Computers, they're used for almost everything now-a-days, from performing extremely precise medical operations to vacuuming your carpets, so, isn't it about time that they drive us around as well? Well, Google thinks so.
Google has finally announced its once, super secret project, as one of the very first autonomous vehicles. The car is based off of a Passat, and works by a roof mounted LIDAR system and motion sensors mounted on the wheels and bumpers. There are also small video cameras located on the front and rear mirrors. These video cameras are used to detect stop lights, signs, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
The Passat also feautures various user interfaces which are used to select different personalities which range from aggressive to cautious driving methods.
Google claims that self-driving cars will be able to potentially reduce traffic by driving closer together, improve gas mileage with more efficient driving methods, and reduce the number of car accidents, which currently account for more than one million deaths worldwide.
Google has currently tested their self-driving Passat on over 140,000 miles of city streets and highways, with only slight human assistance.
The Passat has proven to be able to drive itself almost perfectly 99 percent of the time. There is, however, that one percent that is cause for concern. The NY Times reported on two separate occasions when the Passat required human intervention, "once when a bicyclist ran a red light and again when a car in front stopped and began to back into a parking space." There was only one accident that occured in the 140,000 mile test drive and this was when a driver rear-ended the Pasaat while it was stopped at a red light.
GM has predicted that self-driving cars will start to be available to consumers by the middle of the decade, and Audi has announced that its move towards semi-autonomous cars. BMW has also produced its i3 electric city car which auto-navigates through traffic jams at slow driving speeds.
It seems that self-driving cars of the far future are now a possibility of the present. With only one accident in 140,000 miles the self-driving Passat has proven that it is much more reliable that the average human driver.
According to usgovinfo Americans now spend over 100 hours a year in their cars, if Google is able to increase the self-driving car to 100 percent reliabilty then imagine how much you could accomplish while driving, or you could even take a nap.
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