Google's Self-Driving Cars Now Know When To Honk (engadget.com) 156
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: Google's self-driving cars are not only getting smarter by the day, but they're also getting a little bit more polite. According to the project's latest monthly report, the self-driving car team has recently been teaching the car's AI when and how to honk the horn and give the human drivers on the road a helpful heads up. In order to train its honking algorithm, the team tested a variety of honk-worthy situations, like a car backing out of a blind driveway or a car headed the wrong way down a one-way street. At first, the car would play a little honk sound inside the vehicle so engineers could record whether there was a legitimate need for a honk and provide teaching feedback. Once they felt the AI was ready, they let it blare its horn to the world. The report goes on to say Google has "sound-designed the self-driving car's 'hum' so pedestrians and cyclists around the car can hear it coming." The sound increases when the car speeds up, and decreases when the car slows down.
Re:Self-Driving Car Baiting (Score:5, Funny)
That usually come shortly after the horn honk...but had to be timed just right....
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I had exactly the same idea, a finger as a "helpful feedback on the other driver's actions".
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You appear to referencing a study with the small sample size of 50 self-driving cars that were involved in 11 accidents. You should also say that all 11 accidents were the fault of the other party involved (the human-driven car), and the damage was very minor in each case.
I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say they "ignore the rules of the road", but apparently you don't like self-driving cars very much, despite evidence that the roads would probably be safer if all cars were self-driving.
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Awe, did you just have a brain poop? Having the fortitude to not back down is not the same as being "tough". You believing it does implies you are simply an ignorant bitch. And why would I go to LA or New York? Because LA and NY are so much tougher than Detroit? Too funny. How about going to Detroit and telling them that. And yes, I have been to NYC, LA, Oakland, KC, Chicago, Gary, etc... I don't make it a habit, but work takes me places and I like to explore.
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It's going to take a breakthrough in quantum computing before they can get one to honk its horn microseconds before the light turns green.
Honk at texting Meanderthals? (Score:2, Funny)
Will the cars honk at texting Meanderthal idioticus fools who walk out into traffic?
Or do us all the favor, not honk, and squash them?
They could do better (Score:5, Funny)
Only honking is not enough
Since Google's self driving car are running on computers and computer can differentiate different dangerous situations Google should make their cars 'talk' --- like "Watch out, I'm on your left lane!" or 'get the fuck out of my lane, asshole!', or something like that!
Re:They could do better (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, I'm drivin' here!
Re:They could do better (Score:5, Funny)
The car disproportionately honks at women too.
This is clearly sexist manhonking as a result of the deeply engrained brogramming culture at Google.
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The car disproportionately honks at women too.
Nah, that's just a result of its machine learning algorithm.
(ducks...)
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'get the fuck out of my lane, asshole!'
They're going to have models specifically for sale in Massachusetts?
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OK, so it can honk. But does it know what to do when honked at? Can it roll down the window, stick out a mechanical arm, and raise its finger?
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Actually, that's similar to something I was thinking about one day.
Like, in some not-too-distant future (Next Sunday, AD?), self-driving cars actually talk to each other. We get in, we program our destinations, they calculate the route to take, and off we go. But when on the roads, commute distances differ. Some people might get on the interstate and get off at the next exit. Others might be on the int
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I agree. I always wished I had an LCD board in my back window with preprogrammed responses.
"Sorry, I was a total asshole and didn't see you."
"Thanks!"
On a more serious note I still think the Google Cars need a bright red flashing light in the back window for when it detects an oncoming car when it's stopped. Lay on the horn and flash a bright red light at them. Then if they're texting and are about to rear-end you (most google car accidents it seems) they will be alerted and hopefully stop their vehicle.
