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The oatmeal wrote about it: | Google's new fleet was intentionally designed to look adorable... By turning self-driving cars into an adorable Skynet Marshmallo
by kansface 12y ago
The oatmeal wrote about it:
| Google's new fleet was intentionally designed to look adorable... By turning self-driving cars into an adorable Skynet Marshmallow Bumper Bots, Google hopes to spiritually disarm other drivers. I also suspect the cuteness is used to quell some of the road rage that might emerge from being stuck behind one of these things. They're intended as moderate-distance couriers, not open-road warriors, so their max speed is 25 miles per hour.
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car
- joshvm 12y agoIs the 25mph limit a US thing? In the UK the normal minimum (aside from select residential zones where the neighbours complain) is 30mph. Many people would be very annoyed to sit behind a car doing 5 below the speed limit.
- ender7 12y ago35mph is the normal minimum in the US, outside of some neighborhoods where it gets as low as 20-25mph. The 25mph speed is a hack around US auto regulations, which are far less strict if the vehicle's max speed is 25mph or less.
- dragonwriter 12y ago> 35mph is the normal minimum in the US In California, the default speed limit in business or residential districts is 25 mph, this is also the default speed limit for school zones.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- kansface 12y ago35mph is closer to the norm- I don't think a 25mph car would work (even in cities).
- djhunt 12y agoThe speed limit on about 90% of New York City's roads is now 25 mph. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/11/things-to-know-about-nycs-new-speed-limit.html http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/11/things-to-know-...
- zanny 12y agoMany people in the US are very annoying to sit behind someone doing 5 above the speed limit in many places (and I don't mean just highways, where the speed limit is just an unlimited police funding scheme through being able to ticket anyone whenever you want). I imagine they did 25mph because its slow enough to appease representatives in letting them put the car on the road. Nobody with the ability to actually make this happen is rational or knowledgeable about this, and will behave like psychotic monkeys when confronted with autos, so Google is using every trick in the book to make these look innocent, including Grandma grade speed limits.
- rschapman 12y agoA lot of golf cart like vehicles operate at this speed. We had a few dozen at the university and all of the "street legal" ones had a limit stamped on them of 25mph.
- BHSPitMonkey 12y agoIt varies from state to state. In California, where the testing is taking place, it happens to be 25. In Texas, it's 30.
- Houshalter 12y ago25 miles per hour classifies it as a slow moving vehicle which is much less regulated. It also puts it in the same class as bicycles, golf carts, tractors, etc, which are all perfectly road legal.