Google's self-driving experiment heads towards next phase
Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Automotive News Canada
  • Automotive News Europe
  • Automotive News Mexico
  • Automotive News China
AN-LOGO-BLUE
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Account
  • login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • Dealers
    • Automakers & Suppliers
    • News by Brand
    • Cars & Concepts
    • Shift
    • Mobility Report
    • Special Reports
    • Digital Edition Archive
    • Self-driving cars might make people sick to their stomachs
      Going Hollywood
      Q&A with Chris Bangle
      A penny for your thoughts
    • Former Intel exec to lead Mich. mobility center
      Who wants VW's MEB architecture?
      GM will launch electric bike sales in Europe
      VW seeks to tap potentially lucrative ride-sharing market
    • Dealerships owned by ex-NFL stars face collapse, litigation
      Want a luxury car? Try a Kia
      Costly lesson of tortuous legal battle: Get it in writing
      Denny Hecker: A changed man?
    • Access F&I
    • Fixed Ops Journal
    • Marketing
    • Used Cars
    • Sales
    • Best Practices
    • Dealership Buy/Sell
    • NADA
    • NADA Show
    • Automakers
    • Manufacturing
    • Suppliers
    • Regulations & Safety
    • Executives
    • Leading Woman Network
    • PACE Awards
    • CES
    • Management Briefing Seminars
    • World Congress
    • Aston Martin
    • BMW
      • Mini
      • Rolls Royce
    • Daimler
      • Mercedes Benz
      • Smart
    • Fiat Chrysler
      • Alfa Romeo
      • Chrysler
      • Dodge
      • Ferrari
      • Fiat
      • Jeep
      • Maserati
      • Ram
    • Ford
      • Lincoln
    • General Motors
      • Buick
      • Cadillac
      • Chevrolet
      • GMC
      • Holden
    • Honda
      • Acura
    • Hyundai
      • Genesis
      • Kia
    • Mazda
    • Mitsubishi
    • Nissan
      • Infiniti
    • PSA
      • Citroen
      • Opel
      • Peugeot
      • Vauxhall
    • Renault
    • Subaru
    • Suzuki
    • Tata
      • Jaguar
      • Land Rover
    • Tesla
    • Toyota
      • Lexus
    • Volkswagen
      • Audi
      • Bentley
      • Bugatti
      • Lamborghini
      • Porsche
      • Seat
      • Skoda
    • Volvo
    • (Discontinued Brands)
    • Auto Shows
      • Detroit Auto Show
      • New York Auto Show
      • Los Angeles Auto Show
      • Chicago Auto Show
      • Geneva Auto Show
      • Paris Auto Show
      • Frankfurt Auto Show
      • Toronto Auto Show
      • Tokyo Auto Show
      • Shanghai Auto Show
      • Beijing Auto Show
    • Future Product Pipeline
    • Photo Galleries
    • Car Cutaways
    • Design
  • OPINION
    • Blogs
    • Cartoons
    • Keith Crain
    • Automotive Views with Jason Stein
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send us a Letter
    • Tesla introduces 'Dog Mode' to keep pets cool inside the car
      A GM investment in Rivian would send the wrong messages
      Bad policy, worse political strategy on auto tariffs
      Will Jaguar replace XE, XF sedans with a single EV?
    • Dealers need to be ready for anything
      EVs will come with economic cost
      Spend money on sales, not stores
      Put it on your bucket list
    • Feb. 15, 2019: EV startup gets Amazon, GM interest
      Jan. 4, 2019 | Bumpy road ahead for Detroit’s automakers and suppliers?
    • Bad policy, worse political strategy on auto tariffs
      Elaine Chao: A speedier path for innovation
      Industry initiatives seek to ease tech shortage, but challenges remain
      Drivers for ride-hailing services can be a prime source of fixed ops profits
    • NADA can help fight stair step incentives
      Let dealers invest in innovation, not renovations
      Hackett's vision for Ford is still a blur
      The last temptation of Elon Musk
    • Customer-centric approach set Tesla apart
      Cadillac falls short on marketing, luxury
      Thank you, Sting, for Oshawa efforts
      Deeper issues in tech shortage
  • DATA CENTER
  • VIDEO
    • AutoNews Now
    • First Shift
    • Special Video Reports
    • Weekend Drive
  • EVENTS & AWARDS
    • Events
    • Awards
    • World Congress
    • Retail Forum: NADA
    • Canada Congress
    • Marketing 360: L.A.
    • Europe Congress
    • Fixed Ops Journal Forum
    • Retail Forum: Chicago
    • Leading Women Conference Detroit
    • 100 Leading Woman
    • 40 Under 40 Retail
    • All-Stars
    • Best Dealership To Work For
    • PACE Awards
    • Rising Stars
    • Europe Rising Stars
  • JOBS
  • +MORE
    • Webinars
    • Leading Women Network
    • Custom Features
    • Classifieds
    • People on the Move
    • Newsletters
    • Contact Us
    • Media Kit
    • Ally: Do It Right
    • Guide To Economic Development
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Technology
May 19, 2014 01:00 AM

Google's self-driving experiment heads towards next phase

Gabe Nelson
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    GABE NELSON
    + Enlarge This GraphicSource: Google

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Google's self-driving car has never driven in the snow, gets puzzled by parking lots and cannot comprehend the hand signals from a traffic cop in an intersection.

