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Google Phone Designers To Create Autonomous Electric Car

autoblog.com — In Possible Future Scenario #317-B, San Francisco industrial design firm Mike and Maaike presents the atnmbl (get it? – "autonomobile"). Less a car than an autonomous, seven-person mobile living room, the atnmbl is billed as a complete redesign of the car for those who believe that the ideal driving experience is not driving.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 9, 2009

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  • IvanB, on 07/08/2009, -4/+26A lot of very positive Google news lately, this one no exception!
  • RobertWright, on 08/13/2009, -0/+15Hopefully I can drive my own car if i'm still around in 2040!
  • inactive, on 07/09/2009, -0/+10I predict robot nixon will be actualised by 2045.

    You'll have long forgotten this comment by the time it doesnt happen.
  • zkirill, on 07/09/2009, -2/+12"...social networking capabilities, and... a bar."

    I approve of this project.
  • martzmart, on 07/09/2009, -0/+8Well that's just about the ugliest thing I ever saw.
  • spriggig, on 07/09/2009, -0/+8I still like SkyTran better. After driving for 25 years, I'll happily leave the roads to those who actually want to drive a car. There's no thrill left in it for me, I'd rather spend my commute time napping, reading or playing (no, not working you freaks!).
  • 4rp4n3t, on 07/09/2009, -0/+7This has nothing to do with Google at all. The designers also designed a phone that runs Android, that's all.
  • Twenty5, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5Im pretty sure I will get buried for just saying this, but everybody seems to be in love with Google these days.

    And I hate to say this, but lets not forget what gave Google its success (Search and site ranking algorithms). Many many companies have gone down the drain just because they couldn't focus on what they do best.
  • inactive, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5I don't see why the concept couldn't be applied to public transit right now. We already sort of have it with in-flight entertainment and snack cars on trains, it would just need adapting and refinement. I think a lot of folks would use it more if it had some added value.
  • kanojo1969, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4The reason why this sort of thing is a long way off is because of the infrastructure required to support it. When people first started testing autonomous vehicles back in the 80s, they all required special materials built into the road surface so it could navigate.

    With GPS being so common now, and visual recognition algorithms having improved out of sight, most of that is no longer necessary, but it will still require an overhaul of most of the world's roads.

    The first application for these vehicles will be in freight, with convoys of dozens of these things all piloting themselves in slipstream moving goods over long distances. Because of safety paranoia it's almost certain these will be on their own roads. And then we will gradually see personal transport moving onto these new roads and our old roads gradually being dug up and seeded with grass or something.

    As for this prototype, I think they have lost touch with reality just a tad. In practise the vehicles will need to look more like conventional vehicles due to handling and powertrain issues, and the first few generations will definitely need the ability for a human to take control if necessary.

    Still, it will be a great thing one day when we can do all our travelling without human interference. The accident rate will plummet and fuel efficiency will skyrocket.
  • inactive, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Lunch... in a cup!
  • omnithought, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4I wonder how often it will say "No Service"
  • archaist, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4Does it have a separate soundproof bubbledome for the kids?
  • Rogor, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4At first i thought.. heres another design masturbation that represents the disconnect of designers and the real world, and im probably not wrong but I have to say I do hate driving and mostly drive by GPS anyway if i have to. Its no competition to asian ultra urban living and a decent modern metro which means i dont need a car anyway but it might be an idea for Western countries where everyones spread out in all directions if it could ever get past the legal namby pamby safety concerns which I imagine would kill this concept anyway.
  • Sogladtobehere, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4Seriously flawed design. Having the monitor on the side of the "car" like that. With a landscape or cityscape flying by behind it, it would make everyone browsing the net or trying to read something on the screen nauseous.
  • neoq36, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3Google?? 2040?? So it'll be released as Google Car "Beta" in 2020??

  • newbill123, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3Sure, everyone loves Google's Autonomous Electric Car now, but just wait until they simplify it down to an Autonomous Electric Chair.
  • Wolfcaster, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2four times
  • yocouchdigga, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2*Moore's Law

    Excessive punctuation (whether intended or not)

    and just to be anal, Moore's Law refers to semiconductor circuits...

    Buried.
  • TranquilNight, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2In the near future, nearly everything will be made by google.
  • happyMensch, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2I totally had this idea first....
  • h99d, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2by 2040... google will know more of your life than you...... so the "car" doesn't need to ask you where you want to go. it already knows.
  • tamckissick, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1Absolutely! I'd like to drive for enjoyment and commuting just doesn't fit into the same sentence. I can hardly remember a more frustrating time than when I used my old muscle car as a commuter vehicle. It's much more fun to drive 20 miles/month on my time off.

    The main thing I don't get is with all the personal and societal benefits of Skytran, people don't realize that it's the fastest AND cheapest way to get us off foreign oil.
  • nyxerebos, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1For your convenience kids are strapped to the outside of the vehicle, babies are placed in a soundproof box.
  • Sogladtobehere, on 07/15/2009, -0/+1try reading a book while looking at a 90% angle out the window. please.
  • happyMensch, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1 ...
  • inactive, on 07/09/2009, -0/+0I won't.
  • TranquilNight, on 07/09/2009, -0/+0Wow! Incredible! How long did it take you construct this link tower? It's so magnificent!
  • gfelstein55, on 07/09/2009, -1/+1Wow!!! It's great news....
  • happyMensch, on 07/09/2009, -1/+1The way that scenery flying by on trains makes everyone motion sick? Buried.
  • beeensy, on 07/09/2009, -3/+231 years.....just 31 years....just 31 years....
  • inactive, on 07/09/2009, -1/+0Public transit now would have added value if it weren't public. No one wants to sit next to a drooling, homeless pariah of society.
  • inactive, on 07/09/2009, -2/+1Maybe, if everyone were little pansies like you.
  • shakeelshahzad, on 07/09/2009, -5/+3it's nice great sharing
  • insomniasystems, on 07/09/2009, -6/+32040!!1!! Really!? Where the ***** did Moors law go?!!!!

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