Autonomous cars!

[unixronin]

The fully autonomous self-driving car is here, being beta-tested by Google.

...Well, OK, they're not quite to the public-beta stage yet.  But this looks as though they've basically got the technology down:

With someone behind the wheel to take control if something goes awry and a technician in the passenger seat to monitor the navigation system, seven test cars have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only occasional human control.  One even drove itself down Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the steepest and curviest streets in the nation.  The only accident, engineers said, was when one Google car was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light.

141,000 miles with only a single accident, in which the robot car was not at fault, is a pretty enviable record for most human drivers.

Comments

[hugh_mannity]

I do hope it doesn't run under windows:

From Land Rover

[unixronin]

From Google? I'll bet it doesn't.

In fact, if I had to guess, I'd guess the most likely OS for it is probably Android.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

I just want it for that long drive down I-5 that I take for LA cons. I already drive it on mental automatic, how nice if it was Real Automatic. ;)
And yes, I already drive a Prius, so I just need their hardware/software. :)