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Google's Self-Driving Cars Now Know When To Honk (engadget.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: Google's self-driving cars are not only getting smarter by the day, but they're also getting a little bit more polite. According to the project's latest monthly report, the self-driving car team has recently been teaching the car's AI when and how to honk the horn and give the human drivers on the road a helpful heads up. In order to train its honking algorithm, the team tested a variety of honk-worthy situations, like a car backing out of a blind driveway or a car headed the wrong way down a one-way street. At first, the car would play a little honk sound inside the vehicle so engineers could record whether there was a legitimate need for a honk and provide teaching feedback. Once they felt the AI was ready, they let it blare its horn to the world. The report goes on to say Google has "sound-designed the self-driving car's 'hum' so pedestrians and cyclists around the car can hear it coming." The sound increases when the car speeds up, and decreases when the car slows down.
Is about to become a thing.
Who's got the keys to the Jeep?
Vrooooooooommmmmm
Will the cars honk at texting Meanderthal idioticus fools who walk out into traffic?
Or do us all the favor, not honk, and squash them?
Only honking is not enough
Since Google's self driving car are running on computers and computer can differentiate different dangerous situations Google should make their cars 'talk' --- like "Watch out, I'm on your left lane!" or 'get the fuck out of my lane, asshole!', or something like that!
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
if (location - evilcorpHQ < 100) {
horn.honk(5000);
}
if (location - tinderuser.closest < 50) {
horn.honk(50);
horn.honk(50);
}
Teaching the cars when to extend the middle finger and how to curse other cars.
Because his priority is texting instead of driving.
I'll wait to reserve my autonomous car until it can give someone the finger, though ...
So it hums and it honks? Maybe they should wash it once in a while.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
... self-driving cars learn to read bumper-stickers and figure out which ones to honk for, or angrily at, and which ones to dignifiedly ignore.
I guess they will honk each time they read a bumper-sticker with 'Honk if you love Jesus' or 'Honk if you're horny'.
Will the honking algorithm take cultural differences into account? In New York City, will it really lay on the horn to say "cut it out, jackass!", but in rural Iowa, just give a brief toot to say "Hey there neighbor! No offense, but you might want to be more careful with your driving!"
You could always move, I don't think it would change the way you are though.
You are, however, still required to flip people off manually.
Here in Portland Oregon, you could drive for years without ever hearing someone honk their horn.
Aww, did precious snowflake have to wait 3s on the way to work this morning? Here, have a Snickers bar.
Stop the noise pollution the 3 adults that ride bikes on the road around me can deal. The kids are smart enough to use the sidewalks.
No sir I dont like it.
Hum? All the time? Come on, what we don't need is more noise. More than any other vehicles, Google cars are aware of potentially intruding objects. Make the sounds when they might help. Do not make sounds when unnecessary. What is it about current society that wants noise all the time?
Will there be a NYC mode where it will do an angry honk .05 second after the light turns green? If not, it's a non-starter for NYC drivers.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
tell me when it gets road rage and starts honking at pedestrians before mowing them over and then i'll be impressed! :)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Right, because that's the problem with texting while driving.
This reminds of a completely irrelevant joke: A man comes into a pub carrying a goose. The publican asks "Does it honk?" - "No", says the man, "- he can hold his drink".
Another US-centric algorithm! Absolutely wrong for some of the world's major cities, Rome, Mexico City, Manila, etc.
Right, because that's the problem with texting while driving.
No, it's just the one you're complaining about.
and then I would be impressed.
HONK HONK
while(location == Boston)
horn.honk;
end
You'd think everyone was in a rush going to save someone's life that's critical at the hospital.
How many milliseconds to they allow between a light turning green and the first honk?
Does it hum ice cream truck music?
All it takes is one wrong honk toward one wrong recipient and it's lights-out for the nerd inside the Google car.
My wife and I shared the driving about equally. Equally concerned about safety, we didn't want the driver to be distracted by orally abusing and gesticulating at offending drivers we encountered on our journeys. It's an important function of driving, but reduces overall safety. We settled on a plan such that whoever was driving would continue on course even after a serious transgression by a road companion ... while the passenger would open the window and express his/her self at the offender with extreme vocal energy and gestures involving arms, fingers and facial disapproval.
