Blind Man Sets Out Alone in Google's Driverless Car
From: Washington Post - 12/13/2016

Google on Tuesday announced its driverless car successfully transported an
unaccompanied legally blind man around Austin, TX, in a milestone for the
technology after years of testing. Google estimates this testing process
involved driving such vehicles more than 2 million miles on public roads. The
car's performance evaluation prior to the test with the blind passenger took
six months, says Google engineer Nathaniel Fairfield. The vehicle was
equipped with a backup computer and multiple control systems, a necessity
when the driver is removed from the equation, according to Google's Dmitri
Dolgov. The blind man, Steve Mahan, hopes autonomous automobiles will help
restore independence to people such as himself. Google also announced the
driverless car project will be spun off into Waymo, an independent subsidiary
of Alphabet whose CEO, John Krafcik, sees the blind man test as a sign that
"we're close to bringing this to a lot of people." Carnegie Mellon University
automation expert Costa Samaras says Google's move suggests the company is
confident that computer control of the vehicle will be free of errors. The
Google announcement coincides with the Obama administration's proposal
requiring all new cars to have wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communication as a
safety measure.

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