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How Google, Tesla, and Uber Could Team Up For the Driverless Taxis of the Future
cartechboy writes "Follow the thinking for a second. Google drops $258 million into the car-taxi app Uber. Google says it will make self-driving cars available within four years, based on its ground-breaking research into self-driving cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spoken with Google about driverless technology for future Tesla vehicles. So, are we watching the assembly of a massive driverless taxi service of the future? Battery-electric vehicles make excellent autonomous taxis (very few moving parts, low per-mile energy cost, and zero noise or emissions) Could Google use some of its cash hoard to buy Tesla outright (making Elon Musk its third largest shareholder in the process), then grab Uber and turn the whole thing into an app? Musk's goal has always been to transform the very nature of transportation. This might just do that."
More at 11.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
No "JohnnyCab" tag?
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Some arguments I've heard against driverless taxis/transport services:
1. People will dirty/graffiti/vandalize/steal the vehicles
2. What if it breaks down!!!
3. It'll get lost/not understand directions
4. Somebody will hide on board to attack the next passenger
5. People will do drugs/have sex/sleep in them(see #1)
I'll note that I don't believe any of these are can't be mitigated to the point that driverless taxis are practical, or are at least no more of a problem than manned taxis.
I don't read AC A human right
Please state the nature of the transportation emergency.
Good-bye
"The problem with Google's current approach is that the sensor system is too expensive" - Musk
He's referring to the expensive Velodyne rotating array of 64 LIDARs found on top of Google's cars. It's a useful device, but it's a research tool, not something that belongs on top of production vehicles.
What's needed is a compact solid-state 3D LIDAR for outdoor use. Advanced Scientific Concepts makes such things, but they're sold to DoD for about $100K each. Typical performance is 300 meter range, 128x128 pixels, 30 FPS. There's no fundamental reason the technology needs to be that expensive; it's just that the things are hand-made at a lab in Santa Barbara, CA. (I visited them a decade ago when we were doing a DARPA Grand Challenge vehicle. Back then, they had the technology working on an optical bench, but didn't have usable hardware yet.) This technology needs to be turned into a mass market product. The current generation Kinect, (which is a true LIDAR, not a trianguation sensor like the previous model) does roughly the same thing, but with a less sensitive sensor and a weaker laser. Eventually somebody will put enough money behind this to get it right.
Imagine a carshare service like Zipcar, but instead of having to make reservations, go to the lot, etc, you open an app, say you need a car, and it just shows up a few minutes later. You run your errands, go home, and the car goes away. And you only pay a (mostly?) flat yearly subscription for the service.
City folk would jump on such an option, and probably even some suburbanites.
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!