revelations
10-09-2010, 05:06 PM
Google does it again.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Autos/20101009/google-self-driving-cars-101009/
In an unassuming blog post, Google has modestly announced that it is not only developing cars that can drive themselves, but that they are already plying the roads alongside unsuspecting motorists.
"So we have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves," Google "Distinguished Software Engineer" Sebastian Thrun flatly announced on the company's official blog Saturday.
Google's fleet of automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to see the world and traffic around them. Combining the technology with a detailed database of maps, the cars have already undergone extensive secret testing - in plain sight on California's public highways.
"They've driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe," Thrun wrote.
"All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles."
Lest drivers worry an experiment could go wrong on the road beside them, Thrun says not to worry.
"Safety has been our first priority in this project," he wrote, explaining that all the test drives have had a human driver at the wheel, ready to take control of the vehicle should anything go wrong. A software operator also rides along to make sure the system is running smoothly.
"While this project is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future thanks to advanced computer science," Thrun added.
Thrun, who is the director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and co-inventor of Google's Street View service, suggests self-driving cars have the potential to reduce the number of road traffic accidents, improve the flow of traffic on congested roads and even reduce car use by making it easier to share vehicles.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Autos/20101009/google-self-driving-cars-101009/
In an unassuming blog post, Google has modestly announced that it is not only developing cars that can drive themselves, but that they are already plying the roads alongside unsuspecting motorists.
"So we have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves," Google "Distinguished Software Engineer" Sebastian Thrun flatly announced on the company's official blog Saturday.
Google's fleet of automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to see the world and traffic around them. Combining the technology with a detailed database of maps, the cars have already undergone extensive secret testing - in plain sight on California's public highways.
"They've driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe," Thrun wrote.
"All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles."
Lest drivers worry an experiment could go wrong on the road beside them, Thrun says not to worry.
"Safety has been our first priority in this project," he wrote, explaining that all the test drives have had a human driver at the wheel, ready to take control of the vehicle should anything go wrong. A software operator also rides along to make sure the system is running smoothly.
"While this project is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future thanks to advanced computer science," Thrun added.
Thrun, who is the director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and co-inventor of Google's Street View service, suggests self-driving cars have the potential to reduce the number of road traffic accidents, improve the flow of traffic on congested roads and even reduce car use by making it easier to share vehicles.