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Comment by ajays | Hacker News Reader

FTA: "But the biggest step will be to create a car that will let me just sit in the back seat with no-one at all in the driver's seat. . . . If Google can get there before a major automaker beats them to it, I'll be really impressed."

A major automaker has as much chance of beating Google as a 350lb man has of beating Usain Bolt at the 100m dash. The automakers aren't really known for doing cutting-edge software, you know.

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That part made me grin. Most non-technical people I've talked to have expressed surprise that Google is the company furthest along with this technology. They see the problem as one of vehicular design rather than large-scale data analysis. Automakers are pretty good at the former, but nobody has proved themselves to be better at the latter than Google.

No major automaker will produce self-driving cars because self-driving cars greatly reduce the need for private car ownership. A two-car family might be able to manage with a single car if that car can drive itself to pick up individuals. Groups could pool their money to buy a single car the same way that fractional ownership of jets happens today but on a mass scale. The number of cars parked unused could go down substantially. Self-driving cars are a huge benefit for society and cities especially but a disaster for car companies.

I'd watch out for the Jevons paradox though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

Today's driving scenarios will be served by a small pocket of tomorrow's automated power, granted.

If we have self driving cars, fast switching and routing, we may find ourselves in possession of a packet switched human transportation network. I think we'd need a lot of cars in that world. They might become commoditized like the PC was, but still a profitable business.

They may be a disaster for the car companies, but they'd be a huge success for the only car company to have one, if only one car company had one. Thus is how competition can drive adopting new technologies even when they make their industry less profitable.

Absolutely. Google must realize that its supremacy in search/ads will eventually come to an end, so they're making a really smart, long-term investment here.

Self-driving cars would be awesomely useful, and Google has exactly the right resources (top AI engineers) to make this happen.

One day, we'll all likely have cars with AI powered by Google.

Or you could view it that they are trying to extract an extra hour or two of eyeball time per person per day. Since you no longer have to drive the car, you could be using your android tablet on the commute to work....

That's a good point. It's a way to make more money from the users they already have. It's certainly in line with their current ad-based business model, but man, talk about thinking outside the box...

I guess if they get Google AI in your car, it will probably come with lots of other Google products, too.

Google AI: Elsurudo, we are about to go past Joe's coffee and they are offering a free cookie with any large drink. Traffic is good today so we have time if you would like me to stop there?

Taking click through adverting to the next level, delivery of the actual customer.

Cars with AI, yes. Powered by Google, I sure hope not.

You have to remember that they're an american company, and thus required to comply to their govt's every whim, like all others.

Goes without saying I'd much prefer a product NOT related to the US's internal and external policies.

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