“It’s a bug that cars were invented before computers. Your car should drive itself. It just makes sense.” Eric Schmidt, CEO Google
After revolutionizing the Web-Search world, Google it seems is set to revolutionize the way people drive their cars. Google in its official blog revealed that it is working on the technology for cars that can drive themselves. In fact, seven test cars of Google have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only occasional human control, as reported by The New York Times.
The automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors, laser range finder as well as detailed maps to locate traffic around them. Before sending these automated cars on road, a conventional car is sent to map the features like lane markers and traffic signs. This allows the software to become familiar with the environment and its characteristics in advance. The terrain data which is gathered by the cars is processed by Google data centers. Though these cars use artificial-intelligence software to mimic the decisions made by a human driver, they are never unmanned. A trained safety driver is always behind the wheel to take over in case something goes wrong, and a trained software operator is in the passenger seat to monitor the software. For this project, Google has gathered some of the very best engineers from the DARPA Challenges which are a series of autonomous vehicle races organized by the U.S. Government.
Why is it exciting?
The mere idea of a car driving itself is scintillating enough for a technology enthusiast. Google sees these self-driving cars as highway trains of tomorrow that will not only reduce the number of deaths caused in the car accidents but also cut energy consumption. Though automated cars are only a distant possibility and years away from mass production, but the technology has the potential to advance the society in a profound manner just like the Internet.
The project is still in experimental stage and it will certainly involve many complications-both technical as well as legal. But it does provide a glimpse of what future has in store for us, and for an optimist it’s very exciting.
Are you excited about this new technology? Do let me know your reviews.
Projects of this kind will get a push if major auto-makers pitch in. I think BMW has been working on something similar for quite sometime now.
Hail Google, for the projects it takes up, for the people it hires and the impact it brings in.
India still does not have a very effective system for rolling out driving licenses to its citizens…Just think what will happen when it will have to rollout licenses to cars instead of human beings.