Googles goofy new self-driving car a sign of things to come Google unveiled its first fully functional prototype for its own self-driving car Monday and plans to test it on Bay Area public roads in the new year. The dainty two-seater still requires government approval before it can legally operate without a human driver through suburban office parks or downtown streets, but the milestone is the latest sign that driverless cars could soon be a fixture in Silicon Valley neighborhoods and other parts of the world. I can imagine these cars starting in closed, campus environments, or cordoned-off test areas with low-speed roads where the risk of collision, injury or death is much lower, said Ratna Amin, director of transportation policy at San Francisco-based urban advocacy group SPUR. Amin predicts a lot of good coming from autonomous vehicles, but only if state and local policymakers ensure that their use makes cities better. Not many cities are ready for a future with driverless cars, but some are beginning to prepare, she said. People like point-to-point transportation, Amin said. Theyre going to seek (the cars) if cycling, walking, transit or other modes dont meet their needs. The tricky question is managing the availability of automobiles -- how easy we make it, how much space we devote to it. I think its a really hot debate in denser cities. mercurynews/business/ci_27190285/googles-goofy-new-self-driving-car-sign-things
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 01:47:38 +0000
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