Finally a car feature worth hacking (Score:5, Funny)
horn.honk(5000);
}
if (location - tinderuser.closest < 50) {
horn.honk(50);
horn.honk(50);
}
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externalSpeaker.play(new voiceToSound("Get the fuck off my road asshole! I'm driving here."));
surroundingCars.inFront.aggroPoints++;
}
for each car in surroundingCars {
if (car.aggroPoints > 3) {
if(car.occupants.lookHarmless) {
car.flipOff();
}
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if(car.occupants.lookHarmless)
So true lol
When the ahole doesn't see the light turn green (Score:3)
Re: When the ahole doesn't see the light turn gree (Score:1, Funny)
Aww, did precious snowflake have to wait 3s on the way to work this morning? Here, have a Snickers bar.
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Right, because that's the problem with texting while driving.
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Not just him. All the cars behind him as well. And, if the intersection is so busy that during rush hour all cars have to wait for several green lights, all subsequent cars for the rest of the entire rush hour.
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In Washington State, it has gotten worse since pot was legalized. Lots of people just sitting at the intersection in a stupor.
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I'm from WA State and I honk.
wait until they're 150% sure the light is green.
I'm not so sure about this. I've been behind a few people lately where, when the light turns green, their foot comes off the brake (brake light go out). But they just sit there for another 5 or even 10 seconds. It's a stoner thing, where the train of thought gets broken at some point in the process.
Re:When the ahole doesn't see the light turn green (Score:4, Funny)
Reminds me of my favourite bad driving trifecta. Was going to a burger place, going down the street and one ahole one cuts me off, 1min later another ahole is driving behind me with his high beams on blinding me, 1min after that we're all standing at a turning light behind a car waiting to turn. And waiting, and waiting... The light never went green because ahole three was too busy txting to realise she's not actually the front car anymore and no one is standing on the turning sensor so our light never went green.
I got out, tapped on her window and let lose:
YOU Get the fuck off your phone and drive up to the sensor!
YOU Watch where the fuck your going before you get someone killed!
and YOU your fucking highbeams are still on, OFF NOW!!!!!
It was the second most satisfying experience of my driving career.
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Re:When the ahole doesn't see the light turn green (Score:4, Funny)
Driving home in peak hour one day there's a car a few meters in front of me who clearly thinks he can travel faster than the backed up traffic. Ever chance he gets he jumps into the other lane which he thinks is moving faster only for that to be the slightly slower lane. 10min later he ends up behind me. Traffic breaks a little and we start moving a bit shy of the speed limit, truck in my lane and a break in the other, so I change lanes right as that idiot does. He honks and tailgates me as if that was his god given lane.
At some point we end up in the right lane, idiot still behind me, and we're behind a another truck I can't see around. There's a suddenly very large break in the left lane with no cars at all which I merge into (because I need to go left up ahead), but half way into the lane I change my mind (for a good reason) and jump back into the right lane.
Idiot behind my who already accelerated before I even started to merge honks, swerves into the left lane, accelerates, gives me the finger, and then rear-ends the parked bus (the good reason why I didn't want to go in that lane).
Some people just need to chill.
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I had a similar (but lesser) experience where someone who was mad at me rushed to cut me off......right into a red light, getting captured by a camera.
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Isn't it just one of the most glorious feelings in the world? ^_^
A good start ... (Score:2)
Stinky car (Score:2)
So it hums and it honks? Maybe they should wash it once in a while.
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What is it about me that you find so fascinating?
Nice (Score:2)
I guess they will honk each time they read a bumper-sticker with 'Honk if you love Jesus' or 'Honk if you're horny'.
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Will it be region-aware? (Score:2, Interesting)
Here in Portland Oregon, you could drive for years without ever hearing someone honk their horn.
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Here in Portland Oregon, you could drive for years without ever hearing someone honk their horn.
and here in Chicago, it's pretty rude to NOT honk at least 1.2s before the light goes green.
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What about putting tolls on LSD?
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That's interesting. Maybe someone should make a show about your city.
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Ok super curious now. I'm guessing "honk" means something else in your dialect? I tried the usual "British English to American English" searches and got nothing.
