From the NYT
Google's Driverless Cars Can Now Fetch Food
In late 2010, John Markoff of The New York Times broke the story that Google had developed cars that could drive themselves. Now, two years later, the company has taken this innovation to a new level, teaching the cars to do something really useful: Navigating a fast food restaurant drive-through.
The company said in a post on Google Plus that the robotic cars have “now safely completed more than 200,000 miles of computer-led driving.” Google added that it wanted to demonstrate that a driverless car navigating new obstacles, like a drive-through, offered “a promising look at what this kind of technology may one day deliver for society if rigorous technical and safety standards can be met.”
Those safety standards and government regulations will likely prove more difficult to navigate than getting cars to actually drive themselves. As Mr. Markoff wrote last year, Google has a lot of lobbying to do before it can set a battalion of robotic cars loose on city streets. Until then, dear Americans, you’ll have to figure out how to drive yourself to get a burger and fries.
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