Google Sees Self-Driving Car on Road Within Five Years

[Logical]

I for one welcome our new automobile overlords!!!!

This is a really exciting deal to me. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

Google Inc. threw the auto industry another curve ball Wednesday, saying its autonomous cars should be on public roads within five years without having to drive through a thicket of regulatory red tape.

Speaking at a conference in Detroit, the chief of the software giant’s autonomous-car project, Chris Urmson, indicated widespread auto industry concern about regulation of self-driving cars is overblown. The onus, he said, is on developers of these vehicles to tackle safety challenges and work to boost public acceptance.

“We don’t think there is a regulatory block,” Mr. Urmson said. Google is working with U.S. regulators on testing driverless cars and “the worst thing possibly we could do is surprise them.”

Google shed a spotlight on self-driving cars in 2009, when it began testing its own autonomous cars. The autonomous-car project is part of Google X, the innovations labs behind new and novel technology like Google Glass Web-connected eyewear.

more at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-sees-self-drive-car-on-road-within-five-years-1421267677

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Heh heh

[Logical]

2. I just finished the first season! Loved it!! nt

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Yeah, it had its moments.

Looking forward to the next one, for sure. I know enough people in that world, it's pretty effin funny.

[Logical]

4. Programmer? IT? Me too! nt

[Warren DeMontague]

6. No. But I've been in and around the milieu enough, to be sure.

...Man, I never wanted to live in the south bay. WAY too crowded and expensive.. Enjoyed seeing bands in mountain view, thats about it.

[Renew Deal]

5. I wonder if self driving cars would be safer.

Would they follow speed limits and safe driving distances? Can they compensate for bad driving conditions as well as humans without human interaction?

[Logical]

7. It will be interesting to see. So many things to deal with. Detours, wrecks, stuff in road, etc. nr

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Back in my drinking days, they seemed like the perfect answer to getting everyone to the bar

Without forcing anyone to be the sober designated driver.

Either that, or mandatory bumper cars for everyone, that was my other inspired drunk idea.

[longship]

9. And like Elon Musk's Hyperloop system, powered by the screams and cries of the passengers.

SAN FRANCISCO—Entrepreneur Elon Musk unveiled his plans Monday for a revolutionary Hyperloop transportation system, which would seat riders in vacuum-like tubes, launch them from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and would be powered solely by the screams of its terrified passengers. “With zero negative effects on the environment, the Hyperloop could cut travel times in half, or even by two thirds, depending on how loud passengers’ shrieks and pleas for help are,” said Musk, adding that special turbines will convert the horrified screams of its riders into kinetic energy, which would then propel the capsule at record speeds toward its final destination. “If passengers are terrified enough to scream in abject terror the entire duration of the ride—and they probably will, knowing that even the slightest malfunction will cause their flesh to peel off their bodies—an hour-and-a-half trip from New York City to San Francisco could be a reality.” Musk added that his team is still working on technology that would power the rapid transportation tubes with both crying and silently praying to God for the trip to be over.

Now Google wants to extend this energy advance to automobiles.