Google’s self-driving cars have the ability to detect children in costumes

Google today in a post on Google+ said that its self-driving cars this Halloween had a chance to learn to become more cautious around children. Kids, as we all know, are unpredictable compared to adults, and so, Google’s self-driving cars are programmed to detect and be more cautious around kids. You might think children wearing costumes, particularly on Halloween, might confuse Google’s vehicles’ recognition system, but that wasn’t the case.

The search giant ended up having a bunch of children in costumes come hang out around the self-driving cars so that their sensors and software could get some additional practice at recognizing children in costumes. Here’s the official statement from Google:

“This week, lots of little ghouls, superheroes and even robots were running around Google with their families, so we asked them to hang out around our parked cars. This gives our sensors and software extra practice at recognizing children in all their unique shapes and sizes, even when they’re in odd costumes.”

Once a sensor detects a child, dressed in costume or not, the software responds accordingly by being much more cautious, whether that means moving down to slower speeds, ready to come to a complete stop on a dime, and so on.

Certainly the most interesting thing about Google’s self-driving car project is the vehicles’ abilities to learn and adapt to real-world situations. While there’s still a lot of skepticism surrounding driverless cars, Google’s project is shaping up nicely, and it’s only getting better. The search giant even has a dedicated team to come up with odd and unpredictable situations so that the self-driving vehicles will know what to do in almost any situation they come across.

Google recently announced that not only was it expanding its self-driving car project to the streets of Austin, Texas, but that it was also beginning to increase production of its autonomous vehicles.

source: Google (Google+)

Come comment on this article: Google’s self-driving cars have the ability to detect children in costumes

Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more!