Google self-driving car prototype ready to try road

They won't have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal...because they don't need them. Our software and sensors do all the work...

That's the scariest thing I've heard of, since lawn darts.

Several automakers have been working on autonomous or semi-autonomous features for cars, such as self-parking, but no fully autonomous car has come to market.

...and there's a reason why. Kudos to Google for trying, but I'm gonna bet that this doesn't come to fruition on any public roads for at least 50 years to come. Sorry, but trust an IT company with my life and others'? They can't even make programs and softwares without glitches, so what makes them think they can make a moving vehicle without them?

^ Google is trying to PR their image as a complete Tech company. But sorry, I'm working in the field myself and I would never trust a fully autonomous vehicle with my life, not with the current tech and how things work.

Should work well. So far no accidents (that were the self-driving car's fault). But for real car people who love to drive (or for people who insist that self driving cars are more dangerous than actual human drivers). Don't worry. This will be conservative and you can continue to drive your own car yourselves. The only real risk for the long term? Watch the movie Wall-E and find out- to a certain extent, including higher instances of type-2 diabetes.

Blackrock, are you working for Google or another company in self driving technology? You doubt your own project(s) you are working on? I have been quite impressed with the results so far. You can see them on Youtube. It sounds like you have some real data you should report to the media if you have this kind of information that the general public is not aware of.

are you working for Google or another company in self driving technology

Nope, I'm in university, doing computer vision & human-machine interaction. The current tech is not reliable is enough, that's the truth. Don't trust youtube videos, they are only showing best results on some scenarios. DoD has developed autonomous vehicles for a couple of decades and still we haven't seen the fruits, Google can't do anything better.

I'm sure there will be weird and rare situations where there are crashes like with planes with all this technology. But just like with airplane accidents, when an accident in a self-driving car is caused by a malfunction it will be fixed universally. Cars will (and are already starting to have) black boxes just like airplanes.

I just checked. There was something in Smoking Gun about a google car being in an accident. But seemed the human driver was in control at the time. I keep reading positive numbers. "700,000 miles and accident free", for example.

But really if you have your own videos etc about disturbing info about these autonomous cars. why don't you use social media to present what you know?

Currently around 40-45 thousand Americans die in car related accidents each year. What number do you expect that to climb to once self driving cars become more popular? Because I have heard they will reduce traffic deaths significantly, but you believe otherwise?

“Self-driving cars, if widely adopted, stand to be as transformative to consumer life as the smartphone,” said Mike Hudson, who tracks the automotive industry for eMarketer.

Surprise, surprise! Millions spent to make humans a wasteful and needless complication. Tiny point of interest, this sounds great, except only google or the googlement will decide where you go and when. Yuk, yuk, yuk. See ya in the funny papers.

But as far as accident liability is concerned, the vehicle occupant would still be responsible. Instead of using the wheel and brake/gas pedals, they are using hardware/software to drive the car.

Betcha the hackers can't wait.

Actually, a law was passed in September, in California, that allows for full range testing of autonomous cars on populated roads.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/_mobile/cars/news/industry/this-is-what-californias-autonomous-vehicle-driving-permit-looks-like-17221571

But as far as accident liability is concerned, the vehicle occupant would still be responsible. Instead of using the wheel and brake/gas pedals, they are using hardware/software to drive the car.

Actually, they would be no more liable for an accident than a passenger in a current car would be. Think about it - four people get into an autonomous car. Who would you charge? None of the four had the ability to affect the way the car drove. The only input they have into the car's movement is when they entered the desired destination. That's because in a truly autonomous vehicle, any humans would only be passengers, not drivers. It's the car MANUFACTURER that uses hardware and software to operate the vehicle, not the passengers. The manufacturers specifically removed the passengers from the equation.

I guess it would be the one who turned the car on and pushed the go button.

What matters is there will be a lot fewer accidents so somehow we all will pay less for liability even if you are the one who turns the car all the time-figure out the details eventually. But the cool part is we can put many of these ambulance chaser injury lawyers out of business! And that will be a real plus!

Yes, if memory serves me correct I remember Nevada was the first state to implement a special licensing system for self-driving cars. Then Cal.

But if you still hate the idea of them you can still drive a regular car as much as you want.

It's a Brave New World!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlpPR_GgwEc

Nice! This will be a great way to get places.

No more drinking and driving just push go take a nap and car will take you home.......