Chris Urmson: How a driverless car sees the road

Statistically, the least reliable part of the car is ... the driver. Chris Urmson heads up Google's driverless car program, one of several efforts to remove humans from the driver's seat. He talks about where his program is right now, and shares fascinating footage that shows how the car sees the road and makes autonomous decisions about what to do next.

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[startups]

Chris now runs Aurora, which bought Uber's self-driving division.

[ASFALT]

I wanna see more dumb and funny moments from the testings like the car driving in middle of the 2 cars and that woman chasing a duck lmao.

[srimansrini]

In this useful talk, Chris Urmson exhibits how a driver-less car sees the road. Highly futuristic and informative. Recommended to everyone.

[fa.h.]

This is the kind of videos I want from TED! this was amazing.

[DaveWhoa]

excellent presentation and helps allay some of the fears that people have of "a dumb, blind computer", as we can see the reality is that the technology is now so advanced it can make superior decisions over humans in almost all cases, and not only in realtime but also predictive. In ~100 of whatever (much less i guess) years people will look back "remember back when everyone drove cars and there were so many crashes and trafficjams!? so crazy!"

[teharbitur]

Really impressive. I am curious how those cars will handle things like pot holes, snowy roads, heavy rain, etc.
More companies and also governments need to collaborate to bring driverless cars to our roads.

[chillfactor]

I love these comments, it shows how people are afraid of the unknown..

[TheMohawkNinja]

I had no idea that it was already this advanced. I am extremely impressed by what they've already accomplished, and am quite a bit more comfortable with the idea of letting a computer do the boring bits for me.

[MaxLohMusic]

In a situation like 13:17, a human driver would send warnings by honking his horn so that others don't run over the cyclists. I practically saved the life of a family in that manner. Shouldn't the google car implement this sort of communication as well? I mean, we're expecting a gradual take-over of self-driving cars, so they should have the capability to warn human drivers of impending danger.

[zhenjiangxu]

Now it's 2020, I am wondering if his older son has got his driver's license :D

[michaelespeland]

Looks like his sons had to get their drivers licence after all

[qoolelee]

Awesome! Those guys who said "Make the world a better place" should see this car.

[ASLUHLUHC]

I better buy my own track before human driving becomes illegal

[bay]

Could you imagine getting into your own short length bus sitting/ lying down to finish a late night sleepless night or maybe making coffee and breakfast as the bus drives itself on your commute.Those long commutes would fly by if you finished off sleeping on the way to work. The bus alerts you at your destination to wake you up.

[EarthGameOver]

Civil Engineer professor told me 25 yrs ago of this concept would take place in the future which is NOW. There are cpt robots in warehouses that follow a metal line in the floor, drop the product and go get another. They also detect obstructions and stop and go when cleared but there are crashes when a human is driving a forklift. Good technology.

[rok]

It is June, 2019. As the technology gets better, the challenge of self driving car continues to grow bigger.

[Bass.Player]

It won't be long until *you* driving will be illegal!

[JayMete]

I cant wait to play gran turismo while siting in my driverless car!

[ivan-levpolezhaev]

pretty interesting how this car would react on puddles, especially the ones that cover potholes. Or on slippery road? 
Also come to think of it...just a trifle...but steering wheel is no longer required as well as pedals and etc. So an additional passenger could get in (!). And interior redesigning would be required then. By the way even mirrors wouldn't be necessary :D 
Hmm...what about trucks, international transportations? drivers would be required only for looking after loading/unloading and documents? And more than that, 'drivers' would be finally able to sleep when 'driving' :D 

Anyway, it's a really thrilling topic! Looks like utopia, but sounds really outstanding!

[worcesterbertie]

The biggest advantage will come when the majority of vehicles are self driving. They will be able to communicate with each other and all drive at the same speed, which should be the highest practicle speed for any given road condition or geometry. They will be able to co-ordinate junctions so that they will never need to stop at a cross road or traffic light - they will just thread seamlessly between each other. Should be a big improvement.