What if There was a Car that Yelled at You?

Google is taking the autonomous driving vehicle research to new levels and working to bring this technology to the market as quickly as possible even though the expectation is it won’t be available for sale for several more years.  As Google looks into having these cars operate without a driver the concern has been raised within the research team regarding pedestrians and what they can expect when one of these cars drives around, especially in a city full of people such as New York City or Los Angeles.

Let’s take a scenario for our example.  When crossing a street in a large city typically you follow the signals of the crosswalks and traffic lights and expect the drivers in the cars around you to know not to go across while you are walking.  If a driver were to misread signals or not pay attention and drive into the crosswalk hitting a pedestrian that would be the fault of the driver.  In an autonomous vehicle, the company making the vehicle would have to be at fault.  This could create a situation where several vehicles enter the crosswalk when pedestrians are in the way unless there is a system in place to help avoid this problem.

With this in mind there are several methods of warning pedestrians that are being considered.  Google wants to make sure the car can inform the pedestrians around the car whether it’s safe or not to cross the street in front of the car.  The warning systems that are being tried include loudspeakers, electronic signage and warning lights to ensure anyone who approaches the car will know the intentions of the vehicle as its driving.  With safety features in place we might be able to avoid having pedestrian accidents with motor vehicles, which are often fatal to the pedestrian.

Of course Google is not the only company working to perfect, use and create this technology.  Nearly every automaker is working on some version of an autonomous car and Tesla already has some self-driving features in their technology for their customers to enjoy.  Because of this there are more version of autonomous driving technology being reviewed and researched than ever before as each automaker works to be the first to market with the self-driving car that will somehow adhere to all highway safety rules and regulations and make it easier for us to enjoy the ride.

The tough part of autonomous driving is not going to be when all vehicles on the road are on the same network and fully autonomous, but the time before this takes place when self-driving cars have to blend on the road with those still driven by those of us who want to drive.  That is something we will have to worry about later; for right now the thought of one of Google’s autonomous vehicles yelling at you in a New York accent to get out of the way and not cross the road in front of the vehicle is humorous in concept, but certainly exciting to think about.