Before we get to cars that drive themselves, we’ll first have cars like the XTS, which sort of drive themselves. The XTS’s system uses ultrasonic sensors, radar, cameras, and positioning technologies to help drivers avoid crashes. The XTS will also offer full-speed range adaptive cruise control, smart brake assist, rear automatic braking, lane departure warning, automatic collision preparation, and adaptive forward lighting, according to a press release.

via Cadillac Gets Smart – Technology Review.

Cadillac’s XTS with crash avoidance systems.

And other cars with safety/notification tech [src].

Intersections of the future won’t need stop lights or stop signs. They’ll look like a somewhat chaotic flow of driverless, autonomous cars slipping past one another as they are managed by a virtual traffic controller, says computer scientist Peter Stone, a professor of computer science at The University of Texas at Austin.

via Traffic intersections of the future will control autonomous vehicles | KurzweilAI.

It’s cool to see this mixed-reality autonomous intersection (the first video), but turns out the simulation data does not match reality at all (no surprise, really).

In a surprising move, and a blow to the nascent driverless car industry, Sebastian Thrun has resigned from Stanford to take up a position with Udacity, an online educator.

via Sebastian Thrun Resigns from Stanford – Driverless Car HQ.

Sebatian Thrun is no longer at Google/Stanford! o__O;

FAR from having the "blood, sweat and tears" sucked out of them by Rio Tinto, the mining giant’s blue-collar workforce in the Pilbara are paid more on average than their white-collar comrades in Sydney’s exclusive Mosman and Double Bay.

via Nation's best salary deals are in the Pilbara | The Australian.

WHAT? Train drivers for Rio Tinte have a salary of $200K AUD ($214K USD)+.

So now Rio Tinte is going to replace them with autonomous trains for a large sum of money [src].

California SB 1298 would expressly establish that California "presently does not prohibit or specifically regulate the operation of autonomous vehicles," direct the Department of the California Highway Patrol to "adopt regulations" regarding "specific safety requirements for the testing and operation of autonomous vehicles," and "not prohibit" such operation and testing prior to those regulations. The bill does not say who (if anyone) drives an autonomous vehicle in the legal sense, a question I asked about California’s motor vehicle code in a post last month.

via Autonomous Driving Bill Introduced in California (Plus Other State Developments) | Center for Internet and Society.

Arizona down (failed), California’s up next!

HT Driverless HQ [src]

Rio Tinto has massively upped their order [930E driverless trucks from Komatsu] to 150 driverless trucks. The order is expected to be completed by the “end of 2015″.

via Rio Tinto Expands Use Of Driverless Trucks – Driverless Car HQ.

Like Kiva Systems (centrally controlled), but outdoors!

A computer program that reserves slots at an intersection might be a way to ease gridlock and boost safety.

via Avoiding Red Lights by Booking Ahead : Discovery News.

YES.

Source: Law Offices of Daniel R. Rosen.

With Nevada passing the nation’s first law sanctioning autonomous vehicles this past June, how close are we to seeing driverless cars in every day life? Could driverless cars be the end of distracted driving as we know it?

via Driverless Cars & The End of Distracted Driving [Infographic] | Daniel R. Rosen, P.C..

Driverless cars ready for mass production by 2018

GPS accurate to 1.9 meters

In 2009, there were over 5,000 killed and 450,000 injured due to distracted driving

Distracted driving… accounts for 16% of all traffic fatalities

Distracted driving costs society about $230 billion/year

A new state law defines autonomous vehicles as “a motor vehicle that uses artificial intelligence, sensors and global positioning system coordinates to drive itself without the active intervention of a human operator.” The law was enacted in 2011.

via Paving the way – Green – February 16, 2012 – Reno News & Review.

Ford Fiesta can parallel part by itself

Nevada to have autonomous vehicles on the roads by March 2012?

“We just want to be the ones to break this technology here in Nevada,”
says Scott Magruder, spokesperson for the Nevada Department of
Transportation. “It’s something in the future, and we want to be ready,
and we’re a state with long roads and low traffic so it’s a good place
to test it.”

Imagine the typical day in the American family. A mom logs-in a route to the car using Google maps and the car’s GPS system. Mom, Dad, kid jump in the car. Car drops off daughter at school, drops off Dad at work, drops off Mom at work, drives to dry-cleaners were dry-cleaner removes dirty clothes from trunk and sends car on its merry way where it returns home to wait for the afternoon pick-up route. Or maybe it returns to a regional parking lot or garage where it waits in a holding pen for a text from Mom’s cell-phone summoning it. Sounds ridiculously Jetsonian, but the technology is already here. And to really blow your mind, what if the idea of personal car ownership is gone and this is all done with a fleet of public or semi-private cars like Zipcars? Mind-blown? Ok this is getting too trippy – back to the real estate.

via The Future is Now: Driverless Cars Will Change How We Build – Deep Thoughts: Transit & Real Estate – Curbed Atlanta.