Tag Archives: Google Car

Pioneer are making Android Auto happen

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Google had talked about their plans to sneak into the car industry a few months ago, and now we have concrete information about it. Android Auto is coming, and we can already see where they’re heading with this idea – and you can even download the app from the Play Store already.

The team behind Android Auto have already announced the availability of this preliminar, unfinished version, and it already has some requirements: only devices that are running Android 5.0 or superios, along with a compatible Pioneer gadget (as of now, only America, Australia & the UK have them).

What Android Auto does is reproducing or executing tasks related to the car’s wellbeing & systems, but they are sure to expand with each and every version of the cars & software. The system works via voice control, and users will be able to use it to access maps, send and receive calls, or even media files, in order to create a more connected but also safer experience.

Pioneer is only the first of Google’s tech partners to partake in this program, at least in a public way. We are sure more companies will eventually join in, because this does look like the way of the future. If we add on top streaming services like Spotify, Pandora or SoundCloud, this could even change the way we listen to the radio on our cars.

Google’s idea is that in time most carmakers will feature Android Auto on their vehicles, and have already agreed to work with some 30 companies that include Audi, Bentley, Fiat, Ford, Maserati, Renault, & Volkswagen.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories, USB-C is also coming to Android devices and Future Android Devices May Come with Waze Pre-Installed.

Google’s Self-Driving Cars Can Understand Hand Gestures

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Following road safety concerns over Google’s self-driving cars, the search giant has now announced that the vehicles can understand hand gestures.

As a pedestrian, there’s one known danger that you try to avoid any time you step foot outside: cars. Being a bipedal creature made up of flesh and bone, fast driving vehicles have propensity for being able to smush our mortal bodies into paste. It’s a reality of crossing the road which is exactly why traffic lights are in place to prevent that from happening. Accidents can still occur however and a lot of the time as road-crossers we have to count on drivers noticing us and being courteous enough to let us pass without hassle or we’ll have to go out of our way to request safe passage with a head nod or by extending our arm and showing our palm to the driver. But with Google’s self-driving cars, concerns are rising that these established road crossing traditions won’t be observed if the cars on our streets become robotic, but thankfully Google have announced that that won’t quite be the case.

Revealed in a new update video, Google have revealed that their self-driving cars use cameras on the car’s body to identify what’s going on on the streets that they’re navigating. According to the search giant, the front camera is now able to recognise a myriad of different obstacles including road signs, construction work and, of course,busy crossings. Even cyclists are accounted for in their own special “category” as explained in the vehicle and because of this, Google’s cars can understand the hand signals – such as an extended arm to show that they want to change lane – that cyclists use in real life and not just in theory.

The video makes Google’s self[driving cars seem promising but it only shows static vehicles and static construction work objects. It’s unclear what would happen if, for instance, someone was stood right in the middle of the road. Would they be classed as a pedestrian or would the car simply give up and be unable to categorise them? This is something that Google’s team will have to figure out as they’re been testing various scenarios that the car might get into so as this seems to be a small update for now, we’ll keep you posted once we know more.

Source: Google

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories  Google Mobile Ads to Promote Ads Based on Your Interests, Google Camera App Brings Lens Blur and Panorama to Android

Google’s self-driving cars will return to roots, tour California

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Thanks to a new law passed in California, Google's driverless cars might soon be stuck in its traffic with all the other hapless commuters. Although they won't hit the highway yet, like they can in Nevada, the bipartisan bill will allow bureaucrats to craft safety and performance standards -- letting the robotic rigs roll (with licensed minders) in the near future. Joining Hawaii, Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma with similar legislation, the state hopes to reduce carnage on the roads caused by human error, and is backed by Google, the California Highway Patrol and various civic, auto and tech clubs. Of course, given that it was birthed in Google's Mountain View X lab, it's only natural that the autonomous EV should be allowed to roam free on its home turf.

Google's self-driving cars will return to roots, tour California originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 May 2012 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nevada lets Google’s driverless car hit the open road, requires it to bring a driver

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Nevada lets Google's driverless car hit the open road, requires it to bring a driver

Driving through Las Vegas can be distracting -- bright lights, sun-powered death rays and international Consumer Electronics Shows have a tendency to catch a geek's eye -- good thing, then, that Nevada's deemed Google fit to test its autonomous automobile on public streets. The state's Department of Transportation was tasked with penning a set of safety standards for self-driving cars last June, and is now letting the cars run amok on city streets, with a few restrictions.

Mountain View's three test vehicles, for instance, will need to haul a carpool of at least two passengers before driving down the strip, one person to take the wheel in case of an emergency, and another to monitor a computer screen that details the car's planned route. Test vehicles will also don red license plates and an infinity symbol to mark them as self-driving prototypes. Nevada DMV Director Bruce Breslow says those plates will be green once the vehicles are ready for market, something he hopes to see in three to five years.

Nevada lets Google's driverless car hit the open road, requires it to bring a driver originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 May 2012 23:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google asks car makers ‘Ullo John, wanna self-driving motor?’

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Larry Page's tenure as Googler-in-chief has heralded the death of many ambitious experiments, but even he refuses to kill the self-driving car. His project head, Anthony Levandowski, has now asked the car makers of Detroit to sign up with Mountain View for hardware testing, saying that if driverless cars are not ready by the next decade, then it's "shame on us as engineers." There's still some way to go before the tech is road-worthy, but Google is already working with insurers to work out how your car is going to handle making that call to Geico when things go wrong.

Continue reading Google asks car makers 'Ullo John, wanna self-driving motor?'

Google asks car makers 'Ullo John, wanna self-driving motor?' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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