Google Car is The Slowest Automated Car - http://clapway.com/2015/11/13/google-car-is-the-slowest-automated-car123/

The Mountain View Police Department pulled over one of a Google car for driving too slowly on the roads of the Californian town. According to the MVPD, they were tipped off to the Google car because traffic was beginning to build up about 2.3 miles from Google’s headquarters.

Google via Aleksandr Milewski

The Car Was Was Too Slow

They confirmed the Google car was driving 24mph on a 35mph road. According to the statement, the officer approached the car after stopping it and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the Google car chooses its speeds. It turns out the Google car operates only on roadways with speed limits at or under 35mph, and the road it was transversing, El Camino Real, is rated at 35mph.

Google Meets With Police Regularly

Since Google Headquarters is under the Mountain View Police Department jurisdiction, they have frequent meetings to ensure that the Google car operates safely around the community. This feeds recent buzz about Google cars being almost too safe, too careful to operate in real roads. The car has its maximum speed capped at 25mph, but hopefully this will evolve as the technology evolves.

Google’s Self-Driving Cars Have Never Been Ticketed

Google commented on this in a blog post of their own, stating that the excitement of the Google car brings out curiosity in a lot of people. They state proudly that the Google car has carried out 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving, and they’ve never been ticketed.

Google Car is The Slowest Automated Car

Apple Car Could Beat Out Google Self-Driving Car - http://clapway.com/2015/11/05/apple-car-could-beat-out-google-self-driving-car123/

Steve Jobs considered the concept of an Apple Car as early as 2008, and just because it couldn’t happen in his lifetime, it doesn’t mean it won’t. With the release of Google’s self driving car, and rumors of Apple rolling out an electric car as early as 2019, it’s fair to pose the question: If Jobs had started working on the Apple Car project, would it be better than Google’s Self Driving Car, the Tesla, or even Uber today?

flickr.com

Jobs apparently planned the design of an iCar’s dashboard and seats after the release of the first iPhone. The project would make it a fueled car, since electric cars were neither attainable nor a trend, much less self-driving ones. Today, however, Apple is rumored to be working on a secret project at a place called “SG5” in Sunnyvale, CA, under the guise of the shell company SixtyEight Research to develop the very first Apple Car. Apparently, Jobs’s dreams lay in building TV sets and cameras long before his focus rested on the iPhone.

The secret project is rumored to have a ship date of 2019 for its first electric car project, though it’s not expected to be a self-driving vehicle, courtesy of a team of up to 1,800 people. The project is kept strictly under wraps, and only whispers slip out onto the public, but it’s certain that Apple is working on something to compete against Google’s Self Driving Cars and Tesla at least, if not all related competitors.

Apple Car Could Beat Out Google Self-Driving Car

We all know that #AI (artificial intelligence) will soon take over the world. Take for example, the #driverlesscar. Turns out, the #GoogleCar might be safer than human operated ones. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/02/googles-driverless-car-safer123/

A New York Times article, released on Tuesday, indicated that the driverless cars may be threatened by humans more than vice versa. During one test, the Google car slowed and its test driver gently used the brakes as it moved closer to a sidewalk to avoid harming a pedestrian. Though the street-walker was unharmed, the driverless car was hit from behind by a human-driven car behind it. In an analysis of the accident, Google researchers concluded that it would not have occurred had the driverless car not been assisted by a “safety driver.”

NAVIGATING A HUMAN, IMPERFECT WORLD

If true, what does this mean? Probably just that, as Mark Lelinwalla at Tech Times put it, “[Google’s] vehicles are too safe and perhaps play by the rules too much.”

But Google’s cars are still far from being safe enough to move without assistance. As Jim Kerstetter commented on the New York Times’ Bits blog, “For now, autonomous cars — or their programmers — will have to learn to deal with angry bike messengers, people who drive too close, distracted drivers and the other obstacles of an imperfect and very human world.”

A POSSIBLE SOLUTION

The experts have stated that driverless cars are currently too passive to safely share the roads with humans, who often drive aggressively.

Speaking to the Times, autonomous vehicle expert Donald Norman of the University of California, San Diego’s Design Lab, explained the dilemma. “The real problem is that the car is too safe,” said Norman. “They have to learn to be aggressive in the right amount, and the right amount depends on the culture.”

