Google's Autonmous Vehicle Project Readies For Next Step

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

Google’s autonomous vehicle research has come far over the five years since the Silicon Valley giant started down the road. Though more is yet be accomplished before the future comes, Google is ready to move forward with the next phase of its research work: jumping from test units into the real world.

Automotive News reports in a rare media presentation held last week, Google’s autonomous vehicle boss Christopher Urmson stated his company talks to automakers often about how best to bring what Google has to offer to the public:

It has to be at a price point where the value to the customer exceeds the cost to the customer. We’re working on that.

Urmson added that such technology would not come to market until it was ready with all safety issues have been worked out to the best of Google’s ability, proclaiming the driver needs to be able to trust the technology before letting the vehicle take the wheel.

Said autonomous technology has been developed through the use of GPS and 3D mapping systems linked to a roof-mounted laser that scans the environment around the vehicle. So far, 2,000 miles of road — within reach of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. — have been mapped out and traversed, but with over 4 million miles of road in the United States, the search engine giant has more work to go before the autonomous Nexus Auto is ready for primetime, which Urmson expects will come by the time his son turns 16 in 2020.

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Slavuta Slavuta on May 21, 2014

    How about this one. When I drive, I go around potholes. How about this car?

  • Bloodnok Bloodnok on May 21, 2014

    had the joy of following one of those turdmobiles on a suburban bay area street this evening. posted speed was 25mph and the turdmobile was bang on. it also came to a full stop at the intersection, waited -and waited- before moving on. nobody drives the speed limit on that road and the infamous california stop is well known, except apparently to the turdmobiles ....

  • JimothyLite JimothyLite on May 21, 2014

    What's great about this is anytime there's a recall, the cars can just turn themselves in.

    • Doublechili Doublechili on May 21, 2014

      True, but what's not great about this is that anytime you have a run-in with the law, the car can just turn you in. Pleasant female voice: "Doors locking. Unlock override implemented. Destination reprogrammed to Internal Revenue Service offices. Enjoy your ride."

  • Wmba Wmba on May 21, 2014

    Has Google even talked to the car manufacturers about implementing this scheme? Or are they all supposed to cave in to the great god Google? Obviously, based on another post, Mercedes and BMW are doing their own thing and do not plan on using Google. I don't blame them. Why would you entrust your vehicle's behavior to some third party whose main intent is to sell more advertising? And whose scheme apparently involves using road mapping as part of the guidance? Which of course, they control as well. These systems need to be autonomous from Google or any other hair-shirt "technology" outfit.

    • Brenschluss Brenschluss on May 21, 2014

      I've skimmed a couple articles on this + Wikipedia and that's the extent of my knowledge. What I've read though says that the goal is not, for now anyway, to have autonomy in every driveway, but that autonomous taxis might be nice. Someone also said something about this being ad-supported, but I'd rather pay, frankly. So it wouldn't need to be a beautifully integrated system, just one that a couple kids couldn't pull off. That in mind, it seems more research to advance the state of the art than a play at making the 2020 Malibu a self-driver.

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