Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Mobile

    Google to Start Testing Autonomous Vehicles in Washington

    By
    Jaikumar Vijayan
    -
    February 6, 2016
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Google self-driving car

      Google’s fleet of modified Lexus SUVs equipped with autonomous vehicle technologies could soon become a familiar sight in Kirkland, Wash.

      The company has been given the green light to test its self-driving vehicles in the state—which has now become the third in the country to do so. In addition to Washington, Google has received permission to test its self-driving vehicles in California and Texas.

      According to Google, Kirkland offers an ideal location for the company to test its autonomous vehicle technology in rainy and wet weather conditions. The city’s hilly terrain also offers an opportunity to test vehicle sensors at different elevations and angles, the company said in a statement.

      Google has been driving a single Lexus RX450h SUV equipped with the company’s autonomous car technology in and around Kirkland for the past several weeks in an effort to create a detailed map of the area and to identify features like traffic signals, curb heights and “keep clear” zones.

      The information gathered from the exercise will help as the company begins regular testing of its vehicles in Kirkland, Google said. According to the company, Kirkland will become the second location after Mountain View, Calif., where Google will conduct regular testing of its autonomous vehicles, though it has been given the go-ahead to do so in Austin, Texas, as well.

      For Google, such testing is crucial to its ability to deliver autonomous vehicles that meet federal and state standards for safety. California—where Google’s headquarters are and where the company has been doing most of its testing—last year made clear that it is unwilling to let Google or any other car manufacturer operate fully autonomous vehicles on its roads for the foreseeable future.

      It’s unclear whether other states will follow California’s lead in mandating a much more phased introduction of autonomous vehicle technology than Google had perhaps hoped for.

      Google, which has made no secret of its ambition to deliver both semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles over the next few years, has been conducting extensive tests of the vehicles over the past few years.

      The company has compiled a voluminous set of data from its experience testing its fleet of modified Lexus vehicles and its own fully autonomous vehicles over some 1.5 million miles. The reports have offered a far more detailed look at its progress in developing and delivering the vehicles compared to the several other manufacturers engaged in similar initiatives, including Mercedes Benz, Nissan and Tesla.

      For example, a recent safety report that Google submitted to California’s Department of Motor Vehicles shows that over a 14-month testing period its autonomous vehicles had to hand over control to a human driver on 272 occasions to avoid a safety issue. Its vehicles had to disengage from autonomous mode on 69 other occasions to avoid potential collisions with other vehicles during the same period. In contrast, Mercedes Benz recorded 491 manual disengagements with just one vehicle over a distance of 1,300 miles.

      Details on Google’s autonomous vehicle program released recently by the company show that it is currently testing a fleet of 22 modified Lexus RH45h SUVs, and 33 prototypes of its own fully autonomous vehicles. Most of the testing not surprisingly is in Mountain View.

      Avatar
      Jaikumar Vijayan
      Vijayan is an award-winning independent journalist and tech content creation specialist covering data security and privacy, business intelligence, big data and data analytics.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×