Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead (Mit Press)

Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead (Mit Press)

<P><B>When human drivers let intelligent software take the wheel: the beginning of a new era in personal mobility.</B></P><P>“Smart, wide-ranging, [and] nontechnical.”<br/><B><I>―Los Angeles Times</I></B></P><P>“Anyone who wants to understand what's coming must read this fascinating book.” <br/><B>―Martin Ford</B><B><I>, New York Times </I></B><B>bestselling author of </B><B><I>Rise of the Robots</I></B></P><P>In the year 2014, Google fired a shot heard all the way to Detroit. Google's newest driverless car had no steering wheel and no brakes. The message was clear: cars of the future will be born fully autonomous, with no human driver needed. In the coming decade, self-driving cars will hit the streets, rearranging established industries and reshaping cities, giving us new choices in where we live and how we work and play.</P><P>In this book, Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman offer readers insight into the risks and benefits of driverless cars and a lucid and engaging explanation of the enabling technology. Recent advances in software and robotics are toppling long-standing technological barriers that for decades have confined self-driving cars to the realm of fantasy. A new kind of artificial intelligence software called deep learning gives cars rapid and accurate visual perception. Human drivers can relax and take their eyes off the road. </P><P>When human drivers let intelligent software take the wheel, driverless cars will offer billions of people all over the world a safer, cleaner, and more convenient mode of transportation. Although the technology is nearly ready, car companies and policy makers may not be. The authors make a compelling case for why government, industry, and consumers need to work together to make the development of driverless cars our society's next “Apollo moment.”</P>