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Google Expands Self-Driving Car Tests to Phoenix, Arizona

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Jennifer van der Kleut

News outlets are reporting this week that Google’s Alphabet Inc. is expanding its self-driving car program to the Phoenix, Arizona Metro area.

This makes the fourth U.S. location one can find Google’s famous self-driving pod cars being tested on public roads.

Google cars have been logging mile after mile in Mountain View, California near Google’s headquarters for more than six years; recently, Google added Austin, Texas, and just two months ago, Kirkland, Washington.

Multiple news outlets reported in February that Google was eyeing four new cities to expand driverless testing to after a Federal Communications Commission document indicated the company was applying for the necessary permits, though the locations of the new cities were redacted. Kirkland and Phoenix appear to be the first two of the four new cities.

In addition, Google executives admitted earlier this month that they are eyeing the United Kingdom for potential testing in the future, as the British government has been lobbying the tech giant for some time.

So, why Phoenix? Google representatives told AutoNews.com that Phoenix’s proximity to desert and the resulting dry, dusty air make Phoenix an important place to test their driverless cars.

“Arizona is known as a place where research and development is welcome, innovation can thrive, and companies can set up roots,” said Jennifer Haroon, head of business operations for the Google Self-Driving Car project. “[And] the Phoenix area has distinct desert conditions, which will help us better understand how our sensors and cars handle extreme temperatures and dust in the air.”

Reuters and Venture Beat report that Google test car operators have already hit the streets of Phoenix in four Lexus RX450h SUVs, and are busy creating “a detailed map of streets, lane markers, traffic signals and curb heights.”

Google has been an integral part of the federal government’s process toward ironing out a consistent national policy for driverless and connected vehicle technology. Most recently, Chris Urmson wrote the Department of Transportation a letter proposing that the company, as well as any other companies working on developing autonomous cars, should be allowed to sell driverless cars to consumers if they can pass a federal safety test.

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Google is Looking to Hire a Few Good Autonomous Test Drivers

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Jennifer van der Kleut

Can’t wait for the day to come when you get to slip into the front seat of a driverless car?

That day could be tomorrow-or, at least, one day very soon.

Google has placed an online job ad on the site Glassdoor.com indicating they wish to hire test drivers for their fleet of self-driving cars.

Of course, there’s more to the job than just taking the test cars for daily spins. The job listing says the “vehicle safety specialists” will be expected to collect data for the project engineers, and reconcile safety systems to work in harmony for all other systems within the cars.

The specialists will also participate in design reviews to help ensure that all safety systems are working efficiently.

Ideal candidates will possess a bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering or other related field, as well as at least five years of experience in related engineering work include hazard analyses. And of course, knowledge of automotive systems is a major plus.

Since 2009, Google has been hard at work developing its self-driving car systems, and has logged more than 1 million test miles. Though Google logged its first at-fault accident on Valentine’s Day of this year, it continues to expand its program. In addition to driving around its main headquarters in Silicon Valley, their test cars can also be seen on the roads in Austin, Texas and Kirkland, Washington today.

Most recently, Google appeared before Congress last week to discuss the merits of self-driving vehicle technology, and to discuss how the government can better remove legislative obstacles to getting the technology to market.

Though the Department of Transportation has expressed eagerness in helping self-driving technology progress, their most recent report indicates they still think autonomous cars should include traditional features like steering wheels and brake pedals-much to the disappointment of companies like Google, whose test cars have neither-as well as driver’s seats.

Not long after that report was released, and after the hearing with Congress took place, top Google executive Chris Urmson sent an informal letter to the federal government proposing that self-driving cars should be legal to drive on public roads, and should be legal to sell to consumers, if the cars can pass a road safety test, proving they are up to federal safety standards.

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Google to DOT: We should be able to sell driverless cars if they can pass federal road test

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Jennifer van der Kleut

News outlets are reporting that Google executive Chris Urmson sent the U.S. federal government a proposal Friday suggesting that self-driving cars should be legal on public roads, and legal to sell to consumers, if they are able to pass a road test satisfying federal safety standards.

Furthermore, Google’s proposal said the rule, if approved, should apply to any company manufacturing self-driving cars, not just Google.

“Google would rather not wade through government bureaucracy and red tape, so it has penned a proposal that will hopefully allow autonomous vehicles to be federally approved for road use sooner,” Hot Hardware reported Saturday.

“It’s hard to argue with Google’s reasoning,” Hot Hardware writers said, appearing to agree with Google.

This past week, representatives from several top companies such as Google, General Motors, Lyft, Duke University and Delphi Automotive, which are all heavily invested in autonomous car research and development, appeared on Capitol Hill to testify before members of Congress on the merits of the rising technology.

While it appears some progress was made in the meeting, in the same week, a new report from the Department of Transportation made headlines.

In its efforts to create a consistent national policy regarding self-driving cars, the DOT proposed that any self-driving cars on public roads must include a driver’s seat, steering wheel and brake pedal.

This was met with disappointment from Google, whose cars are famously steering wheel-less.

Engadget reports that the proposal was sent in an informal letter to top DOT officials on Friday, but that an official draft proposal has not been submitted to legislators yet.

Nevertheless, Google representative Johnny Luu told the Associated Press that the tech company’s proposal was “the beginning of a process” to create “the right framework that will allow deployment in a safe and timely manner.”

If approved, analysts see the proposed road tests as a “fast-track” approach to getting self-driving cars to market, as opposed to the current, more lengthy process automakers usually have to abide by.

“The typical process for making new rules takes years,” Associated Press reporter Justin Pritchard reports.

There is no word yet on what legislators think of Google’s idea.

“The department will take input from lots of stakeholders as we develop [a] plan,” Gordon Trowbridge, spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is overseeing the regulation of self-driving technology within the broader Department of Transportation, told the Associated Press last week.

 

 

 

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Feds: Driverless Cars Must Have Driver’s Seat, Steering Wheel, Brake Pedals

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Jennifer van der Kleut

As the U.S. federal government scrambles to try and create a consistent national policy for driverless vehicles, a new report says they think they should still match much of the features of traditional cars.

Much to the frustration of companies like Google that are working hard to try and bring driverless cars into the mainstream, the federal government is insisting that driverless cars on American roads have traditional features like driver’s seats, steering wheels and brake pedals.

It’s no surprise that Google isn’t happy about this, since their famous self-driving test cars only have one out of those three things; their cars have no steering wheels or brakes.

This isn’t the first time proposed government regulations have clashed with the objectives of tech companies or vehicle manufacturers out there, actively working to develop self-driving cars. In the final days of 2015 (which was one year later than initially planned), the California Department of Motor Vehicles proposed state law that would require a licensed driver capable of taking over the car in an emergency be present, in addition to a steering wheel.

In that case, though, the federal government stepped in. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) declared that Google’s artificial intelligence system satisfied the DMV’s requirement for a licensed driver.

In light of that save, news outlets are reporting that Google representatives are once again surprised and unhappy about the DOT’s latest proposal.

Some industry analysts are declaring the new proposed regulations a good thing, though; a “green light of sorts.”

As Bloomberg analysts said this week, “Existing U.S. laws pose few barriers to adoption of autonomous vehicle technology so long as cars and trucks stick with existing designs allowing humans to take control. It’s only when manufacturers push the envelope by developing vehicles without such things as traditional steering wheels and brake pedals that regulations may block new autonomous technology.”

The DOT has been scrambling to create a national policy for driverless cars since January, with the publicized goal of having them ready by late June to early July. As Scientific American reports, there are currently 23 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have proposed as many as 55 different laws regarding driverless cars.