In American English, "Honk" is an onomatopoeia of the sound car horns make (comparing them to the sound geese make). "To honk" is the verbing of that word. One honks a horn by pushing the center of the steering wheel causing the car horn to make the honk sound. This is done to alert other drivers, get their attention, or express road rage.
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Here in Portland Oregon, you could drive for years without ever hearing someone honk their horn.
There in Portland, Oregon, people drive so slowly that it's faster to walk.
Disable cycleist hum (Score:2)
Stop the noise pollution the 3 adults that ride bikes on the road around me can deal. The kids are smart enough to use the sidewalks.
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FWIW, in most locales cyclists are entitled to the full lane.
Re:Disable cycleist hum (Score:4, Informative)
And in most of these locations, bicycling on the sidewalk is also illegal.
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Both of which are ridiculous.
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Have you met most bicyclists? A few good actors does not make it worth making the sidewalks dangerous. Especially one-pedestrian-wide curving suburban sidewalks with lots of plant life around them.
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You must live in very different burbs, our sidewalk are rather wide 4 people abreast easily 8+ on the main road (all of a mile or so of it) and no sidewalks once your are off through streets. Mind you I said children adult bicyclists get to use the side of the road. A pack of 10 year olds can use the sidewalk all they want.
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I should have specified residential sidewalks.
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I'd love to see you just try to ride a bicycle on a sidewalk in Manhattan. Could make a great youtube video, and maybe even give you a shot at a Darwin Award.
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Good thing it's legal where I am and firmly suggested fro children.
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For good reason too. Nobody wants to get run over by a bicycle going 15mph.
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Here in the burbs to rural, were smart kids use the sidewalks it's safer for them. I didn't say it was technically legal but these are laws made by city folk for city folk. We do not realy have to contend with massive throngs of people using the sidewalks. Try biking down main st a cop will tell you to get up on the sidewalk and stop being an idiot.
Around here we call a cyclist using a full lane obstructing the flow traffic and patently dangerous. 45+ mph speed limits and plenty of turns bike doing 5mph
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And in these burbs, myself and my kids have almost been killed riding bikes on the sidewalk, because people don't stop before the crosswalk or look going in and out of driveways. (No seriously, both kids have had to dodge cars entering the crosswalk without stopping at the line). When riding on the streets with me, nothing even close to that.
A cyclist using a full lane is the right and proper way to cycle (ever since the 1800's). They are not obstructing traffic, they are traffic. The bike isn't going t
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We call it impeding traffic, cyclist are not allowed to use the full lane unless the entire road is too narrow to allow passing with the 3 foot safety in these parts. Seems like a good thing to me.
As far as corners sorry physics says your bike loses every time, as I said my state does not allow bikes to use the full lane and any road where it's a 45-55mph speed limit it's wide enough for a bike to stay on the side. If your mid road you're allready in the wrong when you get hit.
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They should invent headphones that make engine noises when cars are nearby. Then people like you can wear those while the rest of us can enjoy the silence of modern cars in our cities.
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20+mph You must live in the flatlands. How many kids can do that in places where we have hills? 20mph is still a safety issue in roads try 55mph traffic and blind corners.
In any event we have no issues with kids bikes on sidewalks, the adult cyclists use the roads.
noisy (Score:3)
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It should be a whooshing sound that is aligned with some lights on the bumper.
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Blind pedestrians? It doesn't have to be loud.
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The AI should be able to detect the white cane and make some polite warning sounds in that case.
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Some use service dogs. The moving cane will be really hard to make out driving at 45mph
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Toyota added this to Priuses. It's a high enough frequency that the range of the sound dissipates very quickly.
NYC mode? (Score:2)
Will there be a NYC mode where it will do an angry honk .05 second after the light turns green? If not, it's a non-starter for NYC drivers.
not impressed. (Score:2)
tell me when it gets road rage and starts honking at pedestrians before mowing them over and then i'll be impressed! :)
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That would be great, no officer my ai car did it all by itself. The screen flashed red and just ran into them.
