The cars have done thousands of miles, Google says
Nobody spotted the Google car crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
【聯合報╱編譯組／綜合報導】 2010.10.11 04:27 am
網路巨擘Google最近在加州對他們研發的自動駕駛車進行試車，它以豐田的Prius油電車改裝而成，駕駛座有人，但不開車，車頂的漏斗狀圓筒，也是汽車的「眼睛」十分吸睛，不過，Google擅自在加州進行自動駕駛試車，更讓道路安全專家側目，當局正調查是否違法。
Google正祕密研發自動駕駛汽車，它利用人工智慧軟體感應汽車的周遭環境，再模仿人類，作出一連串的駕駛決定。Google有七輛車同時試車。每車的駕駛座有一人，於車子出差錯時隨時接手，後座有一技師，負責監控導航系統。根據紀錄，自動汽車可完全無人為干預狀況下行駛一千六百公里，測試過程總行駛里程已超過二十三萬公里，僅偶爾須人為介入。
七部原型車目前僅有一次車禍紀錄，而且並非自動車本身的問題，而是停在紅綠燈前被後面的車輛追撞。
工程師表示，自動駕駛系統反應比人類靈敏，擁有三百六十度全方位感應，且不受分心、打瞌睡或酒精、藥物影響，自動駕駛汽車一旦上路，工程師相信，車禍死亡人數可望減半。
Google堅稱他們上路前，已問過律師，並無違法問題，且Google的自動駕駛汽車不會危及其他駕駛。該公司強調，研發自動駕駛汽車即是為減少車禍發生，且他們試車時，均有人在車上。
Engineers at Google have tested a self-driving car on the streets of California, the company has announced.
The cars use video cameras mounted on the roof, radar sensors and a laser range finder to "see" other traffic, software engineer Sebastian Thrun said.
They remain manned at all times by a trained driver ready to take control as well as by a software expert.
Google hopes the cars can eventually help reduce road traffic and cut the number of accidents.
In a posting on the company's official blog, Mr Thrun said the self-driven cars had so far covered 140,000 miles on the road.
They have crossed San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate bridge, negotiated the city's famous sloping streets, driven between Google offices, and made it around Lake Tahoe in one piece.
'Exciting future'
Engineers told the New York Times that the forays onto the highways have been largely incident-free, apart from one bump when the car was reportedly hit from behind at a traffic light.
In his Google blog post, Mr Thrun - professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University - insisted that safety was the "first priority" in the project.
Routes are pre-planned, mapped first by real drivers, and local police are briefed in advance, he says.
But he pointed to figures from the World Health Organization which show that more than 1.2 million people are killed each year on the roads, and said that number could and should be reduced.
"We believe our technology has the potential to cut that number, perhaps by as much as half.
"While this project is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future thanks to advanced computer science. And that future is very exciting," he added.
Google has rapidly branched out from its previous core business of search in recent years.
The company already has significant interests in location services through its Google Maps and Google Street View offerings.
