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California plans to allow human-less self-driving car tests
The Departmen of Motor Vehicles in California will make it easier for automakers and tech titans to test their autonomous cars in the state. While it's currently the go-to place for companies looking to trial their new self-driving technologies, it also has rules that can hold them back. The new set of proposed regulations that the DMV has released, however, eliminates the need for human drivers to be on board during test drives. Further, the companies no longer have to equip their vehicles with steering wheels and pedals if they're not exactly necessary.
Google's self-driving cars now know when to honk
Google's self-driving cars are not only getting smarter by the day, but they're also getting a little bit more polite. According to the project's latest monthly report, the self-driving car team has recently been teaching the car's AI when and how to honk the horn and give the human drivers on the road a helpful heads up.
Google's self-driving car project sets up shop in Michigan
The Google Self-Driving Car Project, as it is accurately named, announced via Google+ yesterday that it is building out a 53,000 square-foot technology development center in Novi, Michigan where it will "further develop and refine self-driving technology."
Google is hiring autonomous car testers in Arizona
If you're in Arizona, Google is hiring for a gig that could be a good alternative to doing Uber. The job entails test driving an autonomous car around the state for $20 an hour, six to eight hours a day. You'll still need to know how to actually drive to be able to take the wheel if needed. But since your role is testing out the big G's new technology, you're expected to provide the engineering team "concise written and oral feedback," submit daily reports and document any test or procedure performed.
Google's self-driving cars to face their toughest test yet
Google is taking its self-driving cars to a fourth city in an expansion of its ongoing development. The latest location for testing is Phoenix, Arizona, which is significantly more arid than any city previously used as a proving ground. Speaking to Reuters, Jennifer Haroon, Google's head of business operations for the self-driving car project, noted that the desert conditions will further the company's understanding of "how our sensors and cars handle extreme temperatures and dust in the air." Modified Lexus SUVs have already begun to map the Phoenix area, checking for street layouts, lane markers, traffic signals and curb heights.
Google ramps up recruiting for its self-driving car project
How do you know what a company is planning to achieve a year or two down the road? Look at who they're hiring right now. It was that idea that led The Guardian to Google's recruitment website and spot that the search engine needs engineers for its self-driving car project. Not just any engineers, either, but ones with practical, real-world expertise in the sort of fields you'd need to mass-produce a vehicle. The firm has always denied that it'd make the vehicles itself and will instead partner with an established auto maker. But, the fact that it's now looking to get people with this sort of experience suggests that the day is coming.
Google's self-driving simulator helps it refine its cars
Google's self-driving simulator apparently plays a big role in the development of the company's autonomous vehicle technology despite its cadre of cars being tested on actual roads. In its latest project report, the tech leviathan has revealed that it travels 3 million virtual miles every single day -- enough to circle the equator five times every hour -- to refine the features of its self-driving software. That simulator requires loads of computing power, but if there's any company with the data centers capable of keeping it running, it's Google.
California wants autonomous cars to have humans behind the wheel
The California DMV has already started preparing for the arrival of driverless cars by writing up draft regulations to govern them. While that's a step forward for manufacturers working on the technology, the proposed rules are rather strict and will force Google (and maybe even other manufacturers) to change its car design. See, the DMV wants a human driver behind the wheel despite driverless cars' capabilities. That driver has to undergo training from car companies on how to use autonomous vehicles and get a special state-issued license.
Google's driverless cars skirt deer and pedestrians in Texas
By the looks of things, Google's self-driving cars have been learning a lot in Austin, Texas. In its first report since it began testing autonomous vehicles in the city, the company details the challenges its cars have had to face while driving on its roads. For instance, they've been spotting and avoiding a lot of deer, some of which might have ended up as road kill if they happened to come across ordinary vehicles instead. The system also had to learn to identify new infrastructure, such as horizontal traffic signals. Google has learned, however, that one of the major problems it has to tackle is pedestrians stepping off the curb onto the road while hidden by other vehicles.
Google's self-driving cars will return to roots, tour California
Thanks to a new law passed in California, Google's driverless cars might soon be stuck in its traffic with all the other hapless commuters. Although they won't hit the highway yet, like they can in Nevada, the bipartisan bill will allow bureaucrats to craft safety and performance standards -- letting the robotic rigs roll (with licensed minders) in the near future. Joining Hawaii, Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma with similar legislation, the state hopes to reduce carnage on the roads caused by human error, and is backed by Google, the California Highway Patrol and various civic, auto and tech clubs. Of course, given that it was birthed in Google's Mountain View X lab, it's only natural that the autonomous EV should be allowed to roam free on its home turf.
Nevada lets Google's driverless car hit the open road, requires it to bring a driver
Driving through Las Vegas can be distracting -- bright lights, sun-powered death rays and international Consumer Electronics Shows have a tendency to catch a geek's eye -- good thing, then, that Nevada's deemed Google fit to test its autonomous automobile on public streets. The state's Department of Transportation was tasked with penning a set of safety standards for self-driving cars last June, and is now letting the cars run amok on city streets, with a few restrictions. Mountain View's three test vehicles, for instance, will need to haul a carpool of at least two passengers before driving down the strip, one person to take the wheel in case of an emergency, and another to monitor a computer screen that details the car's planned route. Test vehicles will also don red license plates and an infinity symbol to mark them as self-driving prototypes. Nevada DMV Director Bruce Breslow says those plates will be green once the vehicles are ready for market, something he hopes to see in three to five years.
Google asks car makers 'Ullo John, wanna self-driving motor?'
Larry Page's tenure as Googler-in-chief has heralded the death of many ambitious experiments, but even he refuses to kill the self-driving car. His project head, Anthony Levandowski, has now asked the car makers of Detroit to sign up with Mountain View for hardware testing, saying that if driverless cars are not ready by the next decade, then it's "shame on us as engineers." There's still some way to go before the tech is road-worthy, but Google is already working with insurers to work out how your car is going to handle making that call to Geico when things go wrong.
Google's driverless car drives interest in driverless cars (video)
Self-driving cars are hardly new. We've seen dozens of automatic vehicles over the years, many of which have seen advances driven (so to speak) by various DARPA challenges. But now that Google's involved -- whoa! -- the mainstream media is suddenly whipped into a frenzy of hyperbolic proclamations about the future. Still, it is fascinating stuff to watch. So click on through if you like having your tech salad tossed with a side of smarmy TV-news voiceover. Trust us, it's delicious.
