One of the first things I noticed during my ride in one of Google's driverless cars was the big red kill button between the two front seats. During my 20-minute demo, we never needed the button. In fact, the ride was so smooth that I soon forgot it was there. Safety will be a selling point for driverless cars. Human error accounts for the vast majority of traffic accidents, research has shown.
But if you remove the human, is the technology good enough to make the roads safer? It's too soon to tell, but that's not stopping Google, as well as Toyota and GM, from touting the technology.
One demographic seen as a potentially big customer of these types of vehicles is the elderly. That has companies eyeing countries like Japan, the fastest-aging major economy. Chris Urmson, project director, said he'd like to see the vehicle ready for prime time in six years, when his son is ready to drive.
He added that Google is in talks with vehicle manufacturers about self-driving cars. To get a sense of how the technology currently performs, Google invited journalists to the Computer History Museum near the company's headquarters in California for a trip around town.
To my surprise, the ride wasn't jerky. Whether the car was changing lanes or making turns, the vehicle seemed to do it with the right amount of acceleration. On one street that runs next to the heart of Google's headquarters, it glided along for several hundred feet before coming to a red light.
It came almost to a complete stop before pausing to ensure it wasn't too abrupt. Then, it came to a soft stop. It then navigated a complex stoplight at Central Expressway that included a railroad crossing. It was here that the technology showed an abundance of caution. It gave the Mini Cooper in front of us several car lengths of room, a distance most folks wouldn't give.
It then slowed down when it came near a bicyclist on the right, before swinging out slightly to avoid the rider. When it comes to sharing the road, humans could learn a thing or two from this technology.
Granted, this demo didn't occur on the congested streets of Tokyo, but slow and steady (and safe) seem to be the keys to winning this race. That kill button may not get a lot of use.
But if you remove the human, is the technology good enough to make the roads safer? It's too soon to tell, but that's not stopping Google, as well as Toyota and GM, from touting the technology.
One demographic seen as a potentially big customer of these types of vehicles is the elderly. That has companies eyeing countries like Japan, the fastest-aging major economy. Chris Urmson, project director, said he'd like to see the vehicle ready for prime time in six years, when his son is ready to drive.
He added that Google is in talks with vehicle manufacturers about self-driving cars. To get a sense of how the technology currently performs, Google invited journalists to the Computer History Museum near the company's headquarters in California for a trip around town.
To my surprise, the ride wasn't jerky. Whether the car was changing lanes or making turns, the vehicle seemed to do it with the right amount of acceleration. On one street that runs next to the heart of Google's headquarters, it glided along for several hundred feet before coming to a red light.
It came almost to a complete stop before pausing to ensure it wasn't too abrupt. Then, it came to a soft stop. It then navigated a complex stoplight at Central Expressway that included a railroad crossing. It was here that the technology showed an abundance of caution. It gave the Mini Cooper in front of us several car lengths of room, a distance most folks wouldn't give.
It then slowed down when it came near a bicyclist on the right, before swinging out slightly to avoid the rider. When it comes to sharing the road, humans could learn a thing or two from this technology.
Granted, this demo didn't occur on the congested streets of Tokyo, but slow and steady (and safe) seem to be the keys to winning this race. That kill button may not get a lot of use.
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