autonomous

Developers eager to be among the first to create applications for Leap Motion's new gesture control system think it could be used to auto-translate sign language.

That was among the details the company released this morning about the initial round of requests from developers to design tools that work with the Leap -- technology that lets users control what's on their computers with hundredth of a millimeter accuracy with nothing more than their fingers or their hands.

The San Francisco company said that in the two months since pulling back the wraps on the Leap, more than 26,… Read more

With each passing year, it seems robots evolve faster than humans do. Last week, a group of students at the University of Freiburg's humanoid robots lab in Germany detailed how they gave robots the ability to maneuver extremely difficult obstacles, such as stairs and ramps, without assistance.

To achieve this relatively new level of robotic maneuverability, the researchers implemented a "2D laser scanner, a monocular camera, an inertial measurement unit, and joint encoders" into a Nao robot, according to a research document (PDF). … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- It's time to think of Google as much more than just a search engine, and that should both excite and spook you.

Search remains critical to the company's financial and technological future, but Google also is using the search business' cash to transform itself into something much broader than just a place to point your browser when asking for directions on the Internet.

What it's now becoming is an extension of your mind, an omnipresent digital assistant that figures out what you need and supplies it before you even realize you need it.

Think … Read more

In the next 12-24 months, luxury vehicles will hit the roads with the driver physically at the wheel, but his mind potentially elsewhere. Audi, BMW, and Mercedes have all demonstrated semi-autonomous "traffic jam assistants" that will do the driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic, lessening the stress of the daily commute. But what about for the equally tense driver of your non-luxury vehicle? Luckily, Ford is working to bring that same frill to the mainstream buyer.

Ford announced in a news statement that it, too, is developing a semi-autonomous system for its vehicles. The "Traffic Jam Assistant" is … Read more

During his testimony Monday, a Google representative said if California legislators amend a proposed driverless car bill to effectively forbid their "driverlessness," the state will be telling autonomous car technology to get out of town.

Authored by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), the bill -- SB 1298 --aims to establish safety and performance standards for cars operated by computers and not people on California roads and highways. The California Assembly's Transportation Committee discussed the bill today, during which several members expressed concerns over liability issues and fear that the bill doesn't provide enough oversight to guarantee the … Read more

Internet companies do whatever they want and it needs to stop, a consumer group said in an argument calling for more privacy protection in robotic cars.

Consumer Watchdog is hoping lawmakers amend SB 1298 -- a bill that is expected to be approved by the California Assembly's Transportation Committee today -- to ensure that driverless cars gather the data necessary to run the car and nothing more. A similar bill has already passed in Nevada.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Alex Padilla of Pacoima, Calif. would require the California Highway Patrol to develop rules and regulations to govern how … Read more

Nevada is known as being one of the most lenient states when it comes to gambling, fireworks, and getting married; and now it's extending that easygoingness to driverless cars.

As of today, Nevada is the first state to let Google's self-driving cars on the roads. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles issued the tech giant the first license to see just how these cars act and react on busy streets and highways, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

"We're excited to receive the first testing license for self-driving vehicles in Nevada," a Google spokesperson … Read more

A fully autonomous vehicle is looming on the horizon, but do car buyers actually want this cutting-edge technology? And more importantly, will they be willing to pay for it? For approximately a third of car buyers, the first answer is yes, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

The research company conducted a study of 17,400 vehicle owners to measure interest and purchase intent for emerging automotive technologies. Participants were surveyed on the likeliness they would buy current and future autonomous safety technology, such as crash avoidance systems and fully self-driving vehicles. Not surprisingly, the interest participants showed in … Read more

Will automotive insurance companies charge you one rate if you're manually driving the vehicle, and another when your car drives itself? That's what Google wants to find out, and is meeting with automotive insurances companies to speed the process for legalizing self-driving cars.

Anthony Levandowski, Google automotive product manager, gave the keynote address at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit last week, and disclosed that the company has been meeting with an unnamed insurance company, according to a Detroit Free Press article. Complex regulatory and liability issues could stall the technology that is fast approaching … Read more