22 August 2011
The US state of Nevada really has it all – first Las Vegas and now driverless cars, which have just been legalised there after lobbying by Google.
Earlier this year at TED’s conference in California, Google folks showed what they’re capable of when they took over a parking lot and let a driverless Prius run riot.
Google has been testing its fleet of autonomous cars since last year and so far they’ve clocked 140,000 miles (225,000km), with a human chaperone stepping in only once or twice. No being – human nor animal – has been injured so far. As you’d expect, the robot cars are equipped with artificial intelligence software, numerous cameras, computers and sensors.
The new Nevada law requires that a human be present in the car at all times although they don’t necessarily need to be a qualified driver. Lazy folks rejoice.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen has been testing a “Temporary Auto Pilot” system that combines traditional technologies like cruise control and lane monitoring but with a driver still in control, making it more an extra safety feature rather than a self-driving car.
Then there’s Volvo developing technology that will allow a fleet of software-equipped vehicles to automatically follow a lead car with a driver, helping to reduce congestion and increase fuel efficiency.
The future is (almost) here.