Google developing self-driving car

Using artificial intelligence, internet giant Google is developing a car that can drive by itself, which experts say could transform society as profoundly as the worldwide web.

Seven test cars of Google have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 1,40,000 miles (around 2,25,308 kilometres) with only occasional human control.

The car project of Google uses artificial intelligence that can sense anything near the car and mimic the decisions made by a human driver. The device atop the car produced a detailed map of the environment which was used for safe navigation.

One test car drove itself down Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the steepest and most curvy streets in the US. The only accident, engineers said, was when one Google car was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic signal. Autonomous cars are years from mass production, but technologists who have long dreamed of them believe they can transform society as profoundly as the internet has.

Robot drivers react faster than humans, have 360-degree perception and do not get distracted, sleepy or intoxicated, the engineers argue. They say the technology could double the capacity of roads by allowing cars to drive more safely while closer together. Because the robot cars are less likely to crash, they could be built lighter, thus reducing fuel consumption.

The car can be programmed for different driving personalities, from cautious, in which it is more likely to yield to another car, to aggressive, where it is more likely to go first. The project is the brainchild of Sebastian Thrun, the 43-year-old director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab, a Google engineer and co-inventor of the Street View mapping service.

Besides, the team of 15 engineers working on the current project, Google hired more than a dozen people each with a spotless driving record, to take the driver's seat, paying $15 an hour or more. Google is using six Priuses and an Audi TT in the project.

The Google researchers said the company did not yet have a clear plan to create a business from the experiments.

Source - TOI