    For all its cameras, lasers and sensors, the car of the future still can't do all the things that human drivers can.

    And yet, Google has come so far so fast with its 5-year-old experiment in autonomous driving that members of the self-driving team are now speaking more confidently than ever before about the next phase of its ambitious research project: moving the technology out of tricked-out test vehicles and into real-world cars and trucks.

    Google executives talk regularly with multiple automakers about the technology, and they're thinking hard about the best way to deliver a product that makes driving safer and traffic jams less tedious, Christopher Urmson, the director of the self-driving cars project, told reporters during a rare media briefing last week near Google's corporate headquarters here.

    "It has to be at a price point where the value to the customer exceeds the cost to the customer," Urmson said of the eventual product. "We're working on that."

    In Google's eyes, the imperative is strong. Each year, more than 30,000 people die on U.S. roadways from accidents mostly caused by human error. Ron Medford, who was second in command at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration before becoming director of safety for the self-driving cars project in 2012, said he expects autonomous cars to be one of the three biggest lifesavers in the history of auto safety, along with seat belts and electronic stability control.

    Photo

    Urmson: Value must top cost.

    'Trust it enough'

    After last week's media briefing, Google drove dozens of journalists on 25-minute loops of Mountain View, during which the car confidently followed a preset route with virtually no need for human intervention. (See story, Page 30.)

    The company made clear that it still has big technological challenges ahead, including refining the maps and software that have allowed its modified vehicles to rack up more than 700,000 miles in autonomous mode since 2009. Google also must win the blessing of safety regulators and the trust of a skeptical public.

    A fully autonomous vehicle will not be offered "until it's safe and ready to be on the road," Urmson said.

    "We think about that constantly. We want to make sure that when the technology comes to market, that you trust it enough to have it out there."

    But each step forward in Google's project widens the path for automakers to shift more control from driver to car, a trend that began decades ago with automatic transmissions, power steering and cruise control and now encompasses features that can intervene to prevent a crash, such as electronic stability control and automatic braking.

    More automakers are now looking at making the jump to a fully autonomous car. Volvo recently announced plans to put 100 self-driving cars on public roads in its hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, by 2017. Mercedes-Benz said last year that a modified S-class sedan drove 62 miles from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany, on city and highway roads. Nissan, for its part, pledged to have a fully autonomous car ready for deployment by 2020. General Motors, moving step by step, says by 2020 it will launch a feature called Super Cruise that can take control of the steering and pedals once a driver is locked into a highway lane.

    Google's prototype self-driving vehicles have become a familiar sight here. Originally, the fleet consisted of modified Toyota Priuses, and, since 2012, modified versions of the Lexus RX 450h.

    The heavy testing has helped Google work out kinks in everything from mapping to software to the costly sensors that provide a 360-degree view of a car's surroundings.

    The vehicles start off with a combination of off-the-shelf cameras and radar sensors, like the ones automakers use for features such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and automatic emergency braking.

    The one big difference is the spinning, roof-mounted laser turret, which Google gets from Bay Area technology firm Velodyne Inc.

    Key questions

    Underlying all the systems is a software combination of GPS and 3D maps that depict the world in detail that goes well beyond Google Earth or Google Street View. Google says it has mapped out about 2,000 miles of roads at that level of detail, which includes everything from curb heights to lane markings to traffic lights.

    Andrew Chatham, mapping lead for Google's self-driving cars project, said the systems work together to answer four questions: Where am I? What's around me? What will they do? What will I do?

    The answer to the first question comes from looking at GPS and the 3D maps. "We tell [the car] what the world is expected to look like when it's empty," Chatham said. "It's the job of the software to figure out how the world is different from that expectation."

    Ultimately, the task of controlling the car is fairly simple, says Dmitri Dolgov, the software lead at Google. It basically requires two inputs, one for acceleration and braking and one for steering. But to get to that point, Google has had to write an enormously complex program to do what human drivers do in their heads: predict how cars, cyclists and pedestrians will behave and be ready to react to every situation imaginable. Google's cars are programmed to handle thousands of driving situations, including crossing railroad tracks and creeping into a crowded intersection to make a left turn.

