, Google is larger than the entire US auto insurance industry.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#107

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

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…

Not really; to be useful it doesn't have to do everything all at once.

I'm not in the market for a new car, but if I were, and there was one available that could drive itself in good weather only, on an expressway in reasonably good condition, then it would be worth a small premium.

Most of my driving is on the interstate or other expressway in relatively little traffic. A car that could handle this would make the daily commute, or weekend visits to friends that live 3 hours away a lot more pleasant.

On the other hand, I could care less about automatically driving in the city, since I don't live there and go very rarely.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#108

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

stellar678 wrote: post #90
lojack wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think insurance and traffic tickets are nearly as big of a roadblock as safety regulations for selling a computer that creates 2,000lb projectiles with humans inside.

Wouldn't it be fairly simple to run tests for awhile and give the thumbs up if the average, shall we say, carnage rate is lower than with human drivers? Seems like it would be a no-brainer. And when there are inevitably problems (or even deaths) caused by the AI systems, it's not like car companies don't currently have liability for malfunctions in their designs. Seems it would be the same...

You obviously don't work in a highly regulated industry :-)

Things that seem like "no brainers" to software developers are absolute show stoppers to regulatory bureaucracies like the Department of Transportation.

It's not impossible and it will certainly happen eventually, but it will take years of proposals and studies for a new set of regulations to evolve that these cars will have to follow. Liability is a separate issue that the car companies are used to dealing with. Changing minds at the US DOT (for example) will be a lot harder.

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#109

Post by laut »

khafra wrote: post #69
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.

It's entertainment. Do you think he said anything factually wrong in the clip, though?

Re: Google demos driverless cars

#110

Post by laut »

lanstein wrote: post #103
laut wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy cars today that can almost drive by itself. Adaptive cruise control. Automated parking. Lane assist. Automatic braking to avoid accidents. BMW has demonstrated a driverless racing lap on Top Gear before can be seen in the link I posted in another comment. I was downvoted for asking what this Google car did that other companies haven't already demonstrated. No answer though.

it doesn't 'almost drive by itself'. it drives by itself.

Car companies have made cars that do that too.

No completely autonomous car is on the market though. Not from Google nor anyone else.

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