Robot Cars Invade Calif., on Orders From Google

Stanford Racing Team leader Sebastian Thrun holds a $2 million dollar check as he catches a ride on top of Stanley #03, a tricked-out Volkswagen Touareg R5, after his team was declared the official winner of the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 in Primm, Nev., Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005.

/ AP/Damian Dovarganes

Google has been testing self-driving cars on roads in California, according to a report, and so far they've avoided everything but a minor fender bender--caused by a human-driven car.

The New York Times reports that seven test cars have traveled 1,000 miles without need for human intervention (a driver has been stationed behind the wheel just in case, accompanied by a technician to monitor the navigation system), and that they've covered more than 140,000 miles with the human chaperone stepping in only occasionally. One of the cars was even able to safely make its way down Lombard Street in San Francisco, the fabled "crookedest street in the world," the Times says.

Google's robot car is equipped with artificial-intelligence software; a rotating sensor on its roof, which can scan more than 200 feet in all directions to create a 3D map of the car's environs; a video camera mounted behind the windshield, which helps the navigation system spot pedestrians, bicyclists, and traffic lights; three radar devices on the front bumper, and one in the back; and a sensor on one of the wheels that allows the system to determine the car's position on the 3D map, the Times says. The car also features a GPS device and a motion sensor. The car follows a route programmed into the GPS system, and it can be instructed to drive cautiously, or more aggressively.

Engineers say robot cars aren't susceptible to drowsiness or driving under the influence, and that eventually they might allow for more cars on the road, because they can drive closer to other vehicles, and less fuel consumption, because their safety would allow them to be made lighter, with less defensive armor, the Times says.

The man behind the project, Sebastian Thrun, a Google engineer and co-inventor of Google's Street View mapping project, was also behind the autonomous auto that won the $2 million prize in the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, a contest to see if a driverless vehicle could successfully navigate nearly 150 miles in the California desert.

The Google researchers said that at the moment they don't have a plan for marketing the system, the Times says. Thrun is a promoter of the idea of robot cars making roads safer and helping to cut down on energy costs, as is Google co-founder Larry Page, the Times reports.

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[skepticalJM]

Instead of researching energy alternatives, the money men are now trying to take control of even our vehicles. Every software project has bugs in it; software should never be used in situations where human lives are at stake. And this doesn't even touch on malicious mischief. That's all we need, a virus causing a million car pile up. God, these people never seem to learn, anything to make more money.

[ur_shadow]

Since these cars have artificial intelligence and do inevitably come in contact with humans, I'm hoping they programmed it with the 3 Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

[longtree-2009]

this should be used in military tanks to send into combat with auto ability to fire weaponry. could be used in combat submarines, combat surface ships too. since our military relies only on volunteers, no draftees, it's time for technology to step in and fight our wars. combat drones are already in use so that's a good thing. bombers could use the same technology. if this is pushed to the limit, there might be less and less dependence on volunteer personnel to fight our wars. either this or bring back the draft.

[Wolf1944]

I read elsewhere that Carnegie Mellon is involved in this. I was on their campus around 1990, and they had a driverless car that ran round and round the campus.

Old SF fans were expecting the robot car by the 70s. The future has been slow about getting here.