Cars that Drive Themselves

With the advent of global positioning devices that give drivers turn-by-turn directions, the prospect of a car giving directions to a driver doesn't seem that crazy. But if someone found themselves shouting enthusiastically about cars that listen to directions from their owners and then drive themselves, they'd be buying a one-way ticket to the nuthouse. Robotic cars? Lay off the reefer, man.

But in fact, if you have a friend that's rambled on about robotic cars, you may want to retrieve them from the loony bin, because-get this-robotic cars already exist.

And yes. I'm completely sober.

According to the Associated Press, General Motors says they'll have driverless cars tested by 2015 and on roadways by 2018. "This is not science fiction," said Larry Burns, vice president for research and development at GM.

Last month the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsored an Urban Challenge where fully autonomous vehicles competed for a $2 million cash prize. The 11 competing vehicles had to navigate the city streets of George Air Force Base in Victorville, CA while obeying all California traffic laws to avoid disqualification.

The winning team was the Tartan Racing team, whose "Boss," a robotized Chevy Tahoe, finished the race 20 minutes ahead of the second-place team. The sensor-laden vehicle had to merge into moving traffic, go through intersections, find and park in parking spaces, and avoid colliding with the robotic vehicles as well as 50 other human-driven vehicles. And the eleven robo-car finalists were not influenced by human beings at all-not through a joystick, a remote control, or anything of the sort-they made independent decisions entirely by themselves.

Larry Burns is right. The notion of robotic cars is steadily moving from the realm of science fiction into the realm of science fact.

That's not to say that there aren't hurdles to be overcome. In real life, robotic cars would have to deal with far more obstacles than other cars and intersections. Bicyclists, pedestrians, and giddy children running blindly into the street are all obstacles that robotic cars would have to deal with.