Once a secret project, Google’s autonomous vehicles are now out in the open, quite literally, with the company test-driving them on public roads and, on one occasion, even inviting people to ride inside one of the robot cars as it raced around a closed course.
Google’s fleet of robotic Toyota Priuses has now logged more than 190,000 miles (about 300,000 kilometers), driving in city traffic, busy highways, and mountainous roads with only occasional human intervention. The project is still far from becoming commercially viable, but Google has set up a demonstration system on its campus, using driverless golf carts, which points to how the technology could change transportation even in the near future. via IEEE Spectrum
October 18, 2011
Must say, as I am writing about developing safety-critical systems, I would have severe qualms about having too many of these on the road. Yet then again, when I think about some of the people who hold driving licences, perhaps we would be better off. At least these don’t crawl out of a bar and then drive at high speed through a residential area, or do they?