...ready? Twenty years ago if you had told somebody that driverless vehicles would be driving us around our cities and on our highways, they would have smiled and said only in the movies. Now it is not so farfetched. Driverless cars are fast becoming reality. Just as computers did, driverless cars will change the way we live. And like any other innovation, it would free up time for more creative thinking. In recent years, we have seen small improvements to our cars, making them more automated. Bluetooth and GPS play a big role while driving our cars. GPS will navigate for us without using a map, and Bluetooth allows us to go hands free to concentrate on driving. So, is a fully autonomous car good or bad? Google is leading the way trying to make Autonomous vehicles a part of people’s everyday lives. Other car manufactures are making an effort to make driverless vehicles, but, google is by far is ahead of the pact. According to the article How Will Driverless Cars Affect Our Cities? “Google is the most conspicuous developer of autonomous vehicles, but it is hardly alone in pursuing this venture”. (ISSA ROMAM, 2013) Cars without drivers could possibly solve some of our more common issues on the road such as traffic congestion, accidents, and human error. According to the article Driverless Cars Switch into Overdrive, “Google’s driverless cars have logged 50,000 miles on the road without help from a driver. The Google cars can maintain safe driving distances in moving traffic...
Words: 789 - Pages: 4
...Google Cars Darrell Jackson Jr. Composition II Cars that can drive themselves are no longer a part of science fiction. Google is currently in the process of changing the world as we know it. Google is working on a project called “driverless cars”. “What is a driverless car” you ask? A driverless car is an autonomous vehicle that can drive itself from one place to another without the assistance from a human driver. The driverless car is a project by Google that enables your car to drive without really driving. Although these cars have yet to hit the roads, they are already being tested by Google and many different car companies. Google has complete over 700,000 driving miles accident free, in which they traveled congested streets and popular intersections. According to predictions driverless cars could be a reality by 2020. Google is still in the beginning stages of making this project official because there is a lot of barriers that have to get through, but confidently state driverless cars will become available in the near future. Google have at least 10 different prototypes that they use as practice cars. Some examples of these cars are the Toyota Prius and the Lexus SL600h. The basic designs of this project consist of a car with a rotating sensor on the top that spins 360 degrees, to create a 3D map of the cars location. A sensor located on the left rear wheel that tracks the car movements and locates it on the map. There is a video camera on the windshield by the rear...
Words: 1457 - Pages: 6
...Driverless cars – is it safe to take the human out of the loop? From the beginning of the world humans always wanted to make their life easier. They produced more and more complicated tools for hunting, then for harvesting and other branches of human activity – these tools allowed them to make their job without using their bare hands. Time was passing, humanity was evolving newer technologies, people knew more and more about the world and laws that rule it. But one thing that every human-being wanted the most was faster way of travelling. The first step was inviting wheel. Later humans built carts, coaches and many other vehicles propelled with animal’s or person’s strength. But still it was too slow and too less automatic for people. The change came in 1769, when Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot presented his steam vehicle. Then everything started to evolve faster – and we step to nowadays, where we have many different types of cars, even the ones fueled by water or electricity. In our century, where artificial intelligence isn’t a Sci-Fi subject only but also reality, people started to think about using it in car’s safety and driving system’s development. One of the results is Google’s self-driving car, which is travelling in states of Nevada, Florida and California, where autonomous vehicles are already legalized. This technology is evolving all the time and maybe there will come the day where whole world will be able to use such kind of cars. But there comes the question – is it safe...
Words: 1648 - Pages: 7
...Driverless Taxi This project is an advanced concept developed by Google putting into use their latest, challenging somewhat innovative technology especially designed for autonomous cabs. Their softwis involved is known as Google Chauffer. It is also identified as “self-driving cabs”. This project is initiated by co-inventor of Google Street view named Sebastian Thrum. Theirre is 15 engineers working on this project. Their created a robotic vehicle somewhat won a whooping US$ 2 million prize from their US Division of Guard. Governor Jerry Bill signed their legislation law at Google headquarters in Mountain View in September 2012 for autonomous cabs. Their State of Nevada became their first state in their United States to get their permit for autonomous cabs. California became their third state for their same law somewhat in May 2012 their first licensed cabs came into effect. Their technology behind this idea includes a $70,000 LIDAR (laser radar) system which allows their vehicle to generate 3D of its surroundings. Their maps along with their maps of their world is combined, somewhat produce different data types that allow their cabs to navigate somewhat drive it. Also, installed in their cabs is their system anti-lock brakes which is faster somewhat better due to ABS somewhat engine management help to keep their cabs stable on their road. Their testing was cab spied on about ten cabs each accompanied by a driver with a clean driving somewhat giving him company is one of their...
