03-12-2012, 02:35 PM
Autonomous cars and its polemical effects in contemporaneous society
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ABSTRACT
Google has recently developed a Project that involves technology for driverless cars. In June 2011 the state of Nevada in the US sanctioned a law concerning the license of using autonomous cars. The license was issued to a Toyota Prius modified with Google's experimental driverless technology. This law, which went into effect on the past March, does two things: First, the law allows the Nevada Department of Transportation to create rules and regulations regarding the use of self-driving cars, so that they can be used legally on the road. The second part of the law requires the Nevada state Department of Transportation to designate areas in which these vehicles can be tested.1 Google’s next aim is to get its second law passed, and one that would allow drivers to text message while they are sitting in the driver's seat of one of these self driving cars. Nevertheless, it is estimated that this car will be available to consumers within a period of seven years, so presumably text messaging will not be an issue of importance. The insertion of the Google driverless car has been a controversial issue during the last months, as it is a trigger to many discussions about its reliability and safety as well as the social impacts in the United States and in the rest of the world. As regards the hardware and software involved in the driverless car, the new Google system combines information gathered from Google Street View with artificial intelligence software which comprises input from video cameras inside the car. “It involves a LIDAR sensor placed on top of the vehicle, radar sensors on the front of the vehicle, and a position sensor attached to one of the rear wheels that helps locate the car's position on the map.” 2Lidar sensors are optical remotes sensing technology that measures the distance of the car to an objective or other properties by lighting the objective with a laser. In addition, these cars use GPS technology. It is evident that not only this hardware and software are needed; the presence of a passenger or two who can take control of the car immediately if it is necessary is of great relevance.