Image source: Volvo
Unless you’ve been living under a tree, alone, shunning all electronic devices, in central Australia, in a town called Oodnadatta (it exists!) for the last few years, you’ve probably heard about Google venturing into automotive.
The Google Self-Driving Car Project, as it’s officially known, is Google’s ambitious project to introduce self driving cars to a mainstream audience.
While the project isn’t new, there are some particularly interesting recent developments that have moved the project on considerably which could have a far reaching and dramatic effect on the automotive industry and how people travel.
While there are still some major concerns to resolve, issues around safety and liability being the major ones, the project is gaining some serious momentum.
And with extensive test drives of autonomous cars being undertaken as we speak, it feels like only a matter of time before fully autonomous cars become part of every day life.
So, to get up to speed on what’s new, we turn to Twitter for the lowdown:
While the Google car still resembles a child’s toy, right now it’s what it does that’s important:
A look at Google’s #SelfDrivingCar from @CARandDRIVER: http://t.co/8myzBTotzr What’s your opinion of it? pic.twitter.com/oZ7afGILdm
— Better World Club (@BetterWorldClub) July 29, 2015
But interestingly, it’s not just Google who are working on autonomous cars.
A Chinese rival is also getting in on the act:
Chinese Rival To Google Working With BMW On Autonomous Car, Prototype To Launch This Year https://t.co/QrkqnsCE6e
— VEOX Early Adopters (@veox_es) July 30, 2015
And there’s even a date. 2020 is the year apparently that we will all be able to put our feet up when driving.
Is this realistic?
Time will tell:
Google plans to introduce its self-driving car to the public in 2020, according to Fortune. Ready? #selfdrivingcar http://t.co/5t8mfy03B7
— LightStream (@LS_Loans) August 1, 2015
And Google may even have their sights on manufacturing cars. This would be a complete game changer.
Especially as Google aren’t a large scale manufacturer of anything currently:
#Google Auto LLC: Could google become a large scale manufacturer for autonomous cars? http://t.co/hI7pBJZ9W4 pic.twitter.com/T7rgk7LAjJ
— Dirk Roth (@DirkCRoth) August 6, 2015
And the industry around autonomous cars is beginning to grow.
The cars needs testing areas, so companies are fighting to secure these contracts:
Silicon Valley vs Motor City: regions compete to test self-driving cars http://t.co/SQXEnnHuM3
— The Guardian (@guardian) August 16, 2015
And interestingly, the general public are starting to take notice too.
There’s little pockets of evidence to suggest that people will want to try autonomous cars when they’re available:
@Cyclestrian @CleanAirLondon Not an option for me until they are fully autonomous and cheaper to rent. Fingers crossed for Google Car though
— Lukasz Korzybski (@lkorzybski) August 11, 2015
And the clincher? Even ‘celebs’ are showing an interest…
https://twitter.com/DonOsmond/status/630808050090139648
Others are wondering about Google’s choice of existing names:
https://twitter.com/PadmaVaralli/status/630567312567894016
Will the future of automotive be solely autonomous? Some think so!
This looks pretty cool though, if collisions could be reduced to close to zero through the removal of human error (which Google suggests accounts for 94% of accidents) then faster travel could happen safely…
Ultimate Car Guy Says Ultimate Future May Be all Electric & Autonomous – Apple/Google may win #ev @automotive_news http://t.co/IHKy5NQfJF
— CALSTART (@CALSTART) August 7, 2015
But are Google looking at even more advances?
We hold complete control over when to drive our cars, but how will an autonomous car decide?
https://twitter.com/AutonomousCaRR/status/628534867563646976
And it’s not just Google who are getting in on the act, Apple are at it too:
Apple is joining the likes of Google and other unlikely tech companies turned car manufacturers to build autonomous vehicles
— UFO Battery (@ufo_battery) August 13, 2015
Ultimately it seems that production isn’t too far off:
Google autonomous car edges closer to production http://t.co/uYblBkvZ0g #cars pic.twitter.com/6cGoKA43L6
— Ralph Smith (@ralmart01) August 4, 2015
So, what do you think? Are autonomous cars a good thing?
Are they inevitable or will the hugely complex challenges around bringing them to consumers prove too great?
You can be sure of one thing, they won’t be going away soon…