It is important that bad drivers are clearly admonished at the moment of their failures or they will not learn. Anyone who trains a dog knows that. A horn just isn't enough in some cases, and in others it is too much. How can the Google car incorporate that shaming that is so beneficial to negligent drivers without requiring the Google car occupant to participate?
...omphaloskepsis often...
And here I was thinking nerds were intelligent people, I can't believe this has gone as far as it has. Remember when Obama was first elected and he was talking about putting people to work to fix the infrastructure? Now here at the end of his term he wants us to dump billions into Google's hair-brained pet projects and ill-conceived, dystopian vision for humanity. Google don't *do* evil, they are it's incarnate manifestation on earth. Remember when technology was exciting, useful, and fun to be a part of?
Yeah, those are the words that come to mind when I think about someone honking their car horn.
#DeleteChrome
What about not moving at green lights? I some times have to due that to people.
How do they know if a girl is worth honking at? Can they detect pretty girls?
It would be cool if they could occasionally honk at an attractive and well-put-together man or woman that they see walking down the street. Now THAT would signal the arrival of true AI!
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Horn honking is cultural and local law based.
In my area, honking is ticket-able, unless there is immediate grave danger. The example of the car pulling out in front of the auto-car, the auto-car saw it and should have stopped allowing the other car the right-way.
In European cities, mainly Mediterranean areas, honking is signalling who was "first", so other "know" who was the right-way.
Driving is driving, communicating that is issue. Honk and turn signals are communicating. Communication is cultural.
Not just him. All the cars behind him as well. And, if the intersection is so busy that during rush hour all cars have to wait for several green lights, all subsequent cars for the rest of the entire rush hour.
The sad thing is they also said it will take them 3-5 years to figure out how to implement the turn signals.
This is a cool advancement, because it shows that the cars are getting good at sending a message. But do they LISTEN to honks?
I have been driving, honking, flipping people off, and even given the occasional razzberry/cookoo sign, etc.. at other drivers for 35 years. Only once in that time did someone follow me as a threat, and I took them down a side street to show them the result of their threat. I don't mean to imply I did anything at all to the other person. The fact that I pulled to an out of the way place and parked was enough to make them think really really hard (honest, I saw so much smoke I thought the Fire Dept would come, but then again with response times in Detroit...). They considered wisely and drove off.
In summary: 1. COPS is not how real life works, stop living in fantasy Island and come back to the real world. 2. If you make a threat make sure you are willing to back up your threat. 3. If you display emotions to someone, expect to receive what you give. Often with an unfavorable return rate for you.
So will they start arming the cars so they can respond when attacked due to road rage? Here in Florida, honking is a good way to get shot at. Hmm, maybe that's how Skynet really starts...
I swear Google have an employee (not an AI) who keeps a list of all this little tidbits and releases them to the press every few weeks or so. Just to keep the project in the papers.
And all the media just obediently paste them into the headline fied... :(
Drivers in northern California don't appear to honk unless they have their head wedged into the steering column. I get weird stares when I honk at cars in San Jose for doing things like driving in the wrong lane, when busses turn right on red right in front of me requiring me to pile on the brakes. (city bus drivers are terrible drivers considering driving is their job that they do every day)
In the mid-west, you honk at people for commiting any offense, even if it doesn't directly impact you. Like if you see someone run a red light, you honk at them. Maybe point at the traffic light and give them a WTF look. If someone doesn't merge like a zipper in heavy traffic, someone is going to start honking, because nobody likes it when people cut in line.
I've driven in NYC only twice, but there wasn't really all that much honking. I think because I was there on the weekend and it's probably only a rage circus on work days.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
When it's horny, I assume.
They need a speaker near the front grille that screams "THE LIGHT IS GREEN, ASSHOLE!"
Google research shows that soon the cars will be able to detect "honk if you're horny" bumper stickers and react appropriately.
I just saw a rainbow colored car going by playing "La Cucaracha" nonstop!
And you want Google's car to honk in support?
We call it impeding traffic,
bicycles are traffic too, how can you be "impeding" traffic when you ARE the traffic?
If your mid road you're allready in the wrong when you get hit.
apparently humans behind the wheel are an unstoppable random force of nature, cannot be controlled, probably should be banned
while(location == Boston)
yes indeed, boston drivers all turn into saints when they cross the 180 smoot mark
So, recently we had a case where a woman honked her horn at someone.
They then decided to shoot her.
It will be a bad day when someone gets shot because their car decided it needed to honk.
blacklivesmatter!@