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http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car
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Last week, a friend and I got a sneak peek at Google's new self-driving cars. In addition to spending an afternoon cheating on
my Intergalactic SpaceBoat of Light and Wonder, I got to chat with the engineers about the project.
9/2/2015 3:45 PM
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http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car
3. They're cute.
Google's new fleet was intentionally designed to look adorable. Our brains are hardwired to treat inanimate (or animate) objects with
greater care, caution, and reverence when they resemble a living thing. Psychological studies have been done whereby participants,
when asked to harm an inanimate object, were less likely to hurt the object if it had a face. Participants in the study would happily
bludgeon a potato with a hammer, unless you stuck some hair and a pair of eyeballs to the potato, at which point their moral
compasses would obediently snap into place.
By turning self-driving cars into an adorable Skynet Marshmallow Bumper Bots, Google hopes to spiritually disarm other drivers. I
also suspect the cuteness is used to quell some of the road rage that might emerge from being stuck behind one of these things. They're
intended as moderate-distance couriers, not open-road warriors, so their max speed is 25 miles per hour.
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http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car
the trip, we were attempting to make a right turn onto a busy road. Everyones attention was directed to the left, waiting for an
opening. When the road cleared and it was safe to turn right, the car didnt budge. I thought this was a bug at first, but when I looked
to my right there was a pedestrian standing very close to the curb, giving the awkward body language that he was planning on
jaywalking. This was a very human interaction: the car was waiting for a further visual cue from the pedestrian to either stop or go,
and the pedestrian waiting for a cue from the car. When the pedestrian didnt move, the self-driving car gracefully took the lead,
merged, and entered the roadway.
Freaky.
The cars use a mixture of 3D laser-mapping, GPS, and radar to analyze and interpret their surroundings, and the latest versions are
fully electric with a range of about 100 miles. The radar is interesting because it allows the car to see through objects, rather than
relying on line-of-sight. At one point during our drive the car recognized and halted for a cyclist who was concealed behind a row of
hedges.
Despite the advantages over a human being in certain scenarios, however, these cars still aren't ready for the real world. They can't
drive in the snow or heavy rain, and there's a variety of complex situations they do not process well, such as passing through a
construction zone. Google is hoping with enough logged miles and data, eventually the cars will be able to handle all of this as well (or
better) than a human could.
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http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car
-The Oatmeal
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http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car
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