How Google's robo-cars mean the end of driving as we know it
Why
waste your drive time doing the actual driving, when technology can be
your chauffeur? The century-old auto culture is on the verge of radical
change, and you can thank Google for where it's headed.
Google's self-driving Lexus RX450h
(Credit:
Google)
Google's self-driving
car initiative is moving into a new phase: reality.
Three years after first showing the world what it was up to -- rolling
out a Toyota Prius with laser-scanning hardware awkwardly perched on the
roof -- Google is moving its big idea out of the lab and into the real
world.
Consider recent developments: A spokesman confirmed to
CNET that the company was in what were described as productive talks
with automakers involving Google's self-driving technology. Separately,
Google is reported to be crafting a
partnership with auto supplier Continental. And there's even the
possibility of Google-powered robo-taxis sometime in the future.
The computerization of cars Motivation aside, a big change is
unde way, and it requires us to start thinking of cars very
differently. Vehicles that drive themselves are the clearest example of
what happens when cars transform into full-scale, general-purpose
computing systems. But it's not the only example. Self-driving and
connected cars will bristle with sensors, negotiate with traffic lights,
talk to each other about safety conditions, join into train-like
platoons, and become members of intelligent urban transit networks.
Historically, the car industry has focused on passive safety --
items like seatbelts and airbags. With the arrival of active safety
technology that lets vehicles take pre-emptive action, cars will use
data to help them decide what to do when drivers aren't paying attention
or don't know what to do.
A lot of this boils down to communication. Sure, cars are getting more
computing smarts, but so much of what's promised requires more data, and
that requires ways to transmit it. How will that happen? As with
personal computing, it will be a bit of a mess, with multiple networking
technologies for multiple needs.
Computing today uses a handful of networks for different circumstances
-- Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, and Bluetooth among them. When automotive computing
becomes a facet of personal computing, you can expect those standards to
carry over. But then you can add some new network technologies designed
to serve vehicles. The biggest are the
802.11p and the accompanying higher-level
dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) standards, which govern how
vehicles communicate with each other (V2V) and with infrastructure (V2I).
That technology, which rides the 5.9GHz frequency range for radio
communications, can be used for things like collision avoidance,
managing traffic at intersections, and linking cars into
coordinated, fuel-efficient groups called platoons. Carmakers, however, are
worried about interference on the 5.9GHz band if the US Federal Communications Commission permits other uses of the spectrum.
SOURCE:CNET
