Google, the ever growing search engine giant seems to have their hands in everything nowadays. That includes the automotive industry as well. The Google Car was presented back in mid October and just might be the future of cars as we know it. Reminiscent of the Skynet Corporation in the Terminator movies, Google is trying their hand at artificial intelligence……for your car. Don’t worry though; I doubt these cars will try to take over the world.
The Google Car - Photo courtesy of New York Times.
Google Car: Mobile Robots
In my last Blog post The Problem with Carfax Vehicle History Reports we discussed how Carfax reports sometimes are not completely accurate about the accidents a car has been in. With the new Google car, it seems car accidents might be greatly decreased by this new development in automobile technology. This is what Google engineer Sebastian Thrun had to say about the Google car:
“Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain.”
When I first read about this, I thought this could be equally dangerous as well. What would happen if the technology happened to malfunction? Luckily the system isn’t fully automated so you can take control when necessary. Still, this might be a step in the direction of completely unmanned vehicles. Not to mention I assume that a good amount of drivers might be offended by the autonomous vehicle’s creation. If you’re like me then you prefer to have complete control of your vehicle. Google engineers argue that, unlike humans, robot drivers have a faster reaction time, have 360-degree perception and are not prone to human emotions which could cause car accidents. This may be true, but also what if we become too reliant on these Robots to compensate for our lack of driving skills? What if they malfunction and, even though we have the ability to manually take over, may not be able to recover from the malfunction in time? I believe these are things to consider. Now I’m not saying these mobile robots are all that bad, but I’m not going to put all of my eggs in one basket.
Are Autonomous Vehicles The Future?
Google claims that this car could be available within several years or so. Surprisingly the Google car was even able to navigate down Lombard St. on San Francisco which is one of the steepest and windiest roads in all of America. No human interaction was present between the driver and the car! Now, there’s going to be plenty of technological advancements in the next five years so you should be ready. Electric cars are going to be the next big thing and I feel this Google car is just the tip of the iceberg. In preparation for the future of cars, you should come on down a get a free car appraisal. Your used car might not be relevant in the next few years!
