5 ms·

I thought they were limited to driving on the highway in the empty parts of nevada?

by jacobquick 14y ago

andyakb 14y ago
that is for a car with no human in it, afaik. the google cars drive on normal roads with other cars present
- eblume 14y ago
  To date, all Google autonomous cars have had two occupants - a driver (who is strictly hands-off - she's only there in case something goes wrong) and a tech who monitors the data to make sure things are proceeding as expected.
datasink 14y ago
I've seen the Google self-driving car navigating within morning traffic in San Jose. There were two men with laptops in the driver and passenger seats, presumably monitoring the car and available to step in if something went wrong. It was also kind of surprising to see the roof-mounted device it used to map its surrounding. It was fairly large and rapidly rotating.
- toomuchtodo 14y ago
  The device on top is a laser scanner creating a cloud point map for spatial awareness.
- michaelt 14y ago
  Did it look like this: http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/hdlproducts/hdl64e.aspx http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/hdlproducts/hdl64e.aspx Very impressive spec - as you'd expect for a $75,000 product.
eblume 14y ago
I drove behind one yesterday as it returned to Google HQ in Mountain View. It was pretty exciting. It was also rush hour, and people didn't like that it tried so hard to give a safe amount of space in front and behind itself - it ended up being a little bubble of lane-changing space that moved slower than the rest of traffic. Not that I hold any of this against the car - it was clearly doing the intelligent thing. But people... we are animals.
- RobotCaleb 14y ago
  Weird. Your post didn't have a reply link. I had to click the permalink for it. Anyway, I wanted to say that I read an article about a guy in Seattle that always kept a couple car lengths ahead of him. I seem to remember the article saying he was able to get home quicker that way than by behaving like the rest of the cars on the road.
  - riffic 14y ago
    http://trafficwaves.org/ http://trafficwaves.org/
    - stephengillie 14y ago
      I too live in the Seattle area, and I've heard of this technique. Sadly, when implementing it, all you see is the angry drivers behind you who rush to pass and gobble up the traffic bubble you've been saving.
      - andybak 14y ago
        I thought that this was covered by the Traffic Waves guy who said his method deals with that problem quite well?
        wbeaty 14y ago
        Yep: it doesn't happen, FAQ: http://trafficwaves.org/tfaq.html#five http://trafficwaves.org/tfaq.html#five - if truckers can maintain a bubble, how can it be impossible? - yes, aggressively weaving drivers sometimes jump in ...then they jump out again. - at merge zones, the entire point is to let people into your lane. - In theory, everyone else wants your precious bubble. In practice, not. ...and in a burning building, we all know the best way to escape, eh? EVERYONE AGGRESSIVELY PUSH FORWARD, DON'T LET ANYONE ELSE GET PAST, COOPERATION AND TEAMWORK ARE FOR LOSERS! Yep, that certainly won't trigger a huge clogged mess where everyone dies.
    - 14y ago

I thought they were limited to driving on the highway in the empty parts of nevada?

andyakb 14y ago

that is for a car with no human in it, afaik. the google cars drive on normal roads with other cars present

eblume 14y ago
To date, all Google autonomous cars have had two occupants - a driver (who is strictly hands-off - she's only there in case something goes wrong) and a tech who monitors the data to make sure things are proceeding as expected.

datasink 14y ago

I've seen the Google self-driving car navigating within morning traffic in San Jose. There were two men with laptops in the driver and passenger seats, presumably monitoring the car and available to step in if something went wrong. It was also kind of surprising to see the roof-mounted device it used to map its surrounding. It was fairly large and rapidly rotating.

toomuchtodo 14y ago
The device on top is a laser scanner creating a cloud point map for spatial awareness.
michaelt 14y ago
Did it look like this: http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/hdlproducts/hdl64e.aspx http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/hdlproducts/hdl64e.aspx Very impressive spec - as you'd expect for a $75,000 product.

eblume 14y ago

I drove behind one yesterday as it returned to Google HQ in Mountain View. It was pretty exciting. It was also rush hour, and people didn't like that it tried so hard to give a safe amount of space in front and behind itself - it ended up being a little bubble of lane-changing space that moved slower than the rest of traffic. Not that I hold any of this against the car - it was clearly doing the intelligent thing. But people... we are animals.

RobotCaleb 14y ago
Weird. Your post didn't have a reply link. I had to click the permalink for it. Anyway, I wanted to say that I read an article about a guy in Seattle that always kept a couple car lengths ahead of him. I seem to remember the article saying he was able to get home quicker that way than by behaving like the rest of the cars on the road.
- riffic 14y ago
  http://trafficwaves.org/ http://trafficwaves.org/
  - stephengillie 14y ago
    I too live in the Seattle area, and I've heard of this technique. Sadly, when implementing it, all you see is the angry drivers behind you who rush to pass and gobble up the traffic bubble you've been saving.
    - andybak 14y ago
      I thought that this was covered by the Traffic Waves guy who said his method deals with that problem quite well?
      - wbeaty 14y ago
        Yep: it doesn't happen, FAQ: http://trafficwaves.org/tfaq.html#five http://trafficwaves.org/tfaq.html#five - if truckers can maintain a bubble, how can it be impossible? - yes, aggressively weaving drivers sometimes jump in ...then they jump out again. - at merge zones, the entire point is to let people into your lane. - In theory, everyone else wants your precious bubble. In practice, not. ...and in a burning building, we all know the best way to escape, eh? EVERYONE AGGRESSIVELY PUSH FORWARD, DON'T LET ANYONE ELSE GET PAST, COOPERATION AND TEAMWORK ARE FOR LOSERS! Yep, that certainly won't trigger a huge clogged mess where everyone dies.
  - 14y ago