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My guesses: 1) To supply the data that the future robot cars will consume, and profit via license fees. The Google cars use data-heavy techniques with very goo

My guesses: 1) To supply the data that the future robot cars will consume, and profit via license fees. The Google cars use data-heavy techniques with very good preexisting metric maps. 2) To speed up the development of technology that will save perhaps 20,000 lives a year in North America alone. Larry Page has enough power and Google enough money that they can do stuff with "because it's great" as a primary reason. (I'm not affiliated with Google, but have pondered this question and asked around)

threeseed 12y ago
But wouldn't it be better for Google to focus on doing data supply deals with the existing car companies ? Far less money, risk etc. And Google isn't helping speed up the technology. Companies like Volvo are far ahead already.
- zeroxfe 12y ago
  > Companies like Volvo are far ahead already. Volvo is actually far behind -- their cars are designed for Level 3 Autonomous Driving, while Google cars are Level 4. Also, Google has far more miles in real-world city driving than Volvo. Right now Google is furthest ahead in this space, arguably by years.
  - threeseed 12y ago
    Where have you heard this ? Everything I've seen to date has Google/Volvo at the same level. And it's somewhat irrelevant how many years Google is ahead when they have zero experience in bringing automative to market.
- sangnoir 12y ago
  I think the 'Companies like Volvo are far ahead' needs to be qualified. IMO, Google is ahead in the following areas -map data -PR & public visibility -pushing legislation debate
- robotresearcher 12y ago
  > Companies like Volvo are far ahead already. Can you back up that confident claim? Do you have data? > Google isn't helping speed up the technology. How do you arrive at that? > But wouldn't it be better for Google to focus on doing data supply deals with the existing car companies ? Far less money, risk etc. There was no one to sell data to. Google are the ones that started using it at large scales.

threeseed 12y ago

But wouldn't it be better for Google to focus on doing data supply deals with the existing car companies ? Far less money, risk etc. And Google isn't helping speed up the technology. Companies like Volvo are far ahead already.

zeroxfe 12y ago
> Companies like Volvo are far ahead already. Volvo is actually far behind -- their cars are designed for Level 3 Autonomous Driving, while Google cars are Level 4. Also, Google has far more miles in real-world city driving than Volvo. Right now Google is furthest ahead in this space, arguably by years.
- threeseed 12y ago
  Where have you heard this ? Everything I've seen to date has Google/Volvo at the same level. And it's somewhat irrelevant how many years Google is ahead when they have zero experience in bringing automative to market.
sangnoir 12y ago
I think the 'Companies like Volvo are far ahead' needs to be qualified. IMO, Google is ahead in the following areas -map data -PR & public visibility -pushing legislation debate
robotresearcher 12y ago
> Companies like Volvo are far ahead already. Can you back up that confident claim? Do you have data? > Google isn't helping speed up the technology. How do you arrive at that? > But wouldn't it be better for Google to focus on doing data supply deals with the existing car companies ? Far less money, risk etc. There was no one to sell data to. Google are the ones that started using it at large scales.