Google's Self-Driving Cars: Coming Soon to a Road Near You

[DocUnsane]

man, that extra hour of free time every day for my commute would be great.

[Dimitri0809]

Of course the people who can drive properly won't give a shit but the the people who can't drive will need it espeacially if they want to get around to specific places.

[OnlyHDVideos]

This would not work in 3rd world countries where it is everyman for himself!

[alienkishorekumar]

@OnlyHDVideos yes it will, i'm sure about it..i'm an indian and i think this is optimisable according to the conditions here..and if it can manage in Indian roads it can manage everywhere else!

[GodEquals3]

9 non believers or truckers didn´t like this video.

[niksbhardwaj007]

what is the cost of the car ..

its relay great

[prouty1210]

will this lower the driving age when released

[andreirocks1992]

@prouty1210 if the laws are ready, nobody would need to drive them, so no driving age :)

[VtBudgies]

330milliongods it's a pretty expensive April fools joke

[330MillionGods]

Google April Fool day !

[330MillionGods]

●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●.

.

It had a ghostrider in it..

.

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[SidedriverDotCom]

the future is here... wwwDOTsidedriverDOTcom. Very cool invention. parrallel parking made easy.

[psplovr]

Does no one notice the awesome reverse parallel parking at the end?!

[MetalShin0bi]

Shit, I'm getting this when I can. Not on the first day but I'll wait for the reviews and traffic accident to roll in after, lol.

[cybermutagen1]

Rebuild cities from the ground up with our current tech-knowledge because these out-dated cities are no good. Then we could eliminate cars altogether and build a holistic transportation system. Oh wait... Jacque Fresco already thought of that, decades ago! The Venus Project! Youtube: Jacque Fresco on the Larry King show.

[SuperFast3OOOGT]

@cybermutagen1 You make me sick.

[cybermutagen1]

@SuperFast3OOOGT You make me laugh.

[ThaTyger]

Will this be synchronized with Google calendar so my car knows exactly where I want to go when I get in?

[TheLonelyImmortal]

Are you charging for the full video of this?

[uzer76]

they can make a car that can drive itself, yet they can't make cars that dont need gas????

[The34gl3]

I'd love to see a demonstration of a train of 100 cars driving 2 cm apart from each other. Ok, 10 cm.

[Rickyrab]

@The34gl3 Bonus points if the cars can get onto and off of a set of rails, and bonus points if the cars can come together and detach from one another. That could open up quite a few transportation related opportunities.

[1RadicalOne]

...Why does Fora keep taking TEDTalks and trying to pass them off as their own?

[johnstall5350]

@1RadicalOne when did FORA claim any video to be theirs?

[1RadicalOne]

They make you pay to see the full version. Ergo, they are collecting money for its distribution.

Granted, they may not be explicitly claiming it is theirs, but in that case they are violating copyright law rather severely.

[johnstall5350]

@1RadicalOne I'm sure there are some sort of deals or agreements in place between them.

[1RadicalOne]

Perhaps...though I see no way that TED would agree unless paid for it themselves, which is a rather odd setup, akin to some publisher allowing you to sell their content and - this is the important part - make profit off of it, so long as you pay them royalties. Them allowing you to make money off their content? That seems implausible.

Indeed, that may explicitly be forbidden under copyright law in some countries, though I have no formal knowledge of this subject.

[eljanoteaviso]

now you can finaly drink a beer while you drive!

[torm0]

@eljanoteaviso RIP taxi driving.

[eljanoteaviso]

@torm0

Now you can have a taxi and let it work for you!

I think it is much better for me, because lots of taxi drivers dont let you drink in the cab

[torm0]

@eljanoteaviso If they implement this technology to a mass market they'd have to remove the human controls to be allowed to drink in the vehicle I think. ;)

[BlankBrain]

We're finally getting back to where we were a century ago. Sit in your buggy and the horse knows the way home.

[drchaffee]

Do these cars come skynet compatible?

[mysql0]

I really doubt this will perform well on country lanes for example, or roads with potholes in etc.

It will take a lot of work and a long way to go, but it's progress!

[mysql0]

This is good. I have to travel 50 minutes to work each way.

If my car drove itself I could be on my Laptop with 3g internet connection, checking emails, going over news of the day and doing whatever else needs to be done.

Or read the morning newspaper, THIS IS AMAZING!

WELL DONE GOOGLE!