In other words, cars would have to learn how to imitate the driving style of other cars in any given environment.

DRIVERLESS CAR COMPLEXITIES

Engineering driverless cars to safely share the roads with “regular” ones operated by humans has proven to be a complicated task. Three years ago, a study found that cars with a system that detects lane changes from other cars and warns the driver crash slightly more often than cars without it.

It’s fitting, then, that recent Google tests of driverless car safety were made for “smoothing out” the interactions between people and the car’s programming, according to the Times.

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THE DRIVERLESS CAR IS ONE FORM OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. HERE’S ANOTHER:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTuL0nLmBw8

Driverless Car Safer Than Human-Operated Cars?

Apple Reportedly in Talk with BMW About New Car Project - http://clapway.com/2015/07/25/apple-reportedly-in-talk-with-bmw-about-new-car-project567/

Apple and BMW have reportedly engaged in negotiations over Apple’s interest in using BMW’s i3 electric car as a basis for its own electric car project, according to a news report from a German publication.

APPLE IS MAKING A LOT OF CAR-RELATED HIRES

The news of Apple’s work on building an electric vehicle was first reported earlier this year with reportedly hundreds of employees working on the project after approval from Tim Cook a year earlier. It was later revealed that some of Apple’s key team members and new hires from the automotive industry are currently working on this project. Earlier this week, Apple hired Doug Betts, who is the former Senior Vice President of the Chrysler Groups and the global head of operations leading product service and quality. Apple also hired Paul Furgale, who is a researcher with a specialization in autonomous vehicles.

APPLE CEO AND EXECUTIVES VISITED BMW IN GERMANY

According to news reports, the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, along with other Apple executives, recently met with BMW in Leipzig, Germany to visit the car maker’s i3 product line. Apple is allegedly interested in the carbon fiber shell that the i3 is manufactured with.

BMW’s i3 was a very well received electric car that gets around 80 miles on a charge and has an optional gas-based range extender which can add a few gallons worth of range to the vehicle for longer commutes. However, this is not going to become a game-changing car.

APPLE IS TO MAKE MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS TO I3 MODEL

If Apple is indeed going to use the i3 model, they will have to do some major work to make the i3 more industry breaking. This wouldn’t be very uncommon for Apple, who have been known the incorporate more features that aren’t available from the competition when it enters markets.

This automotive industry is one of the few meaningful additions to the Apple scale. Electric vehicles and cars that can operate on autopilot have been taking off within in the past few years. Apple’s interest is not surprising, as Google has been working with cars for a while.

The report says that Apple has been in negotiations with BMW since the fall of last year, but have yet to come to an agreement.

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Apple Reportedly in Talk with BMW About New Car Project

Google Self-Driving Car Gets Rear-Ended - http://clapway.com/2015/07/17/google-self-driving-car-gets-rear-ended234/

Three Google Employees Suffered Minor Injuries in Accident

Self-driving cars are no longer a thing for the distant future. Google has been hard at work perfecting it as an art, but with that work comes concerns about how a Google self-driving car can work. These cars have been involved in accidents in the past when being tested out as prototypes, and this month it happened again. Google has recently made a blog post about a July 1st incident in Mountain View, CA. The Google self-driving car was stopped at a red light relatively close to the Google headquarters, when another vehicle rear-ended the prototype, a Lexus RX450h that had been equipped with special Google sensors and software. The three employees in the car were briefly hospitalized as a precaution for suffering minor whiplash, making this the first accident with a Google self-driving car where injuries were sustained.

Google Cars Have Had Several Accidents, But Not Been At Fault

With the Google self-driving car having been tested since 2009, accidents are no surprise. And considering that timespan, Google’s record with it seems less spotty – 14 accidents over a span of 6 years and one million test miles. Of these 14 accidents, the Google self-driving car has never actually been found at fault for any of the collisions. In fact, 11 of the 14 collisions fit the description of the most recent accident – a motorist rear-ending a Google self-driving car. It turns out the scariest part of being in a Google self-driving car are the other drivers on the road getting distracted!

