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Google's driverless car is stopped by police

By T.K. Randall
November 13, 2015 · Comment icon 34 comments

The driverless vehicle was pulled over by a police officer. Image Credit: Google
One of Google's new autonomous vehicles was pulled over by the police in California for driving too slow.
While the technology might still be in its infancy, the concept of owning a car that can drive all on its own without human intervention has been gradually becoming a reality over the last few years.

At the forefront of this brave new world is Internet search giant Google which has been developing and testing a variety of driverless car technologies on the streets of Mountain View, California.

One of this week's trial runs didn't quite go according to plan however when the car was pulled over by a policeman because it was only travelling at 24mph in a 35mph zone.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles described the car as "overly-cautious" and detailed how an officer had "noticed traffic backing up behind a slow-moving car in the eastbound lane."
"The officer stopped the car and made contact with the operators to learn more about how it was choosing speeds along certain roadways and to educate the operators about impeding traffic," the department wrote in a report about the incident.

Google has received complaints before about the "excessively polite" nature of its autonomous vehicles and has vowed to improve their performance by making them drive "more humanistically."

With over 90% of road accidents attributed to human error, some experts believe that a world dominated by self-driving cars would be a much safer place to live in.

Whether that will actually happen anytime soon however remains to be seen.

Source: BBC News | Comments (34)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #25 Posted by Frank Merton 9 years ago
You reall think everyone on Earth will give driving up to the machines? I for one am not letting a computer drive me around. You have no idea how dinosaurish that sounds.
Comment icon #26 Posted by Frank Merton 9 years ago
I would say though that there will still be accidents, since cars that drive themselves will have to calculate probabilities rather than certainties. With other cars also driving themselves that won't be hard, but until the transition is completed and there still are people driving, the computers will have to err on the side of caution in the assumptions about the other cars that makes -- hence going too slow. A few weeks ago I saw a terrible accident where a truck hit a water buffalo. Now what is an automatic car gonna do when it detects a water buffalo walking near the road? It's gonna have ... [More]
Comment icon #27 Posted by AustinHinton 9 years ago
You have no idea how dinosaurish that sounds. Well excuse me for not wanting to put my life in the hands of a calculator! You know, half the fun of having a car is driving it. Remember back when the "Smart" car came out, and everyone was saying that in a few years everyone would be driving one? Well, it's 2015 and I've only seen maybe a total of ten. I'm not technophobic, I have an iPad2, after all. Technology can do great things, but I draw the line at self-driving cars. Is that ok with all of you?
Comment icon #28 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
Well excuse me for not wanting to put my life in the hands of a calculator! Is that ok with all of you? No. No it's not. You put your life in the hands of a "calculator" every day when you step outside. Drive a car? A calculator built that. Stoplights? Calculator. Ever fly in a plane? Calculator. Take any meds? Made and packed by calculators. Buy any pre packaged foods? Calculators. Good luck living in the modern world without putting your life in the hands of a "calculator".
Comment icon #29 Posted by Ealdwita 9 years ago
Even Arnie has trouble with them!
Comment icon #30 Posted by OverSword 9 years ago
You reall think everyone on Earth will give driving up to the machines? I for one am not letting a computer drive me around. You won't really have a choice because the roads will be one big cooperative unit and cars that aren't part of the system will muck it up. It will in fact be illegal to drive in many places. At first it will just be in and around big cities so people will be able to drive in rural areas for a while after this is implemented but sooner or later that will go away too. I'm imagining this will be paid for by taxing the living daylights out of us but since we won't have all o... [More]
Comment icon #31 Posted by AustinHinton 9 years ago
I though this was a place where one was free to have opinions, it seems I was wrong. Also, I do not want to be part of a swarm, in any way, shape or form.
Comment icon #32 Posted by OverSword 9 years ago
LOL!
Comment icon #33 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
Even Arnie has trouble with them! That movie has the best commentary by Arnold. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vHVii6RsPg
Comment icon #34 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
I though this was a place where one was free to have opinions, it seems I was wrong. Also, I do not want to be part of a swarm, in any way, shape or form. So because several people disagree with you, you no longer are free to have an opinion? On a DISCUSSION board, there are going to be people who disagree with you and DISCUSS things. If you want a bunch of yes men, try one of the less reputable forums.


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