The Providence Journal (R.I.), May 26:
Sir Winston Churchill once said, “It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look farther than you can see.” Yet there are instances when the present can foretell what the future will hold.
Take the Google Self-Driving Car, for example.
The massive tech company started experimenting with autonomous vehicles in 2009. It’s not the only player in the game: several organizations, including Delphi Automotive, are direct competitors. Even so, Google appears to be further ahead in the race for self-driving supremacy.
Twenty-three Lexus SUVs were originally outfitted with $150,000 in equipment. This included software (Google Chauffeur) and LIDAR, a powerful remote sensing technology that uses a 64-beam laser to create a 3-D map of the area around the car.
Some early versions had no steering wheels, gas pedals or brake pedals. That’s not going to be the case with Google’s newest prototype, a bubble-shaped car to be released this summer.
CNET News reporter Lance Whitney wrote that these cars will be self-driving, and have “safety drivers” who can take the wheel. This strategy “will be key to allaying worries among pedestrians and drivers of other vehicles that the robo-cars won’t be ready for every situation.”
It’s a wise idea. Google recently acknowledged that its vehicles have been involved in 11 traffic accidents. There were “a handful of minor fender-benders, light damage, no injuries, so far caused by human error and inattention.”
Although that reminds us of something the evil HAL computer says in the classic film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” there does not yet seem to be cause for alarm in the machines’ taking over. Considering that Google’s cars have logged over 1.7 million miles, with nearly 1 million in self-driving mode, 11 accidents is not bad.
It’s still better to be safe than sorry, however, by equipping cars with the means for humans to take command.
We’re still a ways off from self-driving cars being the norm on our roads. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk recently suggested that it could take 20 years to make the switch. And, while Google hopes its new prototype will be ready for public consumption by 2020, the initial cost will surely be prohibitive.
Regardless, it appears we’re staring a new automotive reality in the face. It will be the driving force, and not us.
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