[chungadaddy]

This is both good and bad, but right now I can only see the bad in it, which is the amount of drivers that would be fired once this system would be in place. I am not really thinking of the States at this point. I am more thinking about Europe in which Public Transportation is thoroughly used and partially or totally state-sponsored. You know, the nasty social effects of having people sitting at home on welfare doing nothing is not worth this improvement. Technology HAS to accompany social devel

[gangreneday]

@chungadaddy So to piggyback off your idea I assume you are against copy machines because they put thousands of typists out of work. Technology drives social development, not the other way around.

[chungadaddy]

@gangreneday Unfortunately that is not true, sorry to say. And if you read my comment previously I am not against it. I am saying that things have to have proper measure. It has been harder and harder to relocate people that are menial workers and whether you like it or not, not everyone is gifted to pursue higher knowledge of whatever kind. There is no need for human workers and you have to think what are you going to do with all those "obsolete" people.

[chungadaddy]

@gangreneday And I'll tell you another thing, there are already quite a lot of structures in nowadays society that in my opinion are useless and that are still active probably for the sake of maintaining social cohesion. So, if for instance bureaucrats in finance departments can keep their job, so should buss drivers. Busy productive people are the most important element for a good social structure. You cannot be oblivious to all that.

[gangreneday]

Come on people, imagine the days worth of work people will be able to get done sitting in their cars instead of driving. Or the amount of time they can spend with their family during a driving vacation! To only see the bad in it because truck drivers and the lot will be "out of a job" is to forget about how incredibly SHITTY those jobs are in the first place! Progress is awesome!!! Dont be afraid of the new!

[CognosSquare]

This is a huge lawsuit just waiting to happen.

[HowlsFury]

This tech has been around for some time now, The issue is Infrastructure. These type of vehicles do not work well when there are human drivers on the road as well. In order to make this viable the infrastructures of most "first" world country's would need to be re-built from the ground up. Not to be a downer, However most country's would not be willing to do so. Esp when you look at bigger issues such as Food shortages that have A high risk of taking place in the near future.

[lagook]

YES zero point energy self driving cars

[shanebrain2009]

I just wonder how well it can perform in bad weather. How does it handle when it gets stuck in snow? Or starts hydroplaning? It will be interesting to see the progress on this technology :)

[gnosy1]

im not impressed at all.like all americans my age we have expected to be owning prperty on the moon by now.were is my flying car at?i expected to at least have a hover craft by now.i live in one of the richest county in hte usa.people drive these stupid little clown car,golf carts around,big deal.tottaly worthless.we should all go back to rickshaws

[phantomcreamer]

@gnosy1 Rickshaws dude?

[neutonik]

no thanks.

[workingclasssociety]

More and more humans are becoming obsolete

[juanmora19910209]

Clean Energy ! 

[peppeddu]

To me this is a PR (and legal) time bomb waiting to explode in the face of Google

The first accident involving death will be one too many, especially if it's caused by a software error that could have been prevented had the driver used his own hands to drive the car.

[Valoric0]

@peppeddu

Nothings fool proof you know, of course if it went mainstream there would be an manual emergency brake just in case for something such as that. But yes the software for this technology will have to be PERFECT. To be accept it'd have to be the MOST polished program IN EXISTENCE to be welcomed into this reality of false sense of control invented by mankind.

[h2321]

@Valoric0 When Humans are making more mistake than machines, I'm more than welcome to let machine do the driving.

[Valoric0]

@h2321

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the idea that cars will be controlled via software and welcome it with open arms no matter what. Problem is there'd be no reason to buy cars after its all on a Google Controlled Network. There'd only be cabs that would probably be running on Solar or off the electrical grid. It's the next step in automobile industry. Not only would costs of driving them drop dramatically (let alone deaths) efficiency will become priority. Firmware updating off 3G :)

[gnosy1]

@Valoric0 this is basic in existance .no big deal.i can buy a lawn mower,or vacum that will self drive.we have electric grids up that control routes,all fun parks have mini cars that run on controlled magneticallly.we have what are called drones,automatic flying and tarketing system, that we use to bomb and murder people,since it is considered imoral for humans to do that.having another automatic machine is only that.no big deal.is not comon becuase people do not want tiny electric clown car

[gnosy1]

@Valoric0 this is basic in existance .no big deal.i can buy a lawn mower,or vacum that will self drive.we have electric grids up that control routes,all fun parks have mini cars that run on controlled magneticallly.we have what are called drones,automatic flying and tarketing system, that we use to bomb and murder people,since it is considered imoral for humans to do that.having another automatic machine is only that.no big deal.is not comon becuase people do not want tiny electric clown car

[swankrecords]

It's rumored that Google is also developing a new dildo.