    Google's early tests in 2011 and 2012 focused mostly on freeways, which are normally free of cross-traffic and pedestrians and far more predictable than surface roads. In early 2013, tests transitioned to urban driving, as Google mapped out hundreds of secondary and tertiary streets across Mountain View, Chatham said.

    Still, Google has mapped only about 2,000 miles of roads in total -- merely as much as it needs to refine the technology, Chatham says. To commercialize it, Google would need far greater coverage. The United States has 4 million miles of public roads. "We really have our work cut out for us," Chatham said.

    Google engineers haven't said much yet about the business model for the company's autonomous car technology. It could try to sell or design its own car but is seen as more likely to partner with manufacturers to have its equipment installed.

    Google co-founder Sergey Brin set a goal in late 2012 of having the technology commercialized within five years.

    Urmson said last week he has his own timeline in mind: going to market by the time his 10-year-old son starts to drive, six years from now.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Digital Edition
    THIS WEEK'S EDITION
    See our archive
    Fixed Ops Journal
    Thumbnail
    Read the issue
    See our archive
    Sign up for free newsletters
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get Free Newsletters

    Sign up and get the best of Automotive News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Now

    Get access to in-depth, authoritative coverage of the auto industry from a global team of reporters and editors covering the news that's vital to your business.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter

    Our Mission

    The Automotive News mission is to be the primary source of industry news, data and understanding for the industry's decision-makers interested in North America.

    AN-LOGO-BLUE
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit, Michigan
    48207-2997

    (877) 812-1584

    Email us

    Resources
    • About us
    • Contact Us
    • Media Kit
    • Subscribe
    • Manage your account
    • Reprints
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    Copyright © 1996-2019. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • HOME
    • NEWS
      • Dealers
        • Access F&I
        • Fixed Ops Journal
        • Marketing
        • Used Cars
        • Sales
        • Best Practices
        • Dealership Buy/Sell
        • NADA
        • NADA Show
      • Automakers & Suppliers
        • Automakers
        • Manufacturing
        • Suppliers
        • Regulations & Safety
        • Executives
        • Leading Woman Network
        • PACE Awards
        • CES
        • Management Briefing Seminars
        • World Congress
      • News by Brand
        • Aston Martin
        • BMW
          • Mini
          • Rolls Royce
        • Daimler
          • Mercedes Benz
          • Smart
        • Fiat Chrysler
          • Alfa Romeo
          • Chrysler
          • Dodge
          • Ferrari
          • Fiat
          • Jeep
          • Maserati
          • Ram
        • Ford
          • Lincoln
        • General Motors
          • Buick
          • Cadillac
          • Chevrolet
          • GMC
          • Holden
        • Honda
          • Acura
        • Hyundai
          • Genesis
          • Kia
        • Mazda
        • Mitsubishi
        • Nissan
          • Infiniti
        • PSA
          • Citroen
          • Opel
          • Peugeot
          • Vauxhall
        • Renault
        • Subaru
        • Suzuki
        • Tata
          • Jaguar
          • Land Rover
        • Tesla
        • Toyota
          • Lexus
        • Volkswagen
          • Audi
          • Bentley
          • Bugatti
          • Lamborghini
          • Porsche
          • Seat
          • Skoda
        • Volvo
        • (Discontinued Brands)
      • Cars & Concepts
        • Auto Shows
          • Detroit Auto Show
          • New York Auto Show
          • Los Angeles Auto Show
          • Chicago Auto Show
          • Geneva Auto Show
          • Paris Auto Show
          • Frankfurt Auto Show
          • Toronto Auto Show
          • Tokyo Auto Show
          • Shanghai Auto Show
          • Beijing Auto Show
        • Future Product Pipeline
        • Photo Galleries
        • Car Cutaways
        • Design
      • Shift
      • Mobility Report
      • Special Reports
      • Digital Edition Archive
    • OPINION
      • Blogs
      • Cartoons
      • Keith Crain
      • Automotive Views with Jason Stein
      • Columnists
      • Editorials
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Send us a Letter
    • DATA CENTER
    • VIDEO
      • AutoNews Now
      • First Shift
      • Special Video Reports
      • Weekend Drive
    • EVENTS & AWARDS
      • Events
        • World Congress
        • Retail Forum: NADA
        • Canada Congress
        • Marketing 360: L.A.
        • Europe Congress
        • Fixed Ops Journal Forum
        • Retail Forum: Chicago
        • Leading Women Conference Detroit
      • Awards
        • 100 Leading Woman
        • 40 Under 40 Retail
        • All-Stars
        • Best Dealership To Work For
        • PACE Awards
        • Rising Stars
        • Europe Rising Stars
    • JOBS
    • +MORE
      • Webinars
      • Leading Women Network
      • Custom Features
        • Ally: Do It Right
        • Guide To Economic Development
      • Classifieds
      • People on the Move
      • Newsletters
      • Contact Us
      • Media Kit