Carsales Staff•18 Mar 2014
NEWS
Google Car one step closer
Internet superhighway giant wins new patent allowing the driverless car to see and interpret roadInternet giant Google’s self-driving car project has moved another click closer to hitting the road by winning a new patent that enables a robot within the car to automatically read and interpret road signs and other oncoming obstacles in real-time.
The new development also enables the Google Car to identify and avoid any unexpected obstacles and follow any diversions that have been put in place.
The latter is made possible by Google’s $US966 million purchase last June of Israeli crowd-sourced mapping start-up Waze, which built a community around localised mapping and routing and will provide the Google Car with vital real-time traffic and accident information.
Some industry observers say the innovation could ease some of the doubts about the safety of driverless vehicle technology, thereby increasing the likelihood it will happen.
Google announced its unmanned vehicle project in 2010 and says the Google Car has now notched up almost 500,000km of real-world autonomous testing without incident.
Google says the project aims to make driving safer, more enjoyable and more efficient ... if rigorous technology and safety standards can be met”.
A number of car-makers have been developing self-driving vehicle technology for many years, but liability and other legal questions remain the biggest stumbling blocks to widespread legislation that allows the technology.
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Written byCarsales Staff
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