Google's robocars

Are we on the verge of a new revolution in transport? Some engineers at Google certainly reckon we might be. In a recent blog post, Sebastian Thrun, one of its engineers, has revealed that the company has been testing cars that can drive themselves on California's roads. The news, which also appeared in an article in The New York Times, will spark plenty of debate as to whether the days of human drivers are numbered.

According to Mr Thrun, who is also the head of Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Google has equipped a number of cars with video cameras, radar sensors and laser range-finders that allow them to sense what is happening around them and to navigate their way to a destination. The routes they have taken have been mapped out first of all by drivers in conventional cars who gather data about each journey, including road markers and traffic signs. These are then fed into the artificial-intelligence software that guides the autonomous vehicles, which have clocked up some 140,000 miles with only occasional human control. 

The technology has apparently been good enough to allow the cars to navigate California's Pacific Highway and the roads of San Francisco, including the famously winding and steep Lombard Street. But the vehicles have had a human presence on hand at all times. According to the search giant, which notified the police of its plans, each car has had a driver behind the wheel who can take over control quickly if needed, as well as a software expert in the passenger seat monitoring the technology being employed. 

The technical achievements involved in allowing the robocars to, say, merge with traffic and navigate their way through tunnels where GPS signals are non-existent are undoubtedly impressive. But there will be plenty of hurdles to negotiate if Google is to achieve some of the ambitious goals it thinks are possible using its technology. In his post, Mr Thrun claims that automated cars could ultimately cut the number of lives lost in road accidents each year by half. And he predicts they will lead to more car sharing and create what he calls "the new highway trains of tomorrow"—columns of autonomous vehicles that that will enable more people to be transported on existing roads and boost energy efficiency at the same time.

The motor industry is already experimenting with various technologies that help reduce accidents or cut fuel consumption, but it is likely to be quite some time before carmakers and consumers are willing to put their faith in driverless cars. Although these vehicles will almost certainly be safer than those driven by human beings, concerns about the potential impact of hackers, software bugs and other nasty stuff will hinder their adoption.

Robocars for robowars?However, there may well be some folk who are very keen to use Google's innovations. Armies are obvious candidates. It is no coincidence that some of the top engineers working on the firm's robocar project have also participated in autonomous-vehicle races funded by a research arm of America's military. Among other things, vehicles that drive themselves could be used to reduce potential casualties in convoys that transport fuel and other supplies in war zones.

What might all of this mean for Google? The company says it doesn't know yet how it will build a business using the information and navigation services it is developing. But there is one obvious way in which the internet giant stands to benefit if self-driving vehicles eventually become all the rage. Instead of steering their cars, drivers would have oodles of time on their hands to do other things, such as surfing the web. And guess who stands to mint money from that?