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Category: Automotive, Self-driving

This past Thursday I encountered this red Ford Fusion on Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. The car had two sensors attached to the top. It looks like these were camera-system that were operating, as light lights went on and off. Here is a video of the car that I took while driving: Any ideas what …

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Category: Automotive, Self-driving

Seeing Google’s self-driving cars every day in the Bay Area, and sometimes those of GM and other manufacturers, it’s still a rarity to encounter a vehicle from one of the at least three self-driving truck startups. Peloton, Ot.to and Vivify Trucks are the ones based in the Bay Area and finally today I encountered an …

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Category: Self-driving

The former head of Google’s self-driving car division Sebastian Thrun offers an online course for self-driving cars that finishes with an engineering nanodegree. The course introduction says: Self-driving cars are set to revolutionize the way we live. This is transformational technology, on the cutting-edge of robotics, machine learning, software engineering, and mechanical engineering. In this …

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Category: Self-driving

The DMV-website has a couple of reports that it requires companies licensed to test autonomous vehicles on Californian roads to report annually. One is the Autonomous Vehicle Disengagement Report that was the first time due January 1st 2016 reporting all incidents when a the system or a human driver disengages the autonomous mode and takes …

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Category: Behavioral Economics, Self-driving

Pretty they ain’t. And they don’t look like hot rods either. Let’s admit: they are ugly ducklings. I am talking about Google’s self-driving cars. They come in tha shape of an egg on wheels with some funny colors. And Google even seems to emphasize that with putting some funny art on the doors. But why …

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Category: Self-driving

The newest attraction of the highly recommended Computer History Museum in Mountain View in California is one of Google’s self-driving mini-cars. Those have no steering wheel or gas pedals anymore. And why should they? A fully autonomous car of Level 4 does not expect a passenger to take control at any time, except telling the …

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Category: Culture, Design, Self-driving

Is design important for innovation, and if not always, when is it not? A conversation about me spotting the Google self-driving mini-car for the first time in the wild lead to discussion about the right priorities and the importance of design for innovation. Worst car design ever … This was the gut reaction of one …

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Category: Self-driving

Today, I saw the future happening right now. There has been so much talk about the risks and dangers of autonomous cars, mostly from people who have never seen one live, but have an opinion. And then I drive down in Mountain View / Palo Alto along the San Antonio Road and right there is …

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