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  • Blind driver Steve Mahan in Google's Self-Driving Toyota Prius, March 2012

    We've talked about autonomous vehicles a lot in the past year or so, and as gearheads it's hard not to get wrapped up in the more negative aspects of the technology. If you love driving, the prospect of cars that drive themselves is a grim one. Driving is a skill you work hard to acquire, and perfect, and above all, it's fun. We don't want that liberty taken away. But hang on a second--what about those that don't like driving, but have no choice? Perhaps even more pertinent, what about people like Steve Mahan, 95 percent blind, but still with a desire to have personal mobility? Google's...

  • Audi TTS "Shelley" Autonomous Car
    Nevada Assigns Driverless Cars A Red License Plate

    Regulations governing the use of driverless cars on Nevada's roads have been finalized, and autonomous vehicles will carry a special red license plate.

  • Google's Self-Driving Toyota Prius
    Google Awarded U.S. Patent For Driverless Car Tech

    The news that Google has been working on a driverless car, or autonomous vehicle, probably won't come as a shock. We've followed Google's progress closely, but now the BBC has revealed that Google has been awarded a U.S. patent for the technology. Specifically, the patent refers to the technology...

  • Google autonomous Toyota Prius test vehicle
    Google's Next Goal: 1,000,000 Miles In A Self-Driving Car

    Google is betting big on its autonomous car technology, but the company has a long road ahead of it before those cars reach the market. Google's next major goal? Seeing its self-driving cars travel 1,000,000 miles without driver intervention. Last time we heard from Google, the company was lobbying...

  • Google Street View, Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II
    Google Maps Update Zooms From Satellite View To Street View

    Google Maps has become an indispensable tool for many travelers, offering highly detailed maps, complete with satellite imagery. Now, the service offers a new feature: seamless movement from Google Maps to its popular sibling, Street View. Once upon a time, if users wanted to use Street View, they...

  • The Google Street View Car
    Google Street View Rolls Into Israel (With Restrictions)

    Google Street View -- like its big sisters, Google Maps and Google Earth -- is a great service that has changed the way we view the world, but it's taken a lot of heat, too, especially from privacy advocates. Now, Street View cars are making their first forays into Israel, but they'll be rolling...

  • Google Maps adds weather layer from Weather.com

    If you're trying to squeeze in one more vacation before summer comes to a screeching halt, you might want to crack open Google Maps. You already know that the service can plan your travel route, but now, Google Maps can help you pack, too, by giving you weather forecasts for your target destination. Over the years, Google Maps has added a number of layers and functions to its service. The satellite view has always been interesting for folks who like to see the Big Picture, and the traffic view is great for commuters. And of course, Street View is perfect for finding destinations on unfamiliar...

  • Waze app for Android with commuting estimator
    Waze app update calculates your commute

    These days, you can't swing a cat in any app marketplace without hitting half a dozen targeted at travelers, but few of them meet anyone's everyday needs. After all, do we really need a travel app to get to the 7-Eleven? Waze is the exception to the rule, and with a new update, it becomes even more...

  • Vic Gundotra, SVP for Google
    Google Guru Sings Mercedes Praises (& So Should You)

    Who has the toughest job on Planet Earth? Some would say the president of the United States. Others would point to the thousands of low-paid migrant workers who keep food on our tables. For folks in the tech world, though, the title might go to Vic Gundotra, Google's chief of social networking. And...

  • Google Street View car
    Use A Mobile Device? Google Street View May Know Where It Is

    UPDATED: See below. If you use a mobile device -- a laptop, a cell phone -- you know how great it can be to stay connected on the go. But as we've seen with the Apple iPhone and even with RSS feeds on the Nissan Leaf, mobility often comes with its share of privacy headaches. The latest issue?...

  • Google Maps with traffic data for Munich and Madrid
    Planning A European Road Trip? Google Maps Has Traffic Info

    For many of us, the thought of motoring through the backroads and byways of Europe sounds like a dream vacation, but such trips come with their share of challenges -- namely, unfamiliar roads, signs in foreign languages, and, like anywhere, rush hour traffic. (Hey, someone's gotta keep punching the...

  • Google autonomous Toyota Prius test vehicle
    Nevada Gives Google's Autonomous Cars The Green Light

    We recently told you that Google was asking Nevada legislators to allow testing of the company's autonomous cars. Now, less than two months later, we're not surprised to learn that Google's lobbying efforts have paid off. As we mentioned before, Google was pressing Nevada's elected officials to do...

