 The Google driverless car is a project by Google that

involves developing technology for autonomous cars.

The Google Driverless Car is like any car, but:

• It can steer itself while looking out for obstacles.

• It can accelerate itself to the correct speed limit.
• It can stop and go itself based on any traffic condition.
 The software powering Google's cars is called Google
Chauffeur.

 It can take its passengers anywhere it wants to go

safely, legally, and comfortably.

 Currently being led by Sebastian Thrun ,former director

of Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and co-
inventor of Google’s Street View.
 DATE DESCRIPTION
Current (2015) The project is currently being led by Google engineer Sebastian
Thrun, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory and co-inventor of Google Street View

Thrun's team created the robotic vehicle Stanley which won the
Past (2005) 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and its US$2 million prize from
the United States DOD (Department of Defense).
2011 U.S. state of Nevada passed a law on June 29, 2011.

It went into effect on March 1, 2012, and the Nevada Department

2012 of Motor Vehicles issued the first license for a self-driven car in
May 2012.
2012 The license was issued to a Toyota Prius.
Automobiles play a significant role in our lives and afford
many benefits to society.

But no other invention in the history of civilian technology

has caused as much harm as the automobile.

Every 30 seconds, someone dies in a traffic accident,

adding up to well over 1 million deaths each year.

human error is the cause of over 90% of automobile

accidents.
.
The inefficiencies related with the automobile usage is
staggering.

The technology behind autonomous driving is:

• Sensor-based implementation
• Connected Vehicle implementation

Google is approaching autonomous vehicles as an

opportunity to organize and process mapping and
geographic Information to many mobile computers – the
vehicles themselves.
10 Astonishing technologies that power Google self-driving
car :

• Laser range finder

•Front Camera

•Bump mounted Radars

•Aerial

•Ultrasonic Sensors
•Devices within the car

•Synergitic combining of sensors

•Programmed to interpret common road signs

•Mapping in advance

•Programming Real life behaviour

1. Laser range finder

The heart of Google’s self driving car.

LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, also LADAR, sometimes Laser Imaging
Detection and Ranging) is an optical remote sensing technology .

Measure the distance to, or other properties of, targets by illuminating the target
with laser light and analyzing the backscattered light.

With its Array of 64 laser beams, this camera creates 3D images of objects
helping the car see hazards along the way.

calculates how far an object is from the moving vehicle based on the time it
takes for the laser beams to hit the object and come back.
 Create images for objects in an impressive 200m range.

 Google’s self-driving car uses Velodyne LIDAR to electronically “see” the

environment.

 The module is set inside a rotating drum.

 provides additional positional data, but also identifies other cars, bicycles,
pedestrians, and road hazards.

 By sending out laser beams in all directions, collecting the reflected energy,
and performing some nifty high-speed computer processing, the vehicle can
create a real-time, virtual map of the obstacles in its path.
2. Front Camera

Used for near vision

Mounted on the windshield helping the car ‘see’ objects right in front
of it.

Detects and record information about road signs and traffic lights,
which is intelligently interpreted by the car’s in built software
3.Bump mounted Radars
Four Radars are mounted on the car’s front and rear bumpers.

Enables the car to be aware of vehicles in front of it and behind it.

The radar sensor on the car’s bumpers keeps a ‘digital eye’ on the car
ahead.

The software is programmed to (at all times) maintain a distance of 2-4

seconds (it could be even higher) vis-à-vis the car ahead of it.

 The car will automatically speed up or slow down depending on the

behaviour of the car/driver ahead.

Google’s self driving cars use this technology to keep passengers and
other motorists safe by avoiding bumps and crashes
4.Aerial

Car receives information about the precise location of the car, with the
help of GPS Satellites.

 The car’s GPS inertial navigation unit works with the sensors to help the
car localize itself.

GPS estimates may be off by several meters due to signal disturbances

and other interferences from the atmosphere

To minimize the degree of uncertainty, the GPS data is compared with
sensor map data previously collected from the same location.

As the vehicle moves, the vehicle’s internal map is updated with
new positional information displayed by the sensors.
.

5.Ultrrasonic Sensors

Keep track of the movements of the car and will alert the car about the
obstacles in the rear.