Words: 5997 - Pages: 24
...Is it possible to develop driverless vehicles based on GPS technology only? Driverless vehicles; science fiction or reality? Well vehicles are coming with more and more intelligence and computation powers nowadays then they were 10 years ago. Today vehicles are coming equipped with much more intelligent driver assistance system like auto parking, lane warning, intelligent cruise control, emergency braking, Anti Braking System etc. But could this intelligence evolve drastically and vehicles could drive themselves continuously? Well Google, Apple and other major Auto producers like Mercedes are working on autonomous car. Google already started testing self driving car and have driven thousands of miles. But can we make driverless vehicles with GPS...
Words: 701 - Pages: 3
...Autonomous cars have the capability to transport humans, cargo, etc… without interference from a driver. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has different classifications for driverless cars. They are levels 0 through 4. Level 0 being driver controls the vehicle to level 4 the vehicle performs all critical maneuvers without the interception of a driver (Chittilla & Sun, n.d. , slide 4). “Decades before Google started fitting Lexus SUVs with sensors and self driving software, the driverless car du jour was an otherwise ordinary looking Pontiac … In the 1920s and 1930s, a driverless car was more commonly known as “phantom auto,” and demonstrations of the technology drew thousands of spectators in cities across the United States … These cars weren’t computer-driven, as they are today, but remote controlled” (Lafrance, 2016, p. 1). Phantom auto was the first concept of a driverless car....
Words: 498 - Pages: 2
...sitting in a driver's seat while not driving in a moving car? Well, that is the future of driverless cars! Driverless cars are known to come out onto the roads in the year 2020. Also, there will be many types of driverless cars due to how many companies are trying to produce them, including Tesla, Google, Toyota, and etc. They are all battling to try to produce a driverless car first, which will lead to their company getting more money because this is something that not many people have seen before. Everyone in the future should have a driverless car because they would save many lives, roads would have better traffic flow, and people would have better health. If everyone in the future had a driverless car, then all of the cars would be able to connect with...
Words: 1095 - Pages: 5
...Driverless cars Driverless cars are something that change the world and a new way to get around. They can be something good things about the new driverless cars. But there are many cons about the cars that can put us in danger. Anything can go wrong with the car and it can put us all in danger. Driverless cars may look amazing and cool but there are many things that can go wrong, many things that can put us in danger. There are many reasons why the driverless cars wouldn’t be safe. The main reason that there shouldn’t be driverless cars is because of safety. Safety is the number one reason, because everyone wants to be safe when they are in car. Without the control of a wheel there can be many car accidents caused within driverless cars....
Words: 352 - Pages: 2
...Introduction: Self-driving cars are the new invention that involves technology and are the project in which the concentration is to provide the safest cars for the future. 1925 Around the year of the 20th century, a strong decision was made to develop of driverless car that would operate by itself. This work started to take place after the decision was made to take the beginning shape on how the project would start to take place with Houina Radio Control Company’s first public demonstration. The driverless car demonstration of the driverless car took place in the year 1925. This vehicle started with the control of a radio in 1926, and it was guided through the traffic for a test. This was being guided by the instruction from another car from a short distance. This was also showcased and car controlled as “phantom Auto.”(, Nguyen. 2016, para. 2,). 1930 In the year 1930, a challenge was presented to the community in 1960, and by 2000, the dream of creating an autonomous vehicle. A few years later, this dream came true by creating the idea of the car that would drive by itself. The picture was taken into consideration for complex in automation and pedestrians, heavy traffic, and other unexpected, and the experience that can happen outside while the car is in circulation. In eight years, in 2004 to 2012, things started to happen rapidly and...
Words: 576 - Pages: 3
...Chris Gerdes who is a boyish and bespectacled standard engineering professor, was worried about some ethical issues in driverless cars movement and he was arguing about the way that driverless cars programmed to work. He was thinking about the robotic minds , and how should it works without any ethics problems. In addition, according to Patrick, who worked with Gerdes in his 7 bag garage filled with robot cars said that Gerdes was focusing more in the ethics and laws in thier work. Gerdes had a workshop on driverless ethics for 90 engineers and researchers which included from electric carmaker Tesla Motors and tech giant Google in 2017. Tesla which going to introduce an autopilot feature in this year. In 2017 GM is going to debut Cadillac,...
Words: 346 - Pages: 2
...people has no survivals as they do not get to hospital in time after their car accident. The 2010 national Automobile census, mentioned that more than 90% of reported accidents were caused by driver and less than 10% was due to outside or car problems. As the advances of technology increases, so does the danger to people. This is due to there being production of faster cars that are more powerful, therefore increasing the chances of danger. The famous futurist Norman Bell Geddes said that “Your grandchildren will snap across the entire continent in 24 hours on a new kind of highway and in a new kind of driverless car that is controlled by the push of a button," Some say his idea was what inspired the creation of the Interstate Highway System. Few years ago, the driverless cars were seen as just science fiction, an imagination that was only accomplished in movies and novels. However it is close to being a reality that will be soon experienced. Currently, technology is so close, as our cars are technologically advanced enough to be able steer themselves. Moreover, the cars can also accelerate and brake to sustain a safe driving distance from any cars ahead and also detect and avoid crashes with other cars on all the sides. With this much technology advancement, making the cars driverless will only take some more software upgrade and then the science fiction will be our reality. The benefits of driverless cars outweigh the benefit of having human drivers because human are almost...
Words: 1428 - Pages: 6
...Driverless vehicles are becoming a known subject throughout society today. There are huge controversies of whether or not they will be safe, how they will operate, and how their use will affect the government as well as how they’ll affect the people who are using or are around them. Autonomous vehicular technology will change the way we live as well as the laws we have to follow. Whether or not the changes will be good is debatable. Law-making will be affected in that the older/traditional laws we have now will not be up to par with the technology we will soon face. The effect of autonomous vehicles on the economy could be for the greater good of society, or could help contribute to the further downfall of it, depending on where the technology is developed as well as how and where it is used. Autonomous cars could and will affect society, in that of the economy. The start of the use of the technology could potentially contribute to the unemployment rate, which would help diminish what good of the economy we have left. As Bernard Condon and Paul Wiseman ponder “Are we prepared for an economy in which 50% of people aren’t working?” (Condon/Wiseman). As technology ascends greatly, jobs are created and destroyed. With this,wages will plummet, and the unemployment rate will continue to escalate. “What happens to the millions of people who make a living driving cars and trucks--jobs that always have seemed sheltered from the onslaught of technology?” (Wiseman/Condon). If autonomous...
Words: 1540 - Pages: 7
...56 Future Accomplishments: Waiting for Someone to go First historical perspective, new strategy, people making a difference, powerful idea, social trends, technology trends June 8th, 2012 inShare24 On May 24th, Gary Connery, a 42 year old stuntman from Oxfordshire, England jumped from a helicopter hovering over one mile in the air over southern England, and glided to the earth using a specially designed wing suit. His runway was comprised of a cobbled-up crash-pad fabricated from 18,000 cardboard boxes to soften the impact. With this record-setting jump, Gary became the first skydiver to land without using a parachute. While others have survived through some fluke of nature, he was the first one to plan it from the start. We live in a world obsessed with accomplishments, and more specifically, obsessed with being FIRST. Few of us remember the 2nd person to set foot on the moon, or the 2nd person to invent the airplane, or the 2nd one to run a mile in under 4 minutes. So given this almost fanatical pursuit to become the “first” at something, what exactly are some of the big accomplishments still waiting to be claimed that will land someone in the history books? Here are a few that come to mind. History of Firsts People can become famous for a variety reasons stemming from heroic, unfortunate, ground breaking, or even uncontrollable circumstances. When a new trend appears in transportation, communication, or the technical world, an opportunistic innovator is always...
Words: 2211 - Pages: 9
...Safety of a Self-driving Car With the rise of technology dedicated to self-driving cars, people are asking the question "how safe are driverless cars compare to a traditional car?" First of all, to drive a self-driving car functioning by a computer or robot, the driver has to learn to control the functions. In 2011, a Google self-driving car was involved in an accident, and Google stated to the press that the driver was responsible for the driving. However, many critics became to question whether the technology behind the self-driving car are responsible for the accident. In the recent years, self-driving cars are tested on the road in several different states, and for the last years or so, Google had tested more than “700,000 miles” of accident-free driving from a driverless car. With self-driving cars, what are the obligations the operator have to make? If companies like Google, were to sell hundreds of thousands of these cars on the road, are they able to keep up the safety standard in a large number? The technology will also force regulators to rethink the car and driver relationship, and possibly place more emphasis on the regulation both the car and the driver. For instance, instead of certifying that a driver can pass a road test, the state might certify that a car can pass a test, upending the traditional drivers’ licensing system. In addition, the state of mind when you are for example, drunk, are you allow to operate a self-driving car? Due to the promising technology...
Words: 1955 - Pages: 8
...INTRODUCTION ‘Drive a car without a license, Forget about the expensive car park outside your office’ because now your car can drive back to the house itself, Or if you want to take a nap while you get to the destination. It’s all easy with the new driver less cars. Driverless cars and other automated vehicles offer major potential benefits and could profoundly change our lives for better. They will make driving easier, allow people to be more productive and offer greater mobility to a wider range of people than ever before. They will also help improve road safety, reduce emissions, and ease congestion. As a result they can provide significant economic, environmental and social benefits, including improving social inclusion. The next thing is the driver can choose whether they want to drive or not. If they select an autonomous mode, they can allow the vehicle to take care of driving while they make use of the journey time in other ways. Strengths Time saving - So the first advantage of driverless cars is they are Multitasking. You can do anything you want Eat, Sleep, Work, Chat with relatives – commute time is no longer down time. An average driver spends the equivalent of six working weeks driving a year (MP Claire Perry, Department for Transport (UK)).In addition they never get tired or distracted could hold the key to substantially improving the road safety. Access to everyone - There are so many people who still do not have license, Disable people...
Words: 1737 - Pages: 7
