Google’s self driving cars have been driving in chaotic city traffic for almost a year and it seems they have mastered the city street driving. The director of Google’s Self Driving Cars project Chris Urmson shared some new development in his blog post.
We’ve improved our software so it can detect hundreds of distinct objects simultaneously—pedestrians, buses, a stop sign held up by a crossing guard, or a cyclist making gestures that indicate a possible turn. A self-driving vehicle can pay attention to all of these things in a way that a human physically can’t—and it never gets tired or distracted.” Chris Mentioned in his blog.
As the ambitious Google Self Driving Cars get more practical with time we bring you some interesting facts from this futuristic approach that could change the way we travel.
70,000 Miles Accident Free Drive:
You would be surprised to know that the self driving cars by Google have been busy checking the streets of Mountain view CA and they are a common site for locals.
Google shared the development of its self driving cars on its social network Google+ stating “Our vehicles have now logged nearly 7000,000 autonomous miles, and with every passing mile we’re growing more optimistic that we’re heading toward an achievable goal a vehicle that operates fully without human intervention.”
Google has also mentioned that its Self Driving Cars have managed to cover the distance without any accidents which speaks a volume about the smart technology that drives these cars.
Who is Behind the Wheels?
So it’s a self driving car alright but every high tech Google car drive on the road with a designated driver behind the wheel. However, Google hasn’t mentioned that its self driving car ever needed a human intervention on the city roads but their trained professionals always seat on the driving seat ready to take over the auto control in case things go wrong.
What Have They Achieved So Far?
Driving Around the city roads with heavy trucks, bicycle riders and tricky traffic could be challenging task for even a trained driver so Google devoted a whole year mastering these situations.
“As it turns out, what looks chaotic and random on a city street to the human eye is actually fairly predictable to a computer. As we’ve encountered thousands of different situations, we’ve built software models of what to expect, from the likely (a car stopping at a red light) to the unlikely (blowing through it).” Write Google Self Driving Cars Director.
A Long Way to Go:
It’s notable that dozens of Google cars have been driving in only on city i.e, Mountain View CA, so these cars will have to go under rigorous training before they will become a common site in other cities acroos US.
As Google mentioned “We still have lots of problems to solve, including teaching the car to drive more streets in Mountain View before we tackle another town, but thousands of situations on city streets that would have stumped us two years ago can now be navigated autonomously.”
Google: the Software Designer Not the Carmaker:
The Google powered self driving cars that are exploring the streets are not made by Google they just run on driving software that is designed by the web giant. So while many might fancy the idea of Google designing its own cars in the future for now the search king is just focusing on the Software that can work with various car makers.