These ultrasonic sensors are ready in action in some of the technologically

advanced cars today.

Cars that offers automatic ‘Reverse Park Assist’ technology utilize such
sensors to help navigate that car into tight reverse parking spots.

These sensors get activated when the car is engaged in the reverse gear.

.
6.Devices within car
Inside the car are altimeters ,gyroscope, and tachymeters
that determine the very precise position of the car .

This offers highly accurate data for the car to operate safely.

7.Synergitic combining of sensors

All the data gathered by these sensors is collated and interpreted

together by the car’s CPU or inbuilt software system to create a
safe driving experience.
8.Programmed to interpret common road signs

Software that rightly interpret common road behaviour and motorist

signs.

• For example:
if a cyclist gestures that he intends to make a manoeuvre, the
driverless car interprets it correctly and slow down to allow the
motorists to turn.

Predetermined shape and motion descriptors are programmed into the

system to help the car make intelligent decisions.

programs fed into the car’s central processing unit will work
simultaneously, helping the car make safe and intelligent decisions on
busy roads.
9.Mapping in advance
It maps out the route and it’s road conditions including poles, road
markers , road signs and more.

Before a self-driven car is tested , a regular car is driven along the route

Map is fed into the car’s software helping the car identify what is a
regular part of the road.
As the car moves , Velodyne Laser range finder kicks in and generates a
detailed 3D map of the environment at that moment.

The car compares this map with the pre-existing map to figure out the non
standard aspects in the road, rightly identifying them as pedestrians and
other motorists , thus avoiding them.
10. Programming real life behaviour

Google Engineers have programmed some real life behaviour in these

cars.

While the vehicle does slow down to allow motorists to go ahead,

especially in 4 way interactions, the car has also been programmed to
advance ahead if it detects that the other vehicle is not moving.
 “Fault-tolerant architecture”

 The car itself is limited to 25 mph

 Minimises the kinetic energy it could carry

into a crash if one should happen.

 The front of the car is also made to be as

kind to pedestrians

 With a foam bumper and a flexible

windscreen that is designed to absorb
energy from an impact with a person’s body.
 Seat belts are also provided

 Defensive, considerate driving style that is meant to protect both the

passengers and other road users

 Emergency stop button that passengers can hit at anytime.

 The car will wait a second after the traffic lights turn green before it
moves off, although this could incur the anger of drivers stuck behind it.
 Insurance underwriting is a complex issue for autonomous vehicles.

 The question of who “owns” the risk if an autonomous vehicle is in an

accident

 Will need to be addressed for convergence solutions to gain mass-market

adoption.

 Automobile makers and Google have lobbied state governments to

absolve them of any such liability successfully in Nevada and
unsuccessfully in California.
 Google's vehicles have traversed San Francisco's Lombard Street,
famed for its steep hairpin turns, and through city traffic

 The system drives at the speed limit it has stored on its maps and
maintains its distance from other vehicles using its system of
sensors.

 On March 28, 2012, Google posted a YouTube video showing

Steve Mahan, a resident of Morgan Hill, California, being taken
on a ride in Google's self-driving Toyota Prius.
 In August 2012, the team have completed over 300,000
autonomous-driving miles (500,000 km) accident-free.

 Four U.S. states have passed laws permitting autonomous

cars as of December 2013:
*Nevada, Florida, California, and Michigan.

 A law proposed in Texas would establish criteria for

allowing "autonomous motor vehicles".

In April 2014, the team announced that their

vehicles have now logged nearly 700,000
autonomous miles (1.1 million km).

.
In late May, Google revealed a new prototype of its
driverless car, which had no steering wheel, gas pedal, or
brake pedal, being 100% autonomous

In June 2015, the team announced that their vehicles have now
driven over 1 million miles.

In the process they had encountered 200,000 stop signs,

600,000 traffic lights, and 180 million other vehicles

Google also announced its prototype vehicles were being road

tested in Mountain View, California. During testing, the
prototypes' speed cannot exceed 25 mph and will have safety
drivers aboard the entire time.
 In 2010, an incident involved a Google driverless car being rear- ended
while stopped at a traffic light.

