Nov 20

Deputy Administrator of NHTSA joins Google as Director of Safety for Self-Driving Cars

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Deputy Administrator of NHTSA joins Google as Director of Safety for Self-Driving Cars

El Goog has been experimenting with autonomous vehicles for a while, and now it’s hiring a government man to help handle the red tape and get them on the roads. Ron Medford will be leaving his job as second in command (Deputy Administrator) at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and joining the search giant in January as the Director of Safety for Self-Driving Cars. Google’s prototype robot chauffeurs have navigated over 300,000 miles of US road, but to graduate from the testing stage will require just as much regulatory expertise as it will tech smarts. That’s where Medford comes in, who will be paying close attention to the NHTSA’s multi-year project to define standards for self-driving cars, which started only recently. Now, hopefully, we won’t have to wait as long for those stressful journeys as pilot to become relaxing jaunts as fleshy cargo.

[Image Credit: Getty Images / Brendan Hoffman]

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Via: Wired

Source: The Detroit News

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Aug 22

University of Michigan connects 3,000 cars for year-long safety pilot

Posted in: Today's Chili

University of Michigan connects 3,000 cars for yearlong safety pilot

Road safety continues to be a major concern for both researchers and car makers alike. Yesterday saw yet another real-world trial kicking off, this time on a much grander scale. A total of 3,000 vehicles in Ann Arbor, Michigan are taking part in a 12-month project run by the state’s Transportation Research Institute. The vehicles have Dedicated Short Range Communications and video recording facilities, which means the cars can communicate with each other, traffic signals, and share data to a central platform — which in turn issues warnings when high risk situations, or if traffic problems occur. Of course, this trial will also create a massive data set, which researchers will be able to plunder, and help the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) better determine the viability of such systems. So while it’s unlikely to lead to self driving cars just yet, it’s a step in the right direction.

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University of Michigan connects 3,000 cars for year-long safety pilot originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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