[vendtalk] Google Reveals Self-Driving Car with No Steering Wheel or Brakes

[Vandervoort's via vendtalk]

Subject: Google Reveals Self-Driving Car with No Steering Wheel or Brakes

Opinion - This technology is coming, and in my lifetime!  Life will not be
the same, and hopefully, it will be for the better.  Heck, I volunteer to be
one of the testers but Texas has chosen not to adopt the required
legislation and regulations to allow for it, yet.  - Mike Vandervoort

Google Reveals Self-Driving Car with No Steering Wheel or Brakes

Note: A link to a YouTube video is at the end.

Article - Jason O. Gilbert Technology EditorMay 27, 2014

"Taking a spin behind the wheel" might soon be a phrase from the past.
On Tuesday night Google unveiled the latest version of its Self-Driving Car:
a vehicle that can navigate and drive by itself and that does not feature a
steering wheel, brakes, or acceleration pedal. "Fully autonomous driving has
always been the goal of our project," Google’s self-driving vehicle team
said in a statement, “because we think this could improve road safety and
help lots of people who can’t drive. We’re now developing prototypes of
vehicles that have been designed from the ground up to drive themselves—just
push a button and they’ll take you where you want to go.”
The car uses the same navigation software as Google’s other self-driving
vehicles, which have racked up 70,000 miles on the road already. Previous
versions of Google’s self-driving car feature a steering wheel and pedals,
should the driver needs to override the computer’s navigation; they have
also always been on the road with a driver behind the (literal) wheel.


This new, truly driverless car, according to a blog on Google’s website,
would eliminate the need for the driver to look for parking (the car could
do it on its own, as you walked off) and also potentially wipe out drunk
driving incidents. It could also let older people, who have lost the faculty
to drive, get back behind the –– well, to get back in the car.

According to tech blog Recode, Google hopes to start testing the car in
earnest this summer. The car has upgraded sensor technology, Recode reports,
and the same navigation technology that is used in its driver-laden (yet
driverless) cars.
Google also shared a promotional video of its (really cute!) self-driving
car.
The car is still in its early testing phases and is not expected to be on
sale any time soon. It will also have to pass regulatory hurdles; American
lawmakers have proven somewhat skeptical of Google’s first attempts at a
self-driving car. Current California law requires that there be a licensed
driver behind the wheel.
Google’s other self-driving car –– the one with a steering wheel and pedals
–– is also still in development, and also lacks a projected release date.
Experts say that it could be on the road by the end of the decade, however.

Another longer article is at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/28/googles-new-dri
verless-car-has-no-brakes-or-steering-wheel/?tid=hp_mm

Video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqSDWoAhvLU&feature=player_embedded