  • Google's Electric Vehicle Fleet Infrastructure

    Google built its reputation as a small, simple search engine, but there's nothing small about the company's investment in electric vehicles. Google has just placed an order for 30 Nissan Leafs and Chevrolet Volts, as well as 250 EV charging stations from Coulomb Technologies. Google will add the Leafs and Volts to its current "Gfleet" of plug-in hybrids, which were bought in 2007. (Since there weren't any commercially available plug-ins at the time, Google purchased Toyota Priuses and had them retrofitted.) The Gfleet functions like Google's private car-sharing service, with vehicles...

  • Google Maps' Live Transit Update
    Car In The Shop? Google Maps Tells You How Late The Bus Is: Video

    The only thing more annoying than putting your car in the shop is waiting to catch the bus the next day. It's such a common frustration, it made up Everywoman Sandra Bullock's entire backstory in Speed. The worst part is that while some transit systems offer updates to commuters, indicating when...

  • Bob Ferry's 1906 Oldsmobile replica. Photo: Inside Google Books
    Vintage 1906 Oldsmobile Built Using Google Books Downloads

    Accessing the internet in your car is nothing new these days. Using the internet to build your car is rather more special. That's exactly what Kentucky-based vintage car enthusiast Bob Ferry did, constructing his "brand new" 1906 Oldsmobile Model B Runabout using information downloaded from Google...

  • 2009 Toyota FT-EV Concept
    You Don't Own, You Don't Even Drive: The Future Of Cars?

    It's enough to make the car enthusiast's skin crawl. Visions of autonomous cars making their way along the highway while the occupants go about their daily business. If you love driving and cars, handing over control of your car to a machine is like handing over a child. Bill Reinert, a mechanical...

  • Google autonomous Toyota Prius test vehicle
    Robot Driving: First Pikes Peak, Next Nevada, Then Your Town?

    Recently Google requested a waiver from lawmakers in Nevada to allow it to test its computer-driven cars on Nevada public roads. Could robotic cars be safe on everyday roads? In the last couple of years, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has finally seen driverless cars fully...

  • Cloud-based energy optimization
    Cloud-Controlled Energy Saving From Google And Ford

    It's 7am, and your alarm is blaring to raise you bleary-eyed from your slumber. You grab breakfast, chuck some clothes on and get ready to head to work. As you step into your car, a message appears on the central screen. "What is your destination?". You press a button marked "Work". Although you...

  • Pulled over by the police

    In March, we told you that four U.S. Senators had pushed Apple, Google, and Research In Motion (creators of the Blackberry) to remove apps that revealed the location of DUI checkpoints. At the time, RIM was the only provider that agreed to do so, but now Apple and Google have indicated that they might be warming up to the idea. To recap: the Senators -- Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Tom Udall (D-NM) -- were initially drawn to the topic by an app called PhantomALERT. (At least, that's the only one they mentioned by name in their letter to the...

  • Google autonomous Toyota Prius test vehicle
    Google Bets On Nevada To Become Home For Autonomous Cars

    Google has been hitting the headlines pretty hard the past couple of days. Its Android operating system is still hammering the smartphone market, its new music service is causing a commotion, and the company is prepping to settle a hush-hush Justice Department investigation into its advertising...

  • Google and DOE map of alternative fuel locations
    Need To Charge Your Electric Car? There's A Google Map For That

    Despite the best efforts of some in the auto industry to keep electric cars off the roads, they're back. Given the current state of technology, the EV's revenge will likely be slow and steady, but most experts agree that electrics are the future of transportation. There are, however, several...

  • Bing Maps Streetside car
    Bing Brings Streetside To Britain: Is Google Losing Ground?

    We've talked a lot about the chilly reception Google Street View has gotten overseas. And yesterday, tech reporters were all a-flutter with reports that Google is losing ground to Microsoft's Bing in the search wars. Now comes news that Bing is bringing its Street View competitor, Streetside, to...

  • Flag of Switzerland
    Switzerland Serves Google Street View Its Biggest Smackdown To Date

    Here in America, we think Google Street View is great -- all unicorns and double-rainbows -- but elsewhere in the world, folks have been significantly less enthralled. Germany ordered Google to let citizens opt-out of having their homes included on the service. England and Canada found Google...

  • Parking In Motion app
    Parking In Motion Tries Its Hand At Building A Useful Parking App

    If we were app developers, the next-to-last frontier we'd want to conquer -- right after organ donation -- would be parking. By their very nature, cars are constantly in motion, taking and leaving spaces in parking lots, garages, and on city streets. Maintaining an accurate database of available...

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