Re: not impressed. (Score:1)
Does it honk? (Score:3)
This reminds of a completely irrelevant joke: A man comes into a pub carrying a goose. The publican asks "Does it honk?" - "No", says the man, "- he can hold his drink".
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Must be a regional thing, but I've never heard the term "honk" used relating to being drunk before, while it's obviously being used quite a bit in here today :)
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Not so much drunk as the effects of being too drunk. Our culture is blessed with veritbale multitude of expressions for vomiting.
Location Specific? (Score:3)
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Be fair, the concept of a self driving car as being made by most companies (tends to follow the rules of the road, stays in lane, does some semblance of the speed limit, avoids accidents, etc.) is generally a poor fit for Rome at least. Haven't been to the other two, but I'm moderately certain that in Rome at least, attempting to avoid accidents and staying in ones lane is considered a sign of weakness and should be avoided at all cost. Or at least the lane markers are really just a suggestion and not a r
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In parts of the usa semblance of the speed limit is like 10-15+ over and some cases up to 25 over in work zones. Do 45 at your own risk on the IL-tollway.
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How are they modeling Boston? (Score:3)
while(location == Boston)
horn.honk;
end
You'd think everyone was in a rush going to save someone's life that's critical at the hospital.
Google will get people shot in road-rage incidents (Score:3)
other requirements (Score:2)
My wife and I shared the driving about equally. Equally concerned about safety, we didn't want the driver to be distracted by orally abusing and gesticulating at offending drivers we encountered on our journeys. It's an important function of driving, but reduces overall safety. We settled on a plan such that whoever was driving would continue on course even after a serious transgression by a road companion ... while the passenger would open the window and express his/her self at the offender with extreme vo
Polite? Helpful? (Score:2)
Yeah, those are the words that come to mind when I think about someone honking their car horn.
What about not moving at green lights? (Score:3)
What about not moving at green lights? I some times have to due that to people.
Pretty girls (Score:5, Funny)
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Algorithms.
If (phone==Android) honk();
else mustbenotworthdating();
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If Google can detect our faces, then I am sure it can for pretty people.
But can they be politically incorrect? (Score:2)
It would be cool if they could occasionally honk at an attractive and well-put-together man or woman that they see walking down the street. Now THAT would signal the arrival of true AI!
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Sad thing. (Score:2)
Does it understand BEING HONKED AT? (Score:4, Interesting)
This is a cool advancement, because it shows that the cars are getting good at sending a message. But do they LISTEN to honks?
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I wouldn't think so. First off, it would have no idea if the honk were directed at it or some other vehicle.
But mostly its because a honk is usually the equivalent of "hey idiot, pay attention". But Google's cars are always paying attention, so I don't think listening for a honk would be a valuable input.
I swear (Score:2)
I swear Google have an employee (not an AI) who keeps a list of all this little tidbits and releases them to the press every few weeks or so. Just to keep the project in the papers.
And all the media just obediently paste them into the headline fied... :(
Depends on region (Score:2)
Drivers in northern California don't appear to honk unless they have their head wedged into the steering column. I get weird stares when I honk at cars in San Jose for doing things like driving in the wrong lane, when busses turn right on red right in front of me requiring me to pile on the brakes. (city bus drivers are terrible drivers considering driving is their job that they do every day)
In the mid-west, you honk at people for commiting any offense, even if it doesn't directly impact you. Like if you s
another feature (Score:3)
Woot (Score:1)
I just saw a rainbow colored car going by playing "La Cucaracha" nonstop!
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You could always move, I don't think it would change the way you are though.
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certain steep and narrow bridges where I'm from require you to honk before passing over them, as you cannot see the other side. Some places have hills like that too. If the self driving car can't read the rusty old sign next to the bridge, it won't know to honk. Hopefully people who can afford self driving cars are staying out of such rural middle-of-nowhere places.