0 Google Working on a Self-Driven Car

Google has developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. The car is a result of a secret project of Google, which uses artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and mimic human decisions in such situations.

The automated cars manned by trained operators have logged over 140,000 miles. They’ve driven down Lombard Street (one of the world’s most crooked streets – in picture), crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe.

The automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to detect other nearby vehicles, along with detailed maps (Google Maps, collected using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the roads. Currently, Google is using six Priuses and an Audi TT in the project.

As Google noted in its blog today, safety was the main driving force ahead for the project. And it is well justified. According to the World Health Organization about 1.2 million people are killed in traffic accidents every year, and more than 10 million people are injured. The automated cars have robot drivers who react faster than humans, do no get intoxicated or sleepy, have 360-degree perception and don’t talk over the phone or text while driving. This can make the roads much safer. Also, as NYT notes,

“There is even the farther-off prospect of cars that do not need anyone behind the wheel. That would allow the cars to be summoned electronically, so that people could share them. Fewer cars would then be needed, reducing the need for parking spaces, which consume valuable land.”

But there are many hurdles before the technology can be deployed. Technologically, even the most optimistic predictions put the deployment of the technology more than eight years away. For the technology to be viable, all the roads have to be mapped and then updated continuously, posing a logistical challenge. There are other issue too, mainly legal which arise due to the lack of human instinct in robots, and also laws which are not yet amended for robot drivers.

So, let’s hope all goes well. And we may be driving (well, not exactly), an automated car a decade from now. Below, we have an image describing the working of the car [Courtesy: NYT].