Sci/Tech Google Has A Secret Fleet Of Automated Toyota Priuses; 140,000 Miles Logged So Far

[The Helper]

It all makes sense now.

At our TechCrunch Disrupt event a couple weeks ago in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt took the stage to give an impressive speech across a wide range of topics. But the most interesting thing he had to say what about automobiles. “It’s a bug that cars were invented before computers,” he said. “Your car should drive itself. It just makes sense.”

Well guess what? Surprise, surprise: Google has been working on a secret project to enable cars to do just that.

As they’ve revealed on their blog today, Google has developed a technology for cars to drive themselves. And they haven’t done it on a computer, or in some controlled lab, they’ve been out on California roads testing this out. “Our automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to our Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard. 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. All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles. We think this is a first in robotics research,” Google engineer Sebastian Thrun (the brainchild of the project who also heads the Stanford AI lab and co-invented Street View as well) writes.

Google Has A Secret Fleet Of Automated Toyota Priuses; 140,000 Miles Logged So Far. | TechCrunch

It all makes sense now. At our TechCrunch Disrupt event a couple weeks ago in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt took the stage to give an impressive speech across a wide range of topics. But the most interesting thing he had to say what about automobiles. "It's a bug that cars were invented...

techcrunch.com

 

[seph ir oth]

As the article says:

I want this yesterday. This is all kinds of awesome.

 

[Prometheus]

Of course! If we had asked Google for the cure to AIDS we'd have it by now! Makes sense.

 

[Dan]

Was this legal for them to test their cars out in public as they stated they did? It sure doesn't seem legal... I mean I'm sure the driver was ready to break out the manual whenever necessary but... seems a little shady. XD

 

[esb]

A driver is always on hand to take over in case something goes wrong, and an engineer is always on hand in the car to monitor the software. Google also says they’ve notified local police about the project.

They've notified the police. And it seems like it takes two to drive these "Automated" cars. Just in case

 

[Prometheus]

They've notified the police. And it seems like it takes two to drive these "Automated" cars. Just in case

"Just in case" because this isn't a finalized technology...
That's like the military sending out a giant fighting robot with no one having the ability to shut it down if it goes beserk.

 

[esb]

Yeah I know. But if you need two people, instead of 1, kinda makes the "Automated" part cancel out right?
Either way, great advancement for whimin, but I'd rather drive my own car.

Now we have Standard, Automatic, and Automated gear transmissions =D

 

[Prometheus]

The second person was to deal with any software and hardware malfunctions. I hope you realize that if this technology is released to the public it will not require the second person normally.

 

[esb]

Obviously you shouldn't be taking my posts too seriously I'm just poking some fun at Google. You know, before it takes over the world and States making fun of it deem worthy of execution.

 

[Slapshot136]

so why didn't they win the darpa contest?

 

[Darthfett]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm extremely excited about this. Google hasn't released any real information, so as far as I'm concerned, this allows manual control whenever you want it.

I think this is a purely awesome idea, and I'm surprised it's out so suddenly (they've already been on real roads, and tested without drivers). It would be amazing to have an automated transport, as I currently drive 5 days per week for over an hour of rush-hour traffic (each way) to my college. This would greatly increase the amount of personal time we have, since this would allow us to work on stuff during the transportation.

On a related note, my girlfriend and I were talking about automatic cars the night before I saw this article here.

 

[Lobster]

Imagine how much this could creep people out if you used it with no driver, especially if no one knew about it

Your all driving down the road, accidentally crash into a car... When nobody gets out of the car you call the police. The police open the car and... nobodies there.

(I read the article, and I know it states that there were 2 people watching it, but imagine if they weren't)

 

[Dan]

Except that this won't ever work in reality. but it's cute that Google has the time and money to throw away.

and before you go "NUH UHHH IT SO TOO WILL WORK" ponder this:

are you more afraid of what YOU do on the road or what OTHERS do on the road? There is a big reason why we can't make AI that works. It has to do with spontaneity and decision making... Something that computers can't do.

they can "make decisions," if by making decisions you mean separately programmed responses to pre-programmed (or in other words "expected") scenarios... but they can not take into consideration all that a human being can.

Unless we are talking about a very different "Tomorrow" where EVERY car is automated so that the environment is more logical for the ai to make decisions on... and pedestrian paths are kept at a distance in a way that they are not currently, I don't think you will be seeing this working out in 90% of situations.

I suppose it could be a sort of backup system that you could throw into auto for highway use or something, but it's just not plausible in my opinion. Also, think of the lawsuits if ANYTHING ever went wrong. Google would be automatically the target of every single car accident, regardless of who was to blame.

 

[Narks]

But isn't driving just following a strict set of rules while on the road? It's not like we are making difficult decisions like morality and stuff while driving.

 

[esb]

But isn't driving just following a strict set of rules while on the road? It's not like we are making difficult decisions like morality and stuff while driving.

You haven't driven before? D=

 

[sqrage]

Except that this won't ever work in reality. but it's cute that Google has the time and money to throw away.

What do you think they clocked 140,000 miles in their dreams or something? It does and has worked in reality...

 

[Darthfett]

are you more afraid of what YOU do on the road or what OTHERS do on the road? There is a big reason why we can't make AI that works. It has to do with spontaneity and decision making... Something that computers can't do.

AI's problems may be about being spontaneousness and decision making, but that has very little to do with driving. Driving is a very simple task of choosing a route to get to a human-specified destination, and then simply avoiding collision along the human-specified paths.

It's not a matter of humans trying to build something that outwits a human, or even thinks like one, it simply analyzes speeds, accelerations, positions to determine when it should brake and when it can accelerate.

 

[Dan]

If a driver pulls in front of you unexpectedly, you make a decision.

If you see a box or dead animal on the road, you make a decision.

If the power goes out and the light is blinking you have to make a decision.

If you are at a stop sign and someone goes out of turn, you make a decision.

traffic detours, a car pulling over because of a flat tire, a truck with debris falling out of it's bed, "keep clear" zones and curteousy... I can go on for days naming things that there are no algorithms for. (and I would still miss an infinite number of circumstances).

The problem with ai is inherent. It needs to be programmed. That, in a nutshell, IS the problem.

And yes, they put on some a few hundred thousand miles between ALL of their cars... and most likely a ton of it was in very safe and controlled environments. That's my entire point. safe and controlled. simulate black ice for me or a man j-walking.

In the best case, I can see this as being something you could flip on while you were on the highway or very light traffic. In the worst case I see this turning into a ton of lawsuits; because, like I said, it will now be Google's fault for every accident involving these cars and not the drivers.

 

[Slapshot136]

about this "decision making" - how many people make the wrong decision when driving? it's not like humans are really great at driving either (especially if they panic), and im pretty sure one of the things that they focused most on is detecting possible collisions and avoiding them - that would cover pretty much everything that you just listed there

this won't be allowed on the roads without a person who can take control of the car in an instant at the wheel for a while, but I don't see why not allow the general public to use it as a feature - kind of like cruise control, only much better. - all responsibility would still be on the driver, just as if they were using cruise control, or listening to the directions told by a GPS, so thus no lawsuits against google (or any successful ones at-least.. idiots can sue all they want anyways)

 

[ArmedCitizen]

We are at the point of near-outwitting humans. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6573-brain-cells-in-a-dish-fly-fighter-plane.html