zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Tech
/
The Future Of Google's Self-Driving Cars May Include Talking To Pedestrians
The Future Of Google's Self-Driving Cars May Include Talking To Pedestrians-April 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:42

Just like most of us can bark commands at our smartphones, the future of driverless cars may now include vehicles telling pedestrians what to do. It’s beginning to look a lot like... Skynet. (That’s a joke. A Christmas-themed Terminator joke, because why not.)

reports that Google received a patent on Tuesday detailing how its self-driving cars will communicate with pedestrians, including judging likeliness for others to cross the street and communicating the car’s own intentions. Potential methods of communication include message-displaying screens and speakers on the outside of the car, and, get this—robotic arms and eyes to give pedestrians the feel of authentic human acknowledgement that the “driver” sees them.

The cars don’t exactly act like we humans do—after all, one recently —so the communication devices can help others who may not be completely used to the driving styles of such, ehem, cautious vehicles.

Screens will be placed on the exterior sides of the car, with additional screens potentially being placed on its roof, hood and rear. Messages on the screen could include stop signs, traffic signs or text to inform pedestrians of when it is safe to cross the street, and the car will react accordingly to what it displays (we hope, or else that could turn out badly).

The more humanistic options that the patent could present include speakers to call out alerts to others around the vehicle, and the idea of robotic arms and eyes. The robot body parts (Terminator movie scenes are playing on repeat in my head), would gesture—hopefully, those gestures are all nice ones—at pedestrians to acknowledge that the car is aware that they are there.

Concept images of the newly announced patent sadly don’t include ones of the robotic arms and eyes, but here is a rough idea of what we may see in the future:

Contact the author at .

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Tech
Volkswagen EVs Can Now Power Your House For Two Days (Update)
Volkswagen EVs Can Now Power Your House For Two Days (Update)
Experts have said that one of the ways to speed up EV adoption is for them to support . The ability for owners to power their house off their car or from the grid is vital. Just nine EVs on the market currently support bidirectional charging, but now VW...
Apr 30, 2025
Truck Fans Would Rather Wait For A Toyota Tacoma EV Than Buy A F-150 Lightning Or Cybertruck
Truck Fans Would Rather Wait For A Toyota Tacoma EV Than Buy A F-150 Lightning Or Cybertruck
fans are already cooling on despite more options on the market and news of upcoming models from the likes of Chevy and Ram. The and have yet to be released, while the has recently joined the and for sale in the U.S. And, yet, all of these current and...
Apr 30, 2025
Costco Will Sell The Chevy Blazer EV At A Discount To Go With Your Rotisserie Chicken
Costco Will Sell The Chevy Blazer EV At A Discount To Go With Your Rotisserie Chicken
knows that you keep coming back for the and Kirkland brand, but you can now also buy a cheaper at your local warehouse. Chevy notified its dealers that members are eligible for a $1,000 rebate on the through January 2, according to . The discount is part of ,...
Apr 30, 2025
GM Says It's Dropping Apple CarPlay And Android Auto Because They're Unsafe (Update)
GM Says It's Dropping Apple CarPlay And Android Auto Because They're Unsafe (Update)
GM is still dealing with the fallout of its decision to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in favor of developing its own in-house system. In the last eight months, the company has had to deal with while still maintaining its in-house system will be “.” Since neither of...
Apr 30, 2025
Biden’s First EV Charging Station Goes Online After $7.5 Billion In American EV Investments
Biden’s First EV Charging Station Goes Online After $7.5 Billion In American EV Investments
Despite in investments for the development of in the , not a single charging station had gone live thanks to — until now. The first EV charger paid for by Biden’s Bipartisan deal has come online in Ohio, according to , which marks the operational start of what the...
Apr 30, 2025
Danish Investors Dump Tesla Shares After Elon Musk Calls Strikes In Sweden 'Insane'
Danish Investors Dump Tesla Shares After Elon Musk Calls Strikes In Sweden 'Insane'
Danish pension fund PensionDanmark is dumping all of its stock and putting the U.S. EV maker on its exclusion list of the companies it chooses to invest in – or not. The fund is selling all of its shares due to Elon Musk’s refusal to enter into labor agreements...
Apr 30, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved