Tag Archives: Google Given Licence To Test Driverless Cars In Nevada

Driverless Car Gains Traction at Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

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Driverless Car Gains Traction at Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

LAS VEGAS: Automakers and technology firms are jumping on the bandwagon of the driverless car, which remains a concept as well as a platform for new technologies to improve safety on the road.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Toyota and Audi showed off their ideas for autonomous vehicles, in the wake of the push by Google on its driverless car. And others may follow suit.

Toyota drew considerable attention with its electronically gussied-up Lexus sedan, equipped with a host of sensors and cameras that can detect what is around the vehicle.

“It has the ability to drive itself, but we won’t allow it,” said Jim Pisz, corporate manager at Toyota North America. Pisz said the technology is similar to Google’s with the use of electronics, but that “the Google focus is on software mapping, that’s what they’re really good at. Toyota focuses on safety programs and more integrated programs.”

The Japanese automaker maintains that its 2013 Lexus LS, also being shown at the expo, already has “the world’s most advanced pre-collision safety system” but its driverless cars are only being used in closed research centers, unlike Google’s publicized road tours.

The growing use of advanced electronics for auto safety, communications and entertainment has prompted a record eight automakers to attend the Las Vegas show, along with dozens of firms working on related products and services.

“Electronics are vital to our cars. Today’s cars are rolling computers,” Audi executive Wolfgang Duerheimer told reporters at CES. The German automaker’s Ulrich Hofmann told AFP that the new technology “helps the driver in situations where it’s boring to drive, and leaves you to drive when it is fun.”

At the Las Vegas tech confab, Audi showed its concept for a driverless vehicle in a simulator. Hofmann said an autonomous car could be developed within five to eight years but noted that “there are a lot of regulatory and legal issues.”

Ford Motor Co. researcher Pim van der Jagt said the US auto giant halted its program on driverless cars several years ago. The concert “seemed so far out, it didn’t make sense having big teams working on it,” he said, but added that “now, with the interest in the Google car, politicians are starting to speak about it” and Ford has resumed its program.

Nevertheless, “a full autonomous car is far out, and may even never exist,” van der Jagt said. Audi engineers say they can envision an on-off switch which could be used in traffic jams on highways, where vehicles could join a sort of motorcade traveling at identical speeds, freeing a driver for a few moments.

In September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill clearing the way for self-driving cars to jockey with human-operated vehicles to test the technology on the state’s roads. The state of Nevada in May issued a license plate giving Google’s self-driving car the green light to travel along public roads there.

The growing talk of autonomous cars has sparked fresh interest in how the tech sector — which has been under fire for fueling “distracted driving” — can improve auto safety and the driving experience. “Everybody gets distracted at some point,” said Steven Wenger of Mobileye, a company that makes equipment for crash avoidance for major automakers and as a consumer aftermarket device.

“Three seconds could save a person’s life. We want people to be aware of these technologies which can help avoid accidents.” via

Google Given Licence To Test Driverless Cars In Nevada

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GOOGLE Makes History: First License for Driverless Cars,Google Given Licence To Test Driverless Cars In Nevada,Nevada Issues Google First US License to Test Driverless Cars,

 

On Monday, Nevada became the first to approve a license for “autonomous vehicles” — in other words, cars that cruise, twist and turn without the need for a driver — on its roads.

The license goes to Google, the Silicon Valley technology giant known more for its search engine and e-mail service that nonetheless has been known to dive into other big ideas such as space elevators to Internet-enabled glasses.

Department of Motor Vehicles officials in Nevada said it has issued Google the nation’s first license to test self-driving cars on public streets, after conducting demonstrations on the Las Vegas Strip and in Carson City that show the car is as safe or perhaps even safer than a human.

“It gets honked at more often because it’s being safe,” said Nevada DMV Director Bruce Breslow.

Self-driving vehicle technology works like auto-pilot to guide a car in this case a modified Prius with little or no intervention from a human operator. Laser radar mounted on the roof and in the grill detects pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles, creating a virtual buffer zone around the obstacles that the car then avoids.

While some envision the robotic car dropping off its operator at the front of the mall and hunting for a parking spot on its own, Breslow said not so fast.

Nevada’s regulations require two people in the test cars at all times. One person is behind the wheel, while the other person monitors a computer screen that shows the car’s planned route and keeps tabs on roadway hazards and traffic lights.

If there’s a glitch, the human driver can override the autonomous auto with a tap on the brake or a hand on the steering wheel.

Last summer, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval took the car for a spin in and around the state’s quiet capital city.

But Las Vegas Boulevard, where costumed superheroes routinely take the crosswalks and massive billboards angle for the attention of starry-eyed tourists, was perhaps best suited to test the car’s main purpose.

“They’re designed to avoid distracted driving,” Breslow said. “When you’re on the Strip and there’s a huge truck with a three scantily clad women on the side, the car only sees a box.”

So far, Google’s applied to license three test vehicles. Breslow said the cars will display red plates and an infinity symbol to represent their status as vehicles of the future.

Once they’re ready for the market something Breslow guesses could come in three to five years the plates will be green.

via: nzherald.co.nz

Insurance really is a non-issue. Google would have a standard product liability policy, maybe with a higher attachment point (given their balance sheet). However, the gov’t could help by reinsuring the prod liab policy. Could be setup as a 50% quota share for awards excess of $1mm. As someone else mentioned, the shipping industry has a lot to gain here. Maybe the gov’t only backstops the personal lines for driverless solutions and at the same time stimulate some meaningful tort reform in the name of progress.

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