Google Robot Cars

Ankita Katdare

Ankita Katdare

@abrakadabra Oct 17, 2024
Google has been testing self-driving cars on roads in California and so far they've avoided everything but a minor fender bender caused by a human-driven car.

Google's robot car is equipped with artificial-intelligence software.


Rotating sensor on its roof : which can scan more than 200 feet in all directions to create a 3D map of the car's environs


A video camera mounted behind the windshield : which helps the navigation system spot pedestrians, bicyclists, and traffic lights


Three radar devices on the front bumper, and one in the back; and a sensor on one of the wheels: that allows the system to determine the car's position on the 3D map.



The car also features a GPS device and a motion sensor.

The car follows a route programmed into the GPS system, and it can be instructed to drive cautiously, or more aggressively.


Engineers say robot cars aren't susceptible to drowsiness or driving under the influence, and that eventually they might allow for more cars on the road, because they can drive closer to other vehicles, and less fuel consumption, because their safety would allow them to be made lighter, with less defensive armor.


The man behind the project, Sebastian Thrun, a Google engineer and co-inventor of Google's Street View mapping project, was also behind the autonomous auto that won the $2 million prize in the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, a contest to see if a driver less vehicle could successfully navigate nearly 150 miles in the California desert.

Check out his interview in the following Google Video:

[video=google;-7948569033067579529]https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7948569033067579529#[/video]


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  • BCA_GIRL

    BCA_GIRL

    @bca-girl-wzX9cA Oct 9, 2010

    Great. I like this information.
  • cooltwins

    cooltwins

    @cooltwins-I5yJpZ Oct 10, 2010

    thats great, i've heard of some similar cars but they are driven based on blue eye technology. they have an option of a driver and an option of no driver too... but this sounds even more better 😀
  • Anil Jain

    Anil Jain

    @CrazyBoy Oct 10, 2010

    WOW !!!

    Even interesting fact is that they had already tested this car for over 1000 miles with a minimal human intervention. There next target is drive this car with no human intervention.

    -CB
  • Saandeep Sreerambatla

    Saandeep Sreerambatla

    @saandeep-sreerambatla-hWHU1M Oct 12, 2010

    Fantastic piece of information!

    Its a great news 😀
  • raj87verma88

    raj87verma88

    @raj87verma88-ZpL2Wn Oct 12, 2010

    Interesting information
  • Ashraf HZ

    Ashraf HZ

    @Ash Oct 13, 2010

    Any info about the full specifications about the car? If they had used LIDAR sensors, those are awfully expensive. One of them can cost up to $15,000.

    Engineers say robot cars aren't susceptible to drowsiness or driving under the influence, and that eventually they might allow for more cars on the road
    Alright, lets assume for a second that all security implications (virus attacks, hacking, etc) with computer reliance is dealt with. Why would we need more private cars? Robot cars can easily work with car pooling and taxis. Don't need to waste any more resources.
  • durga ch

    durga ch

    @durga-TpX3gO Oct 14, 2010

    @ ash

    No need that whole fleet of robot cars are on roads, but we surely can adopt technology from there into commercial cars
    for example- volvo s60 with pedestrian detection and auto brakes
    here:
    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLW4ATtPPKw&NR=1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake from Volvo - YouTube</a>

    and this one is the best till date : the great robot race
    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoiJeIb0wBA" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">- YouTube</a>
  • Ashraf HZ

    Ashraf HZ

    @Ash Oct 14, 2010

    @ durga
    True what you say, but I feel in the context of having "more" vehicles on the road, we should rely less on private transportation in the future to save resources in manufacturing them, regardless if they are robotic or human driven. Sure, we could try recycling some them when they eventually go to the scrap yards, but the energy and materials needed to manufacture more cars could have been put into better use (like public transportation). But alas, its all wishful thinking.. seeing how market orientated the economy is these days.

    Also, thanks for the cool vids! The Volvo one is something I'm trying to implement myself for detection (of other cars on the road). Unfortunately the needed components are way beyond my budget at the moment.

    [EDIT]
    Funny to see the trial runs of the robot cars, such as testing out the stereo vision, haha. And the bike robot is quite awesome.
  • durga ch

    durga ch

    @durga-TpX3gO Oct 15, 2010

    i agree with you on public trasnsport thing, its not really needed that a family for 4 have 3 vehicles at home , by the way have you seen this new bus concept??

    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv8_W2PA0rQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">China straddling bus [English computer voice over] the only English copy - YouTube</a>