[surgame]

Foolish. Electromagnetic pollution. Cellphones, Cellphone towers, satelite radio's. Butterflies are disappearing and bees can no longer find their way back to the hive. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man. Imagine yourself being stuck in a room full to capacity of chain smokers. Bees are modern day canaries, if bees are dying, we too are in immediate danger. Look no further than the worsening state of our health and genes (cancer/birth defects). stupid

[DontDrinkTH3KoolAid]

@surgame Natural selection is a wonderful thing. Plants wen't always dependent on pollination, if fact many still aren't. On top of plants being able to adapt to new environments and conditions bees are also very capable. Evolution can be a very fast process when survival is absolutely needed, or it can take its time when extinction isn't so imminent.

Besides disease isn't always a bad thing, it keeps the population at a manageable level (kinda). Mass lifelong hunger is much worse than disease

[SomethingSea1]

Positive:

Now cars can be more efficient and we won't have as many car accidents and we won't have to think about driving!

Negative:

What if someone hijacks it and drives you to an ambush?

[TeenTwinkTween]

Just what the world needs,,,, cars with "minds" of their own.

[Violent2aShadow]

In Capitalist America, cars drive YOU.

[Ultra4]

@Violent2aShadow capitalism is actually what slows down the world, if a jump has intermediate steps, money needs to be made in all of them and the leading corps will fight new comers trying to render the establishment obsolete, capitalism is the reason why it will still be a long time before the whole world is driven this way

[Phelan666]

@Violent2aShadow If only the speaker were American...

[celestialsalamander]

you just know there are going to use this to trake where you go. they'll figger out some way of useing the information to taget ads for you

[freesk8]

But driving is FUN! I LIKE to drive. Why would I want a computer to do it for me?

I hope this technology remains optional, and is never mandated by the govt.

Reminds me of the old Woody Allen movie, Sleeper. I guess I prefer the manual method.

[alanbeatzzz]

@freesk8 sorry i press the wrong buttom



[freesk8]

@alanbeatzzz And if you ever touch my buttom again, I'll have you arrested! :)

[khyar]

@freesk8 agreed 100%

[rjnovac]

We can do better than this but it is a great start!

:)

[khyar]

"...free us of the burden of driving..." WTF!!! Driving isn't a burden it's a pleasure! I love driving and there's no way I'm giving that up to a computer. How boring would it be to just sit there completely uninvolved in the journey. The decision making, changing through gears, being IN CONTROL. It's not about getting from A to B, it's about the journey in between.

[lildread1]

@khyar

not everyone thinks that way when they must do numerous drives dead tired.

[khyar]

@lildread1 Understood. Yes driving tired is dangerous and no longer a pleasure! But I will say that even the daily routine drives can be fun. Think of it like an online computer game, yes you play the same maps in rota over and over again, but the people are always different with different tactics etc. and so it never gets repetitive and dull - so the journey becomes second nature, but the other road users and how to deal with them differently every day becomes the novelty....

[FXThug]

ppl are so fuckn lazy, first ppl got too lazy to walk, then bus, then now drive.

[truvelocity]

@FXThug You are right! Let's go back to horses and walking, darn it!

[SomethingSea1]

@FXThug And that god-damned laundry! And washing machines! And lights! And computers! Infernal laziness keeps making people invent things to be lazier! It ought be stopped! No more computers, lights, washing machines, or electricity!

[sl2mmer]

@FXThug its about safety, not comfort

[lanceawatt]

Well we put faith in woman drivers and we can see how that went jesus christ.

[safeinsuburbia]

@Nothingizm

LOL.

You first.

My computer has bugs. No big deal, I just restart it. One of these cars has bugs, I end up flying off a cliff. Or 40 cars and a gasoline tanker truck get diverted from the highway, and into my front door.

When these cars come out, I'm erecting a steel barrier in front of my house.

[TemporalOnline]

@safeinsuburbia Just like a person. At least a car can have safety features to, in a case of bug, stop completely and alert the other cars (of course, other board computer to regulate that, to ensure that's not malfunctioning).

