Driverless Cars Can Be Tested in California

According to the San Francisco Examiner, California has approved driverless autonomous vehicles to be tested in the state starting April 2. These cars have no one behind the wheel. It's very crazy to see how quickly driverless cars are becoming a reality. I see autonomous Ubers constantly when I'm walking around in Tempe, Arizona. It's also interesting how official law is acknowledging driverless cars. At one point, vehicles were mostly horse-drawn carriages and we'll soon be seeing fully autonomous cars.

Microsoft and Self-Driving Cars

Recently in the news, Microsoft has been working on a self-driving car. Microsoft is probably the last company I want jumping on this bandwagon. I can see it now. Annoying requests to update in the middle of driving. Or maybe someone "accidentally" deletes system32 during routine maintenance. Scary thoughts, but with Microsoft, they build all of their products on the same foundation. Windows Phone, Xbox, the Surface. Hopefully, their venture into automobiles doesn't cause these issues, but it's a scary thought.

Tesla Rebrands 'Autopilot' Term in China

Ensuring that whatever you make is properly localized is key to getting as many people to like your product and to keep good press. Good examples of good localization include the Animal Crossing series, taking creative liberties to ensure that American audiences weren't confused with Japanese traditions by replacing them with American references and holidays in the American version. And of course, the worst example of good localization is the Chevrolet Nova, which translates to "doesn't go" in Spanish, which is bad considering this is a car. After a non-fatal crash caused by Tesla's autopilot in China, the Chinese website no longer uses the term "zidong jiashi," which can be interpreted as "self-driving" [Source: Reuters]. Not exactly what you want when it comes to press reception. The term was replaced with a similar term that means "self-assisted driving." Whether or not this discourages people from using the feature, time will tell, for those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.

Self-Driving Ubers

It's funny, I was literally talking about the idea of self-driving Ubers with my friend this morning before I even found out about this. Uber announced plans to create self-driving cars that can function as Uber cars. This allows cars to pick up passengers, without a driver. It is currently being tested on the streets of Pittsburgh. Uber states that the main purpose of this is safety, and that they hope self-driving cars will hopefully be included in the Uber fleet by 2020.

"Real-world testing is critical to our efforts to develop self-driving technology. Self-driving cars have the potential to save millions of lives and improve quality of life for people around the world.  1.3 million people die every year in car accidents — 94% of those accidents involve human error. In the future we believe this technology will mean less congestion, more affordable and accessible transportation, and far fewer lives lost in car accidents. These goals are at the heart of Uber’s mission to make transportation as reliable as running water — everywhere and for everyone."