(27-06-2014, 09:13 PM)CityFarmer Wrote: (27-06-2014, 06:22 PM)specuvestor Wrote: (29-05-2014, 09:23 AM)CityFarmer Wrote: In a couple of years later, owning a car with a chauffeur isn't only for HNWIs. What a dream... Kudos to Google for dare to dream...
Google building self-driving cars with no driver seat, steering wheels
RANCHO PALOS VERDES (California) – Google is building cars that do not have steering wheels, accelerator pedals or brake pedals, in an ambitious expansion of the Internet company’s efforts to develop self-driving cars.
The small electric cars, which seat two passengers, are currently prototypes that Google has been building through partnerships with automotive suppliers and manufacturers, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said at the Code conference in Southern California yesterday (May 27).
Google aims to build up to 200 such cars in the near term and hopes the vehicles will be available in various cities within a couple of years, he said.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/google-b...ing-wheels
In real life we always plan for contingencies, especially in engineering. In this case I am wondering where is the manual override.
I would be very worried if there is none.
It should has the safety feature, otherwise it will not reach mass production level.
What we discussed:
Driverless Cars Hijacked by Hackers Signal Risk in Google Push
2014-09-04 08:40:28.995 GMT
By Alexa Liautaud
Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A red VW Golf jerks back and forth
as it maneuvers into a parking space in the English spa town of
Cheltenham. The halting efforts resemble those of a new driver,
and in a sense they are -- just not from the person sitting at
the wheel.
The car itself is navigating into the spot, which it
manages without a scratch. The man in the driver’s seat, who has
his hands resting leisurely on his lap except for the occasional
gear change, is a mere onlooker in this demonstration of the
latest automated-car technology.
While the idea of robo-cars whisking us off to our
destinations may sound like science fiction, the technology
exists and is largely ready for the real world. What’s harder to
determine is the risk associated with the emergence of these
vehicles.
If automakers effectively take the wheel, that puts them in
the firing line for liability suits stemming from accidents. The
vehicles would also be exposed to threats from hackers who could
hijack cars and potentially control them remotely, turning them
into mules for criminal purposes or even using them as weapons.
“A hacker could redirect a whole bunch of traffic to
gridlock a city” or even “kidnap people,” said Wil Rockall,
director of information protection at consulting company KPMG in
Tonbridge, England. “The risk goes from being one of human
error on the part of the driver or road user to being human
error on the part of a developer.”
Autonomous S-Class
Still, such worst-case scenarios aren’t halting efforts to
push the technology, which is forecast to become an $87 billion
market by 2030, according to Boston-based Lux Research. The
Golf’s self-directed parking job in the August presentation by
Volkswagen AG is just one example of the trend.
Google Inc. unveiled a cartoonish prototype of a self-
driving car in May. A Mercedes-Benz S-Class drove itself 100
kilometers (62 miles) through real daytime traffic on crowded
German roads last year, and parent Daimler AG is developing
self-driving trucks.
The prospect of cars being controlled by online navigation
systems is troubling to regulators and law enforcers. The U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation has determined that hackers
could take over automated vehicles and use them as “lethal
weapons,” the Guardian reported in July, citing a study
obtained by the British newspaper.
Yet there are benefits as well. The FBI report acknowledged
that police could monitor connected cars more easily. In any
case, automakers are attuned to the risks.
‘Stumbling Block’
“The biggest stumbling block to any of these things is car
security and also liability,” said Gavin Ward, a spokesman for
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG. “Those are the sort of issues that
are still being worked out.” The Munich-based carmaker has
tested self-driving technology on the German autobahn.
Volkswagen, based in Wolfsburg, Germany, is also keeping
its eye on the tactics of cyber criminals to keep a step ahead,
spokesman Paul Buckett said at the demonstration in Cheltenham.
Google declined to make someone available to discuss risks
associated with their automotive efforts.
To limit hacker risk, autonomous cars will need “much more
security” and that requires constant monitoring, said Andrew
Miller, chief technical officer at Thatcham Research, which
supplies data to British vehicle insurers. “As fast as people
come up with software and encryption processes, the criminals
come up with ways around them.”
Aside from worst-case risks like remote carjacking, there’s
the mundane question of who’s to blame in an accident when human
error is no longer an issue. That could ease the burden on the
driver, as the responsibility shifts to carmakers.
No Fatigue
Because robotic vehicles don’t suffer from daydreaming and
fatigue, “you are going to have a lower frequency of incidents
because these cars are an awful lot safer,” said Murray
Raisbeck, a partner at KPMG’s insurance practice. “However, if
something does go wrong, the severity could be an awful lot
greater.”
The change in liability could shift the burden of insuring
against accidents to carmakers, suppliers and developers, while
consumers would pay less. That might hit the motor-coverage
business, which is worth $200 billion a year in the U.S.,
according to the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners.
“It is difficult to be precise on what impact driverless
cars will have for us, but we know there are going to be
issues,” said Alan Gairns, product manager for home and motor
insurance at Allianz SE in the U.K.
Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give. –William A. Ward
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