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I am always impressed by this when I read it--not because of the cars but the motivation. Here's a company that is so desperate to increase its ad revenue that
by Poiesis 15y ago
I am always impressed by this when I read it--not because of the cars but the motivation. Here's a company that is so desperate to increase its ad revenue that it's willing to build robot cars so that it has that many more eyeballs to serve up advertisements to.
- sien 15y agoHere's a company that is smart enough to know that they could have a major part of a market though could explode. Google don't just have to sell ads. They have loads of very smart people. They could wind up being the major provide for driverless cars. Sebastian Thrun works for Google now. He's one of the world's foremost experts in the field.
- larrik 15y ago"They could wind up being the major provide for driverless cars." I'd say they could be the major provider for driverless car technology. I don't think they should get into actual car manufacturing.
- MatthewPhillips 15y agoBingo, this is going to be a big field in the future. AI is outside the core competency of car manufacturers; they'll have to buy that tech from some one. Google's ad revenue could look puny by comparison some day.
- axylone 15y agoThis sounds like the history of a company out of a Stephenson or Gibson book. I want to believe...
- sien 15y agoIndeed. This is what I meant.
- StavrosK 15y agoI think they just like playing with stuff that is this cool. It's great that it aligns with their business model, but I don't think the thought process went "hey, let's build a driverless car so people can see look at ads more!"
- VMG 15y agoThey probably build robot cars because they are an artificial intelligence company.
- maigret 15y agoYes. They probably can make quite some money by patenting that tech and licensing the components to car makers.
- rakkhi 15y agoWhy be so cynical? Here is a company that has found such a massive golden egg that at least for now it can hire really really smart people to work on cool projects that may end up changing the world.
- dodo53 15y agoIt's also a good recruitment tool having a couple of world-class people working on stuff that interests a lot of computer science types.
- theBobMcCormick 15y agoThis could also be part of Google looking for revenue sources beyond advertising. As other commenter have pointed out, if Google can make this work and smooth out the very non-trivial legislative and liability issues, there's an absolute fortune to be made licensing this technology to car companies. Think about it. If the technology works, and it's legal in your state, do you know anyone who wouldn't want a self-driving car?! It would revolutionize commuting. You could nap, read, watch TV on your phone or tablet, etc. instead of staring in boredom at the bumper ahead of you.
- sahaj 15y agoGoogle looking for revenue sources beyond advertising. Naw. They are hoping that instead of spending your time behind the wheel, you will be spending it on the internet watching some Google ads. /s
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- rorrr 15y agoNo, they are building robot cars because 1) They can sell them (the market is enormous) 2) It's fun and interesting 3) Great for the overall company image (as innovators)
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]