Google’s Self-Driving Cars
Posted on: 20/08/2014In May earlier this year, at the company’s California headquarters, Google launched their Self-Driving Car.
Operated by a single push button, the car negotiates its way using a series of complex sensors and is designed to work as a kind of automated taxi service.
By Steve Jurvetson [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
This said, there’s an awful lot of issues still to iron out, not only with the technology, but also with legislation… and the FBI aren’t too happy about it either- more of which later. California Law states that a car must have both steering wheel and pedals, even though they are actually superfluous in this vehicle so, at least for now, they will continue to do so when taken out on the roads.
Google says the sensors enable the car to successfully negotiate pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles; however, they may not be sensitive enough to spot small, furry animals. Oh dear. So far though, they have been involved in only two accidents, but both of those occurred when the controls were taken over by a human driver.
Google stated that the car was designed to look as ‘friendly’ as possible, building a face into the front for the purposes of endearing the car to the general populace, presumably nervous with how the car might be received by the public. Especially those of a nervous disposition, or those with a distrust of technology in general. The promo is accordingly, very happy, safe and friendly.
Already, the unveiling has caused quite a stir, journalists falling over themselves to find fault and point out the shortcomings: not squirrel-friendly, ‘not even Noddy would be seen in one’, that it ‘felt like a theme park ride’ and something out of a ‘Japanese children’s animation’, all the way through to concerns over whether its map-reading would still function properly in areas where normal phone reception was shall we say, less than perfect.
A little closer to home though, Milton Keynes is piloting a pilotless ‘pod’ as part of their trialing of a ‘driverless public transport system’, in 2015. It uses a combination of cameras, sensors and GPS to work its way around without bumping into anything.
As part of Google’s charm offensive and in an effort to get people to back it, they have offered to pay for any and all parking tickets anyone receives whilst in one. And this raises an interesting point: who becomes liable, as and when one of these vehicles is actually involved in an accident?
On this point of law, The Guardian learned that no other than the FBI were very unhappy about their impending arrival, describing it as ‘game-changing’ technology. What is to stop criminals using them nefariously, to escape police, or to harm others? It would only take a little cunning reprogramming and the vehicle could be instructed to ignore road safety, red lights and the like.
In the report discovered by the broadsheet, the FBI also went on to talk about the potential for the cars to become ‘lethal weapons’ in the hands of terrorists, who could simply pack them with explosives and send them on their autonomous way to any given target. Hmm.
However, they could also see the evident upside: that if the system were brought in fully, it could drastically reduce the number of accidents due to human error seen on the roads- when used of course by law abiding citizens. But also that the smart technology, whilst potentially helping Baddies, could also assist law enforcement in chasing down criminals- in a smarter way.
