Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Google Developing Self-Driving Cars


Not to be sound like a jerk, but this kind of tech should have already been developed by now...

NYT:
"Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic"


I've envisioned the implications of this for awhile, because it's inevitable that one day you will be able to relax on a car ride- like you were riding in the back of a limo. Cars will eventually be designed as lounge spaces instead of operated machinery. You will be able to get in the car & read, talk on the phone, browse the Web, eat, sleep, whatever- as the car drives itself to your destination.

I'd imagine manual controls would be there as backup, but most driving will be routinely automated. The most valuable lesson my Dad taught me when I was learning to drive was "remember everyone else on the road is an a-hole ." Having barely defied death & injury behind the wheel a dozen times, robot cars with precision navigation systems would seem like a positive development. Hopefully, though, there will still be some kind of niche for people who make their living as truckers & cab drivers if robo-cars becomes the norm.

Then... flying cars!
(or as my little nephew says, "car-ships")

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