Other Safety Concerns Are What’s Plaguing the Google Self-Driving Car

Google has said that by 2020, the technology for manufacturers to build self-driving cars will be more readily available. Hopefully that gives Google enough time to work out the kinks of their car, because even though it hasn’t been responsible for accidents, there are still a lot of steps before the Google self-driving car has been perfected as an option for all drivers. It still has difficulty navigating large and complicated parking lots, and has some problems with snow and rain. There are also issues with how the Google self-driving car can deal with unpredictable obstacles in the road. It’s not in the distant future anymore, but we still have a ways to go before Google self-driving cars are a mainstay on the road.

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Google Self-Driving Car Gets Rear-Ended

Google Car Almost Crashes with Another Self-Driving Car - http://clapway.com/2015/06/26/google-car-almost-crashes-with-another-self-driving-car876/

A Google self-driving car that was testing self-driving technology to be featured in Google’s upcoming “koala car” almost got into an accident with a rival self-driving Audi from the company Delphi Automotive. Delphi Automotive said that they had to take appropriate action after reportedly getting cut off by the Google self-driving car.

THE FIRST OF ITS KIND

This close call between Google and Delphi is the first ever incident that involved two separate self-driving cars.

The new development comes following a report from Google in May, revealing its own group of cars as having had 11 minor accidents since the program began in 2009. The director of this program, Chris Urmson, noted that not one self-driving car was the direct cause of an accident. He also said that many of these accidents involved the car being rear ended by another vehicle.

minor accidents COMMON AMONG SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES

This is clearly quite common among companies with self-driving vehicles. Delphi Automotive, a self-driving car startup, reported that they had an accident with one of their own cars in October of 2014. The accident report showed that it was broadsided by another car while it was waiting to make a left turn. However, the Delphi Automotive car was not actually in self-driving mode at the time of the accident. Under California law, it was still required to report the accident.

As of May 2014, there were a total of seven companies that held testing permits in the state. This allowed them to operate a total of 48 self-driving vehicles. None of the other five companies has reported any accidents with its cars.

KOALA cars ARE GOING TO BE EVERYWHERE

Also on Thursday, Google announced that its self-driving cars, which it nicknamed Koala cars, are going to be taking to public roads soon. The company states that they are designed to work without pedals or a steering wheel. During the current phase they will have safety drivers in the car with a removable steering wheel, accelerator pedals and a brake pedal. These features allow the safety driver to take over driving if needed. The car’s speed is capped at 25 mph, and it will use the same software that the Lexus uses.

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If trusting a machine to drive for you is too much, you can at least put your faith in the adorable yet intelligent MUSIO robot.

Google Car Almost Crashes with Another Self-Driving Car

Hyundai Pairs with Google to Release Cars that Come Standard with Android - http://clapway.com/2015/05/27/hyundai-pairs-with-google-to-release-cars-that-come-standard-with-android-234/

Hyundai has partnered with Google to do what has never been done before. There have options to add Android to vehicles after they are purchased, but for the first time car buyers have the opportunity to purchase their car standard with Android from Google built into the car. This will allow users operating with Android devices to use hands free applications while driving their vehicles. The display inside of the Hyundai changes from a standard Hyundai operating system to the newest Google system, and current Hyundai owners can also take advantage of the new operating system, by having their cars updated to feature the software.

What are the reasons for installing Android in Cars?

While no car can ever be entirely distraction free, auto makers Hyundai hope that in alleviating the need to look down at your phone by displaying information elsewhere in the vehicle, they can reduce the number of accidents caused by distractions on the road. Wireless commands are also built into most models of Hyundai cars, but this upgrade takes advantage of the systems already in place to offer drivers a better experience. Hyundai explains some measures they  have taken to ensure these applications enforce the safety of the driver, “The smartphones screen becomes “locked”, so drivers are not tempted to look down and interact with their phones directly while Android Auto is in use.”

Is there a growing market for phone friendly software in cars?

Both Android and IOS development teams believe so, because apple is offering its own alternative to what Android developers have created, known as Car Play, which has been available in the Hyundai brand of vehicles before Android.

The release of the Android software will first be available in one of their most popular Vehicles the Hyundai “Sonata”. As technology increases, so to do the distractions presented to every driver on the road. With companies like Google integrating the Android software into vehicles, they hope to not only save lives by reducing distractions, but also to seize an opportunity that has presented itself in the market. The consumer may still be undecided about whether to purchase Android or Apple, but now at least they won’t have to decide which is more compatible in their cars…

Hyundai Pairs with Google to Release Cars that Come Standard with Android