Recently Google has just taught its car how to behave when
it's around the children. As we've all experienced, we will be more aware to
step on the brake pedal when we are passing the area where there are many
children playing on the sidewalk. Well, here Google also wants its driverless
car to develop a similar instinct.
Interestingly, Google's driverless car doesn't need to move
in order to learn this behavior. The car only needs to stay in place while its
sensors and the software are working to identify all children who are in the
vicinity, even the children who are hiding behind other cars.
As a result, Google's driverless car will be more careful
when it recognizes there is a child who is nearby. The car knows that the
movement of a child is very difficult to guess, where sometimes the child may
suddenly ran from the sidewalk into the street.
By studying these kinds of patterns, Google's driverless car
would have driving instinct just like human. Indeed this is the capability
that's needed by self-driving car in order to be accepted by the public, not
only a list of advanced specs on paper such as cameras, radars and ultrasonic
sensors.