In August 2011, a Google driverless car was involved in a crash

near Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

In June 2015, Google's 23 self-driving cars have been involved

in 12 minor traffic accidents on public roads

Google maintains that in all cases the vehicle itself was not at
fault because the cars were either being manually driven or the
driver of another vehicle was at fault.
In June 2015, Google founder Sergey Brin confirmed that
there had been 12 accidents,

• Eight of which involved being rear-ended at a stop sign or traffic

light.

• two in which the vehicle was side-swiped by another driver

• one of which involved another driver rolling through a stop sign,

and

• one where a Google employee was manually driving the car

Cars rely primarily on pre-programmed route data, they do
not obey temporary traffic lights

In some situations, revert to a slower "extra cautious" mode

in complex unmapped intersections

The vehicle has difficulty identifying when objects, such as

trash and light debris, are harmless, causing the vehicle to
veer unnecessarily.

The lidar technology cannot spot some potholes or discern

when humans , such as a police officer, are signaling the car
to stop. Google projects having these issues fixed by 2020.
If Google’s self driving car comes true, we could soon have hundreds
of millions of networked self-driving cars with connected power trains
and ECUs, all potentially open to hacking.

Numerous security threats will arise once personal mobility is

dominated by self-driving vehicles

Unauthorized parties, hackers, or even terrorists could capture

data, alter records, instigate attacks on systems, compromise driver
privacy by tracking individual vehicles, or identify residences.
They could provide bogus information to drivers, masquerade as a
different vehicle, or use denial-of-service attacks to bring down the
network

 System security will undoubtedly become a paramount issue for

transportation systems with the successful deployment of integrated
sensor-based and cooperative vehicles

As the use of autonomous and connected vehicle solutions expands,

maintaining individual privacy within the transportation system may
become even more arduous
 cost will be an issue for driverless and self-driving car
technologies well into the future

 The featured Prius, which starts at around $24,000, is optioned

up with a –

•$75,000 to $80,000 Velodyne LIDAR system,

•visual and radar sensors estimated to cost about $10,000,
•and a nearly $200,000 GPS array.

 Not to mention the cost of the driving computer and software.

 It may cost more than a Ferrari 599.

“Driverless car” still illegal in 50 states
•But progress to accepting these cars is happening…

•Nevada Department of Transportation: developing regulations to

driverless cars with a goal for it to go mainstream

•License plates issued in Nevada for autonomous cars will have a

red background and feature an infinity symbol (∞) on the left side-
best way to represent the 'car of the future'
Impacts on Taxi/ Public transport industry

•The arrival of fully autonomous cars will likely reduce the demand for
professional drivers of taxis, limousines, and trucks

•Unions for the various drivers will likely respond by introducing doubt
about the safety of self-driving vehicles and lobbying against them
Political & Regulatory Issues

Google?
Car Mechanics?
Car Owner?
Passenger? who is to blame in an accident?
Political & Regulatory Issues

Can “passengers” be intoxicated?

 Social issues

WHO can be the “driver”?

Age Limits?

Driving licenses?
• Fewer traffic collisions

•Increased roadway capacity

•Higher speed limit

•Removal of constraints on occupants' state

•Reduction of physical space required for vehicle parking.

•Reduction in the need for traffic police and premium
on vehicle insurance

•Smoother ride

•Removal of the steering wheel

•Liability for damage.

•Resistance by individuals to forfeit control of their cars.

•Software reliability.

•Competition for the radio spectrum desired for the car's

communication.

•require very high-quality specialized maps to operate

properly
•Current police and other pedestrian gestures and non-verbal
cues are not adapted to autonomous driving

•Current road infrastructure may need changes for autonomous

cars to function optimally.

• Some examples include traffic and street light upgrades

that communicate with autonomous vehicles.
 Demand is higher.

 Automated driving means more people can use cars, and more cars can
be fitted safely on roads.

Google’s vision for this kind of self-driving car isn’t an exact replacement for
the one parked outside your home

They are designed to be more like shared vehicles, possibly within a family
or more likely as a replacement for taxis.

Google says the cars should be road-ready by early next year, but that
testing would take more than two years
Very useful .

Human safety, infrastructure efficiency, quality of life

and a ready customer base are just a few of the key
factors

 Vehicles could be ready for market in as little as three

to five years.

closer to a product people can actually use.

•www.google.com

•www.national.co.uk

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