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showing the rendering of the road around Google HQ. We are the boxy people to the right of the pink vehicle box on the road.
4 responses to “Inside the Google Autonomous Car”
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Really, the idea (dream-fantasy) of American driving has always been about independence and being in control… This car certainly doesn’t fit into that script. It would seem more reasonable to have a really good public transport system, where you and others can read, watch a video, or daydream while being taken where you all choose to go than to have a lone passenger being chauffeured by a robot.
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[http://www.flickr.com/photos/48331433@N05] I think the American driving fantasy is almost fully extinguished. The liability and costs associated are reaching extremely unfun levels. I think people will readily abandon the fantasy in exchange for more usable time.
Really, it’s only baby-boomer men that I observe to hold any amount of romance for cars anymore. I have also noticed that 4 seconds is the amount of waiting at which most drivers start using words like "forever."
It’s the complete trackability of human motion that worries me.
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Who said that progress happens as result of some consciously undertaken process?
We stumble onto something and then call it proof/fruit of our deliberate attempt at progress.
Also, make no mistake, with this particular vehicle we only have a proof of a concept–which can be further applied to public transport, drones, etc.
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I think the romantic American memory we have of independence and the joy of driving came with the independence one felt when first allowed to drive. It was memorable for all of us, as we could go places without our parents and often this happened around some early dating experiences. Well, at least that’s how the car ads told us it would happen (this geek has to imagine it was true). Anyway, it was the freedom to move not the act of driving itself. And today, stuck in traffic, nobody wants to be a "driving machine." Anyhoo, here are some photos from inside…. The added central screen and red stop button (which has never been pressed):
Sensor package: Velodyne LIDAR on top and ground-bouncing radar in front grill
Camera on mirror mount:
More Google robocar photos from my three drives…
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