USA TODAY International Edition
GOOGLE DOES THE DRIVING
Take a spin in self- driving car,
You know you’re a slow driver when the motorist scowling behind you is a senior citizen. But cut Google Car some slack. It’s new to the planet.
“We’re conscious of the impression we can make while driving around town,” says Nathaniel Fairfield, who leads software design for the search company’s 5year- old self- driving car project. “If we need to, we’ll take control from the computer. But mainly, it’s out here to learn.”
By all accounts, Google Car is getting smart fast. USA TODAY spent a day recently with project lead Chris Urmson, riding in one of the gadget- laden Lexus selfdriving cars that collect road data.
Urmson is delivering a TED Talk today in Vancouver about the state of the project. Urmson, a boyish Carnegie Mellon Ph. D. graduate and a past winner of the DARPA Grand Challenge for robotic cars, says his team is nearing a finish line of sorts.
Google anticipates introducing its two- person pods to Mountain View’s streets here later this year. The mission will be to vet the vehicles before they are ready for consumers, which should be within five years.
“I have a son who’s 11 and the notion that he could get a driver’s permit in five years is a terrible thing,” Urmson says with a laugh. “So that’s our goal, to help him.”
PARTNER, NOT BUILD
Another insight from Urmson is the fact that Google does not plan to build fleets of small driverless cars. Instead, it’ll call in the experts. “Making cars is really hard, and the car companies are quite good at it,” he says. “So, in my mind, the solution is to find a partnership.”
Inside a Google garage on its corporate campus, Jaime Waydo, Google Car’s lead vehicle develop- ment engineer, gives a quick overview of the vehicles on display. On one end is a Lexus with offthe- shelf radar and lasers, one of which cost $ 75,000. Then there’s another Lexus whose gizmos are a bit sleeker, and finally one with Google- built tech.
The last two cars in the lineup are pod- car prototypes, each with progressively smaller sensors. Other than a tiny bubble- top laser scanner, the most recent iteration of Google Car has the bulk of its gadgetry hidden in the bodywork.
“There’s no doubt that the auto industry at large has come to understand the importance of selfdriving cars, but Google has a distinctive lead over other initiatives,” says Thilo Koslowski, vice president and automotive practice leader at Gartner.
It helps when you have rocket scientists on the team. Before joining Google, Waydo — the development engineer — was busy helping three Rovers ramble around Mars for NASA.
“In many ways, this earthly environment is far more challenging because you’re dealing with pedestrians and all sorts of other unknowns,” she says. “Ultimately, I’m here because I believe in this tech,” she says. “I believe it’ll change the world.”
NO CHANCING IT
Back here on Earth, Google Car — in our case, the Lexus with the $ 75,000 laser on the top — is annoying a white- haired man who pulls alongside with arms waiving. The Google Car had been waiting about four minutes at an intersection before finally deciding the coast was clear. Honking had ensued.
The drive provided other glimpses into an autonomous car future. Suffice to say, it’s a cautious one. During one stretch of empty road, cars were blowing by the white gadget- loaded Lexus.
“That’s because our car knows this is a school zone, and the max speed is 25,” says Brian Torcellini, who heads the driver team.
Safety, in fact, is a big selling point for autonomous cars, and if they can “cut into even a percentage of the 92% of accidents that are caused by human error, people will demand this technology,” says Gartner’s Koslowski. OBSTACLE DETECTED
Back on the street, our robotics- pumped Lexus is quietly trying to avoid any potential for a bang- up.
During one stretch, a delivery truck was protruding into our right- hand lane. What did Google Car do? It detected the obstacle and edged ever- so- slightly toward the center stripe after checking that no other car was to our left.
“The biggest progress we’ve made after five years of doing this eight hours a day is dealing with the uncertainties created by construction,” says Fairfield, noting that Google Car is programmed to follow new routes delineated by cones and detect stop signs held up by workers. “But sometimes, it doesn’t quite know what’s happening.”
Such as the time a woman in a wheelchair darted into the road, wielding a broom and chasing a duck. What did Google Car do? Just what you or I might, it stared.
“The car simply stopped until it saw the road was clear,” Fairfield says with a shrug. “It’s a robot. It doesn’t mind chilling.”
“I’m here because I believe in this tech. I believe it’ll change the world.”
Jaime Waydo, Google Car’s lead vehicle development engineer