If you are in Mountain View, California, watch out for cars that drive themselves to Google , because they can use on the road freely. And ‘the current phase of the prototype testing of the intelligent car of the Mountain View giant. There are many car-free to move, but with their distinctive form of bubble are easy to spot. Currently, on the streets of California and the Texas circulate 48 Google Car, cars without driver who have already covered more than 2 million km in range and 1.5 million km driven by a driver.
Google Car talk with pedestrians. The Mountain View company has patented a system that allows cars that drive themselves to communicate with passers-by, ideal for example when the cars circulating in the vicinity of the pedestrian crossing: in these cases, the drive will also be able to show messages and transmit information even with a robotic arm. For example, a display visible to the outside may show the message “safe crossing” to the stop signal, as to alert to those who decided to cross that can safely walk ahead of the car, which will not start until it will be seen that not no more ‘no one has to go.
Google is looking for a designer for the Google Car . The Mountain View company has indeed published an ad on its website in which he explains to be looking for an industrial designer who is undertaking the project Self-Driving Car. Such people when taken will have to plan, follow and complete the design of innovative solutions and follow projects from prototype stage to production. They are of interest to Google people with at least 8 years experience in the industry, able to follow all the design phase, the implementation of the concept through to market launch. The workplace will be in Mountain View.
Google Car stopped by police . A car that is driving Google car was stopped by police because the vehicle was traveling too slowly. A policeman in Mountain View, California, has noticed a traffic congestion in the head to the tail of the prototype vehicle from Google that you drive alone, which was traveling at about 39 km / h (24 mph) in an area where it carries an average of 56 km / h (35 mph), said the officer interviewed by the media.
When he realized that he had stopped a car smart Google, the policeman decided to contact who manages the project to learn more about the basis of what has been the choice vehicle speed and warning them that a rate is too low to hinder traffic, as it was written by the police department in a post on blog. Who manages the project Google Car has responded in a post on his Google+ page, explaining that the speed of prototype vehicles is limited to 25 mph for “security reasons”.
Google says that its vehicles are currently he is traveling the streets of Mountain View and Austin, Texas. Its fleet includes a modified Lexus SUV and a bubble-shaped prototype, which was the model stopped by the head of the traffic. The company says there is at least one person on board all vehicles “for now” that are sitting in the passenger seat, ready to intervene in case of problems.
Cars recognize children . According to the latest monthly report on Google’s autonomous car, vehicles are learning to be more cautious when children are nearby. On the feast of Halloween, last October 31, in fact, Google explained that he took the opportunity to teach the Google Car to recognize the children, even if they are masked. Google also specifically asked some families to go around the street in the vicinity of its cars, so that the sensors could learn to recognize the smaller, though masked.
“We teach our cars to drive with greater caution in the presence of children, “Google writes in its monthly report that keeps us constantly updated, every month, on the state of development of its smart cars. In the case where the sensors recognize a child, masked or not, the car behaves differently than when it is located in front of an adult. In fact, a baby is less awareness of what is happening around him, and then performs the movements more abrupt and unpredictable, as suddenly cross the road without guardareo run along a sidewalk. “
The prototypes of vehicles of intelligent cars this summer have left their initial test of private paths to start along the public roads of the birthplace of Google. And ‘as confirmed by Chris Urmson, director of the program’ Self-driving car ‘of the company, in a post on corporate blog.
Are the cars driving themselves , but also a “ security driver ” on board that can take control of guide if necessary. This is the key to allay concerns among pedestrians and drivers of other vehicles that do not trust even the intelligence of ‘ robot-car ‘.
Google also it confirmed the news that some of its Lexus vehicles that drive on their own, who have already done tests on the road, have had accidents. The company admitted that over the last six years his intelligent machines have been involved in 11 incidents “minor”, repeating that no one was injured, and that the fault was not of its vehicles which were driving alone and that some incidents that simply can not be avoided.
“Even when our software and our sensors are able to detect a difficult situation and try to act first and faster than a human pilot, sometimes we are able to overcome the limitations of real speed and distance, “wrote Urmson. “And this is a basic requirement that must understand the community for when cars that drive themselves will be on their roads, even if we wanted to avoid all accidents, some will be inevitable.”
The cars They drive themselves are still rare and have been largely limited to testing of evidence on streets well controlled. They are also a seemingly inevitable new form of technology that consumers and businesses will have to cope. Leading car manufacturers, from Audi to Ford to Nissan, have all experienced their own autonomous vehicles, and many standard models on the market now have some form of robotics, including control of the lane and sensors against collision and parking sensors.
In March, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan- Renault Alliance , he has said he expects that the revolution of the autonomous car will be in three phases – the first phase started next year, followed by intelligent cars that can run on a road by 2018 and then the car which will be guided by the sun in the city by 2020.
Elon Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla Motors, said it expects the cars that drive themselves will be common in the next 20 years .
Google Car – ready for the real road
Google designed the new fleet from scratch
Unlike previous models of Lexus cars autonomous Google, which were standard SUV, loaded with specialized tools to help them move independently, the bubble-shaped car that will arrive in the summer on public roads in Mountain View are prototypes designed from scratch by Google .
The new cars use the same software that is installed in Lexus vehicles. The Lexus fleet drove approximately 1 million miles in autonomy on the streets since the project began, Google said, and the result of all the information gathered and analyzed has been used to improve the ability of autonomous driving the new car fleet.
All the drivers that come on board for safety in the new prototypes have a steering wheel and pedals for the accelerator and brake, which allows them to take control of the vehicle , if this proves necessary. The speed of the cars will be limited to 25 mph (just over 40 km / h).
The Google spokeswoman Jacquelyn Miller told CNET that during last year the working group behind The new fleet of cars has focused on three tasks : 1) Build prototypes of cars that drive themselves from scratch – 25 cars so far, that Google will enter road a bit ‘at a time starting from this summer. 2) Continue to perfect the software of the cars that drive themselves every week. 3) Develop the software’s ability to handle “situations rare and strange” on the road.
The company documents the progress of its new testing on public roads through Google+ page Project (https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GoogleSelfDrivingCars/posts). People who want to comment or ask questions about the project can share their thoughts on the page.
“We had more than 20 Lexus vehicles on the roads of the city of Mountain View in recent years, but the ‘arrival of our new vehicle prototypes of cars that drive themselves marks the beginning of a new phase of our project, “said Miller at CNET. “We are proud of our development so far, and this new phase will help us understand what it really means to have autonomous vehicles – is how people in the community perceive and interact with them, and what are the practical realities.”
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