And with a person, in a case of being drunk or anything? And humans are far more prone to think of themselves as being able to do 100 things at once, like talking and etc, while driving and it is so not true, we can only pay attention to one thing at a time.

[safeinsuburbia]

@newusername01

"Mission creep is the expansion of a project or mission beyond its original goals, often after initial successes.[1] The term often implies a certain disapproval of newly adopted goals by the user of the term. Mission creep is usually considered undesirable due to the dangerous path of each success breeding more ambitious attempts, only stopping when a final, often catastrophic, failure occurs. "

-Wikipedia entry for "mission creep".

For an example, see US economy.

[therealtruth123]

First came the ipod then came irobot!

[Ramsez]

what i wanna see is self-driving roads. one system calculating safe traffic.

[elmando6522]

@Ramsez

Exactly. They could be routed by either a central computer. We wouldn't need stop signs. It wouldn't matter which side of the road we drove on. If we knew that we were the only car on the road at 3 in the morning, we could drive in the middle of the road, and because of our wider field of view, we could drive slightly faster through the intersection. Alternatively, cars in the nearby vicinity could communicate with each other or with intelligent roads in order to enhance safety.

[Ramsez]

@elmando6522 lol

[Sqirril]

Around 10 years until these cars are usable. 20+ to be used wide scale if they are.

Why 10 years? Because each of those cars cost millions.

[RockMonster1000]

I want a car that isnt dependant on petroleum based fuel. I don't care if we have to murder a million kittens to get it either. Although, I suppose that last part isnt entirely necessary.

[22710001110101]

@RockMonster1000 Hitler wanted the perfect race, and he didn't care if he had to murder 6 million jews to get it!

[fungus789]

@RockMonster1000

I'm with you on that. Let's get cars and vehicles that don't destroy the environment first. Then we'll worry about who or what drives them!

[gnosy1]

@RockMonster1000 these things are basic,of course we have endlesss forms of energy.we have had eletric cars since the first automobile.it is not a big deal.you simply refuse to drive one.period.otherwise you would be in one.anyone who has ever wanted has bought an electric car,or built one.ever saw flintstones/well of course kenetic energy is well and thriving.if you choose to not drive or use that either,that is your choice.tesla gave free energy to the world,and you refuse to enjoy it,peace

[RockMonster1000]

@gnosy1 yikes! energyRAGE

[alvincay100]

@RockMonster1000 Go buy a Chevy volt. You just wont be going very far in it.

[Achilles9924]

@RockMonster1000 What if we could make petroleum artificially and then reduce the emissions from such petroleum vehicles by a significant amount?

[RockMonster1000]

@Achilles9924 Better than the current situation. However I think electricity is gonna be the worlds fuel of choice at this point. I mean, people are essentially going to be able to fuel their vehicles for free at the expense of installing a few solar panels or what have you.

It seems that on an individual level, people won't see a return in the cost effeciency for several years to a decade, but at least the emissions would be reduced. :)

[d000dez]

@RockMonster1000 We could make the kittens into more oil. WIN!

[Onlyfreebiejeebies11]

@RockMonster1000

However, we can use it on a electrical car.

[RockMonster1000]

@Onlyfreebiejeebies11 I hope they implement pev cars soon. I really want one. The nissan leaf is a joke. 20 hours to charge and it only goes 100 miles. I think the best one is gonna be the H-Cell cars. Woot!

[anthonyww713]

Oh wait someone hacked your car. Congratz you have just been kidnapped. Oh wait your car got a virus. Lets hope it just doesnt die on the interstate or the brakes work. Or better yet your cars software is now out date time to upgrade. LOL

[m1nhtyfresh]

irobot

[Zero7evenX]

Google Must be destroyed.

(They're tracking the movement of all iphone users, news report is in my favourites)

[JunnyICurosi]

@Zero7evenX Oh that's nice, let me just access your favorites....

[KlingonSpider]

@Zero7evenX Apple owns iphone not Google. your statement makes no sense

[16Sammie]

eh, TAXI



[safeinsuburbia]

When these cars go on the road, I will no longer leave the house.

[SetaQuickstep]

@safeinsuburbia they are most likely safer than half of the people I am stuck driving with in Houston... Freeking scary drivers over here.

[safeinsuburbia]

@SetaQuickstep Could very well be true. Unlikely in human decentralized control, is a systemic error. Like every car making a hard left turn at once. Reminds of the coordinated destruction of the banking system and US economy, but that's another issue.